Restoration of Judah and Israel

Desolation of Israel

Prophecy of the Shepherds

⁴ Thus says the Lord my God, “Feed the flock for slaughter, ⁵ whose owners slaughter them and ^(AH)feel no guilt; those who sell them ^(AI)say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich’; and their shepherds do ^(AJ)not pity them. ⁶ For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord. “But indeed I will give everyone into his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his king. They shall ^[j]attack the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand.”

⁷ So I fed the flock for slaughter, ^[k]in particular ^(AK)the poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called ^[l]Beauty, and the other I called ^[m]Bonds; and I fed the flock. ⁸ I ^[n]dismissed the three shepherds ^(AL)in one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. ⁹ Then I said, “I will not feed you. ^(AM)Let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other’s flesh.” ¹⁰ And I took my staff, ^[o]Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹ So it was broken on that day. Thus ^(AN)the^[p] poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. ¹² Then I said to them, “If it is ^[q]agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they ^(AO)weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

¹³ And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the ^(AP)potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter. ¹⁴ Then I cut in two my other staff, ^[r]Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ And the Lord said to me, ^(AQ)“Next, take for yourself the implements of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in ^(AR)pieces.

The Coming Deliverance of Judah

12 The ^[s]burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, ^(AT)who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and ^(AU)forms the spirit of man within him: ² “Behold, I will make Jerusalem ^(AV)a cup of ^[t]drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. ^3 (AW)And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem ^(AX)a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. ⁴ In that day,” says the Lord, ^(AY)“I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. ⁵ And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.’ ⁶ In that day I will make the governors of Judah ^(AZ)like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.

⁷ “The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. ⁸ In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. ⁹ It shall be in that day that I will seek to ^(BA)destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Mourning for the Pierced One

^10 (BB)“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will ^(BC)look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him ^(BD)as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. ¹¹ In that day there shall be a great ^(BE)mourning in Jerusalem, ^(BF)like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of ^[u]Megiddo. ^12 (BG)And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of ^(BH)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 Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹⁴ all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.

A Joyful Return to Zion

A Song of Ascents.

A Man with Dropsy Healed on the Sabbath

14 Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. ² And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. ³ And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, ^(A)“Is it lawful to heal on the ^[a]Sabbath?”

⁴ But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. ⁵ Then He answered them, saying, ^(B)“Which of you, having a ^[b]donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” ⁶ And they could not answer Him regarding these things.

Take the Lowly Place

⁷ So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: ⁸ “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; ⁹ and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. ^10 (C)But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. ^11 (D)For whoever exalts himself will be ^[c]humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹² Then He also said to him who invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a feast, invite ^(E)the poor, the ^[d]maimed, the lame, the blind. ¹⁴ And you will be ^(F)blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

The Parable of the Great Supper^(G)

¹⁵ Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, ^(H)“Blessed is he who shall eat ^[e]bread in the kingdom of God!”

^16 (I)Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, ¹⁷ and ^(J)sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ ¹⁸ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ ¹⁹ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ ²⁰ Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ ²¹ So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the ^[f]maimed and the lame and the blind.’ ²² And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ ²³ Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I say to you ^(K)that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”

Leaving All to Follow Christ^(L)

²⁵ Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, ^26 (M)“If anyone comes to Me ^(N)and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, ^(O)yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ And ^(P)whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. ²⁸ For ^(Q)which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— ²⁹ lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? ³¹ Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. ³³ So likewise, whoever of you ^(R)does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

Tasteless Salt Is Worthless^(S)

^34 (T)“Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? ³⁵ It is neither fit for the land nor for the ^[g]dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”