Prayer for the Destruction of the Treacherous.

For the music director; on stringed instruments. A ^[a]Maskil of David.

God’s Grace to Unfaithful Jerusalem

16 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, ^(A)make known to Jerusalem her abominations, ³ and say, ‘This is what the Lord ^[a]God says to Jerusalem: “Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. ⁴ As for your birth, ^(B)on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. ⁵ No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the ^[b](C)open field, ^[c]for you were abhorred on the day you were born.

⁶ “When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ ⁷ I ^(D)made you ^[d]very numerous, like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for fine jewelry; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked and bare.

⁸ “Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, ^[e]you were at the time for love; so I ^(E)spread My ^[f]garment over you and covered your nakedness. I also ^(F)swore an oath to you and ^(G)entered into a covenant with you so that you ^(H)became Mine,” declares the Lord God. ⁹ “Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you, and ^(I)anointed you with oil. ¹⁰ I also clothed you with ^(J)colorfully woven cloth and put sandals of ^[g]fine leather on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. ¹¹ I adorned you with jewelry, put ^(K)bracelets on your wrists, and a ^(L)necklace around your neck. ¹² I also put a ^(M)ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a ^(N)beautiful crown on your head. ¹³ So you were adorned with ^(O)gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk, and colorfully woven cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to ^(P)royalty. ¹⁴ Then your ^(Q)fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was ^(R)perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,” declares the Lord God.

¹⁵ “But you ^(S)trusted in your beauty and ^(T)became unfaithful because of your fame, and you poured out your ^[h]obscene practices on every passer-by to whom it might be tempting. ¹⁶ You took some of your clothes, made for yourself ^[i]high places of various colors, and committed prostitution on them, which should not come about nor happen. ¹⁷ You also took your beautiful ^[j](U)jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images so that you might commit prostitution with them. ¹⁸ Then you took your colorfully woven cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them. ¹⁹ Also ^(V)My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey with which I fed you, ^[k]you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened,” declares the Lord God. ²⁰ “Furthermore, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to ^(W)Me and ^(X)sacrificed them to ^[l]idols to be devoured. Were your obscene practices a trivial matter? ²¹ You slaughtered ^(Y)My children and offered them to ^[m]idols by ^(Z)making them pass through the fire. ²² And besides all your abominations and obscene practices, you did not remember the days of ^(AA)your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.

²³ “Then it came about after all your wickedness (‘Woe, woe to you!’ declares the Lord God), ²⁴ that you built yourself a ^(AB)shrine and made yourself a ^(AC)high place in every public square. ²⁵ You built yourself a high place at the beginning of ^(AD)every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by and multiplied your obscene practice. ²⁶ You also committed prostitution with the Egyptians, your ^[n]lustful neighbors, and multiplied your obscene practice to ^(AE)provoke Me to anger. ²⁷ So behold, I have stretched out My hand against you and cut back your rations. And I turned you over to the desire of those who hate you, the ^(AF)daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your outrageous conduct. ²⁸ Moreover, you committed prostitution with the ^(AG)Assyrians because you were not satisfied; you committed prostitution with them and still were not satisfied. ²⁹ You also multiplied your obscene practice with the land of merchants, Chaldea; yet even with this you were not satisfied.”’”

³⁰ “How ^(AH)feverish is your heart,” declares the Lord God, “while you do all these things, the action of a ^[o](AI)bold prostitute! ³¹ When you built your shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high place in every public square, in ^(AJ)spurning a prostitute’s fee, you were not like a prostitute. ³² You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband! ³³ Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you ^(AK)give your gifts to all your lovers and lavish favors on them so that they will come to you from every direction for your obscene practices. ³⁴ So it is the opposite for you from those women in your obscene practices, in that you are not approached for prostitution, and in the fact that you pay a prostitute’s fee, and no fee is paid to you; so you are the opposite.”

³⁵ Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the Lord. ³⁶ This is what the Lord God says: “Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your obscene practices with your lovers and with all your detestable ^(AL)idols, and because of the blood of your sons that you gave to ^[p]idols, ³⁷ therefore, behold, I am going to ^(AM)gather all your lovers whom you pleased, all those whom you loved as well as all those whom you ^(AN)hated. So I will gather them against you from every direction and ^(AO)expose your nakedness to them so that they may see all your nakedness. ³⁸ So I will ^(AP)judge you as women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of ^(AQ)wrath and jealousy. ³⁹ I will also hand you over to ^[q]your lovers, and they will tear down your shrines, demolish your high places, ^(AR)strip you of your clothing, take away your ^[r]jewels, and will leave you naked and bare. ⁴⁰ They will ^[s]incite a ^(AS)crowd against you, and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. ⁴¹ And they will ^(AT)burn your houses with fire and execute judgments against you in the sight of many women. Then I will ^(AU)put an end to your prostitution, and you will also no longer pay ^[t]your lovers. ⁴² So I ^(AV)will satisfy My fury against you and My jealousy will leave you, and I will be pacified and ^(AW)no longer be angry. ⁴³ Since you have ^(AX)not remembered the days of your youth but ^[u]have ^(AY)caused Me unrest by all these things, behold, I in turn will ^(AZ)bring your conduct down on your own head,” declares the Lord God, “so that you will not commit this outrageous sin in addition to all your other abominations.

⁴⁴ “Behold, everyone who quotes ^(BA)proverbs will quote this proverb about you, saying, ‘Like ^[v]mother, like daughter.’ ⁴⁵ You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and children. You are also the ^(BB)sister of your sisters, who ^(BC)loathed their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. ⁴⁶ Now your ^(BD)older sister is Samaria, who lives ^[w]north of you with her ^[x]daughters; and your younger sister, who lives ^[y]south of you, is ^(BE)Sodom with her ^[z]daughters. ⁴⁷ Yet you have not merely walked in their ways and ^[aa]committed their abominations; but, as if that were ^(BF)too little, you also acted ^(BG)more corruptly in all your conduct than they. ⁴⁸ As I live,” declares the Lord God, “Sodom, your sister and her daughters have ^(BH)not done as you and your daughters have done! ⁴⁹ Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had ^(BI)arrogance, ^(BJ)plenty of food, and ^(BK)carefree ease, but she did not ^[ab]help the ^(BL)poor and needy. ⁵⁰ So they were haughty and committed ^(BM)abominations before Me. Therefore I ^(BN)removed them ^[ac]when I saw it. ⁵¹ Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half of your sins, for you have multiplied your abominations more than they. So you have made your sisters appear ^(BO)innocent by all your abominations which you have committed. ⁵² Also, bear your disgrace in that you have ^[ad]made judgment favorable for your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted ^(BP)more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. Yes, be also ashamed and bear your disgrace, in that you made your sisters appear innocent.

⁵³ “Nevertheless, I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and ^[ae]along with them your own fortunes, ⁵⁴ so that you will bear your disgrace and feel ^(BQ)ashamed for all that you have done when you become ^(BR)a consolation to them. ⁵⁵ Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, ^[af]will return to their former state, and you with your daughters will also return to your former state. ⁵⁶ As the name of your sister Sodom was not heard from your lips in your day of pride, ⁵⁷ before your ^(BS)wickedness was uncovered, ^[ag]so now you have become the ^(BT)disgrace of the daughters of ^[ah]Edom and of all who are around her, of the daughters of the Philistines—those surrounding you who despise you. ⁵⁸ You have ^(BU)suffered the penalty of your outrageous sin and abominations,” the Lord declares. ⁵⁹ For this is what the Lord God says: “I will also do with you as you have done, you who have ^(BV)despised the oath by breaking the covenant.

The Covenant Remembered

⁶⁰ “Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an ^(BW)everlasting covenant with you. ⁶¹ Then you will ^(BX)remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both your older and your younger; and I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant. ⁶² So I will ^(BY)establish My covenant with you, and you shall ^(BZ)know that I am the Lord, ⁶³ so that you may ^(CA)remember and be ashamed, and ^(CB)not open your mouth again because of your disgrace, when I have ^[ai](CC)forgiven you for all that you have done,” the Lord God declares.

Parables on Prayer

18 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ^(A)ought to pray and not ^(B)become discouraged, ² saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not ^(C)respect any person. ³ Now there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my ^[a]opponent.’ ⁴ For a while he was unwilling; but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor ^(D)respect any person, ⁵ yet ^(E)because this widow is bothering me, I will give her justice; otherwise ^[b]by continually coming she will ^(F)wear me out.’” ⁶ And ^(G)the Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge *said; ⁷ now, will God not ^(H)bring about justice for His ^(I)elect who cry out to Him day ^[c]and night, and will He ^(J)delay long for them? ⁸ I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, ^(K)will He find ^[d]faith on the earth?”

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ Now He also told this parable to some people who ^(L)trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and ^(M)viewed others with contempt: ¹⁰ “Two men ^(N)went up into the ^[e]temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee ^(O)stood and began praying this in regard to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, crooked, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I ^(P)fast twice a week; I ^(Q)pay tithes of all that I get.’ ¹³ But the tax collector, ^(R)standing some distance away, ^(S)was even unwilling to raise his eyes toward heaven, but ^(T)was beating his chest, saying, ‘God, be ^[f]merciful to me, the sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other one; ^(U)for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

^15 (V)Now they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. ¹⁶ But Jesus called for ^[g]the little ones, saying, “Allow the children to come to Me, and do not ^[h]forbid them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷ Truly I say to you, ^(W)whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”

The Rich Young Ruler

^18 (X)A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁹ But Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me ^[i]good? No one is ^[j]good except God alone. ²⁰ You know the commandments, ‘^(Y)Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not give false testimony, Honor your father and mother.’” ²¹ And he said, “All these things I have kept since my youth.” ²² Now when Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; ^(Z)sell all that you possess and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have ^(AA)treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” ²³ But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely wealthy. ²⁴ And Jesus looked at him and said, “^(AB)How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ For ^(AC)it is easier for a camel to ^[k]go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God!” ²⁶ Those who heard Him said, “And so who can be saved?” ²⁷ But He said, “^(AD)The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.”

²⁸ Peter said, “Behold, ^(AE)we have left ^[l]our own homes and followed You.” ²⁹ And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, ^(AF)there is no one who has left house, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, ³⁰ who will not receive many times as much at this time, and in ^(AG)the age to come, eternal life.”