Zechariah 11 Cross References - LEB

¹ Open your doors, O Lebanon,
so that fire will devour your cedars! ² Wail, O juniper,* for the cedar has fallen, for the magnificent trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the impenetrable forest has come down! ³ Listen to the wailing of the shepherds, for their splendor is ruined! Listen to the roar of the young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are ruined! ⁴ Thus says Yahweh my God: "Shepherd the flock* doomed to slaughter. ⁵ The ones buying them kill them and go unpunished, and the ones selling them say, 'Blessed be Yahweh, for I have become rich.' Their own shepherds have no compassion for them. ⁶ For I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. "Look, I am going to cause humankind to fall, each into the hand of his neighbor, and into the hand of his king; and they will devastate the land, and I will not deliver anyone from their hand." ⁷ And I shepherded the flock* doomed to slaughter, even* the afflicted* of the flock.* I took two staffs, one I called Kindness, and the other I called Unity, and I shepherded the flock.* ⁸ And I got rid of three shepherds in one month, for _⌊I grew impatient_⌋* with them, and _⌊they also became tired of me_⌋.* ⁹ So I said, "I will not shepherd you! The one dying will die, and the one to be destroyed will be destroyed. And the ones remaining, let them devour _⌊the flesh of each other_⌋."* ¹⁰ And I took my staff Kindness and broke it, to break my covenant that I _⌊had made_⌋* with all the peoples. ¹¹ And it was broken on that day. Then the afflicted* of the flock,* the ones who were watching me, knew that it was the word of Yahweh. ¹² And I said to them, "If _⌊it seems right to you_⌋,* give me my wages, but if not, _⌊keep them_⌋."* And they weighed out my wages, thirty silver shekels. ¹³ And Yahweh said to me, "Throw it to the potter,"* _⌊this noble price_⌋* at which I was valued by them!" So I took the thirty silver shekels and I threw them to the potter* in the house of Yahweh. ¹⁴ Then I broke my second staff Unity to break the family ties between Judah and Israel. ¹⁵ And Yahweh said to me, "Take again the implements* of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For look, I am raising up a shepherd in the land who will not attend to the ones that are perishing; he will not seek the young man,* he will not heal the ones that are crushed and he will not sustain the healthy ones; he will devour the flesh of the _⌊fattened ones_⌋* and tear apart even their hoofs. ¹⁷ "Woe, my worthless shepherd who deserts the flock!* May a sword fall on his arm and on _⌊his right eye_⌋!* May his arm wither completely and _⌊his right eye_⌋* be utterly blinded!"

²² For a fire was kindled* by my anger, and it burned _⌊up to the depths of Sheol_⌋,* and it devoured the earth and its produce, and it set afire the foundation of the mountains.

⁶ For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah,
"You are like Gilead to me, like the head of the Lebanon. _⌊Surely_⌋* I will make you a desert,* like cities that are not inhabited. ⁷ And I will consecrate against you destroyers, everyone with his weapons, and they will cut down _⌊your choicest cedars_⌋,* and cast them* on the fire.

²³ Inhabitants* of Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan when labor pains come to you, fear and pain as the woman who gives birth.

³ Look! Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches* and a forest giving shade, and _⌊very high_⌋,* and its treetop was between the clouds.

⁸ Because you plundered many nations, all the remaining nations will plunder you on account of the blood of humanity and violence against the land, and against cities and all who live in them.

¹⁷ For the violence of Lebanon will cover you, and the destruction of wild animals will shatter them on account of the blood of humanity, and the violence against the land, against a city and all the inhabitants in it.

⁸ Go up the mountain and bring wood and build the house* so that I may be pleased with it and honored,' says Yahweh.

¹⁰ And I will bring them back from the land of Egypt, and from Assyria I will gather them. To the land of Gilead and Lebanon I will bring them, until no room will be found for them there.

¹ Look! A day is coming for Yahweh, when your plunder will be divided in your midst. ² I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, and they will loot the houses, and the women will be raped; half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be cut off from the city.

¹ And as Jesus went out of the temple courts* he was going along, and his disciples came up to point out to him the buildings of the temple. ² But he answered and* said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone will be left here on another stone that will not be thrown down!"

⁴¹ And when he approached and* saw the city, he wept over it, ⁴² saying, "If you had known on this day—even you—the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ For days will come upon you and your enemies will put up an embankment* against you, and will surround you and press you hard from all directions. ⁴⁴ And they will raze you to the ground, you and your children within you, and will not leave a stone upon a stone within you, _⌊because_⌋* you did not recognize the time of your visitation."

²³ Woe to those _⌊who are pregnant_⌋* and to those who are nursing their babies* in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people, ²⁴ and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations,* and Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

¹² For there is a day for Yahweh of hosts against all of the proud and the lofty and against all that is lifted up and humble,* ¹³ and against all the lofty and lifted up cedars of Lebanon, and against all the large trees of Bashan, ¹⁴ and against all the high mountains, and against all the lofty hills, ¹⁵ and against every kind of high tower, and against every kind of fortified wall, ¹⁶ and against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the ships of desire. ¹⁷ And the haughtiness of the people shall be humbled, and the pride of everyone shall be brought low, and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.

³³ Look! The Lord Yahweh of hosts is about to lop off the branches* with great power, and _⌊the towering trees_⌋* will be felled, and the _⌊tall trees_⌋* will be brought low. ³⁴ And he will cut down the thickets of the forest with the axe, and Lebanon will fall by the mighty one.

¹⁵ Until a spirit is poured out on us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is reckoned as the forest. ¹⁶ Then* justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness will live in the fruitful field. ¹⁷ And the work of righteousness will be peace, and the work of righteousness, quietness and security forever. ¹⁸ And my people will dwell in a settlement of peace and in a dwelling place of security and in undisturbed resting places. ¹⁹ And it hails when _⌊the forest comes down_⌋,* and the city will become low in humiliation.

⁴⁶ "Son of man,* set your face toward the way of the south,* and preach to the south, and prophesy against the forest of the territory of the Negev.

² "Son of man,* say to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his crowd,*
'To whom are you like in your greatness? ³ Look! Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches* and a forest giving shade, and _⌊very high_⌋,* and its treetop was between the clouds.

¹⁷ They also went down with it to Sheol to _⌊those who died by the sword_⌋,* and its army who had lived in its shadow in the midst of nations.

¹ Alas for those being at ease in Zion, and those who feel secure on Mount Samaria, the notables of the best of the nations! The house of Israel resorts to them.

⁸ Are you better than Thebes?* She who sits at the Nile, surrounded by her waters, her rampart was the sea and water was her wall. ⁹ Cush was her strength, Egypt without end; Put and Libya were among _⌊your allies_⌋.* ¹⁰ Yet she went into captivity as an exile; her children were dashed to pieces at the head of the streets; they cast lots for all of her nobles; all of her dignitaries were bound with chains. ¹¹ You also will behave like a drunkard; You also will hide yourself; You also will seek refuge from the enemy. ¹² All of your fortifications are like fig trees with ripe firstfruits— if they are shaken, they will fall into the mouth of the eater. ¹³ Look! Your troops are like women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire will consume the bars of your gates. ¹⁴ Draw water for a siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Go to the mud pit! Trample the clay! Grasp the brick mold! ¹⁵ There fire will consume you; the sword will cut you off. It will consume you like the locust. ¹⁶ You have increased your merchants more than the stars of heaven; like the locust they will shed their skin and fly away. ¹⁷ Your officials are like locusts; your commanders are like a swarm of locusts. They encamp on the walls on a cold day; when the sun rises, they fly away— no one knows where they have gone. ¹⁸ Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria! Your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains; no one can gather them. ¹⁹ There is no healing for your wound; your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you will clap their hands for joy concerning you, _⌊For who has not suffered at the hands of your endless cruelty_⌋?*

³¹ For if they do these things _⌊when the wood is green_⌋,* what will happen _⌊when it is dry_⌋?"*

²¹ She called the boy Ichabod,* saying, "The glory has departed from Israel," referring to the capture of the ark of God and concerning her father-in-law and husband. ²² And she said, "The glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God was captured."*

²¹ Save me from the mouth of the lion, and from the horns of the wild oxen answer me.

¹⁵ And you shall leave your name to my chosen ones as a curse, and the Lord Yahweh will kill you, and he will _⌊give_⌋* his servants another name.

¹⁵ The young lions have roared against him, they have _⌊raised_⌋* their voices.* And they have made his land as horror; his cities are destroyed, _⌊without_⌋* an inhabitant.

³⁰ "For _⌊in vain_⌋* I have struck your children. They accepted no discipline. Your sword devoured your prophets, like a ravening* lion.

⁴ Do not trust in _⌊the deceitful words_⌋,* _⌊saying_⌋,* 'The temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, they are the temple of Yahweh.'

¹¹ Has this house, which is called _⌊by my name_⌋,* become a cave of robbers in your eyes? Look, I, even I, have seen it," * _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ¹² "For go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell in the beginning, and see what I did to it _⌊because of_⌋* the wickedness of my people Israel. ¹³ And now, because of your doing all these things," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and _⌊I have spoken to you over and over again_⌋,* and you have not listened, and I called you, and you have not answered, ¹⁴ therefore I will do to the house that is called _⌊by my name_⌋,* in which you are trusting, and to the place that I gave to you and to your ancestors* _⌊what_⌋* I did to Shiloh.

³⁴ Wail, you shepherds, and cry out. And roll about in mourning in the dust, O leaders* of the flock. For your days of slaughter and your dispersions have arrived, and you will fall like a vessel of desire. ³⁵ And flight will perish from the shepherds, and escape from the leaders* of the flock. ³⁶ A sound, the cry of distress of the shepherds and the wailing of the leaders* of the flock, for Yahweh is despoiling their pasture.

⁶ then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse for all the nations of the earth.'" '"

¹⁹ Look, like a lion he comes up from the thickets of the Jordan to _⌊a pastureland by a constantly flowing stream_⌋.* So _⌊I will chase him away hurriedly_⌋* from it. And whoever is chosen I will appoint over it. For who is like me, and who can summon me? And who is this, the shepherd who can stand _⌊before me_⌋?"*

⁴⁴ Look, like a lion he comes up from the thickets* of the Jordan against _⌊a pastureland by a constantly flowing stream_⌋,* so _⌊I will chase them away quickly_⌋* from her, and I will appoint whoever is chosen over her. For who is like me, and who can summon me, and who is this shepherd who can stand _⌊before me_⌋?*

³ And she raised up one from her cubs; he became a fierce lion, and he learned to tear prey; he ate* humans.* ⁴ And nations heard about him; in their pit he was caught, and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt. ⁵ And she saw* that she was waiting in vain; her hope was destroyed, and she took one from her cubs, and she made him a fierce lion. ⁶ And he walked about in the midst of lions; he became a fierce lion, and he learned to tear prey; he ate* humans.*

²¹ "Say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I will be profaning my sanctuary, the pride of your strength and the delight of your eyes and the object of your own* affection; and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind will fall by the sword, ²² and you shall do _⌊just as_⌋* I did: You shall not cover your upper lip,* and you shall not eat the bread of _⌊mourners_⌋.* ²³ And your turban must be on your heads, and your sandals must be on your feet. You shall not mourn, and you shall not weep, but you shall waste away because of your iniquities, and you shall groan _⌊to one another_⌋.* ²⁴ And Ezekiel will be to you as a sign; _⌊everything that he did_⌋* you shall do; and when it comes you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh. ²⁵ "And you, son of man,* will it not be that on the day _⌊when I take from them_⌋* their stronghold, the joy of their glory, the delight of their eyes, and the longing of their inner self,* their sons and daughters—

⁹ And he* said, "_⌊Name him_⌋* Lo-ammi,* for you are not my people and I am not your God.* ¹⁰ * The number of the children of Israel will be like the sand of the sea that cannot be measured or counted; and in the place where it is said to them, "You are not my people," it will be said to them, "Children of the living God."

⁵ The inhabitants* of Samaria tremble for the calf* of Beth-aven. Indeed, his people will mourn for it, and his idolatrous priests will wail* over it— over its glory because it has departed from it.

¹³ Gird yourselves and lament, O priests! Wail, O ministers of the altar! Come spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because offering and libation are withheld from the house of your God.

⁸ On account of this, will not the land tremble and will not every living thing in it mourn? And all of it will rise like the Nile and it will be tossed about and subside like the Nile of Egypt.

¹⁰ "And there shall be on that day"—a declaration of Yahweh— "a _⌊loud outcry_⌋* from the Fish Gate, and a wailing from the Second District, and a loud* crashing from the hills.

³ Her officials in her midst are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they leave nothing until the morning.

¹¹ On that day you shall not be humiliated on account of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against me. For then I shall remove from your midst those exulting in your pride, and you shall no longer be haughty in _⌊my holy mountain_⌋.*

⁸ And I got rid of three shepherds in one month, for _⌊I grew impatient_⌋* with them, and _⌊they also became tired of me_⌋.*

¹⁵ And Yahweh said to me, "Take again the implements* of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For look, I am raising up a shepherd in the land who will not attend to the ones that are perishing; he will not seek the young man,* he will not heal the ones that are crushed and he will not sustain the healthy ones; he will devour the flesh of the _⌊fattened ones_⌋* and tear apart even their hoofs. ¹⁷ "Woe, my worthless shepherd who deserts the flock!* May a sword fall on his arm and on _⌊his right eye_⌋!* May his arm wither completely and _⌊his right eye_⌋* be utterly blinded!"

⁷ But when he* saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! ⁹ And do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ¹⁰ Already now the ax is positioned at the root of the trees; therefore every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹⁴ Let* them! They are blind guides of the blind. And if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit."

⁴³ For this reason, I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a people* who produce its fruits. ⁴⁴ And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and the one on whom it falls—it will crush him!" ⁴⁵ And when* the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them,

¹³ "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you shut the kingdom of heaven before people! For you do not enter, nor permit those wanting to go in* to enter.*

¹⁵ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you travel around the sea and the dry land to make one convert, and when he becomes one,* you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are! ¹⁶ "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing! But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by his oath.'* ¹⁷ Fools and blind people! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy? ¹⁸ And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing! But whoever swears by the gift that is on it is bound by his oath.'* ¹⁹ Blind people! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? ²⁰ Therefore the one who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything that is on it. ²¹ And the one who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. ²² And the one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by the one who sits on it. ²³ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you pay a tenth of mint and dill and cumin, and neglect the more important matters of the law—justice and mercy and faithfulness! It was necessary* to do these things _⌊while not neglecting those_⌋.* ²⁴ Blind guides who filter out a gnat and swallow a camel! ²⁵ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence! ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the dish,* so that the outside of it may become clean also. ²⁷ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean! ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you also appear righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. ²⁹ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, ³⁰ and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in the blood of the prophets!' ³¹ Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets! ³² And you—fill up the measure of your fathers! ³³ Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How will you escape from the condemnation to hell? ³⁴ For this reason, behold, I am sending to you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and will pursue from town to town, ³⁵ so that upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous Abel up to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation! ³⁷ "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How many times I wanted to gather your children together _⌊the way_⌋* a hen gathers her young together under her* wings, and you were not willing! ³⁸ Behold, your house has been left to you desolate!

¹¹ Then they secretly instigated men who said, "We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God!" ¹² And they incited the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came up and* seized him and brought him* to the Sanhedrin.* ¹³ And they put forward false witnesses who said, "This man does not stop speaking words against the holy place* and the law! ¹⁴ For we have heard him saying that this Nazarene Jesus will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed down to us."

⁵² Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand about the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become,

²¹ And he said to me, 'Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles!'" ²² Now they were listening to him until this word, and they raised their voices, saying, "Away with such a man from the earth! For it is not fitting for him to live!"

⁷ What then? What Israel was searching for, this it did not obtain. But the elect obtained it, and the rest were hardened, ⁸ just as it is written,
"God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear, until this very day."* ⁹ And David says,
"Let their table become a snare and a trap, and a cause for stumbling and a retribution to them; ¹⁰ let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see, and cause their backs to bend _⌊continually_⌋*."* ¹¹ I say then, they did not stumble so that they fell, did they?* May it never be! But by their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy.* ¹² And if their trespass means riches for the world and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness mean?

¹ Come now, you rich people, weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are coming upon you! ² Your wealth has rotted, and your clothing has become moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and silver have become corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you, and it will consume your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days. ⁴ Behold, the wages that were held back by you from the workers who reap your fields cry out, and the cries of the reapers have come to the ears of the Lord of hosts. ⁵ You have lived self-indulgently on the earth* and have lived luxuriously. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous person; he does not resist you.

⁹ _⌊Get yourself_⌋* up to a high mountain, Zion, bringer of good news! Lift up your voice with strength, Jerusalem, bringer of good news! Lift it up; you must not fear! Say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!" ¹⁰ Look! The Lord Yahweh comes with _⌊strength_⌋,* and his arm rules for him. Look! His reward is with him, and his recompense _⌊in his presence_⌋.* ¹¹ He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arm, and he will carry them in his bosom; he will lead those who nurse.

⁴ But* I myself said, "I have labored in* vain; I have used up my strength for nothing and vanity! Nevertheless, my justice is with Yahweh, and my reward is with my God." ⁵ And now Yahweh says, who formed me from the womb as a servant for him, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might not* be gathered, for* I am honored in the eyes of Yahweh, and my God has become my strength.

²³ And I will set up over them one shepherd, and he will feed them; that is, my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be for them as* a shepherd. ²⁴ And I, Yahweh, I will be for them _⌊as God_⌋,* and my servant David will be a leader in the midst of them. I, Yahweh, I have spoken.

⁴ And he will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God. And they will live, for now he will be great unto the ends of the earth.

⁷ And I shepherded the flock* doomed to slaughter, even* the afflicted* of the flock.* I took two staffs, one I called Kindness, and the other I called Unity, and I shepherded the flock.*

⁵ And you will flee by the valley of my mountains, because the valley of the mountains will reach to Azal, and you will flee like you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. And Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.*

²⁴ But he answered and* said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

³⁷ "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How many times I wanted to gather your children together _⌊the way_⌋* a hen gathers her young together under her* wings, and you were not willing!

¹⁷ Jesus said to her, "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.'"

¹⁵ Now when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs!" ¹⁶ He said to him again a second time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Shepherd my sheep!" ¹⁷ He said to him a third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was distressed because he said to him a third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything! You know that I love you!" Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep!

⁸ For I say, Christ has become a servant of the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God, in order to confirm the promises to the fathers,

³ Blessed is* the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

²⁶ Then Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷ Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, but our hand shall not be against him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers agreed. ²⁸ Then Midianite traders passed by. And they* drew Joseph up and brought him up from the pit, and they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph to Egypt.

¹⁹ And then when he hears the words of this oath, then* _⌊he will assure himself_⌋* in his heart, _⌊saying_⌋,* '_⌊Safety shall be mine even though I go in the stubbornness of my heart_⌋,'* thereby destroying the well-watered land along with the parched.* ²⁰ Yahweh will not be willing to forgive him, for by then the anger of Yahweh will smoke, and his passion against that man and all the curses written in this scroll will descend on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹ And Yahweh will single him out for calamity out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in the scroll of this law.

¹ A certain woman from the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead. Now you know that your servant was a fearer of Yahweh, but the creditor came to take two of my children for himself as slaves.

⁸ and I said to them: "We ourselves have bought back our brothers the Jews who were sold to the nations as we were able. But now you yourselves have sold your brothers so they may be sold to us!" They were silent and could not find a word to say.

³ Israel was holy to Yahweh, the first fruit of his produce. All those who ate it were held guilty; disaster came to them," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.'"

¹ "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the flock of my pasture," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ² _⌊Therefore_⌋* thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people, "You yourselves have scattered my flock, and you have driven them away, and you do not attend to them. Look, I will punish you for the evil of your deeds," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

⁷ All those who found them have devoured them. And their foes have said, 'We are not guilty, _⌊because_⌋* they have sinned against Yahweh, the _⌊true pasture_⌋,* even Yahweh, the hope of their ancestors.'*

²⁵ The conspiracy of its prophets in the midst of her is like a roaring lion that is tearing prey. They devour people, and they take wealth and treasure; they make its widows numerous in the midst of her. ²⁶ Its priests treat my law violently, and they profane my holy objects; they do not distinguish between a holy object and what is unholy, or between the clean and the unclean. They do not teach the difference, and they hide their eyes from my Sabbaths, and so I am profaned in the midst of them. ²⁷ Its officials are like wolves tearing prey in its midst, to pour out blood, to destroy people, to make dishonest gain.

² "Son of man,* prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and you must say to them, to the shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who were feeding themselves! Must not the shepherds feed the flock? ³ The fat you eat, and you clothe yourself with the wool; the well-nourished animals you slaughter, but you do not feed the flock. ⁴ The weak you have not strengthened, and the sick you have not healed, and _⌊with respect to_⌋* the hurt* you have not bound them up, and you have not brought back the scattered, and you have not sought the lost, but rather you ruled over them with force* and with ruthlessness.

⁶ My flock went astray upon all of the mountains and on every high hill, and so upon all the surface of the world* my flock were scattered, and _⌊there was no one seeking them_⌋,* and _⌊there was no one searching for them_⌋."*

¹⁰ 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I am against the shepherds, and I will seek my flock from their hand, and I will put an end to them from shepherding flocks, and the shepherds will _⌊no longer_⌋* feed themselves, and I will deliver my flocks from their mouth, so that they will not be as food for them."

¹⁸ _⌊Is it not enough for you_⌋* that you feed on the good pasture? And still you must trample the remainder of your pasture with your feet, and _⌊clear water_⌋* you drink, and the _⌊leftover water_⌋* you must make muddy with your feet. ¹⁹ And my flock must graze the pasture treaded upon by* your feet, and must drink the mud puddle stirred up by* your feet."

²¹ because with your flank and with your shoulder you shoved, and with your horns you pushed all of the sick animals _⌊until_⌋* you scattered it* to the outside.

⁸ And Ephraim said, "Surely, I am rich, I gained* wealth for myself; in all my toil they have not found guilt in me that is sin.

¹ And I said, "Listen, O heads of Jacob and leaders of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice? ² Those of you who are haters of good and lovers of evil, who tear their skin from them and their flesh from their bones, ³ and who eat the flesh of my people, and strip their skin from them, and break their bones, and chop them like meat in the pot, and like flesh in the midst of a cooking pot."

⁹ Hear this, O rulers of the house of Jacob and leaders of the house of Israel, those detesting justice and perverting all that is right, ¹⁰ he who builds Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wickedness. ¹¹ Its rulers judge for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money. But they lean on Yahweh, saying, "Is not Yahweh in our midst? Disaster will not come upon us." ¹² Therefore on account of you Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will be a heap of rubble, and _⌊the temple mount_⌋* as a high place in a forest.

¹² And Jesus entered the temple courts* and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who were selling doves. ¹³ And he said to them, "It is written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer,'* but you have made it a cave of robbers!"

¹³ "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you shut the kingdom of heaven before people! For you do not enter, nor permit those wanting to go in* to enter.*

¹ "Truly, truly I say to you, the one who does not enter through the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up at some other place—that one is a thief and a robber.

¹² The hired hand, who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf approaching and abandons the sheep and runs away—and the wolf seizes them and scatters them*— ¹³ because he is a hired hand and _⌊he is not concerned_⌋* about the sheep.

² _⌊They will expel you from the synagogue_⌋,* but an hour is coming that everyone who kills you will think they are offering service to God.

⁵ constant wrangling by people of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who consider godliness to be a means of gain. ⁶ But godliness with contentment is a great means of gain. ⁷ For we have brought nothing into the world, so that neither can we bring anything out. ⁸ But if we* have food and clothing, with these things we will be content. ⁹ But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge those people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all evil, by which some, because they* desire it, have gone astray from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.

³ And in greediness they will exploit you with false words, whose condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

¹³ and cinnamon and amomum* and incense and ointment and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine wheat flour and wheat and domesticated animals and sheep and horses and carriages and _⌊slaves_⌋* and human lives.

²² Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there will be none to deliver.

⁵ And the people will be oppressed _⌊by each other_⌋* and a man by his neighbor. The boy will act arrogantly toward the elder, and the dishonorable toward the honorable.

¹⁹ The land was burned through the wrath of Yahweh of hosts, and the people became like fire fuel. _⌊People had no compassion toward each other_⌋.* ²⁰ They devoured on the right but still were hungry and devoured on the left but they were not satisfied. Each one devoured the flesh of his arm, ²¹ Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; together they were against Judah. In all of this his anger has not turned away, and still his hand is stretched out.

¹¹ _⌊When its branches are dry_⌋,* they are broken; women are coming and setting light to it.
For it is not a people of understanding;
therefore his maker will not have compassion on him, and his creator will not show him favor.

¹⁴ And I will smash them, each one against his brother, and the fathers and the sons together," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. "I will not have compassion, and I will not take pity, and I will not show compassion from destroying them." '"

¹⁸ And so I will act in rage, and my eye will not take pity, and I will not have compassion, and they will cry in my ear with a loud voice, and I will not hear them."

¹⁰ And I, my eye will not take pity, and I will not have compassion; their way I will bring on their head."

²⁶ "And after the sixty and two weeks an anointed one* shall be cut off, and _⌊he shall have nothing_⌋,* and the people of the coming leader will destroy the city and the sanctuary,* and its end will be with the flood and on to the end there shall be war; these desolations are determined. ²⁷ And he will make a strong covenant with the many for one week, but in half of the week he will let cease sacrifice and offering _⌊and in its place_⌋* a desolating abomination comes even until _⌊the determined complete destruction_⌋* is poured out on the desolator."

⁶ And she conceived again and bore a daughter, and he* said to him,
"_⌊Name her_⌋* Lo-ruhamah,* for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or _⌊forgive them_⌋.*

¹⁰ And now I will uncover her nakedness before the eyes of her lovers, and no one will rescue her from my hand.

⁸ And the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the wild animals of the forest, like a young lion among the herds of sheep which, when it passes through and treads down and tears in pieces, there is none who can deliver.

¹⁴ You yourself will eat but not be satisfied; your hunger will be in your midst, and you will put away, but you will not save, and what you save I will hand over to the sword.

² The faithful person has perished from the land, and there is none who is upright among humankind. All of them lie in wait; each hunts his brother with a net. ³ Their hands are upon evil, to do it well; the official and the judge ask for the bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; and they weave it together. ⁴ The best of them is like a brier; the most upright worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchman, your punishment, has come; now their confusion will come. ⁵ Do not put faith in a friend; put no trust in a close friend. Guard the doorways of your mouth from the one who lies in your lap. ⁶ For a son treats a father with contempt; a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; the enemies of a man are the men of his own house. ⁷ But as for me, I will look to Yahweh; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

²² and I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the military strength of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will fall, every one by the sword of another!

¹⁰ For before those days there was no wage for people or for animals, and there was no safety from the enemy for those who went out or those who came in, and I sent each person against _⌊one another_⌋.*

⁵ The ones buying them kill them and go unpunished, and the ones selling them say, 'Blessed be Yahweh, for I have become rich.' Their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

⁹ So I said, "I will not shepherd you! The one dying will die, and the one to be destroyed will be destroyed. And the ones remaining, let them devour _⌊the flesh of each other_⌋."*

¹⁴ Then I broke my second staff Unity to break the family ties between Judah and Israel.

¹³ _⌊And then_⌋* on that day a great panic from Yahweh will fall* on them, and _⌊they will seize one another's hand_⌋,* and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of _⌊another_⌋.*

⁶ And he will bring back* the hearts of the fathers to the sons, and the hearts of the sons to their fathers, so that I will not come and strike the land with a ban."

²¹ "And brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his children, and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death,

³⁴ "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth! I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to turn a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶ And the enemies of a man will be the members of his household.*

³³ Should you not also have shown mercy to your fellow slave as I also showed mercy to you?' ³⁴ And because he* was angry, his master handed him over to the merciless jailers* until he would repay everything that was owed. ³⁵ So also my heavenly Father will do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from your hearts!"

⁷ And the king was angry and sent his troops and* destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

¹⁰ And then many will be led into sin and will betray one another and will hate one another,

⁵² For from now on there will be five in one household, divided three against two and two against three. ⁵³ They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

¹⁶ And you will be handed over even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put to death some of you. ¹⁷ And you will be hated by all because of my name.

²² because these are days of vengeance, so that all the things that are written can be fulfilled.

¹⁵ Then those shouted, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priests replied, "We do not have a king except Caesar!"

¹⁶ hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles in order that they may be saved, so that they always fill up their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the end.*

³ how will we escape if we* neglect so great a salvation which had its beginning when it* was spoken through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard,

²⁶ For if* we keep on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that is about to consume the adversaries. ²⁸ Anyone who rejected the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much worse punishment do you think the person will be considered worthy of who treats with disdain the Son of God and who considers ordinary the blood of the covenant by which he was made holy and who insults the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know the one who said,
"Vengeance is mine, I will repay,"*
and again,
"The Lord will judge his people."* ³¹ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

¹³ For judgment is merciless to the one who has not practiced mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

³² As for* every tithe of cattle or* of the flock,* all which crosses under the rod, the tenth shall be a holy object for Yahweh.

⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand, picked out for himself five smooth stones from the wadi,* and he put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch. And with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.

⁴³ So the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you are coming to me with sticks?" Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

⁴ Even when I walk in a dark valley, I fear no evil because you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

¹ A song of ascents. Of David.*
Look, how good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity. ² It is like the fragrant oil upon the head, running down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron, that runs down upon the edges of his robes. ³ It is like the dew of Hermon that runs down upon the mountains of Zion, because there Yahweh commanded the blessing— life forever.

⁴ But he shall judge the poor with righteousness, and he shall decide for the needy of the earth with rectitude. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and he shall kill the wicked person with the breath of his lips.

¹ The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is upon me, because Yahweh has anointed me, he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up _⌊the brokenhearted_⌋,* to _⌊proclaim_⌋* release to the captives and liberation to those who are bound,

⁴ Then I said, "They are just simple people, they are foolish, for they know not the way of Yahweh, the law* of their God. ⁵ Let me go to the great, and let me speak with them, for they know the way of Yahweh, the law* of their God." However, they together have broken the yoke, they have torn to pieces the bonds.

¹⁶ "And you, son of man,* take for yourself _⌊a piece of wood_⌋,* and write on it, 'For Judah and for the _⌊Israelites_⌋* his associates,' and take another piece of wood, and write on it, 'For Joseph, the piece of wood of* Ephraim and all of the house of Israel his associates.' ¹⁷ And join them one to the other with respect to you as one piece of wood, so that they may become one in your hand. ¹⁸ _⌊When_⌋* _⌊your people_⌋* say to you, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'Will you not inform us as to what these actions mean for you?' ¹⁹ Then speak to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I am taking the piece of wood for Joseph that is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel its associates, and I will put them on it, the piece of wood of Judah, and I will make them into one piece of wood, so that they be one in my hand.'" ²⁰ And the pieces of wood on which you wrote will be in your hand before their eyes. ²¹ And speak to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I am taking the _⌊Israelites_⌋* from among _⌊the nations to which they went_⌋,* and I will gather them from _⌊everywhere_⌋,* and I will bring them to their own soil. ²² And I will make them into one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and _⌊they will all have one king as their king_⌋,* and they* will not again be two nations and will not again divide into two kingdoms again. ²³ And they will not defile themselves again with their idols and with vile idols and with all of their transgressions, and I will save them from all of their apostasy _⌊by which they sinned_⌋,* and I will cleanse them and they will be for me as a people and I, I will be for them as God.

¹² And I will leave in your midst a people afflicted and poor, and they shall take refuge in the name of Yahweh.

⁴ Thus says Yahweh my God: "Shepherd the flock* doomed to slaughter.

¹⁰ And I took my staff Kindness and broke it, to break my covenant that I _⌊had made_⌋* with all the peoples. ¹¹ And it was broken on that day. Then the afflicted* of the flock,* the ones who were watching me, knew that it was the word of Yahweh.

⁸ _⌊And then_⌋* in all the land," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "_⌊two thirds_⌋* will be cut off and perish, and one third will be left alive* in it. ⁹ And I will bring the remaining third into the fire, and I will refine them like one refines silver, and I will test them like one tests gold. They* will call my name, and I will answer them.* I will say, 'They* are my people,' and they* will say, 'Yahweh is my God.'"

⁵ the blind receive sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised, and the poor have good news announced to them.*

³⁷ David himself calls him 'Lord,' and how is he his son?" And the large crowd was listening to him gladly.

¹⁶ And I have other sheep which are not from this fold. I must bring these also, and they will hear my voice, and they will become one flock—one shepherd.

²¹ that they all may be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, that they also may be in us, in order that the world may believe that you sent me. ²² And the glory that you have given to me, I have given to them, in order that they may be one, just as we are one— ²³ I in them, and you in me, in order that they may be completed in one, so that the world may know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you, the ones who once were far away, have become near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition, the enmity, in his flesh, ¹⁵ invalidating the law of commandments in ordinances, in order that he might create the two in himself into one new man, thus* making peace, ¹⁶ and might reconcile both in one body to God through the cross, killing the enmity in himself.*

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers! Did not God choose the poor of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

¹¹ And I will put my dwelling place in your midst, and my inner self* shall not abhor you.

³⁰ And I will destroy your high places, and I will cut down your incense altars, and I will place your corpses on your idols' corpses; and my inner self* shall abhor you.

⁴⁴ And _⌊in spite of_⌋* this, _⌊when they are_⌋* in the land of their enemies I will not reject them, and I will not abhor them to destroy them, to break my covenant with them, because I am Yahweh their God.

¹⁹ Then Yahweh saw, and he spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

⁵ The boastful do not stand before* your eyes. You hate all evildoers.

⁹ The sons of Ephraim, _⌊armed with archers_⌋,* turned back on the day of battle.

⁴⁰ So Yahweh's anger burned against his people, and he abhorred his inheritance.

⁷ Thus says Yahweh, the redeemer of Israel, his holy one,
to the one who despises* life, to the one who abhors the nation, to the slave of rulers: "Kings shall see and stand up; princes, and they shall bow down, for the sake of Yahweh, who is faithful, the holy one of Israel, and he has chosen you."

⁸ My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest. She has lifted up against me her voice; _⌊therefore_⌋* I hate her.

²¹ You must not spurn us* for the sake of your name, you must not dishonor _⌊your glorious throne_⌋.* Remember us!* You must not break your covenant with us.

⁷ They have dealt faithlessly with Yahweh because they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.

¹⁵ Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal, so I began to hate them there; because of the evil of their deeds I will drive them out from my house. I will love them no more; all their officials are rebels.

³⁴ For this reason, behold, I am sending to you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and will pursue from town to town, ³⁵ so that upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous Abel up to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation!

⁵⁰ the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect and at an hour that he does not know, ⁵¹ and will cut him in two and assign his place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!

⁵⁰ But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am distressed until it is accomplished!

¹⁴ But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to be king over us!'

⁷ The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I am testifying about it, that its deeds are evil.

¹⁸ If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated* you.

²³ The one who hates me hates my Father also. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But this happened* so that the word that is written in their law would be fulfilled, 'They hated me without a reason.'

³⁸ But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul is not well pleased with him."*

⁵³ And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom Yahweh your God gave to you, _⌊during the siege and during the distress_⌋* your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁴ The most refined and the very sensitive* man among you _⌊shall be mean with his brother_⌋* and _⌊against his beloved wife_⌋* and against the rest* of his children that he has left over, ⁵⁵ _⌊by refraining from giving_⌋* to even one of them any of the meat of his children that he eats, because there is not anything that is left over for him _⌊during the siege and distress_⌋* that your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁶ The most refined and the most delicate woman among you, who shall* not venture to put the sole of her foot on the ground from being so delicate and from such gentleness, _⌊shall be mean to her beloved husband_⌋* and against her son and against her daughter,

²² Let their table before them be a trap, and their times of peace a snare. ²³ Let their eyes be dark so they cannot see, and make their loins continually tremble. ²⁴ Pour out your indignation on them, and let your burning anger overtake them. ²⁵ Let their camp be desolate. Let none dwell in their tents, ²⁶ because they persecute those whom you, yourself, have struck, and they tell of the pain of those you have wounded. ²⁷ _⌊Add guilt on top of their guilt_⌋,* and do not let them _⌊be acquitted_⌋.* ²⁸ Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and let them not be recorded with the righteous.

² _⌊And then_⌋* if they say to you, 'Where shall we go?' Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh,
"Those who are destined for the plague, to the plague, and those who are destined for the sword, to the sword, and those who are destined for the famine, to the famine, and those who are destined for the captivity, to the captivity." ' ³ "And I will summon* over them four types of calamity," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "the sword to kill, and the dogs to drag away, and the birds* of the air and the wild animals* of the earth to devour and to destroy.

⁹ And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters, and each one will eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress which their enemies and those who seek their life inflict on them." '

³³ "Now when this people, or a prophet, or a priest, ask you, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'What is the burden* of Yahweh?' then you shall say to them, '_⌊You are the burden_⌋,* and I will forsake you,'" _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

³⁹ _⌊Therefore_⌋* look, here I am, and I will surely lift you up and forsake you and the city that I gave to you and to your ancestors* from _⌊my presence_⌋*,

¹¹ And he will come and ravage the land of Egypt, and deliver those who are appointed for the plague, to the plague, and those who are appointed for the captivity, to the captivity, and those who are appointed for the sword, to the sword.

¹⁰ Therefore* parents* will eat children* in the midst of you, and children* will eat their parents,* and I will execute judgment in you, and I will scatter your entire remnant to every wind.

¹⁰ And the disciples came up and* said to him, "_⌊Why_⌋* do you speak to them in parables?" ¹¹ And he answered and* said to them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to those people it has not been granted.

¹⁹ And seeing a single fig tree by the road, he went to it and found nothing on it except leaves only. And he said to it, "May there be no more fruit from you _⌊forever_⌋,* and the fig tree withered at once.

⁴³ For this reason, I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a people* who produce its fruits.

³⁸ Behold, your house has been left to you desolate! ³⁹ For I tell you, you will never see me from now on until you say,
'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!'"*

²¹ So he said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek me and will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come!"

²⁴ Thus I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins."

³⁵ So Jesus said to them, "Yet a little time the light is with you! Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness does not overtake you! And the one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

⁴⁶ Both Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly and* said, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you, since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life! Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles! ⁴⁷ For so the Lord has commanded us:
'I have appointed you _⌊to be_⌋* a light for the Gentiles, _⌊that you would bring_⌋* salvation to the end of the earth.'*

²⁶ saying,
'Go to this people and say, "_⌊You will keep on hearing_⌋* and will never understand, and _⌊you will keep on seeing_⌋* and will never perceive. ²⁷ For the heart of this people has become dull, and with their* ears they hear with difficulty, and they have shut their eyes, lest they see with their* eyes, and hear with their* ears, and understand with their* heart, and turn, and I would heal them." '* ²⁸ Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They also will listen!"*

¹¹ The one who does evil, let him do evil still, and the defiled, let him be defiled still, and the righteous, let him practice righteousness still, and the holy, let him be holy still."

³⁴ According to the number of the days* that you explored the land, forty days,* _⌊a day for each year_⌋,* you will bear your sins forty years,* and you will know my opposition.'

³⁰ Therefore,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh the God of Israel, 'though I solemnly said that your house and the house of your ancestor* would walk before me forever, but now,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, 'far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me, I will treat with contempt!

² From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.

³⁹ You have repudiated the covenant with your servant; you have defiled* his crown in* the dirt.

¹⁷ And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish for us the work of our hands, yes, the work of our hands, establish it.

³¹ Look, the days are coming," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and I will _⌊make_⌋* a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, ³² not like the covenant that I _⌊made_⌋* with their ancestors* on the day of my grasping them* by their hand, bringing them out from the land of Egypt, my covenant that they themselves broke, though I myself was a master over them," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

²⁰ " 'And the beauty of its* ornament _⌊he made into a prideful thing_⌋* and made with it their detestable things and their vile idols; therefore I will make it into an impure thing for them. ²¹ And I will give it into the hand of strangers as plunder and to the wicked people of the earth as spoil, and they will defile it. ²² And I will turn my face from them, and they will defile my treasured place, and violent ones will enter and defile it.

⁵⁹ 'For thus says the Lord Yahweh: And I will do it* to you _⌊according to what you have done_⌋,* who despised the oath to break covenant. ⁶⁰ And I, I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you _⌊an everlasting covenant_⌋.* ⁶¹ And you will remember your ways, and you will be ashamed when you take your sisters, _⌊both the older and the younger_⌋,* and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of your covenant.

²¹ "Say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I will be profaning my sanctuary, the pride of your strength and the delight of your eyes and the object of your own* affection; and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind will fall by the sword,

²⁶ "And after the sixty and two weeks an anointed one* shall be cut off, and _⌊he shall have nothing_⌋,* and the people of the coming leader will destroy the city and the sanctuary,* and its end will be with the flood and on to the end there shall be war; these desolations are determined.

⁹ And he* said, "_⌊Name him_⌋* Lo-ammi,* for you are not my people and I am not your God.*

⁵ And while* some were speaking about the temple, that it was adorned with precious stones and votive offerings, he said, ⁶ "As for these things that you see—days will come in which not one stone will be left on another stone that will not be thrown down!"

³² Truly I say to you that this generation will never pass away until all things take place!

³ For I could wish myself to be accursed from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my fellow countrymen according to the flesh, ⁴ who are Israelites, to whom belong the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the temple service, and the promises, ⁵ to whom belong the patriarchs, and from whom is the Christ according to human descent, who is God over all, blessed _⌊forever_⌋*! Amen.

¹⁶ Now to Abraham and to his descendant the promises were spoken. It does not say, "and to descendants," as concerning many, but as concerning one, "and to your descendant,"* who is Christ. ¹⁷ Now I am saying this: the law, that came after four hundred and thirty years, does not revoke a covenant previously ratified by God, in order to nullify the promise. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance is from the law, it is no longer from the promise, but God graciously gave it to Abraham through the promise.

¹⁷ For it is testified,
"You are a priest _⌊forever_⌋* according to the order of Melchizedek."* ¹⁸ For on the one hand a preceding commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness ¹⁹ (for the law made nothing perfect), but on the other hand there is the introduction of a better hope through which we draw near to God. ²⁰ And by as much as this was not without an oath (for these on the one hand _⌊have become priests_⌋* without an oath, ²¹ but he with an oath by the one who said to him,
"The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, 'You are a priest _⌊forever_⌋*'"*), ²² by so much more* Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

⁸ For in finding fault with them he says,
"Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, ⁹ not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day I took hold of them by my hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I disregarded them, says the Lord. ¹⁰ For this is the covenant that I will decree with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I am putting my laws in their minds and I will write them on their hearts, and I will be _⌊their_⌋* God and they will be _⌊my_⌋* people. ¹¹ And they will not teach each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. ¹² For I will be merciful toward their wrongdoings, and I will not remember their sins any longer." ¹³ In calling it new, he has declared the former to be old. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is near to disappearing.

³⁸ And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you. ³⁹ And because of their guilt, the ones among you who remain shall decay in the land of their enemies; and also because of the iniquities of their ancestors,* they shall decay with them. ⁴⁰ " 'But* when they confess their guilt and the guilt of their ancestors* in their infidelity that they displayed against me, and moreover that they went against me in hostility— ⁴¹ I myself* also* went against them in hostility, and I brought them into the land of their enemies—or if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and then they pay for their guilt, ⁴² I will remember* my covenant with Jacob; and I will remember also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. ⁴³ And the land shall be deserted by them, and it shall enjoy its Sabbaths in its being desolate from them, and they themselves* must pay for their guilt, _⌊simply because_⌋* they rejected my regulations, and their inner self* abhorred my statutes. ⁴⁴ And _⌊in spite of_⌋* this, _⌊when they are_⌋* in the land of their enemies I will not reject them, and I will not abhor them to destroy them, to break my covenant with them, because I am Yahweh their God. ⁴⁵ And I will remember the first covenant for them*—whom I brought out from the land of Egypt _⌊in the sight of_⌋* the nations _⌊to be their God_⌋.* I am Yahweh.'" ⁴⁶ These are the rules and the regulations and the laws that Yahweh gave between himself and the _⌊Israelites_⌋* on _⌊Mount Sinai_⌋* _⌊through_⌋* Moses.

⁴⁹ Yahweh will raise up against you a nation from far off, from the end of the earth, attacking as the eagle swoops down, _⌊a nation whose language you will not understand_⌋,* ⁵⁰ _⌊a grim-faced nation_⌋* _⌊who does not show respect_⌋* to the old and the young and does not show pity. ⁵¹ And it* shall consume the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground _⌊until you are destroyed_⌋,* and who will not leave for you any grain, wine, and olive oil, _⌊calves of your herds_⌋,* and _⌊lambs of_⌋* your flock _⌊until it has destroyed you_⌋.* ⁵² And it shall besiege you in all your towns _⌊until your high and fortified walls fall_⌋,* which you are trusting in* _⌊throughout your land_⌋;* and it shall besiege you in all of your towns in all of your land that Yahweh your God has given to you. ⁵³ And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom Yahweh your God gave to you, _⌊during the siege and during the distress_⌋* your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁴ The most refined and the very sensitive* man among you _⌊shall be mean with his brother_⌋* and _⌊against his beloved wife_⌋* and against the rest* of his children that he has left over, ⁵⁵ _⌊by refraining from giving_⌋* to even one of them any of the meat of his children that he eats, because there is not anything that is left over for him _⌊during the siege and distress_⌋* that your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁶ The most refined and the most delicate woman among you, who shall* not venture to put the sole of her foot on the ground from being so delicate and from such gentleness, _⌊shall be mean to her beloved husband_⌋* and against her son and against her daughter, ⁵⁷ and even concerning her afterbirth _⌊that goes out_⌋* from between her feet and also concerning her children that she bears, because she eats them for lack of anything in secret _⌊during the siege and during the distress_⌋* that your enemy inflicts upon her in your _⌊towns_⌋.* ⁵⁸ "If _⌊you do not diligently observe_⌋* all the words of this law written in this scroll by revering this glorious and awesome name, Yahweh your God, ⁵⁹ then Yahweh shall overwhelm you with your plagues and the plagues of your offspring, severe plagues and lasting illnesses, grievous and enduring. ⁶⁰ And he shall bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt concerning which _⌊you were in dread_⌋* _⌊because of them_⌋.* ⁶¹ Also any illness and any plague* that is not written in the scroll of this law, he shall bring them, Yahweh, upon you until you are destroyed. ⁶² And you shall remain _⌊only a few people_⌋* in place of the fact you were formerly as the stars of heaven as far as number is concerned, because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God. ⁶³ _⌊And then_⌋* as Yahweh delighted over you _⌊to make you prosperous_⌋* to make you numerous, so Yahweh shall delight over you to exterminate you* and to destroy you, and so you shall be plucked from the land that you are going there to take possession of it. ⁶⁴ And Yahweh shall scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth up to the other end of the earth, and there you shall serve other gods that you have not known nor* your ancestors,* gods of wood and stone. ⁶⁵ And among these nations you shall not find rest, and there shall not be a resting place for the sole of your foot, and Yahweh shall give you there an anxious heart and a weakening of eyes* and a languishing of your inner self.* ⁶⁶ And _⌊your life shall hang in doubt before you_⌋,* and you shall be startled* night and day, and you shall not be confident of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you shall say, '_⌊If only it was evening_⌋!'* and in the evening you shall say '_⌊If only it was morning_⌋!'* because of the dread of your heart that you shall feel, and because of the sight of your eyes that you shall see. ⁶⁸ And Yahweh shall bring you back to Egypt in ships by the route that I _⌊promised_⌋* to you that '_⌊You shall not see it again_⌋!'* And you shall sell yourself there to your enemies as slaves and as female slaves, but there will not be a buyer."

²¹ _⌊And then_⌋* many disasters and troubles will come upon them,* and this song will give evidence before them* as a witness, because it will not be forgotten from out of the mouth of their descendants,* for I know their* inclination that they* are having _⌊today_⌋* before I have brought them* into the land that I swore."

²⁹ For I know that after my death you will certainly act corruptly, and you will turn aside from the way that I have commanded you, and the disaster in the future days will befall you, because you will do evil* in the eyes of Yahweh, _⌊provoking him with the work of your hands_⌋."*

²¹ They annoyed me with what is not a god; they provoked me with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those not a people, with a foolish nation I will provoke them. ²² For a fire was kindled* by my anger, and it burned _⌊up to the depths of Sheol_⌋,* and it devoured the earth and its produce, and it set afire the foundation of the mountains. ²³ I will heap disasters upon them; my arrows I will spend on them. ²⁴ They will become weakened by famine, and consumed by plague and bitter pestilence; and the teeth of wild animals I will send against them, with the poison of the creeping things in the dust; ²⁵ From outside her boundaries the sword will make her childless, and from inside, terror; both for the young man and also the young woman, the infant along with the gray-headed man. ²⁶ I thought, "I will wipe them out; _⌊I will make people forget they ever existed_⌋."* ²⁷ If I had not feared a provocation of the enemy, lest their foes might misunderstand, * lest they should say, * "Our hand is _⌊triumphant_⌋,* and Yahweh did not do all this." ' ²⁸ For _⌊they are a nation void of sense_⌋,* and there is not any understanding in them. ²⁹ If only they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern _⌊for themselves their end_⌋.* ³⁰ How could one chase a thousand and two could cause a myriad to flee, if their Rock had not sold them, and Yahweh had not given them up? ³¹ For the fact of the matter is, their rock is not like our Rock, and our enemies recognize* this. ³² For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, and from the terraces of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison; _⌊their clusters are bitter_⌋.* ³³ Their wine is the poison of snakes, and the deadly poison of horned vipers. ³⁴ 'Is not this stored up with me, sealed in my treasuries?'* ³⁵ _⌊Vengeance belongs to me_⌋* and also recompense, _⌊for at the time their foot slips_⌋,* because the day of their disaster is near, _⌊and fate comes quickly for them_⌋.'* ³⁶ For Yahweh will judge on behalf of his people, and concerning his servants; he will change his mind when he sees that their power has disappeared, and there is no one left, confined* or free.* ³⁷ And he will say, 'Where are their gods, their rock in whom* they took refuge? ³⁸ Who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their libations? Let them rise up, and let them help you; _⌊Let them be to you a refuge_⌋.* ³⁹ See, now, that I, even I am he, and there is not a god besides me; I put to death and I give life; I wound and I heal; there is not one who delivers from my hand! ⁴⁰ For indeed I lift up my hand to heaven, And I promise _⌊as I live forever_⌋,* ⁴¹ When I sharpen* _⌊my flashing sword_⌋,* and my hand takes hold* of it in judgment, _⌊I will take reprisals against my foes_⌋,* and my haters I will repay. ⁴² I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain, and captives* from the heads* of the leaders of the enemy.'

³³ because Yahweh hears the needy and does not despise his own who are prisoners.

¹² Indeed he will deliver the needy who is crying for help, and the afflicted who has no helper. ¹³ He will take pity on the helpless and needy, and the lives of the needy he will save. ¹⁴ From oppression and from violence he will redeem their lives, and their blood will be precious in his eyes.

¹⁷ And I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will await him.

³² And what will one answer the messengers of the nation?
That Yahweh has founded Zion, and the needy of his people will take refuge in it.

⁸ Surely we wait for you in the path of your judgments, Yahweh, for your name and renown are the desire of the soul. ⁹ I desire you with all my soul in the night; also I seek you with my spirit within me, for when your judgments are _⌊upon_⌋* the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

³¹ But* those who wait for Yahweh shall renew their strength. They shall go up with wings* like eagles; they shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not be faint.

²⁵ Yahweh is good to those who wait on him, to the person that seeks him. ²⁶ It is good to wait in silence for the salvation of Yahweh.

⁷ But as for me, I will look to Yahweh; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

⁶ For I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. "Look, I am going to cause humankind to fall, each into the hand of his neighbor, and into the hand of his king; and they will devastate the land, and I will not deliver anyone from their hand." ⁷ And I shepherded the flock* doomed to slaughter, even* the afflicted* of the flock.* I took two staffs, one I called Kindness, and the other I called Unity, and I shepherded the flock.*

²⁵ And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem _⌊whose name was_⌋* Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

³⁸ And at that same hour she approached and* began to give thanks* to God, and to speak about him to all those who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

²² And he answered and* said to them, "Go and* tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear;* the dead are raised, the poor have good news announced to them.*

⁴⁸ And they did not find anything they could do, because all the people were paying close attention to what they were hearing from him.

⁵¹ (this man was not consenting to their plan and deed), from Arimathea, _⌊a Judean town_⌋,* who was looking forward to the kingdom of God.

⁴⁹ And behold, I am sending out* what was promised by my Father upon you, but you stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." ⁵⁰ And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. ⁵¹ And it happened that while he was blessing them, he parted from them and was taken up into heaven. ⁵² And they worshiped him and* returned to Jerusalem with great joy. ⁵³ And they were _⌊continually_⌋* in the temple courts* praising God.

²¹ Therefore it is necessary for one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time in which the Lord Jesus went in and went out among us, ²² beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us—one of these men must become a witness of his resurrection together with us."

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers! Did not God choose the poor of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich exploiting you and they themselves dragging you into the courts?

²⁸ Then Midianite traders passed by. And they* drew Joseph up and brought him up from the pit, and they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph to Egypt.

³² If the ox gores a male slave or a female slave, he will give thirty shekels of silver to his master, and the ox will be stoned.

² Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard that it may be mine for a garden of vegetable plants, because it is near, beside my house, and I will give to you a better vineyard in place of it. If it is better in your eyes, I will give you the money of its price."

⁴ and the plan seemed right in the eyes of the king and in the eyes of all the assembly.

¹⁵ and* said, "What are you willing to give me if I in turn deliver him to you?" So they set out for him thirty silver coins.

¹⁰ And Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. ¹¹ And when* they heard this,* they were delighted, and promised to give him money. And he began seeking* how he could betray him conveniently.

³ And Satan entered into Judas, the one called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. ⁴ And he went away and* discussed with the chief priests and officers of the temple guard how he could betray him to them. ⁵ And they were delighted, and came to an agreement with him to give him* money. ⁶ And he agreed, and began looking* for a favorable opportunity to betray him to them apart from the crowd.

² And as* a dinner was taking place, when* the devil had already put into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot that he should betray him,

²⁷ And after the piece of bread, then Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to him, "What you are doing, do quickly!" ²⁸ (Now no one of those reclining at table knew for what reason he said this to him. ²⁹ For some were thinking because Judas had the money box, Jesus was telling him, "Purchase _⌊what we need_⌋* for the feast," or that he should give something to the poor.) ³⁰ So after he* had taken the piece of bread, he went out immediately. And it was night.

² For* he went* up like a shoot before him, and like a root from dry ground. He had no form and no majesty that* we should see him, and no appearance that* we should take pleasure in him. ³ He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering, and acquainted with* sickness, and like _⌊one from whom others hide their faces_⌋,* he was despised, and we did not hold him in high regard.

⁷ I abandoned you _⌊for a short_⌋* moment, but* I will gather you with great compassion. ⁸ I hid my face from you for a moment, in the flowing of anger, but* I will have compassion on you with everlasting faithfulness" says your redeemer, Yahweh. ⁹ "For this is like the waters of Noah to me, when I swore _⌊that the waters of Noah would never again pass_⌋* over the earth, so I swore _⌊that I would not be_⌋* angry at you and rebuke you. ¹⁰ For the mountains may depart, and the hills may sway, but* my faithfulness shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not sway," says Yahweh, who has compassion on you,

³ Then when* Judas, the one who had betrayed him, saw that he had been condemned, he regretted what he had done* and* returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and elders, ⁴ saying, "I have sinned by* betraying innocent blood!" But they said, "What is that to us? You see to it!"* ⁵ And throwing the silver coins into the temple he departed. And he went away and* hanged himself. ⁶ But the chief priests took the silver coins and* said, "It is not permitted to put them into the temple treasury, because it is _⌊blood money_⌋."* ⁷ And after* taking counsel, they purchased _⌊with_⌋* them the Potter's Field, for a burial place for strangers. ⁸ (For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood until today.) ⁹ Then what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled, who said, "And they took the thirty silver coins, the price of the one who had been priced, on whom a price had been set by the sons of Israel, ¹⁰ and they gave them for the potter's field, just as the Lord directed me."*

¹² And _⌊when he was being accused_⌋* by the chief priests and elders he answered nothing.

¹⁸ (Now this man acquired a field for the wages of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines spilled out. ¹⁹ And it became known to all who live in Jerusalem, so that that field was called in their own language* "Akeldama," that is, "Field of Blood.")

¹¹ This one* is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become _⌊the cornerstone_⌋.*

²¹ Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; together they were against Judah. In all of this his anger has not turned away, and still his hand is stretched out.

¹³ And the jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and the enemies of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not be an enemy of Ephraim.

¹⁶ "And you, son of man,* take for yourself _⌊a piece of wood_⌋,* and write on it, 'For Judah and for the _⌊Israelites_⌋* his associates,' and take another piece of wood, and write on it, 'For Joseph, the piece of wood of* Ephraim and all of the house of Israel his associates.' ¹⁷ And join them one to the other with respect to you as one piece of wood, so that they may become one in your hand. ¹⁸ _⌊When_⌋* _⌊your people_⌋* say to you, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'Will you not inform us as to what these actions mean for you?' ¹⁹ Then speak to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I am taking the piece of wood for Joseph that is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel its associates, and I will put them on it, the piece of wood of Judah, and I will make them into one piece of wood, so that they be one in my hand.'" ²⁰ And the pieces of wood on which you wrote will be in your hand before their eyes.

⁷ And when* he said this, a dispute developed between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ (For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection or angel or spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.) ⁹ And there was loud shouting, and some of the scribes from the party of the Pharisees stood up and* contended sharply, saying, "We find nothing wrong with this man! But what if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?" ¹⁰ And when* the dispute became severe, the military tribune, fearing lest Paul be torn apart by them, ordered the detachment to go down, take him away from their midst, and bring him* into the barracks.*

¹⁵ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth.

¹⁶ For where there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice.

¹ From where are conflicts and from where are quarrels among you? Is it not from this, from your pleasures that wage war among your members? ² You desire and do not have; you murder and are filled with envy, and are not able to obtain; you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, in order that you may spend it on your pleasures.

¹⁰ Make the heart of this people insensitive, and make its ears unresponsive, and shut its eyes so that it may not look with its eyes and listen with its ears and comprehend with its mind and turn back, and it may be healed for him." ¹¹ Then I said, "Until when, Lord?"
And he said,
"Until the cities lie wasted without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is ruined and a waste, ¹² and Yahweh sends the people far away, and the abandonment is great in the midst of the land.

²⁶ As the shame of a thief when he is caught in the act, so the house of Israel will be ashamed. They, their kings, their officials, and their priests, and their prophets. ²⁷ Those who say to the tree, 'You are my father,' and to the stone, 'You gave birth to me.' For they have turned their _⌊backs_⌋* to me, and not their faces. But in the time of their trouble they say, 'Arise and save us.'

¹⁴ Your prophets had a vision for you, false and worthless; they have not exposed your sin, to restore your fortune; they have seen oracles for you, false and misleading.

³ Thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Alas, for the foolish prophets who are going after their own spirit, _⌊and they did not see anything_⌋!*

¹⁷ Fools and blind people! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy?

⁴⁰ Fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?

³⁸ These twenty years I was with you; your ewes and your female goats did not miscarry, and the rams of your flocks I did not eat.

¹³ But he said to him, "My lord knows that the children are frail, and the flocks and the cattle which are nursing are a concern to me. Now if they drove them hard for a day all the flocks would die.

³⁴ And David said to Saul, "Your servant has been a shepherd of the flock for his father. If the lion or the bear would come and carry off a sheep from the group, ³⁵ I would go out after it and strike it down and rescue the sheep from its mouth. If it rose against me, I would grab it by its beard and strike it down and kill it.

¹¹ He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arm, and he will carry them in his bosom; he will lead those who nurse.

² _⌊Therefore_⌋* thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people, "You yourselves have scattered my flock, and you have driven them away, and you do not attend to them. Look, I will punish you for the evil of your deeds," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

²² But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have caused them to turn from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds.

² "Son of man,* prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and you must say to them, to the shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who were feeding themselves! Must not the shepherds feed the flock? ³ The fat you eat, and you clothe yourself with the wool; the well-nourished animals you slaughter, but you do not feed the flock. ⁴ The weak you have not strengthened, and the sick you have not healed, and _⌊with respect to_⌋* the hurt* you have not bound them up, and you have not brought back the scattered, and you have not sought the lost, but rather you ruled over them with force* and with ruthlessness. ⁵ And they were scattered _⌊without_⌋* a shepherd, and they were* as food for all the animals* of the field when they were scattered. ⁶ My flock went astray upon all of the mountains and on every high hill, and so upon all the surface of the world* my flock were scattered, and _⌊there was no one seeking them_⌋,* and _⌊there was no one searching for them_⌋."*

¹⁶ "I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the scattered, and I will bind up the one hurt, and I will strengthen the sick; and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed her with justice."

² saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses. ³ Therefore do and observe everything that they tell you, but do not do as _⌊they do_⌋,* for they tell others to do something* and do not do it themselves.* ⁴ And they tie up heavy burdens* and put them* on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing with their finger to move them.

¹³ "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you shut the kingdom of heaven before people! For you do not enter, nor permit those wanting to go in* to enter.*

¹⁵ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you travel around the sea and the dry land to make one convert, and when he becomes one,* you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are! ¹⁶ "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing! But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by his oath.'* ¹⁷ Fools and blind people! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy? ¹⁸ And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing! But whoever swears by the gift that is on it is bound by his oath.'* ¹⁹ Blind people! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? ²⁰ Therefore the one who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything that is on it. ²¹ And the one who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. ²² And the one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by the one who sits on it. ²³ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you pay a tenth of mint and dill and cumin, and neglect the more important matters of the law—justice and mercy and faithfulness! It was necessary* to do these things _⌊while not neglecting those_⌋.* ²⁴ Blind guides who filter out a gnat and swallow a camel! ²⁵ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence! ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the dish,* so that the outside of it may become clean also. ²⁷ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean! ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you also appear righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. ²⁹ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous,

⁴⁵ But if that slave should say _⌊to himself_⌋,* 'My master is taking a long time to return,' and he begins to beat the male slaves and the female slaves and to eat and drink and get drunk, ⁴⁶ the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in two and assign his place with the unbelievers.

³¹ Look, days are coming when I will cut off your _⌊strength_⌋* and the _⌊strength_⌋* of the house of your ancestor* _⌊so that no one in your house will live to old age_⌋.*

⁴ It happened at the moment the king heard the word of the man of God that he cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him!" But his hand which he stretched out to him was paralyzed, and he was not able to draw it back to himself.

⁹ And he said, "Go and say to this people,
'Keep on listening and do not comprehend! And keep on looking and do not understand!' ¹⁰ Make the heart of this people insensitive, and make its ears unresponsive, and shut its eyes so that it may not look with its eyes and listen with its ears and comprehend with its mind and turn back, and it may be healed for him."

¹⁵ Elders* and _⌊the respectable_⌋* are the head, and prophets* who teach lies* are the tail.

¹⁰ For Yahweh has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and he has shut your eyes, the prophets, and he has covered your heads, the seers.

¹⁹ Who is blind but my servant or* deaf like my messenger whom I sent? Who is blind like the one who is repaid or* blind like the servant of Yahweh? ²⁰ You see many things, but* you do not observe. His ears are open, but* he does not hear.

¹⁰ Who would form a god and cast an image of which he cannot profit?

¹ Thus says Yahweh: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah and you must speak this word there.

¹ "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the flock of my pasture," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

³² Look, I am against those who prophesy dreams of lies,"* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and tell them, and they caused my people to err through their lies, and in their recklessness, when I myself have not sent them nor commanded them, so they profit not this people at all," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

³⁵ A sword against the Chaldeans," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her officials, and against her wise men. ³⁶ A sword against the oracle priests, and they will become foolish. A sword against her warriors, and they will be filled with terror. ³⁷ A sword against his horses, and against his chariots,* and against all the foreign troops who are in the midst of her, so that they may become as women. A sword against her treasures, so that they may be plundered.

²¹ "Son of man,* the arm of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, I have broken. And look, it has not been bound up for giving of a remedy, or for the placing of a splint to bind it up to make it strong to take hold of the sword." ²² Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I am against Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and I will break his strong arm and the broken arm, and I will let the sword fall from his hand. ²³ And I will scatter Egypt among the nations, and I will disperse them among the countries. ²⁴ And I will strengthen the arm of the king of Babylon, and I will give my sword into his hand, and I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan with the groaning of the mortally wounded _⌊before him_⌋.*

² "Son of man,* prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and you must say to them, to the shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who were feeding themselves! Must not the shepherds feed the flock?

⁵ You will stumble by day, and the priest also will stumble with you at night. And I will destroy your mother; ⁶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from acting as a priest for me.* And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.* ⁷ When they became many, their sin increased against me; they changed* their glory into shame.

⁹ And then in that day," _⌊declares_⌋* my Lord Yahweh, "I* will make the sun go down at noon and I will darken the land on a day of light. ¹⁰ And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all of your songs into lament, and I will put sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head. And I will make it like the mourning for an only child, and its end like a bitter day.

⁶ Therefore it will be as night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without divination. And the sun will set on the prophets, and the day will grow dark over them. ⁷ Then the seers will be disgraced, and those practicing divination will be put to shame. All of them will cover their lips, for there is no reply from God.

¹⁶ "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing! But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by his oath.'*

⁴² "But woe to you, Pharisees, because you pay a tenth of mint and rue and every garden herb, and neglect justice and love for God! But it was necessary to do these things without neglecting those things also. ⁴³ Woe to you, Pharisees, because you love the best seat in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces! ⁴⁴ Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, and the people who walk over them* do not know it!* ⁴⁵ And one of the legal experts answered and* said to him, "Teacher, when you* say these things, you insult us also!" ⁴⁶ So he said, "Woe to you also, legal experts, because you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers! ⁴⁷ Woe to you, because you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them! ⁴⁸ As a result you are witnesses, and you approve of the deeds of your fathers, because they killed them and you build their tombs!* ⁴⁹ For this reason also the wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,' ⁵⁰ so that the blood of all the prophets that has been shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the temple building.* Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation! ⁵² Woe to you, legal experts, because you have taken away the key to knowledge! You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering!"

³⁹ And Jesus said,* "For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind!"

⁴⁰ "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they see with their* eyes and understand with their* hearts and turn, and I heal them."*

⁷ What then? What Israel was searching for, this it did not obtain. But the elect obtained it, and the rest were hardened,

⁴ Therefore, concerning the eating of food sacrificed to idols, we know that "an idol is nothing in the world" and that "there is no God except one."*

¹⁹ Therefore, what am I saying? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? ²⁰ No, but that the things which they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to become sharers with demons.