The Flock Doomed to Slaughter

⁴ Thus said the Lord my God: ^(G)“Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. ^5 (H)Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, ^(I)I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. ⁶ For ^(J)I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”

^7 (K)So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named ^(L)Favor, the other I named ^(M)Union. ^(N)And I tended the sheep. ⁸ In one month ^(O)I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. ⁹ So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. ^(P)What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” ¹⁰ And I took ^(Q)my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹ So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. ¹² Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages ^(R)thirty pieces of silver. ¹³ Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—^(S)the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the ^(T)thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter. ¹⁴ Then I broke ^(U)my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of ^(V)a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd ^(W)who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but ^(X)devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

The Lord Will Give Salvation

12 ^(AB)The oracle of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, ^(AC)who stretched out the heavens and ^(AD)founded the earth and ^(AE)formed the spirit of man within him: ² “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem ^(AF)a cup of staggering to ^(AG)all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem ^(AH)will also be against Judah. ^3 (AI)On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. ^(AJ)All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And ^(AK)all the nations of the earth will gather against it. ^4 (AL)On that day, declares the Lord, ^(AM)I will strike every horse ^(AN)with panic, and its rider ^(AO)with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples ^(AP)with blindness. ⁵ Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of hosts, their God.’

^6 (AQ)“On that day I will make the clans of Judah ^(AR)like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And ^(AS)they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while ^(AT)Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.

⁷ “And the Lord will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. ^8 (AU)On that day ^(AV)the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that ^(AW)the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, ^(AX)like the angel of the Lord, going before them. ^9 (AY)And on that day ^(AZ)I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Him Whom They Have Pierced

¹⁰ “And ^(BA)I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and ^(BB)pleas for mercy, so that, ^(BC)when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, ^(BD)they shall mourn for him, ^(BE)as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. ^11 (BF)On that day ^(BG)the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great ^(BH)as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹² The land shall mourn, ^(BI)each family^[a] by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of ^(BJ)Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹³ the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of ^(BK)the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹⁴ and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves.

Warning to the Rich

5 Come now, ^(A)you rich, weep and howl for the ^(B)miseries that are coming upon you. ^2 (C)Your riches have rotted and ^(D)your garments are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. ^(E)You have laid up treasure ^(F)in the last days. ⁴ Behold, ^(G)the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and ^(H)the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of ^(I)the Lord of hosts. ^5 (J)You have lived on the earth in luxury and ^(K)in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in ^(L)a day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and ^(M)murdered ^(N)the righteous person. He does not resist you.

Patience in Suffering

⁷ Be patient, therefore, brothers,^[a] until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives ^(O)the early and the late rains. ⁸ You also, be patient. ^(P)Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord ^(Q)is at hand. ⁹ Do not grumble against one another, brothers, ^(R)so that you may not be judged; behold, ^(S)the Judge is standing ^(T)at the door. ¹⁰ As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take ^(U)the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of ^(V)the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen ^(W)the purpose of the Lord, how ^(X)the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

¹² But above all, my brothers, ^(Y)do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

The Prayer of Faith

¹³ Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him ^(Z)sing praise. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, ^(AA)anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And ^(AB)if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore, ^(AC)confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, ^(AD)that you may be healed. ^(AE)The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.^{[b] 17} Elijah was a man ^(AF)with a nature like ours, and ^(AG)he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for ^(AH)three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ^18 (AI)Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

¹⁹ My brothers, ^(AJ)if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone ^(AK)brings him back, ²⁰ let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering ^(AL)will save his soul from death and ^(AM)will cover a multitude of sins.