Malachi Cross References - ISV

¹ God’s First Complaint: Against His People—A Despised LoveA declaration: a message from the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
² “I’ve loved you,” says the LORD. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD, “yet I loved Jacob, ³ rejected Esau, turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to desert jackals. ⁴ Even though Edom may claim, ‘We were crushed, but we will return and rebuild the ruins,’ this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: “They may rebuild, but I’ll demolish. People will call them, ‘The Wicked Land,’ and, ‘The People With Whom the LORD is Forever Angry.’ ⁵ Your own eyes will see this, and you will say, ‘Great is the LORD even beyond the borders of Israel!’”
⁶ God’s Second Complaint: Against His Priests—A Despised Offering“A son honors his father and a servant his master. So if I’m a father, where is my honor? And if I’m a master, where is my respect?” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies to you priests who are despising my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised your name?’ ⁷ By presenting defiled food on my altar. And you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ By saying, ‘The Table of the LORD is contemptible.’ ⁸ When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Offer that to your governor—would he be pleased with you or receive you favorably?” asks the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. ⁹ “And now, go ahead and implore God by saying, ‘Be gracious to us.’ Will he receive you favorably and accept offerings like that from your hand?” asks the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.
¹⁰ Useless Offerings and Useless Altar Fires“Oh, that one of you would shut the Temple doors and not light useless fires on the altar! I’m not pleased with you,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and I’ll accept no offerings from you. ¹¹ Even so, from where the sun rises to where it sets my name will be great among the Gentiles. Incense will be brought to me everywhere, along with pure offerings, because my name will be great among the Gentiles,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. ¹² “But you are profaning my name by saying that the Table of the LORD is defiled and that its fruit and its food are contemptible.
¹³ “And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and sniff contemptuously at it,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “when you present maimed, crippled, and diseased animals, and when you bring the offering. Should I accept this from your hand?” asks the LORD. ¹⁴ “Cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock, and vows to give it, but sacrifices a mutilated one to the LORD. Indeed, I am a great king,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and my name is feared among the Gentiles.”

¹ The Destruction of BabylonA message that Amoz’s son Isaiah received about Babylon:

¹ Nahum’s VisionA pronouncement about Nineveh: The record of the vision of Nahum from Elkosh.

¹ Habakkuk’s OracleThe pronouncement that the prophet Habakkuk perceived.

¹ Call to Rebuild the TempleOn the first day of the sixth month of the second year of the reign of King Darius, this message from the LORD came by Haggai the prophet to Shealtiel’s son Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and to Jehozadak’s son Joshua, the high priest:

¹ The Future Glory of the LORD’s HouseOn the twenty-first day of the seventh month, this message from the LORD came by Haggai the prophet:

¹ Judgment on Israel’s Enemies A declaration: this message from the LORD in the land of Hadrach, with Damascus its confederate, because the eyes of humanity will look to the LORD, along with those of all the tribes of Israel.

¹ The LORD will Deliver JerusalemA declaration: a message from the LORD to Israel. “The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who frames the spirit of man within himself, declares,

²³ “Two nations are in your womb,” the LORD responded, “and two separate people will emerge. One people will be the stronger, and the older one will serve the younger.”

²⁷ So Jacob drew closer to kiss him. When Isaac smelled the scent of his son’s clothes, he blessed him and said, “How my son’s scent is the fragrance of the field that the LORD has blessed. ²⁸ May the LORD grant you dew from the skies, and from the fertile land; may he grant you abundant grain and fresh wine. ²⁹ May people serve and bow before you; may you be master over your brothers; may your mother’s sons bow before you; may anyone who curses you be cursed; and may anyone who blesses you be blessed.”
³⁰ Esau Learns of Isaac’s DeceptionJust after Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left his father Isaac, Jacob’s brother Esau returned from hunting,

³³ At this, Isaac began to tremble violently. “Who then,” he asked, “hunted some game and brought it to me to eat before you arrived, so that I’ve blessed him? Indeed, he is blessed.”

³ May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful so that your descendants become a whole group of people. ⁴ May he give you and your descendants the blessings that he gave Abraham. May you possess the land where you have lived that God gave to Abraham.”

¹³ And there was the LORD, standing above it and telling Jacob, “I am the LORD God of your grandfather Abraham. I’m Isaac’s God, too. I’m giving you and your descendants the ground on which you’re sleeping. ¹⁴ Your descendants are going to become like the dust of the earth and spread out to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants.

²⁸ “Your name won’t be Jacob anymore,” the man replied, “but Israel, because you exerted yourself against both God and men, and you’ve emerged victorious.”
²⁹ “Please,” Jacob inquired, “Tell me your name.”
But he asked, “Why are you asking about my name?” And he blessed Jacob there.
³⁰ Jacob would later call that place Peniel, because “I saw God face to face, but my life was spared.”

⁴ He told me, ‘Pay attention! I’m going to make you fruitful and numerous. I’m going to build you into a vast nation of people and then I’ll give this land to your descendants for an eternal possession.’

³⁷ Moreover, he loved your ancestors, chose their descendants after them, and brought you out of Egypt, accompanied by his presence and great power,

⁶ because you are a holy people to the LORD your God. The LORD your God chose you to be his people, his treasured possession from all the peoples on the face of the earth.”
⁷ The LORD Keeps His Covenant“It wasn’t because you were more numerous than other people of the earth that the LORD committed himself to you and chose you. In fact, you were the least numerous of all the peoples. ⁸ But the LORD loved you and kept his oath that he made to your ancestors. The LORD brought you out with great power from slavery, from the control of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

¹⁵ yet the LORD committed himself to love your ancestors—and did so! He chose you—their descendants after them—from all the nations, as it is today.

⁸ When the Most High gave nations as their inheritance, when he separated the human race, he set boundaries for the people according to the number of the children of God. ⁹ For the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is his allotted portion.
¹⁰ The LORD’s Work on Behalf of IsraelThe LORD found him in a desert land, in a barren, eerie wilderness. He surrounded, cared for, and guarded him as the pupil of his eye. ¹¹ Like an eagle stirs its nest, hovering near its young, spreading out his wings to take him and carry him on his pinions, ¹² the LORD alone guided him. There was no foreign god with him. ¹³ He mounted him on a high place above the earth, feeding him from the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and with oil from the flint rock, ¹⁴ with curds from cattle and with milk from sheep, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, with the fat of goats, with the finest of wheat— and from the juice of grapes you drank wine.

⁸ The LORD Encourages Israel“But as for you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I’ve chosen, the offspring of my friend Abraham— ⁹ you whom I encouraged from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners, and told you, ‘You’re my servant, I’ve chosen you and haven’t cast you aside.’

⁴ Since you’re precious in my sight and honored, and because I love you, I’m giving up people in your place, and nations in exchange for your life.”

⁵ This is what the LORD says: “What did your ancestors find wrong with me that they left me, and pursued worthless things, and so they became worthless?

³¹ “You, generation, pay attention to this message from the LORD! Am I the desert to Israel, or a land of gloom? Why do my people say, ‘We’re free to roam? We won’t come to you anymore.’

³ The LORD appeared to Israel from far away and said, “I’ve loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I’ve drawn you with gracious love.

⁶ God’s Second Complaint: Against His Priests—A Despised Offering“A son honors his father and a servant his master. So if I’m a father, where is my honor? And if I’m a master, where is my respect?” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies to you priests who are despising my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised your name?’ ⁷ By presenting defiled food on my altar. And you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ By saying, ‘The Table of the LORD is contemptible.’

¹⁷ God’s Fifth Complaint: Against His People—Complaining about God.“You have wearied the LORD with your words. You ask, ‘How have we wearied you?’ By your saying, ‘All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD and he’s pleased with them,’ or ‘Where is the God of justice?’”

⁷ God’s Sixth Complaint: Against His People—Gifts and Offerings“Ever since the time of your ancestors, you have turned away from my decrees and haven’t kept them. Return to me and I’ll return to you,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. “But you ask, ‘How will we return?’ ⁸ “Will a person rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “By the tithe and the offering.

¹³ God’s Seventh Complaint: Against His People—Slandering God“You have spoken arrogant words against me,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What did we say against you?’ ¹⁴ You said, ‘It is futile to serve God,’ and, ‘What did we get out of it when we carried out his requirements and went about like mourners in the presence of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies?’

²⁹ But the man wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

¹⁰ Not only that, but Rebecca became pregnant by our ancestor Isaac. ¹¹ Yet before their children had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s plan of election might continue to operate ¹² according to his calling and not by actions), Rebecca was told, “The older child will serve the younger one.” ¹³ So it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

²⁸ As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake, but as far as election is concerned, they are loved for the sake of their ancestors. ²⁹ For God’s gifts and calling never change.

³⁰ Jacob also married Rachel, since he loved her. He served Laban another full seven years’ work for Rachel.
³¹ Leah’s ChildrenLater, the LORD noticed that Leah was being neglected, so he made her fertile, while Rachel remained childless.

¹⁵ Preferential Treatment Prohibited“If a man has two wives where one is loved but the other is unloved, and both of them bear him sons, but the firstborn is the son of the unloved wife, ¹⁶ then when he bequeaths his possessions to his sons, he must not give preference to the firstborn of the beloved wife over the firstborn of the unloved wife.

²¹ But desert beasts will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there owls will dwell, and goat-demons will dance there. ²² Hyenas will howl in its strongholds, and jackals will make their dens in its citadels. Its time is close at hand, and its days will not be extended any further.

⁹ Edom’s streams will be turned into burning sulfur, and its dust into sulfur; its land will become pitch. ¹⁰ It will burn night and day, and will never be extinguished. Its smoke will rise from generation to generation, and it will lie desolate forever and ever. And no one will pass through it. ¹¹ “But hawks and hedgehogs will possess it; owls and ravens will nest in it. God will stretch out over it a measuring line, and chaos, and plumb lines of emptiness, and its nobles. ¹² They will name it “No Kingdom There,” and all its princes will come to nothing. ¹³ Thorns will grow over its palaces, nettles and brambles its fortresses. It will become a haunt for jackals, a home for ostriches. ¹⁴ And desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and goat-demons will call out to each other. There also Liliths will settle, and find for themselves a resting place.

⁷ the burning sands will become a pool, and the thirsty ground fountains of water. In the haunts of jackals there will be a verdant resting place with reeds and rushes.”

¹¹ “I’ll make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a refuge for jackals. I’ll make the towns of Judah desolate, without inhabitants.”

¹⁰ But I’ll strip Esau bare. I’ll uncover his hiding places so he cannot conceal himself. His offspring, his relatives, and his neighbors will be destroyed, and he will no longer exist.

¹⁶ The terror you cause and the pride of your heart have deceived you. You who live in hidden places in the rocks, who hold on to the heights of the hill, although you make your nest high like the eagle, I’ll bring you down from there,” declares the LORD.
¹⁷ “Edom will become an object of horror. Everyone who passes by her will be horrified and will scoff because of all her wounds. ¹⁸ Just like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,” says the LORD, “no one will live there. No human being will reside in it.

³⁷ Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a refuge for jackals, a desolate place and an object of scorn.

¹³ therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I’m going to raise my clenched fist in Edom’s direction and eliminate every single human being and animal from Edom! I’m going to turn everything into a wasteland, starting with Teman, and Dedan will fall by violence! ¹⁴ I’m going to inundate Edom with my retribution, using my people Israel to carry it out! They’ll deliver my anger, acting as an agent of my fury. Edom will come to know my vengeance,’ declares the Lord GOD.’”

³ Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Watch out! I’m coming to get you, Mount Seir! I’m stretching out my hand to strike you, and I’m going to turn you into a desolate wasteland. ⁴ I’m going to turn your cities into ghost towns, and you will become a ruin. Then you will learn that I am the LORD.

⁷ I’m turning Mount Seir over to ruin and desolation. I’m going to eliminate everyone who comes and goes, ⁸ and I’ll fill that mountain with the dead. Those who die by violence will cover your hills, and fill your valleys and all your ravines!

³ “Therefore this is what you are to prophesy: ‘Here’s what the Lord GOD says, “You’ve been turned into a desolate wasteland and crushed by everyone who surrounds you for a very, very good reason. You’ve become the property of all the other nations and you’ve become the object of gossip and whispering campaigns of the nations.”’”
⁴ “Therefore listen to what the Lord GOD has to say, you mountains of Israel: ‘This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains, to the hills, to the waterways, to the valleys, to the desolate wastelands, and to the abandoned cities that have become an object of derision to the mountains that surround you:

⁷ “Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “I hereby raise my hand to swear this oath: the nations that surround you will have their own mockery to endure!

⁹ The Future of Israel’s Mountains“Watch me! I’m on your side! I’ll be turning in your direction, and you mountains will be plowed and planted.

¹⁴ therefore you will no longer devour human beings or leave their nation childless,’ declares the Lord GOD. ¹⁵ ‘I won’t let you hear other people mock you, and no nation will ever make you childless again,’ declares the Lord GOD.”

¹⁹ Egypt will be desolate, and Edom will be a desert, because of violence against the people of Judah since they shed innocent blood in their land.

¹⁰ “Shame will overwhelm you because of the violence you inflicted on your brother Jacob, and you will be excluded forever.

¹⁸ “The house of Jacob will be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, but the house of Esau will be kindling. Then Jacob and Joseph will burn and consume Esau, and no survivor will remain from the house of Esau.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken it. ¹⁹ “Those in the Negev will possess Esau’s Mountain, and those in the Shephelah the Philistines. They will possess the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria, while Benjamin will possess the territory of Gilead. ²⁰ The exiles, the Israeli host, will possess the territory of the Canaanites all the way to Zarephath. The exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the cities of the Negev. ²¹ Deliverers will assemble on Mount Zion to judge Esau’s Mountain, and to the LORD will the kingdom belong!”

²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, as well as his own life, he can’t be my disciple.

⁴ He is wise in heart and strong in will— who can be stubborn against him and succeed?

¹⁴ When he tears down, nobody rebuilds; when he incarcerates, nobody escapes.

²⁹ “If he remains silent, who will condemn him? If he conceals his face, who can see him? He watches over both nation and individual alike,

¹ A Solomonic Song of Ascents
God’s Blessing in the Family Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor uselessly. Unless the LORD guards the city, its security forces keep watch uselessly.

⁷ Remember the day of Jerusalem’s fall, LORD, because of the Edomites, who kept saying, “Tear it down! Tear it right down to its foundations!”

³⁰ No wisdom, insight, or counsel can prevail against the LORD.

⁹ and all of the people were evil— Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria— saying proudly with arrogant hearts: ¹⁰ ‘The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamore trees have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.’

⁴ so you won’t have to crouch among those in chains or fall among the slain? “Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.”

¹⁵ “Does the ax exalt itself over the one who swings it? Or does the saw magnify itself in opposition to the one who wields it? As if a rod were to wield those who lift it, or as if a club were to brandish the one who is not wood! ¹⁶ Therefore, the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies will send a wasting disease among Assyria’s sturdy warriors, and under its glory a conflagration will be kindled, like a blazing bonfire.

¹⁴ But they will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines to the west, and they will plunder the people to the east. They’ll lay their hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them.

⁵ For my sword will be seen in the heavens. Look! It descends in judgment on Edom, on the people I have doomed to destruction.

¹⁰ It will burn night and day, and will never be extinguished. Its smoke will rise from generation to generation, and it will lie desolate forever and ever. And no one will pass through it.

¹ God’s Day of Vengeance “Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, in garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in such splendor, marching in his great might? It is I, speaking in vindication, mighty to save. ² “Why is your clothing red, and your garments like those worn by the ones who tread in the winepress? ³ “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from my people no one was with me, I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and I stained all my clothing. ⁴ “For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year for my redeeming work had come. ⁵ I looked, but there was no helper, I was appalled that there was no one to give support; so my own arm brought me victory, and as for my wrath, it supported me. ⁶ I trampled people in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and I poured out their lifeblood on the ground.”

¹⁷ There is hope for your future,” declares the LORD. “Your children will return to their own territory.”

³⁷ Who can command, and it happens, without the Lord having ordered it?

²¹ Celebrate and rejoice, you women of Edom, who live in the land of Uz. But to you the cup also will pass— you will become drunk and stripped naked. ²² The punishment for your sin is complete, you women of Zion, and God will no longer exile you. He will punish your iniquity, you women of Edom, and he will expose your sins.

¹⁰ You’re going to die violently, and I’ll judge you as far as the borders of Israel. Then you’ll learn that I am the LORD.

¹⁴ I’m going to inundate Edom with my retribution, using my people Israel to carry it out! They’ll deliver my anger, acting as an agent of my fury. Edom will come to know my vengeance,’ declares the Lord GOD.’”

⁹ I will turn you into an everlasting wasteland, and your cities will never be inhabited. Then you’ll learn that I am the LORD!

² Cross over to Calneh and look around, then go on to that great city of Hamath, and from there go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory more extensive than yours?

³ rejected Esau, turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to desert jackals.

³⁰ The person who isn’t with me is against me, and the person who isn’t gathering with me is scattering.

¹³ Do Not Boast about Future PlansNow listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town, stay there a year, conduct business, and make money.” ¹⁴ You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead you should say, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live—and do this or that.” ¹⁶ But you boast about your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil.

³ You saw with your own eyes what he did in Baal Peor. The LORD your God exterminated from among you every man who followed Baal of Peor.

⁷ Your very own eyes saw all the great things that the LORD did.”

⁷ But when they cried out to the LORD, he placed darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon the Egyptians, and swallowed them up. Your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you lived in the desert for a long time.

¹⁶ “Now then, stand up and see this great thing that the LORD is about to do before your eyes.

⁸ That’s why the LORD was angry with Judah and Jerusalem and made them an object of terror, horror, and derision, as you’ve seen with your own eyes.

²⁶ Instead, let those who gloat over the evil directed against me be ashamed and confounded together; Let those who exalt themselves over me be clothed with shame and dishonor. ²⁷ Let those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and rejoice! Let them continuously say, “Magnify the LORD, who delights in giving peace to his servant.”

¹⁰ The righteous person will rejoice when he sees your vengeance; when he washes his feet in the blood of the wicked. ¹¹ A person will say, “Certainly, the righteous are rewarded; certainly there is a God who judges the earth.”

¹⁷ Let them be humiliated and terrified permanently until they die in shame. ¹⁸ Then they will know that you alone— whose name is LORD— are the Most High over all the earth.

¹⁶ You’ll come up to invade my people Israel like a storm cloud to cover the land. In the last days, Gog, I’ll bring you up to invade my land so that the world will learn to know me when I show them how holy I am before their very eyes.”’”

²³ I will exalt myself and demonstrate my holiness, making myself known to many people, who will learn that I am the LORD.’”

²¹ ‘I’m going to display my glory among the people, and every nation will see the judgment that I administer by my own hand among them. ²² The house of Israel will learn that I am the LORD their God from that day forward!

⁴ “Then he will take his stand, shepherding by means of the strength of the LORD, by the power of the name of the LORD his God. And they will be firmly established; indeed, from then on he will become great— to the ends of the earth.

²³ Then turning to his disciples in private, he told them, “How blessed are the eyes that see what you see! ²⁴ Because I tell you, many prophets and kings wanted to see the things you see but didn’t see them, and to hear the things you hear but didn’t hear them.”

²² You are to say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: “Israel is my firstborn son. ²³ And I say to you, ‘Let my son go so he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, then I will kill your firstborn son.’”’”

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.ו

³ “Each of you is to fear his mother and father.
“Observe my Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.

¹⁶ “‘You are to honor your father and your mother, just as the LORD your God commanded you, so that your life will be long and things will go well for you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.ו

²⁸ that I had chosen him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer up burnt offerings on my altar, burn incense, and carry the ephod in my presence? And did I not give to your ancestors’ family all the Israeli fire-offerings? ²⁹ Why, then, do all of you show contempt for my sacrifice and offering that I’ve commanded for my dwelling? And you honor your sons more than me in order to fatten yourselves from the best of all the offerings of my people Israel.’
³⁰ “Therefore, the LORD God of Israel has declared, ‘I did, in fact, say that your family and your ancestor’s family would walk before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares, ‘Far be it from me! The one who honors me I’ll honor, and the one who despises me is to be treated with contempt.

¹¹ Some people curse their fathers and won’t bless their mothers.

¹⁷ The eye that mocks a father and looks with a disobedient attitude at a mother— the valley ravens will pluck it out; and vultures will eat it.

² Rebellious JudahListen, you heavens, and let the earth pay attention, because the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them to adulthood, but then they rebelled against me.

⁸ God, our Father, will ActBut as for you, O LORD, you are our Father; and we are clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hands.

²¹ I planted you myself as a choice vine, from the very best seed. How did you turn against me into a degenerate and foreign vine? ²² Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Lord GOD.

³⁰ “An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: ³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?”

¹¹ Indeed, both priest and prophet are ungodly. Even in my house I find evil,” declares the LORD.

⁹ They’ll come crying, and I’ll lead them as they pray for mercy. I’ll make them walk by streams of water, along a straight path on which they won’t stumble. For I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn.”

²⁶ Her priests have violated my Law and profaned my sacred things. They didn’t differentiate between what’s sacred and what’s common. They didn’t instruct others to discern clean from unclean things. They refused to keep my Sabbaths.
“‘I’m constantly being profaned among them.

⁶ My people are destroyed because they lack knowledge of me. Because you rejected that knowledge, I will reject you as a priest for me. Since you forget the Law of your God, I will also forget your children.

¹ Judgment against Israel “Hear this, priests, pay attention, house of Israel, listen, royal family! For judgment is coming your way, because you have been a trap to Mizpah, a snare spread out on Mount Tabor.

⁸ Ephraim claims, ‘I have become rich, I have made a fortune! Because of all my wealth, no one will find any iniquity or sin in me.’

⁸ “But you priests turned aside from the way, and by your teaching you caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

¹⁴ Yet you ask, ‘For what reason?’ Because the LORD acts as a witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you were unfaithful to her, your partner, the wife of your covenant. ¹⁵ Did he not make them one? And the vestige of the spirit remains in him. And why did he make them one? He was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and don’t be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
¹⁶ “Indeed, the LORD God of Israel says that he hates divorce, along with the one who conceals his violence by outward appearances,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. “So guard yourselves carefully, and don’t be unfaithful.”
¹⁷ God’s Fifth Complaint: Against His People—Complaining about God.“You have wearied the LORD with your words. You ask, ‘How have we wearied you?’ By your saying, ‘All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD and he’s pleased with them,’ or ‘Where is the God of justice?’”

⁹ Therefore, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

¹⁴ Because if you forgive people their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive people their offenses, your Father will not forgive your offenses.”

²¹ I Never Knew You
“Not everyone who keeps saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom from heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my Father in heaven.

⁴ Because God said, ‘You are to honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever curses father or mother must certainly be put to death.’

⁶ does not have to honor his father.’ Because of your tradition, then, you have disregarded the authority of God’s word.

¹⁹ honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘you must love your neighbor as yourself.’”

¹⁰ Because Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever curses his father or mother must certainly be put to death.’

¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Never murder.’ ‘Never commit adultery.’ ‘Never steal.’ ‘Never give false testimony.’ ‘Never cheat.’ ‘Honor your father and mother.’”

³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

⁴⁶ The Two Foundations
“Why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but don’t do what I tell you?

²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘Never commit adultery. Never murder. Never steal. Never give false testimony. Honor your father and mother.’”

¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right because that is what I am. ¹⁴ So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you must also wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I’ve set an example for you, so that you may do as I have done to you. ¹⁶ Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, a servant isn’t greater than his master, and a messenger isn’t greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you understand these things, how blessed you are if you put them into practice!

² “Honor your father and mother…” (This is a very important commandment with a promise.)

¹ Duties of Servants and MastersAll who are under the yoke of slavery should regard their own masters as deserving of the highest respect, so that the name of God and our teaching may not be discredited. ² Moreover, those who have believing masters should be respectful to them, because they are fellow believers. In fact, they must serve them even better, because those who benefit from their service are believers and dear to them. These are the things you must teach and exhort.

⁹ Slaves are to submit to their masters in everything, aiming to please them and not argue with them ¹⁰ or steal from them. Instead, they are to show complete and perfect loyalty, so that in every way they may make the teaching about God our Savior more attractive.

¹⁷ If you call “Father” the one who judges everyone impartially according to what they have done, you must live in reverent fear as long as you are strangers in a strange land.

¹⁷ Honor everyone. Keep on loving the community of believers, fearing God, and honoring the king.
¹⁸ Suffer PatientlyYou household servants must submit yourselves to your masters out of respect, not only to those who are kind and fair, but also to those who are unjust. ¹⁹ For it is a fine thing if, when moved by your conscience to please God, you suffer patiently when wronged.

¹¹ Prohibitions Regarding Yeast“Any grain offering that you bring to the LORD is not to be prepared with yeast, because anything with leaven and honey may not be offered in smoke as an offering by fire to the LORD.

⁶ They are to be holy to their God. They are not to defile the name of their God, because they’re the ones who bring the offerings of the LORD made by fire—the food of their God—so they are to be holy.

²¹ If it has a blemish—lameness, blindness, or any kind of defect—you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

¹⁵ But even before they burned the fat, the servant of the priest would come and say to the person offering the sacrifice, “Give me meat to roast for the priest. He won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.” ¹⁶ If the man told him, “They must surely burn up the fat first, and then take for yourself whatever you desire,” the servant would say, “No, give it now, and if you don’t, I’ll take it by force!” ¹⁷ By doing this, the sin of the young men was very serious in the LORD’s sight because the men despised the LORD’s offering.

²² The altar was made of wood, three cubits high and two cubits long. Its corners, base, and sides were of wood. He told me, “This table stands in the LORD’s presence.”

⁸ When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Offer that to your governor—would he be pleased with you or receive you favorably?” asks the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

¹² “But you are profaning my name by saying that the Table of the LORD is defiled and that its fruit and its food are contemptible.

²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot dine with the Lord and dine with demons,

²¹ For as you eat, each of you rushes to eat his own supper, and one person goes hungry while another gets drunk. ²² You have homes in which to eat and drink, don’t you? Or do you despise God’s church and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I will not praise you for this!

²⁷ Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks from the cup in an unworthy manner will be held responsible for the Lord’s body and blood. ²⁸ A person must examine himself and then eat the bread and drink from the cup, ²⁹ because whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. ³⁰ That’s why so many of you are weak and sick and a considerable number are dying. ³¹ But if we judged ourselves correctly, we would not be judged. ³² Now, while we are being judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so we won’t be condemned along with the world.

¹⁹ so that he’ll be sure to be accepted, he is to offer a male without defect from the bulls, the lambs, and the goats. ²⁰ However, whatever has a defect is not to be offered, because it won’t be acceptable for you.
²¹ “If a person brings a peace offering sacrifice to the LORD to fulfill a vow or a free will offering from the herd or the flock, it is to be sound in order to be accepted, without any defect in it. ²² You are not to bring to the LORD an offering that is blind, fractured, mutilated, or infected with ulcers, scurvy, or scales. You are not to present any of them as an offering made by fire on the altar for the LORD.
²³ “You may offer a bull or lamb that has one limb longer than the other or that is stunted as a free will offering, but it’s not acceptable in fulfillment of a promise. ²⁴ You are not to bring to the LORD an animal that has been emasculated, crushed, torn, or cut apart. You are not to practice this in your land. ²⁵ A resident alien is not to offer as food to your God any of these items, because they are afflicted with ritual corruption due to their defects. They’re not acceptable for you.”

⁸ So take seven bulls and seven rams and bring them to my servant Job. And bring a whole burnt offering for yourselves and my servant Job will pray for you. I’ll encourage him by not responding as your disgraceful folly deserves, since you didn’t speak about me correctly as did my servant Job.

³ May he remember all your gifts, and may he accept your burnt offerings. Interlude

¹⁰ God Responds to the ProphetThis is what the LORD says to these people: “Yes, they do love to wander, and they haven’t restrained their feet. So the LORD won’t accept them now. He will remember their iniquity and punish their sin.”

¹³ They offer me meat from the sacrifices of my offerings, and they eat from it, but the LORD does not accept them. He will now remember their transgression and pay them back for their sins; to Egypt they will return.

¹⁰ Useless Offerings and Useless Altar Fires“Oh, that one of you would shut the Temple doors and not light useless fires on the altar! I’m not pleased with you,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and I’ll accept no offerings from you.

¹³ “And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and sniff contemptuously at it,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “when you present maimed, crippled, and diseased animals, and when you bring the offering. Should I accept this from your hand?” asks the LORD. ¹⁴ “Cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock, and vows to give it, but sacrifices a mutilated one to the LORD. Indeed, I am a great king,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and my name is feared among the Gentiles.”

¹¹ But Moses implored the LORD his God: “LORD, why are you angry with your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a show of force?

²⁷ After this, the priests arose, blessed the people, and their voices were heard in prayer all the way to heaven, where God resides in holiness.

¹⁹ “Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone in Judah kill him? Didn’t he fear the LORD and seek the LORD’s favor, and so the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he had spoken to them about. We’re bringing great disaster on ourselves.

¹⁸ If they’re prophets, and if they have a message from the LORD, let them plead with the LORD of the Heavenly Armies so that the utensils that remain in the LORD’s Temple, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem might not be taken to Babylon.

¹⁹ Get up and cry aloud in the night, at the beginning of every hour. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord! Lift up your hands toward him for the lives of your children, who are fainting away at every street corner.

¹³ A Call to Mourn and Repent“Put on your mourning clothes, you priests; and cry aloud, you ministering servants at the altar! Come! Stay the night in mourner’s clothes, you ministers of my God, because the grain offering and the wine offering is held back from the Temple of your God. ¹⁴ Set apart time for a fast! Call a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and everyone living in the land to the Temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD!”

¹⁷ As they serve between the porch and the altar, let the priests and ministers of the LORD weep and pray: ‘Spare your people, LORD, and do not make your heritage a disgrace so that nations ridicule them. Why should they say among the people, “Where is their God?”’”

¹ The Vision of the High PriestThen I saw Joshua the High Priest standing in the presence of the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right to oppose him.
² The LORD told Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan—in fact, may the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! This man is a burning brand plucked from the fire, is he not?”
³ Now Joshua was wearing filthy clothes as he stood in the presence of the angel.
⁴ So the angel continued to tell those who were standing in his presence, “Remove his filthy clothes.”
And he told Joshua, “Look how I’ve removed your iniquity. Now I’m clothing you with fine garments.”
⁵ Then I said, “Let them place a pure diadem on his head.”
So they placed the pure diadem on his head and clothed him with fine garments while the angel of the LORD was standing beside them.

³¹ We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he does listen to anyone who worships him and does his will.

¹⁵ But the evil spirit told them, “Jesus I know, and I am getting acquainted with Paul, but who are you?”
¹⁶ Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them, got the better of them, and so violently overpowered all of them that they fled out of the house naked and bruised.

¹¹ because God does not show partiality.

²⁶ We need such a high priest—one who is holy, innocent, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ He has no need to offer sacrifices every day like high priests do, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he sacrificed himself.

⁹ But in response, Satan asked the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? ¹⁰ Haven’t you surrounded him with a fence on all sides, around his house, and around all that he owns? You have blessed everything he puts his hands on and you have increased his livestock in the land. ¹¹ However, stretch out your hand and strike everything he owns, and he will curse you to your face.”

¹¹ “How do your voluminous sacrifices benefit me?” the LORD is asking. “I’ve had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts. I don’t enjoy the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats. ¹² “When you come to present yourselves in my presence, who has required you to trample on my courts? ¹³ Stop bringing useless offerings! Incense is detestable to me, as are your New Moons, Sabbaths, and calling of convocations. I cannot stand iniquity within a solemn assembly. ¹⁴ As for your New Moons and your appointed festivals, I abhor them. They’ve become a burden to me; I’ve grown weary of carrying that burden. ¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer, I’ll hide my eyes from you. Even though you pray repeatedly, I won’t listen. Your hands are full of blood, your fingers drenched with iniquity.”

¹¹ Meanwhile, the dogs have a mighty appetite— they can never get enough. And as for them, they are the shepherds who lack understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, each and every one. ¹² “‘Come!’ they say, ‘let’s have some wine, and let’s fill ourselves with strong drink! Then, tomorrow will be like today, or even much better!’”

¹³ “Indeed, from the least important to the most important, they’re all greedy for dishonest gain. From prophet to priest, they all act deceitfully.

²⁰ What good is frankincense that comes from Sheba to me, or sweet cane from a distant country? Your burnt offerings aren’t acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.”

¹⁰ Therefore, I’ll give their wives to others, and their fields to new owners. Indeed, from the least important to the most important, they’re all greedy for dishonest gain. From prophet to priest, they all act deceitfully.

¹² Although they fast, I won’t listen to their cry, and although they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I won’t accept them. Instead, I’ll put an end to them with the sword, with famine, and with a plague.”

⁶ They will go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.

²¹ Let Justice Roll On“I hate—I despise—your festival days, and your solemn convocations stink. ²² And if you send up burnt offerings to me as well as your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I consider your peace offerings of fattened cattle. ²³ Spare me your noisy singing— I will not listen to your musical instruments. ²⁴ “But let justice roll on like many waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing river.

¹¹ Her leaders judge for the money, her priests teach only when they’re paid, and her prophets prophesy for cash. Even so, don’t they all rely on the LORD as they ask, ‘The LORD is among us, is he not? Nothing bad can possibly happen to us!’

¹² The hired worker, who isn’t the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, deserts the sheep, and runs away. So the wolf snatches them and scatters them,

¹³ You know that those who work in the Temple get their food from the Temple and that those who serve at the altar get their share of its offerings, don’t you?

²¹ For all the others look after their own interests, not after those of Jesus the Messiah.

³⁸ but my righteous one will live by faith, and if he turns back, my soul will take no pleasure in him.”

² Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over it, not because you must but because you want to, and not greedily but eagerly, as God desires.

²⁷ All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD; all the families of the nations will bow in submission to the LORD. ²⁸ Indeed, the kingdom belongs to the LORD; he rules over the nations. ²⁹ All the prosperous people will eat and bow down in submission. All those who are about to go down to the grave will bow down in submission, along with the one who can no longer keep himself alive. ³⁰ Our descendants will serve him, and that generation will be told about the Lord. ³¹ They will come and declare his righteousness to a people yet to be born; indeed, he has accomplished it!

¹ A song of Asaph.
The Acceptable Sacrifice God, the LORD, has spoken. He has summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting place.

² Let your ways be known by all the nations of the earth, along with your deliverance.

¹¹ May all kings bow down to him, and all nations serve him. ¹² For he will deliver the needy when they cry out for help, and the poor when there is no deliverer. ¹³ He will have compassion on the poor and the needy, and he will save the lives of the needy. ¹⁴ He will redeem them from oppression and violence, since their lives are precious in his sight.
¹⁵ Prayer for the KingMay he live long and be given gold from Sheba, and may prayer be offered for him continuously, and may he be blessed every day. ¹⁶ May grain be abundant in the land all the way to the mountain tops; may its fruits flourish like the forests of Lebanon, and may the cities sprout like the grass of the earth.
¹⁷ Praising the God of IsraelMay his fame be eternal— as long as the sun— may his name endure, and may they be blessed through him, and may all nations call him blessed.

¹ A psalm
Sing Praise to the King Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done awesome deeds! His right hand and powerful arm have brought him victory. ² The LORD has made his deliverance known; he has disclosed his justice before the nations. ³ He has remembered his gracious love; his faithfulness toward the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth saw our God’s deliverance.

³ From rising to setting sun, may the name of the LORD be praised.

² Let my prayer be like incense offered before you, and my uplifted hands like the evening sacrifice.

⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy on my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”
¹⁰ Israel RegatheredAt that time, as to the root of Jesse, who will be standing as a banner for the peoples, the nations will rally to him, and his resting place is glorious.

¹⁴ Glorifying God“They raise their voices; they shout for joy; from the west they shout aloud over the LORD’s majesty. ¹⁵ Therefore, you in the east, give glory to the LORD! You in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the LORD God of Israel! ¹⁶ From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise: ‘Glory to the Righteous One!’ “But I say, ‘I am pining away, I’m pining away. How terrible things are for me! For treacherous people betray— treacherous people are betraying with treachery!’”

¹⁰ Praise in Song to GodSing to the LORD a new song, and his praise from the ends of the earth, you who sail down the sea and by everything in it, you coastlands and their inhabitants. ¹¹ Let the desert cry out, its towns and the villages where Kedar lives; and let those who live in Sela sing for joy. Let them shout aloud from the mountaintops. ¹² Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.

⁶ so that from the sun’s rising to the west people may know that there is none besides me. “I am the LORD, and there is no other.”

²² Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other.
²³ Every Knee will BowBy myself I have sworn— from my mouth has gone out integrity, a promise that won’t be revoked: ‘To me every knee will bow, and every tongue will swear. ’

⁶ he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Israel and bring back those of Jacob I have preserved. I’ll also make you as a light to the nations, to be my salvation to the ends of the earth. ⁷ “This is what my Lord says— the LORD your Redeemer, O Israel, and his Holy One— to one despised by people, to those abhorred as a nation, to the servant of rulers: “Kings see and arise, and princes will bow down, because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, the one who has chosen you.”

²² “For this what the LORD says, ‘Watch! I’ll lift up my hand to the nations and raise my banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.’ ²³ “Oh, yes! Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens will be your nursing mothers. They will bow to you with their faces to the ground, and lick the dust from your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.

¹ The Coming Glory of Israel “Sing, you barren woman, even the one who never bore a child! Burst into song and shout for joy, even you who were never in labor! For the children of the desolate woman will be more than the children of her that is married,” says the LORD. ² “Enlarge the location of your tent, let the curtains of your dwellings be stretched wide, and don’t hold back. Lengthen your cords; strengthen your stakes. ³ For you will spread out to the right hand and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations and will populate the deserted towns.

⁵ For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of the Heavenly Armies is his name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of the whole earth.

¹⁹ So people will fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glories from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a pent-up stream that the breath of the LORD drives along.

¹ The Light of God’s Deliverance “Arise, shine! For your light has come; the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. ² For look! Darkness will cover the earth and thick darkness is over the people, but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. ³ Nations will come to your light, and kings before your dawn. ⁴ “Lift up your eyes and look around: They all gather together, they come to you; your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried on the hip.” ⁵ Then you will look and be radiant; your heart will swell with joy, because the abundance of the seas will be diverted to you, and the riches of the nations will come to you. ⁶ Throngs of camels will blanket you: the young camels of Midian and Ephu; all those from Shebu will come. They’ll carry gold and frankincense, and proclaim the praise of the LORD. ⁷ All Kedar’s flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you. and they’ll come up with acceptance upon my altar, and I’ll glorify my glorious house.”
⁸ The Future Restoration of Zion“Who are these that fly like clouds, and like doves to their windows? ⁹ For the coastlands will look to me, with the ships of Tarshish in the lead, to bring my children from far away, their silver and gold with them, to the name of the LORD your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you. ¹⁰ “Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in my anger I struck you down, in my favor I have shown you mercy. ¹¹ Your gates will always stand open by day or night, and they will not be shut, so that nations will bring you their wealth, with their kings led in procession.

¹⁶ You’ll suck the milk of nations, You’ll suck the breasts of kings. Then you will realize that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. ¹⁷ “Instead of bronze, I’ll bring gold, and instead of iron, I’ll bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. I’ll appoint peace as your supervisor and righteousness as your taskmaster. ¹⁸ Then violence will no longer be heard in your land, nor devastation or destruction within your borders; but you’ll call your walls ‘Salvation’, and your gates ‘Praise’. ¹⁹ “The sun will no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness will the moon shine on you by night— for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. ²⁰ Your sun won’t set, nor will your moon withdraw itself— for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning will end. ²¹ Then your people will all be righteous; They’ll possess the land forever. They are the shoot that the LORD planted, the works of his hands, so that I might be glorified. ²² The least of them will become a thousand, and the smallest one a mighty nation. “I am the LORD; When the time is right, I will do this swiftly.”

¹⁹ “I will put up signs among them, and from them I will send survivors to the nations—to Tarshish, Libya, and Lydia, (who draw the bow), to Tubal and Greece, to the far off coastlands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. Then they will proclaim my glory among the nations. ²⁰ They will bring all—yes, all!— of your kindred from all the nations to my holy mountain Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD—on horses, in chariots, in wagons, and on mules—yes, even on mules!— and on camels,” says the LORD, “just as the Israelis bring a grain offering in a clean vessel to the LORD’s house.

¹² so my people may inherit the remnant of Edom and all of the nations that bear my name,” declares the LORD who is bringing this about.

¹¹ The LORD will incite them to terror, because he will cause all the gods of the earth to waste away. They will worship him, every person in his own home, including even the coastlands of the nations.”
The LORD’s Rebuke to Cush and Nineveh

⁹ Indeed, then I will return my people to a pure language so that they all may call upon the name of the LORD, serving him with a united will.

⁷ “This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: ‘Look! After having saved my people from the land of the east and from the land of the west,

²⁰ Future Visits by Nations to Jerusalem“This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: ‘In the future, people will come, including residents of many cities, ²¹ and they will travel from one place to another place and say, “Let’s go quickly to pray in the presence of the LORD and to inquire of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.’ And I will go, too. ²² Many people and powerful nations will come to inquire of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies in Jerusalem, and to pray in the presence of the LORD.”’”
²³ “This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: ‘In the future, ten men speaking all the languages of the nations will grab hold of one Jewish person by the hem of his garment and say, “Let us go up to Jerusalem with you, because we heard that God is with you.”’”

¹⁴ “Cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock, and vows to give it, but sacrifices a mutilated one to the LORD. Indeed, I am a great king,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and my name is feared among the Gentiles.”

⁹ Therefore, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. ¹⁰ May your kingdom come. May your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

¹⁹ Therefore, as you go, disciple people in all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

¹⁰ And the entire congregation of people was praying outside at the time when the incense was burned.

²¹ Jesus told her, “Believe me, dear lady, the hour is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You don’t know what you’re worshiping. We Jews know what we’re worshiping, because salvation comes from the Jews. ²³ Yet the time is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Indeed, the Father is looking for people like that to worship him.

³⁰ Cornelius replied, “Four days ago at this very hour, three o’clock in the afternoon, I was praying in my home. All at once a man in radiant clothes stood in front of me ³¹ and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard. God has remembered your gifts to the poor, ³² so send messengers to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter, to come to you. He is a guest in the home of Simon, a leatherworker, by the sea.’ ³³ So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. All of us are here now in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has ordered you to say.”
³⁴ Then Peter began to speak: “Now I understand that God shows no partiality. ³⁵ Indeed, whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him in any nation.

¹⁷ so that the rest of the people may search for the Lord, including all the gentiles who are called by my name,’ declares the Lord. ‘He is the one who has been doing these things ¹⁸ that have been known from long ago.’

¹ Dedicate Your Lives to GodI therefore urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercies, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices that are holy and pleasing to God, for this is the reasonable way for you to worship.

⁹ so that the gentiles may glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “That is why I will praise you among the gentiles; I will sing praises to your name.”
¹⁰ Again he says, “Rejoice, you gentiles, with his people!”
¹¹ And again, “Praise the Lord, all you gentiles! Let all the nations praise him.”

¹⁶ to be a minister of the Messiah Jesus to the gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering brought by gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸ I have been paid in full and have more than enough. I am fully supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus what you sent—a fragrant aroma, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

⁸ Instructions to Men and WomenTherefore, I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without being angry or argumentative.

¹⁵ Therefore, through him let us always bring God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of our lips that confess his name. ¹⁶ Do not neglect to do good and to be generous, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.

⁸ When the lamb had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders bowed down in front of him. Each held a harp and a gold bowl full of incense, the prayers of the saints.

³ Another angel came with a gold censer and stood at the altar. He was given a large quantity of incense to offer on the gold altar before the throne, along with the prayers of all the saints. ⁴ The smoke from the incense and the prayers of the saints went up from the angel’s hand to God.

¹⁵ The Vision of the Seventh Angel Blowing His TrumpetWhen the seventh angel blew his trumpet, there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The world’s kingdom has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will rule forever and ever.”

⁴ Lord, who won’t fear and praise your name? For you alone are holy, and all the nations will come and worship you because your judgments have been revealed.”

⁴ Meanwhile, certain riff-raff among the people had an insatiable appetite for food. As a result, they wept and turned back, and the Israelis cried out, “If only somebody would feed us some meat! ⁵ How we remember the fish that we used to eat in Egypt for free! And the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic! ⁶ But now we can’t stand it anymore, because there’s nothing in front of us except this manna.”
⁷ Now manna was reminiscent of coriander seed, with an appearance similar to amber. ⁸ People would go out to gather it, then they would grind it in mills or pound it in mortars, and then they would boil it in pots or make cakes out of it that tasted like butter cakes.

¹⁴ Nevertheless, because you have despised the LORD’s enemies with utter contempt, the son born to you will most certainly die.”

²¹ I’ve been concerned about my holy reputation, which the house of Israel has been defiling throughout all of the nations where they’ve gone.”
²² The Coming Renewal of Israel“Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “I’m not about to act for your sake, you house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy reputation, which you have been defiling throughout all of the nations where you’ve gone. ²³ I’m going to affirm my great reputation that has been defiled among the nations (that is, that you have defiled in their midst), and those people will learn that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I affirm my holiness in front of their very eyes.

³ As ordered, they brought in the gold vessels that had been taken from the sanctuary of God’s Temple in Jerusalem, and the king, his officials, his wives, and mistresses drank from them. ⁴ As they drank the wine, they praised gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

⁷ moving quickly to rub the face of the needy in the dirt. Corrupting the ways of the humble, a man and his father go to the same woman, deliberately defiling my holy name.

⁶ God’s Second Complaint: Against His Priests—A Despised Offering“A son honors his father and a servant his master. So if I’m a father, where is my honor? And if I’m a master, where is my respect?” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies to you priests who are despising my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised your name?’ ⁷ By presenting defiled food on my altar. And you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ By saying, ‘The Table of the LORD is contemptible.’ ⁸ When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Offer that to your governor—would he be pleased with you or receive you favorably?” asks the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

¹³ “And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and sniff contemptuously at it,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “when you present maimed, crippled, and diseased animals, and when you bring the offering. Should I accept this from your hand?” asks the LORD.

²⁴ As it is written, “God’s name is being blasphemed among the gentiles because of you.”

⁸ He is not to eat the carcass of an animal that was torn by animals, thereby defiling himself with it. I am the LORD.

¹⁹ so that he’ll be sure to be accepted, he is to offer a male without defect from the bulls, the lambs, and the goats. ²⁰ However, whatever has a defect is not to be offered, because it won’t be acceptable for you.
²¹ “If a person brings a peace offering sacrifice to the LORD to fulfill a vow or a free will offering from the herd or the flock, it is to be sound in order to be accepted, without any defect in it. ²² You are not to bring to the LORD an offering that is blind, fractured, mutilated, or infected with ulcers, scurvy, or scales. You are not to present any of them as an offering made by fire on the altar for the LORD.
²³ “You may offer a bull or lamb that has one limb longer than the other or that is stunted as a free will offering, but it’s not acceptable in fulfillment of a promise.

²⁹ Why, then, do all of you show contempt for my sacrifice and offering that I’ve commanded for my dwelling? And you honor your sons more than me in order to fatten yourselves from the best of all the offerings of my people Israel.’

¹² “When you come to present yourselves in my presence, who has required you to trample on my courts?

²² God is Weary of Israel “And yet you didn’t call upon me, Jacob; indeed, you are tired of me, Israel! ²³ You haven’t brought me your sheep for a burnt-offering, nor have you honored me with your sacrifices, nor have you made meal offerings for me— yet I have not tired you about incense!

⁶ “Among the smooth stones of the ravines is your portion— there they are as your lot. To them you have poured out drink offerings; you have brought grain offerings. Should I be lenient over such things?

⁹ Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear by false gods, burn incense to Baal, follow other gods that you don’t know, ¹⁰ and then come to stand before me in this house that is called by my name and say, ‘We’re delivered’ so we can continue to do all these things that are repugnant to God? ¹¹ Has this house that is called by my name become a hideout for bandits in your eyes? Look, I’m watching,” declares the LORD.

²¹ This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the meat. ²² Indeed, when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I didn’t speak or command them about burnt offering and sacrifice, ²³ but I did give them this command: ‘Obey me and I’ll be your God, and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you so it will go well for you.’ ²⁴ But they didn’t listen, nor did they pay attention. They pursued their own plans, stubbornly following their own evil desires. They went backward and not forward.

¹⁴ “Now, Lord GOD,” I replied, “I’ve never been defiled, ever since I was young until now. I haven’t eaten an animal that died on its own or was torn by beasts, and no unclean meat has ever entered my mouth!”

³¹ However, the priests are not to eat any bird or animal that has died a natural death or that has been torn apart.”

²¹ Let Justice Roll On“I hate—I despise—your festival days, and your solemn convocations stink. ²² And if you send up burnt offerings to me as well as your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I consider your peace offerings of fattened cattle. ²³ Spare me your noisy singing— I will not listen to your musical instruments.

⁵ and who are saying, ‘When will the New Moon fade so we may sell grain, and the Sabbath conclude so we may market winnowed wheat?— shortchanging the measure, raising the price, falsifying the scales by treachery,

³ “My people, what have I done to you, and how have I offended you? Answer me!

⁵ “Talk to everyone in the land, as well as to the priests. Ask them, ‘When you were fasting and mourning during the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, were you really fasting for me? ⁶ And when you eat and drink, you’re eating and drinking for your own benefit, aren’t you?

¹³ God’s Fourth Complaint: Against His Priests—Marital Abuses“This is another thing you do: you flood the altar of the LORD with tears, weeping and wailing because he no longer pays attention to your offering nor takes pleasure in it from your hand.

¹ Teaching about Giving to the Poor “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people in order to be noticed by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. ² So whenever you give to the poor, don’t blow a trumpet before you like the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they will be praised by people. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!

⁵ Teaching about Prayer
“And whenever you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!

¹⁶ Teaching about Fasting“Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites, because they put on sad faces to show others they are fasting. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!

⁴ Irritated, some who were there asked one another, “Why was the perfume wasted like this? ⁵ This perfume could have been sold for more than 300 denarii and the money given to the destitute.” So they got extremely angry with her.

³⁷ When he went back, he found his disciples asleep. “Simon, are you asleep?” he asked Peter. “You couldn’t stay awake for one hour, could you? ³⁸ All of you must stay awake and pray that you won’t be tempted. The spirit is indeed willing, but the body is weak.”

¹² My father might touch me and he’ll realize that I’m deceiving him. Then, I’ll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.”

¹⁸ “Tell Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelis that when a person from the house of Israel or from the resident aliens living in Israel brings his offering to the LORD as a whole burnt offering (whether in fulfillment of a promise or a free will offerings), ¹⁹ so that he’ll be sure to be accepted, he is to offer a male without defect from the bulls, the lambs, and the goats. ²⁰ However, whatever has a defect is not to be offered, because it won’t be acceptable for you.
²¹ “If a person brings a peace offering sacrifice to the LORD to fulfill a vow or a free will offering from the herd or the flock, it is to be sound in order to be accepted, without any defect in it.

⁵⁸ Reduction in Population“If you aren’t careful to observe all the words of this Law that have been written in this book, instructing you to fear this glorious and awesome name of the LORD your God,

¹¹ Israel has sinned. They broke my covenant that I commanded them by taking some of the things that had been turned over to destruction. They have stolen, have been deceitful, and have stored what they stole among their own belongings. ¹² The Israelis have been unable to stand before their enemies. They’re turning their backs and running from their enemies because they themselves have been turned over to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy these things that have been turned over to destruction.

² For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.

² Beautifully situated, the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion towards the north, the city of the great King.

³⁵ You are awesome, God, from your sanctuaries. The God of Israel is the one who gives strength and power to the people. Blessed be God!

¹² He will humble the arrogant commanders-in-chief, instilling fear among the kings of the earth.

³ For the LORD is an awesome God; a great king above all divine beings.

⁴ Keep Your Promises to GodWhen you make a promise to God, don’t fail to keep it, since he isn’t pleased with fools. Keep what you promise— ⁵ it’s better that you don’t promise than that you do promise and not follow through.

¹⁵ “For this is what the high and lofty One says, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “He lives in the height and in holiness, and also with the one who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

¹⁰ The LORD is the true God; he’s the living God and the everlasting king. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

¹⁰ Cursed is the one who is slack in doing the LORD’s work. Cursed is the one who holds back his sword from shedding blood.

³⁷ In conclusion, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and give glory to the King of heaven: For everything he does is true, his ways are just, and he is able to humble those who walk in pride.”

⁴ I prayed to the LORD my God, confessing and saying: ‘Lord! Great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and gracious love for those who love him and obey his commandments,

⁹ The LORD will be king over all the earth at that time. There will be one LORD, and his name the only one.

¹¹ Even so, from where the sun rises to where it sets my name will be great among the Gentiles. Incense will be brought to me everywhere, along with pure offerings, because my name will be great among the Gentiles,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

⁹ You are cursed under the curse—the entire nation—because you are robbing me!

³⁵ nor by the earth, because it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the Great King.

⁵¹ Then his master will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

⁴¹ The Widow’s Offering
As Jesus sat facing the offering box, he watched how the crowd was dropping their money into it. Many rich people were dropping in large amounts. ⁴² Then a destitute widow came and dropped in two small copper coins, worth about a cent. ⁴³ He called his disciples and told them, “I tell all of you with certainty, this destitute widow has dropped in more than everyone who is contributing to the offering box, ⁴⁴ because all of them contributed out of their surplus, but out of her poverty she has given everything she had to live on.”

⁸ She has done what she could. She poured perfume on my body in preparation for my burial.

¹ A Warning against HypocrisyMeanwhile, the people had gathered by the thousands and were trampling on one another. Jesus began to speak first to his disciples. “Watch out for the yeast—that is, the hypocrisy—of the Pharisees! ² There is nothing covered up that won’t be exposed and nothing secret that won’t be made known.

⁴⁶ the master of that servant will come on a day when he doesn’t expect him and at an hour that he doesn’t know. Then his master will punish him severely and assign him a place with unfaithful people.

¹ Ananias and Sapphira are PunishedBut then a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold some property. ² With his wife’s full knowledge, he kept back some of the money for himself and brought the remainder and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
³ Peter asked, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that you should lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back some of the money you got for the land? ⁴ As long as it remained unsold, wasn’t it your own? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? So how could you have thought of doing what you did? You didn’t lie only to men, but also to God!”
⁵ When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized everyone who heard about it. ⁶ The young men got up, wrapped him up, carried him outside, and buried him. ⁷ After an interval of about three hours, Ananias’ wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸ So Peter asked her, “Tell me, did you sell the land for that price?”
She answered, “Yes, that was the price.”
⁹ “How could you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Peter asked her. “Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and these men will carry you outside as well.” ¹⁰ She instantly fell down at Peter’s feet and died. When the young men came in, they found her dead. So they carried her out and buried her next to her husband.

¹² For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what you have, not according to what you do not have.

¹⁵ At the right time, he will make him known. God is the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

²⁹ For “our God is an all-consuming fire.”

⁸ But people who are cowardly, unfaithful, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars will find themselves in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”