Ezekiel 18 Cross References - WEB

¹ Yahweh’s word came to me again, saying, ² “What do you mean, that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? ³ “As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “you shall not use this proverb any more in Israel. ⁴ Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins, he shall die. ⁵ “But if a man is just, and does that which is lawful and right, ⁶ and has not eaten on the mountains, hasn’t lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hasn’t defiled his neighbor’s wife, hasn’t come near a woman in her impurity, ⁷ and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; ⁸ he who hasn’t lent to them with interest, hasn’t taken any increase from them, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man, ⁹ has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live,” says the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁰ “If he fathers a son who is a robber who sheds blood, and who does any one of these things, ¹¹ or who does not do any of those things, but even has eaten at the mountain shrines, and defiled his neighbor’s wife, ¹² has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination, ¹³ has lent with interest, and has taken increase from the poor; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He shall surely die. His blood will be on him. ¹⁴ “Now, behold, if he fathers a son, who sees all his father’s sins, which he has done, and fears, and does not such like; ¹⁵ who hasn’t eaten on the mountains, hasn’t lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hasn’t defiled his neighbor’s wife, ¹⁶ hasn’t wronged any, hasn’t taken anything to pledge, hasn’t taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; ¹⁷ who has withdrawn his hand from the poor, who hasn’t received interest or increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live. ¹⁸ As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he will die in his iniquity. ¹⁹ “Yet you say, ‘Why doesn’t the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he will surely live. ²⁰ The soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him. ²¹ “But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. ²² None of his transgressions that he has committed will be remembered against him. In his righteousness that he has done, he shall live. ²³ Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” says the Lord Yahweh; “and not rather that he should return from his way, and live? ²⁴ “But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die. ²⁵ “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not equal.’ Hear now, house of Israel: Is my way not equal? Aren’t your ways unequal? ²⁶ When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies therein; in his iniquity that he has done he shall die. ²⁷ Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he will save his soul alive. ²⁸ Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live. He shall not die. ²⁹ Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ House of Israel, aren’t my ways fair? Aren’t your ways unfair? ³⁰ “Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, everyone according to his ways,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity will not be your ruin. ³¹ Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Israel? ³² For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Therefore turn yourselves, and live!

¹⁵ What do you mean that you crush my people, and grind the face of the poor?” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

⁴ I will cause them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

²⁹ “In those days they will say no more, “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ ³⁰ But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.

⁷ Our fathers sinned, and are no more. We have borne their iniquities.

² “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy to them, ³ and say, ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh! The Lord Yahweh says to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: “Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places.

² “You, son of man, the Lord Yahweh says to the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end has come on the four corners of the land.

¹² “Say now to the rebellious house, ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took its king, and its princes, and brought them to him to Babylon.

³ Tell the children of Ammon, ‘Hear the word of the Lord Yahweh! The Lord Yahweh says, “Because you said, ‘Aha!’ against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was made desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity:

¹ You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, “You mountains of Israel, hear Yahweh’s word. ² The Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because the enemy has said against you, “Aha!” and, “The ancient high places are ours in possession!”’ ³ therefore prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;” ⁴ therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: The Lord Yahweh says to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which have become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are all around; ⁵ therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.”’ ⁶ Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell the mountains, the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations.”

¹¹ Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are completely cut off.’

¹⁹ tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in my hand.

²⁵ They will dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers lived. They will dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children’s children, forever. David my servant will be their prince forever.

³⁶ Most certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.

²⁰ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”

¹⁹ “Yet you say, ‘Why doesn’t the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he will surely live. ²⁰ The soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.

³⁰ “Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, everyone according to his ways,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity will not be your ruin.

¹¹ Tell them, ‘“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?”’ ¹² “You, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his disobedience. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither will he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins. ¹³ When I tell the righteous that he will surely live; if he trusts in his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed. ¹⁴ Again, when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die;” if he turns from his sin, and does that which is lawful and right; ¹⁵ if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he will surely live. He will not die. ¹⁶ None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right. He will surely live. ¹⁷ “‘Yet the children of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not fair;” but as for them, their way is not fair. ¹⁸ When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he will even die therein. ¹⁹ When the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he will live by it. ²⁰ Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.” House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.’”

³¹ “‘“Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. ³² I don’t do this for your sake,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Let it be known to you: be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel.”

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.

²² They fell on their faces, and said, “God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?”

¹⁶ “Let Yahweh, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation,

⁵ God Yahweh, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it, says:

²⁰ The soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.

¹ A revelation, Yahweh’s word concerning Israel. Yahweh, who stretches out the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him says:

²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹⁰ For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.” ¹¹ Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, “The righteous will live by faith.” ¹² The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.” ¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,”

²² But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

⁹ Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?

¹⁹ For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him.”

² He who walks blamelessly and does what is right, and speaks truth in his heart; ³ he who doesn’t slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his friend, nor casts slurs against his fellow man; ⁴ in whose eyes a vile man is despised, but who honors those who fear Yahweh; he who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and doesn’t change; ⁵ he who doesn’t lend out his money for usury, nor take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be shaken.

⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully. ⁵ He shall receive a blessing from Yahweh, righteousness from the God of his salvation. ⁶ This is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek your face—even Jacob. Selah.

³ To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice.

¹⁵ “Should you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar? Didn’t your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.

¹⁴ Again, when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die;” if he turns from his sin, and does that which is lawful and right;

²¹ Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’ ²³ Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.’ ²⁴ “Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock. ²⁶ Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

⁷ to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; ⁸ but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation, ⁹ oppression, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. ¹⁰ But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

²² But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴ for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵ But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. ¹⁸ Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder. ²⁰ But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? ²¹ Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? ²² You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected. ²³ So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. ²⁴ You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith. ²⁵ In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers and sent them out another way? ²⁶ For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

³ This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments.

²⁹ If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

⁷ Little children, let no one lead you astray. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

² By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. ³ For this is loving God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous. ⁴ For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith. ⁵ Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

¹⁴ Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city.

¹⁵ “Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;

¹⁹ “‘You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is impure by her uncleanness. ²⁰ “‘You shall not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife, and defile yourself with her.

¹⁰ “‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

¹⁸ “‘If a man lies with a woman having her monthly period, and uncovers her nakedness, he has made her fountain naked, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

² for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods.

¹⁹ and lest you lift up your eyes to the sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the army of the sky, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Yahweh your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky.

²² If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall remove the evil from Israel. ²³ If there is a young lady who is a virgin pledged to be married to a husband, and a man finds her in the city, and lies with her, ²⁴ then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones; the lady, because she didn’t cry, being in the city; and the man, because he has humbled his neighbor’s wife. So you shall remove the evil from among you. ²⁵ But if the man finds the lady who is pledged to be married in the field, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die; ²⁶ but to the lady you shall do nothing. There is in the lady no sin worthy of death; for as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter; ²⁷ for he found her in the field, the pledged to be married lady cried, and there was no one to save her. ²⁸ If a man finds a lady who is a virgin, who is not pledged to be married, grabs her and lies with her, and they are found, ²⁹ then the man who lay with her shall give to the lady’s father fifty shekels of silver. She shall be his wife, because he has humbled her. He may not put her away all his days. ³⁰ A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not uncover his father’s skirt.

¹ A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?

¹ A Song of Ascents. I lift up my eyes to you, you who sit in the heavens. ² Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress; so our eyes look to Yahweh, our God, until he has mercy on us.

⁸ They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife. ⁹ Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

¹³ You will know that I am Yahweh, when their slain men are among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols.

¹¹ or who does not do any of those things, but even has eaten at the mountain shrines, and defiled his neighbor’s wife, ¹² has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination,

¹⁵ who hasn’t eaten on the mountains, hasn’t lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hasn’t defiled his neighbor’s wife,

⁷ I said to them, ‘Each of you throw away the abominations of his eyes. Don’t defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.’

²⁴ because they had not executed my ordinances, but had rejected my statutes, and had profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols.

²⁸ For when I had brought them into the land which I swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill, and every thick tree, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering. There they also made their pleasant aroma, and there they poured out their drink offerings.

⁹ Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood. In you they have eaten on the mountains. They have committed lewdness among you. ¹⁰ In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity. ¹¹ One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.

²⁵ Therefore tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. So should you possess the land? ²⁶ You stand on your sword, you work abomination, and every one of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. So should you possess the land?”’

²⁸ but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

⁹ Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom. ¹¹ Some of you were such, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.

²⁰ But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God, and I don’t desire that you would have fellowship with demons.

¹⁹ Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, ²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.

⁴ Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

¹¹ The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

²¹ “You shall not wrong an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. ²² “You shall not take advantage of any widow or fatherless child. ²³ If you take advantage of them at all, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry; ²⁴ and my wrath will grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

²⁶ If you take your neighbor’s garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down,

⁹ “You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

¹⁵ “‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness.

¹⁴ “‘If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.

⁷ If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; ⁸ but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks. ⁹ Beware that there not be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,” and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you. ¹⁰ You shall surely give, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because it is for this thing Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you put your hand to. ¹¹ For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.

¹² If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge. ¹³ You shall surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his garment and bless you. It shall be righteousness to you before Yahweh your God.

¹⁷ You shall not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, nor take a widow’s clothing in pledge;

³ Here I am. Witness against me before Yahweh, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Of whose hand have I taken a bribe to make me blind my eyes? I will restore it to you.” ⁴ They said, “You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything from anyone’s hand.”

⁶ For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

³ They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

⁹ There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,

¹³ “If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me, ¹⁴ what then will I do when God rises up? When he visits, what will I answer him? ¹⁵ Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb? ¹⁶ “If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, ¹⁷ or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it ¹⁸ (no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, I have guided her from my mother’s womb); ¹⁹ if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering; ²⁰ if his heart hasn’t blessed me, if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece; ²¹ if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate, ²² then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone.

¹ For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.

⁴ Light dawns in the darkness for the upright, gracious, merciful, and righteous.

⁹ He has dispersed, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor.

³¹ Don’t envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways.

²⁴ There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty. ²⁵ The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself.

³¹ He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him.

²² Don’t exploit the poor, because he is poor; and don’t crush the needy in court; ²³ for Yahweh will plead their case, and plunder the life of those who plunder them.

⁸ He who increases his wealth by excessive interest gathers it for one who has pity on the poor.

²⁷ One who gives to the poor has no lack; but one who closes his eyes will have many curses.

¹⁷ Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”

⁷ For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.

¹⁵ He who walks righteously and speaks blamelessly, he who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking at evil—

⁶ “Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? ⁷ Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh? ⁸ Then your light will break out as the morning, and your healing will appear quickly; then your righteousness shall go before you, and Yahweh’s glory will be your rear guard. ⁹ Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer. You will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away from among you the yoke, finger pointing, and speaking wickedly; ¹⁰ and if you pour out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity will be as the noonday; ¹¹ and Yahweh will guide you continually, satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones strong. You will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters don’t fail.

⁶ Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands. ⁷ Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths.

⁶ if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, and don’t walk after other gods to your own hurt; ⁷ then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forever more.

³ Yahweh says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

¹⁶ He judged the cause of the poor and needy; so it was well, then. Wasn’t this to know me?” says Yahweh. ¹⁷ But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”

²³ “‘Make chains; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.

¹² has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination,

¹⁶ hasn’t wronged any, hasn’t taken anything to pledge, hasn’t taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;

¹⁸ As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he will die in his iniquity.

¹² In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord Yahweh. ¹³ “‘“Behold, therefore I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been within you.

²⁷ Her princes within it are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain. ²⁸ Her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, ‘The Lord Yahweh says,’ when Yahweh has not spoken. ²⁹ The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery. Yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully.

¹⁵ if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he will surely live. He will not die.

⁶ Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals;

⁸ and they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

¹⁰ “Indeed they don’t know to do right,” says Yahweh, “Who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces.”

¹¹ Therefore, because you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. ¹² For I know how many are your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts.

³ Those who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;

⁴ Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail, ⁵ Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit; ⁶ that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’”

¹ Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.

² You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones;

⁹ In that day, I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master’s house with violence and deceit.

⁹ “Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. ¹⁰ Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’ ¹¹ But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.

⁵ I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.

³⁴ Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. ³⁶ I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’ ³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? ³⁸ When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’ ⁴⁰ “The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ ⁴¹ Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴² for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ ⁴⁴ “Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’ ⁴⁵ “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’ ⁴⁶ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

¹¹ He answered them, “He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise.”

⁷ But as you abound in everything, in faith, utterance, knowledge, all earnestness, and in your love to us, see that you also abound in this grace. ⁸ I speak not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love. ⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.

⁶ Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ⁷ Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work. ⁹ As it is written, “He has scattered abroad. He has given to the poor. His righteousness remains forever.” ¹⁰ Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness, ¹¹ you being enriched in everything to all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us. ¹² For this service of giving that you perform not only makes up for lack among the saints, but abounds also through much giving of thanks to God, ¹³ seeing that through the proof given by this service, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the Good News of Christ and for the generosity of your contribution to them and to all, ¹⁴ while they themselves also, with supplication on your behalf, yearn for you by reason of the exceeding grace of God in you.

¹³ For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. ¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.

¹ Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. ² Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days. ⁴ Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies. ⁵ You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.

¹⁶ By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷ But whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, then closes his heart of compassion against him, how does God’s love remain in him? ¹⁸ My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth. ¹⁹ And by this we know that we are of the truth, and persuade our hearts before him,

²⁵ “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor. You shall not charge him interest.

³⁵ “‘You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length, of weight, or of quantity.

³⁵ “‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you, then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident. ³⁶ Take no interest from him or profit; but fear your God, that your brother may live among you. ³⁷ You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.

¹⁶ I commanded your judges at that time, saying, “Hear cases between your brothers and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him. ¹⁷ You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.”

¹⁸ You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. ¹⁹ You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. ²⁰ You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

¹⁹ You shall not lend on interest to your brother: interest of money, interest of food, interest of anything that is lent on interest. ²⁰ You may charge a foreigner interest; but you shall not your brother interest, that Yahweh your God may bless you in all that you put your hand to, in the land where you go in to possess it.

²⁴ I was also perfect toward him. I kept myself from my iniquity.

¹ Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews. ² For there were some who said, “We, our sons and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain, that we may eat and live.” ³ There were also some who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get grain, because of the famine.” ⁴ There were also some who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute using our fields and our vineyards as collateral. ⁵ Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. Behold, we bring our sons and our daughters into bondage to be servants, and some of our daughters have been brought into bondage. It is also not in our power to help it, because other men have our fields and our vineyards.” ⁶ I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. ⁷ Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, “You exact usury, everyone of his brother.” I held a great assembly against them. ⁸ I said to them, “We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us?” Then they held their peace, and found not a word to say. ⁹ Also I said, “The thing that you do is not good. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies? ¹⁰ I likewise, my brothers and my servants, lend them money and grain. Please let us stop this usury. ¹¹ Please restore to them, even today, their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, that you are charging them.”

¹⁵ But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people; but I didn’t do so, because of the fear of God.

⁷ when I went out to the city gate, when I prepared my seat in the street. ⁸ The young men saw me and hid themselves. The aged rose up and stood. ⁹ The princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. ¹⁰ The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. ¹¹ For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it commended me: ¹² Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had no one to help him, ¹³ the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. ¹⁴ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem. ¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. ¹⁶ I was a father to the needy. I researched the cause of him whom I didn’t know. ¹⁷ I broke the jaws of the unrighteous and plucked the prey out of his teeth.

⁵ he who doesn’t lend out his money for usury, nor take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be shaken.

⁸ Open your mouth for the mute, in the cause of all who are left desolate. ⁹ Open your mouth, judge righteously, and serve justice to the poor and needy.”

¹⁰ Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife, and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet every one of them curses me.

¹⁵ “Should you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar? Didn’t your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. ¹⁶ He judged the cause of the poor and needy; so it was well, then. Wasn’t this to know me?” says Yahweh.

¹³ has lent with interest, and has taken increase from the poor; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He shall surely die. His blood will be on him.

¹⁷ who has withdrawn his hand from the poor, who hasn’t received interest or increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live.

¹² In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord Yahweh.

⁹ “Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. ¹⁰ Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’

¹⁶ These are the things that you shall do: speak every man the truth with his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates,

⁵ You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them. I am Yahweh.

¹ Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, gives you.

¹ Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears today, that you may learn them, and observe to do them.”

¹ Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land that you go over to possess; ² that you might fear Yahweh your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you—you, your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.

¹² Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ to keep Yahweh’s commandments and statutes, which I command you today for your good?

¹ Therefore you shall love Yahweh your God, and keep his instructions, his statutes, his ordinances, and his commandments, always.

¹³ “You also came down on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, ¹⁴ and made known to them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them commandments, statutes, and a law, by Moses your servant,

⁷ Yahweh’s law is perfect, restoring the soul. Yahweh’s covenant is sure, making wise the simple. ⁸ Yahweh’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart. Yahweh’s commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes. ⁹ The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever. Yahweh’s ordinances are true, and righteous altogether. ¹⁰ They are more to be desired than gold, yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the extract of the honeycomb. ¹¹ Moreover your servant is warned by them. In keeping them there is great reward.

⁴⁴ He gave them the lands of the nations. They took the labor of the peoples in possession, ⁴⁵ that they might keep his statutes, and observe his laws. Praise Yah!

¹ ALEPH Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to Yahweh’s law. ² Blessed are those who keep his statutes, who seek him with their whole heart. ³ Yes, they do nothing wrong. They walk in his ways. ⁴ You have commanded your precepts, that we should fully obey them. ⁵ Oh that my ways were steadfast to obey your statutes! ⁶ Then I wouldn’t be disappointed, when I consider all of your commandments.

¹¹ I gave them my statutes, and showed them my ordinances, which if a man does, he will live in them.

¹³ “‘“But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They didn’t walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keeps, he shall live in them. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them.

²⁷ I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my ordinances and do them.

²⁴ “‘“My servant David will be king over them. They all will have one shepherd. They will also walk in my ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them.

⁴ For Yahweh says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live;

¹⁴ Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say.

²⁴ But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

⁴ Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

⁶ They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.

²⁷ He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁸ He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.” ²⁹ But he, desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”

²¹ One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”

¹⁶ In this I also practice always having a conscience void of offense toward God and men.

¹⁷ For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.”

⁵ I will surely require accounting for your life’s blood. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother, I will require the life of man. ⁶ Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.

¹² “One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death,

² If the thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt of bloodshed for him.

¹³ “‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. “‘The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.

³¹ “‘Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death. He shall surely be put to death.

⁸ Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings. ⁹ You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation.

⁴⁰ Then they all shouted again, saying, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

¹² unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s righteous.

⁸ The man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half of your house, I would not go in with you, neither would I eat bread nor drink water in this place;

²² but came back, and have eaten bread and drank water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread, and drink no water;” your body will not come to the tomb of your fathers.’”

⁶ and has not eaten on the mountains, hasn’t lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hasn’t defiled his neighbor’s wife, hasn’t come near a woman in her impurity, ⁷ and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;

²⁸ But he said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.”

¹⁷ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

¹⁴ You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.

⁹ The things which you learned, received, heard, and saw in me: do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

¹⁷ Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.

²² so whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.

²² “‘You shall not lie with a man as with a woman. That is detestable.

²⁶ You therefore shall keep my statutes and my ordinances, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the native-born, nor the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you ²⁷ (for the men of the land that were before you had done all these abominations, and the land became defiled), ²⁸ that the land not vomit you out also, when you defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. ²⁹ “‘For whoever shall do any of these abominations, even the souls that do them shall be cut off from among their people. ³⁰ Therefore you shall keep my requirements, that you do not practice any of these abominable customs which were practiced before you, and that you do not defile yourselves with them. I am Yahweh your God.’”

¹¹ “Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has also made Judah to sin with his idols;

¹³ The king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon.

¹⁷ But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”

⁶ He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But you will again see yet other great abominations.”

¹⁷ Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger. Behold, they put the branch to their nose.

⁷ A merchant has dishonest scales in his hand. He loves to defraud.

¹ Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”

¹⁰ Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’

⁶ But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?

⁹ “‘For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon himself.

¹¹ “‘The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon themselves. ¹² “‘If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed a perversion. Their blood shall be upon themselves. ¹³ “‘If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon themselves.

²⁷ “‘A man or a woman that is a medium or is a wizard shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones. Their blood shall be upon themselves.’”

¹⁸ When I tell the wicked, ‘You will surely die;’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; that wicked man will die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand.

⁸ he who hasn’t lent to them with interest, hasn’t taken any increase from them, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man,

²⁴ “But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.

²⁸ Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live. He shall not die.

³² For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Therefore turn yourselves, and live!

⁴ then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn’t heed the warning, if the sword comes, and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. ⁵ He heard the sound of the trumpet, and didn’t take warning. His blood will be on him; whereas if he had heeded the warning, he would have delivered his soul.

⁶ When they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook out his clothing and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles!”

³ In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of Yahweh’s house, and repaired them. ⁴ He brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the wide place on the east, ⁵ and said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of Yahweh, the God of your fathers, and carry the filthiness out of the holy place. ⁶ For our fathers were unfaithful, and have done that which was evil in Yahweh our God’s sight, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of Yahweh, and turned their backs. ⁷ Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. ⁸ Therefore Yahweh’s wrath was on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has delivered them to be tossed back and forth, to be an astonishment, and a hissing, as you see with your eyes. ⁹ For, behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. ¹⁰ Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us. ¹¹ My sons, don’t be negligent now; for Yahweh has chosen you to stand before him, to minister to him, and that you should be his ministers, and burn incense.”

²¹ “Go inquire of Yahweh for me, and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is Yahweh’s wrath that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept Yahweh’s word, to do according to all that is written in this book.”

⁵⁹ I considered my ways, and turned my steps to your statutes. ⁶⁰ I will hurry, and not delay, to obey your commandments.

²¹ He who becomes the father of a fool grieves. The father of a fool has no joy.

²⁴ The father of the righteous has great joy. Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.

¹⁹ No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned part of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?”

⁶ I listened and heard, but they didn’t say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.

¹⁴ but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them.”

¹⁷ But we will certainly perform every word that has gone out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil.

¹⁰ “If he fathers a son who is a robber who sheds blood, and who does any one of these things,

¹⁸ I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Don’t walk in the statutes of your fathers. Don’t observe their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols.

² They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own deeds have engulfed them. They are before my face.

⁵ Now therefore this is what Yahweh of Armies says: Consider your ways.

⁷ This is what Yahweh of Armies says: “Consider your ways.

¹⁸ ‘Consider, please, from this day and backward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of Yahweh’s temple was laid, consider it.

³² Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.

¹⁷ But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! ¹⁸ I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. ¹⁹ I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’

¹⁸ knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers,

¹¹ or who does not do any of those things, but even has eaten at the mountain shrines, and defiled his neighbor’s wife, ¹² has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination, ¹³ has lent with interest, and has taken increase from the poor; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He shall surely die. His blood will be on him.

⁷ You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

¹⁹ if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;

⁹ He who has a generous eye will be blessed; for he shares his food with the poor.

²¹ If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink;

²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor; yes, she extends her hands to the needy.

¹ Cast your bread on the waters; for you shall find it after many days. ² Give a portion to seven, yes, even to eight; for you don’t know what evil will be on the earth.

⁷ Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh? ⁸ Then your light will break out as the morning, and your healing will appear quickly; then your righteousness shall go before you, and Yahweh’s glory will be your rear guard. ⁹ Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer. You will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away from among you the yoke, finger pointing, and speaking wickedly; ¹⁰ and if you pour out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity will be as the noonday;

⁷ and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;

⁴¹ But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you.

¹³ But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind;

⁴ You shall do my ordinances. You shall keep my statutes and walk in them. I am Yahweh your God.

²⁶ You therefore shall keep my statutes and my ordinances, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the native-born, nor the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you

³⁰ Therefore you shall keep my requirements, that you do not practice any of these abominable customs which were practiced before you, and that you do not defile yourselves with them. I am Yahweh your God.’”

¹⁶ I was a father to the needy. I researched the cause of him whom I didn’t know.

⁷ The righteous care about justice for the poor. The wicked aren’t concerned about knowledge.

¹⁴ The king who fairly judges the poor, his throne shall be established forever.

¹¹ then you shall tell them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me,’ says Yahweh, ‘and have walked after other gods, have served them, have worshiped them, have forsaken me, and have not kept my law. ¹² You have done evil more than your fathers, for behold, you each walk after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you don’t listen to me. ¹³ Therefore I will cast you out of this land into the land that you have not known, neither you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

¹⁹ Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and will say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.

¹⁶ He judged the cause of the poor and needy; so it was well, then. Wasn’t this to know me?” says Yahweh.

²¹ Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous not sin, and he does not sin, he will surely live, because he took warning; and you have delivered your soul.”

⁸ he who hasn’t lent to them with interest, hasn’t taken any increase from them, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man, ⁹ has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live,” says the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁹ “Yet you say, ‘Why doesn’t the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he will surely live. ²⁰ The soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him. ²¹ “But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die.

³⁰ “Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Do you pollute yourselves in the way of your fathers? Do you play the prostitute after their abominations?

¹³ When I tell the righteous that he will surely live; if he trusts in his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed.

¹⁵ if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he will surely live. He will not die. ¹⁶ None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right. He will surely live.

²⁷ Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your tranquility.”

⁷ From the days of your fathers you have turned away from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says Yahweh of Armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

²⁷ The lord of that servant, being moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. ²⁸ “But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him one hundred denarii, and he grabbed him, and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ ²⁹ “So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you!’ ³⁰ He would not, but went and cast him into prison, until he should pay back that which was due. ³¹ So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were exceedingly sorry, and came and told their lord all that was done. ³² Then his lord called him in, and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt, because you begged me. ³³ Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴ His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due to him. ³⁵ So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don’t each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds.”

²⁹ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous, ³⁰ and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn’t have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. ³³ You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?

⁸ Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.”

¹¹ Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them; for the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him.

⁴ Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins, he shall die.

²⁶ When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies therein; in his iniquity that he has done he shall die.

²¹ Jesus said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.”

²⁴ I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

⁵ you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,

⁹ You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me;

²⁶ Notwithstanding, Yahweh didn’t turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocation with which Manasseh had provoked him.

³ Surely at the commandment of Yahweh this came on Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did, ⁴ and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Yahweh would not pardon.

² “What do you mean, that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?

⁹ has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live,” says the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁸ I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Don’t walk in the statutes of your fathers. Don’t observe their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols. ¹⁹ I am Yahweh your God. Walk in my statutes, keep my ordinances, and do them. ²⁰ Make my Sabbaths holy. They shall be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am Yahweh your God.’

³ Therefore tell them: Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Return to me,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will return to you,’ says Yahweh of Armies. ⁴ Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;’ but they didn’t hear, nor listen to me, says Yahweh. ⁵ Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? ⁶ But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? “Then they repented and said, ‘Just as Yahweh of Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.’”

¹ “‘If anyone sins, in that he hears a public adjuration to testify, he being a witness, whether he has seen or known, if he doesn’t report it, then he shall bear his iniquity.

¹⁷ “If anyone sins, doing any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, though he didn’t know it, he is still guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.

¹⁷ “Why haven’t you eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since it is most holy, and he has given it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before Yahweh?

²² The goat shall carry all their iniquities on himself to a solitary land, and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

⁸ but everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the holy thing of Yahweh, and that soul shall be cut off from his people.

¹ Yahweh said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your fathers’ house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

¹⁶ The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

³² then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

¹³ All Israel will mourn for him and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam will come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

⁶ but the children of the murderers he didn’t put to death; according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, as Yahweh commanded, saying, “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin.”

¹⁸ But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, tell him, “Yahweh the God of Israel says, ‘Concerning the words which you have heard, ¹⁹ because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh, when you heard what I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you,’ says Yahweh. ²⁰ ‘Therefore behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place.’”’” So they brought this message back to the king.

²³ then hear from heaven, act, and judge your servants, bringing retribution to the wicked, to bring his way on his own head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

³⁰ then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of the children of men)

⁴ But he didn’t put their children to death, but did according to that which is written in the law in the book of Moses, as Yahweh commanded, saying, “The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin.”

¹⁰ Tell the righteous “Good!” For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. ¹¹ Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them; for the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him.

¹¹ After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities.

⁴ “Moreover lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. According to the number of the days that you shall lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity.

¹⁰ “You, son of man, tell the house of Israel: ‘You say this, “Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them. How then can we live?”’

²⁷ For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.

⁶ who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:” ⁷ to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; ⁸ but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation, ⁹ oppression, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

²⁸ so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting for him for salvation.

²⁴ He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds.

²³ I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

¹² I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.

¹² “Behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me, to repay to each man according to his work. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. ¹⁴ Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

⁵ because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

¹² When he was in distress, he begged Yahweh his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. ¹³ He prayed to him; and he was entreated by him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God.

¹ ALEPH Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to Yahweh’s law.

⁸⁰ Let my heart be blameless toward your decrees, that I may not be disappointed.

¹¹² I have set my heart to perform your statutes forever, even to the end.

¹³ He who conceals his sins doesn’t prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

¹⁶ Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. ¹⁷ Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.” ¹⁸ “Come now, and let’s reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. ¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land; ²⁰ but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”

⁶ Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. ⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him, to our God, for he will freely pardon.

⁵ “But if a man is just, and does that which is lawful and right,

¹⁹ “Yet you say, ‘Why doesn’t the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he will surely live.

²⁷ Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he will save his soul alive. ²⁸ Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live. He shall not die.

¹¹ Tell them, ‘“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?”’ ¹² “You, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his disobedience. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither will he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins. ¹³ When I tell the righteous that he will surely live; if he trusts in his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed. ¹⁴ Again, when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die;” if he turns from his sin, and does that which is lawful and right;

¹⁹ When the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he will live by it.

⁴⁷ and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

¹⁹ “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,

¹⁸ to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ ¹⁹ “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, ²⁰ but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.

¹³ For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.

¹³ although I used to be a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent. However, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. ¹⁴ The grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. ¹⁶ However, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might display all his patience for an example of those who were going to believe in him for eternal life.

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, ¹² instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age; ¹³ looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?

²⁶ For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.

¹⁸ She said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!”

²⁰ Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands, he has recompensed me. ²¹ For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not wickedly departed from my God. ²² For all his ordinances were before me. I didn’t put away his statutes from me. ²³ I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity. ²⁴ Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

¹¹ Moreover your servant is warned by them. In keeping them there is great reward.

⁷ Don’t remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. Remember me according to your loving kindness, for your goodness’ sake, Yahweh.

¹ By David. A contemplative psalm. Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered. ² Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit.

¹ For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

¹² As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

²⁵ I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

³⁴ They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest,” says Yahweh: “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

²⁰ In those days, and in that time,” says Yahweh, “the iniquity of Israel will be sought for, and there will be none; also the sins of Judah, and they won’t be found; for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.

¹⁶ None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right. He will surely live.

¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

⁶ who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:” ⁷ to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life;

¹ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

⁷ Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. ⁸ For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

¹² For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.”

³ But in those sacrifices there is a yearly reminder of sins. ⁴ For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

⁵ Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge; ⁶ and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control perseverance; and in perseverance godliness; ⁷ and in godliness brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love. ⁸ For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to not be idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For he who lacks these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. ¹¹ For thus you will be richly supplied with the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

⁶ Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, ⁷ keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.”

²⁷ He sings before men, and says, ‘I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it didn’t profit me. ²⁸ He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit. My life will see the light.’

¹¹ Yahweh takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his loving kindness.

²⁰ Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him,” says Yahweh.

³³ For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.

¹¹ Tell them, ‘“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?”’

⁸ “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.

¹⁸ Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness.

⁴ “Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? ⁵ When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ ⁷ I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

¹⁰ Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”

²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat, and celebrate; ²⁴ for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.

³² But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’”

⁴ who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.

¹³ For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

⁹ The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but he is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

¹¹ “It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.” Samuel was angry; and he cried to Yahweh all night.

² Joash did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

¹⁷ Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came, and bowed down to the king. Then the king listened to them. ¹⁸ They abandoned the house of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and the idols, so wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness. ¹⁹ Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again to Yahweh, and they testified against them; but they would not listen. ²⁰ The Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, “God says, ‘Why do you disobey Yahweh’s commandments, so that you can’t prosper? Because you have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you.’” ²¹ They conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of Yahweh’s house. ²² Thus Joash the king didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. When he died, he said, “May Yahweh look at it, and repay it.”

³ The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good. ⁴ He plots iniquity on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn’t abhor evil.

⁵ But as for those who turn away to their crooked ways, Yahweh will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be on Israel.

³² The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge.

¹⁶ The man who wanders out of the way of understanding shall rest in the assembly of the departed spirits.

²⁰ “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he will die. Because you have not given him warning, he will die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered; but I will require his blood at your hand. ²¹ Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous not sin, and he does not sin, he will surely live, because he took warning; and you have delivered your soul.”

¹⁰ “If he fathers a son who is a robber who sheds blood, and who does any one of these things,

²² None of his transgressions that he has committed will be remembered against him. In his righteousness that he has done, he shall live.

²⁷ “Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Moreover, in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.

¹² “You, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his disobedience. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither will he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins. ¹³ When I tell the righteous that he will surely live; if he trusts in his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed.

¹⁸ When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he will even die therein.

⁶ those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven’t sought Yahweh nor inquired after him.

²² Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’ ²³ Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.’

⁴³ When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and doesn’t find it. ⁴⁴ Then he says, ‘I will return into my house from which I came out,’ and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation.”

²⁰ What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it; ²¹ yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

¹³ You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.

⁶⁶ At this, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. ⁶⁷ Jesus said therefore to the twelve, “You don’t also want to go away, do you?” ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ⁷⁰ Jesus answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”

²⁸ Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; ²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers, ³⁰ backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹ without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;

²⁰ For I am afraid that by any means, when I come, I might find you not the way I want to, and that I might be found by you as you don’t desire, that by any means there would be strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, whisperings, proud thoughts, or riots, ²¹ that again when I come my God would humble me before you, and I would mourn for many of those who have sinned before now, and not repented of the uncleanness, sexual immorality, and lustfulness which they committed.

⁴ Did you suffer so many things in vain, if it is indeed in vain?

⁷ You were running well! Who interfered with you that you should not obey the truth?

¹ But know this: that in the last days, grievous times will come. ² For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good, ⁴ traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding a form of godliness, but having denied its power. Turn away from these, also.

⁴ For concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, ⁶ and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and put him to open shame.

²⁶ For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. ²⁸ A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me;” says the Lord, “I will repay.” Again, “The Lord will judge his people.” ³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³⁸ But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” ³⁹ But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.

¹⁸ For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error; ¹⁹ promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him. ²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. ²² But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “The dog turns to his own vomit again,” and “the sow that has washed to wallowing in the mire.”

¹⁹ They went out from us, but they didn’t belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that they might be revealed that none of them belong to us.

¹⁶ If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for those who sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death. I don’t say that he should make a request concerning this. ¹⁷ All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. ¹⁸ We know that whoever is born of God doesn’t sin, but he who was born of God keeps himself, and the evil one doesn’t touch him.

⁸ Watch yourselves, that we don’t lose the things which we have accomplished, but that we receive a full reward.

¹² These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

¹⁰ Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life.

¹¹ I am coming quickly! Hold firmly that which you have, so that no one takes your crown.

²⁵ May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”

⁴ The Rock: his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.

² Then the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel, the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled against Job. His wrath was kindled because he justified himself rather than God.

⁵ For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, God has taken away my right: ⁶ Notwithstanding my right I am considered a liar. My wound is incurable, though I am without disobedience.’ ⁷ What man is like Job, who drinks scorn like water, ⁸ Who goes in company with the workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men? ⁹ For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.’ ¹⁰ “Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness, from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.

² “Do you think this to be your right, or do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s,’

⁸ Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?

⁴ You said, ‘Listen, now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you will answer me.’ ⁵ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. ⁶ Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

⁶ The heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah.

²¹ You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that I was just like you. I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes.

¹⁷ Yahweh is righteous in all his ways, and gracious in all his works.

¹⁷ “Haven’t you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way? ¹⁸ Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or why do you to go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? ¹⁹ “Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies. ²⁰ “For long ago I broke off your yoke, and burst your bonds. You said, ‘I will not serve;’ for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute. ²¹ Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a pure and faithful seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me? ²² For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord Yahweh. ²³ “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways,

²⁹ “Why will you contend with me? You all have transgressed against me,” says Yahweh. ³⁰ “I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. ³¹ Generation, consider Yahweh’s word. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We have broken loose. We will come to you no more’? ³² “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number. ³³ How well you prepare your way to seek love! Therefore you have even taught the wicked women your ways. ³⁴ Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts. You didn’t find them breaking in, but it is because of all these things. ³⁵ “Yet you said, ‘I am innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.’ “Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ ³⁶ Why do you go about so much to change your ways? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria. ³⁷ You will also leave that place with your hands on your head; for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust, and you won’t prosper with them.

¹ You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would like to reason the cause with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously?

¹⁰ It will happen, when you tell this people all these words, and they ask you, ‘Why has Yahweh pronounced all this great evil against us?’ or ‘What is our iniquity? or ‘What is our sin that we have committed against Yahweh our God?’

²⁹ Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ House of Israel, aren’t my ways fair? Aren’t your ways unfair?

¹⁷ “‘Yet the children of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not fair;” but as for them, their way is not fair.

²⁰ Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.” House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.’”

⁵ Yahweh, within her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn’t fail, but the unjust know no shame.

¹⁷ You have wearied Yahweh with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in Yahweh’s sight, and he delights in them;’ or ‘Where is the God of justice?’

¹³ “Your words have been stout against me,” says Yahweh. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against you?’ ¹⁴ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God;’ and ‘What profit is it that we have followed his instructions, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh of Armies? ¹⁵ Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.’

¹¹ When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, ¹² saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ ¹³ “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. ¹⁵ Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’

⁵ But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God; ⁶ who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:”

⁵ But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do.

²⁰ Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

³ For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn’t subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

¹⁸ “Come now, and let’s reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him, to our God, for he will freely pardon.

²¹ “But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die.

⁵ He heard the sound of the trumpet, and didn’t take warning. His blood will be on him; whereas if he had heeded the warning, he would have delivered his soul.

¹³ But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

²⁸ But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’ ²⁹ He answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind, and went. ³⁰ He came to the second, and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I’m going, sir,’ but he didn’t go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into God’s Kingdom before you. ³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn’t even repent afterward, that you might believe him.

⁴⁰ With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”

²¹ testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus.

²⁰ but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.

¹⁶ Pay attention to yourself and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

²⁹ Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!

³ Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you are returning to Yahweh with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to Yahweh, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” ⁴ Then the children of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and served Yahweh only.

⁶ Then I wouldn’t be disappointed, when I consider all of your commandments.

⁵⁹ I considered my ways, and turned my steps to your statutes.

¹⁸ “I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned; for you are Yahweh my God. ¹⁹ Surely after that I was turned. I repented. After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’ ²⁰ Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him,” says Yahweh.

³ “Therefore, you son of man, prepare your stuff for moving, and move by day in their sight. You shall move from your place to another place in their sight. It may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house.

¹⁴ “Now, behold, if he fathers a son, who sees all his father’s sins, which he has done, and fears, and does not such like;

³¹ Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Israel?

¹² “You, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his disobedience. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither will he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins.

¹⁷ But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! ¹⁸ I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight.

⁵ Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶ For these things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. ⁷ You also once walked in those, when you lived in them; ⁸ but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth. ⁹ Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,

¹⁴ who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.

¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. ¹¹ For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.

³ The foolishness of man subverts his way; his heart rages against Yahweh.

²⁵ “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not equal.’ Hear now, house of Israel: Is my way not equal? Aren’t your ways unequal?

¹⁷ I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”

¹⁴ For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.

³ Now is the end on you, and I will send my anger on you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations.

⁸ Now I will shortly pour out my wrath on you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations. ⁹ My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways. Your abominations will be among you. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, strike.

²⁷ The king will mourn, and the prince will be clothed with desolation. The hands of the people of the land will be troubled. I will do to them after their way, and according to their own judgments I will judge them. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’”

⁶ “Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Return, and turn yourselves from your idols! Turn away your faces from all your abominations.

⁹ Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way; he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

²⁰ “Therefore the Lord Yahweh says to them: ‘Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

¹³ As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us. Yet we have not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God, that we should turn from our iniquities and have discernment in your truth.

⁶ Therefore turn to your God. Keep kindness and justice, and wait continually for your God.

¹² “Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.” ¹³ Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Yahweh, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.

¹⁸ Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.

² “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”

⁸ Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!

³² Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

³ I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.

⁵ I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.”

⁵ But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;

¹⁰ For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. ¹¹ Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God, and I hope that we are revealed also in your consciences.

⁴ But let each man examine his own work, and then he will have reason to boast in himself, and not in someone else. ⁵ For each man will bear his own burden.

¹⁵ Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death.

¹⁷ If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear,

⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lamp stand out of its place, unless you repent.

¹⁶ Repent therefore, or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth.

²¹ I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. ²² Behold, I will throw her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great oppression, unless they repent of her works. ²³ I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

¹² “Behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me, to repay to each man according to his work.

¹⁵ Behold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil.

¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants,

¹⁴ Depart from evil, and do good. Seek peace, and pursue it.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.

³⁶ But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death.”

¹⁶ Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. ¹⁷ Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”

²² You shall defile the overlaying of your engraved images of silver, and the plating of your molten images of gold. You shall cast them away as an unclean thing. You shall tell it, “Go away!”

⁸ “You shall say to this people, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

¹⁵ For I have not sent them,” says Yahweh, “but they prophesy falsely in my name; that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

³⁹ I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their good, and the good of their children after them.

¹⁹ I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;

²⁶ I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

³³ “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit.

²⁶ You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that its outside may become clean also.

⁴⁶ Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, and said, “It was necessary that God’s word should be spoken to you first. Since indeed you thrust it from yourselves, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.

² Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

²² that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit, ²³ and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth. ²⁵ Therefore putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members of one another. ²⁶ “Be angry, and don’t sin.” Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath, ²⁷ and don’t give place to the devil. ²⁸ Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, producing with his hands something that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need. ²⁹ Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear. ³⁰ Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice. ³² And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.

²¹ Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded.

¹⁴ as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance,

²² Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently,

¹ Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,

² that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. ³ For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries. ⁴ They think it is strange that you don’t run with them into the same excess of riot, blaspheming.

²³ Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” says the Lord Yahweh; “and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?