Old/New Testament
Israel’s Continuing Rebellion
20 In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord and sat before me.
2 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 3 Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Do you come to inquire of Me? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.
4 Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers. 5 And say to them: Thus says the Lord God: On the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up My hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up My hand to them, saying, I am the Lord your God, 6 on that day that I lifted up My hand to them to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had selected for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, 7 then I said to them: Cast away, each of you, the abominations of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
8 But they rebelled against Me and would not listen to Me. They did not cast away the abominations of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I will pour out My fury upon them, to accomplish My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 9 But I acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the nations among whom they were, in whose sight I made Myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt. 10 Therefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. 11 I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, which if a man does them, he shall live. 12 Moreover I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.
13 But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes, and they despised My judgments, which if a man does them, he shall live. And My Sabbaths they greatly polluted. Then I said I would pour out My fury upon them in the wilderness to consume them. 14 But I acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the nations in whose sight I brought them out. 15 Also I lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, 16 because they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but polluted My Sabbaths. For their hearts went after their idols. 17 Nevertheless My eye spared them from destroying them, nor did I make an end of them in the wilderness. 18 But I said to their children in the wilderness: Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols. 19 I am the Lord your God: Walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them. 20 And hallow My Sabbaths. And they shall be a sign between Me and you that you may know that I am the Lord your God.
21 Yet the children rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes, nor did they keep My judgments to do them, which if a man does them, he shall live. They polluted My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury upon them to accomplish My anger against them in the wilderness. 22 Nevertheless I withdrew My hand and acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the nations in whose sight I brought them out. 23 I lifted up My hand to them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries, 24 because they had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes and had polluted My Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols. 25 Therefore I gave them also statutes that were not good and judgments by which they could not live. 26 And I pronounced them unclean because of their gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all who opened the womb, that I might make them desolate in order that they might know that I am the Lord.
27 Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed Me, in that they have committed a trespass against Me. 28 When I had brought them into the land for which I lifted up My hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill and all the leafy trees, and there they offered their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering. There also they made their sweet savor and there poured out their drink offerings. 29 Then I said to them: What is the high place to which you go? And the name is called Bamah to this day.
30 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Will you pollute yourselves after the manner of your fathers and commit harlotry after their abominations? 31 When you offer your gifts, when you make your sons to pass through the fire, you pollute yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.
32 That which comes into your mind shall not come about when you say, “We will be as the nations, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.”
God Will Restore Israel
33 As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and with a stretched-out arm and with fury poured out, I will rule over you. 34 And I will bring you out from the peoples and will gather you out of the countries in which you are scattered with a mighty hand and with a stretched-out arm and with fury poured out. 35 I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. 36 As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, says the Lord God. 37 I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. 38 And I will purge from among you the rebels and those who transgress against Me. I will bring them out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord.
39 As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go serve every one of you his idols, but later you shall surely listen to Me. But do not pollute My holy name anymore with your gifts and with your idols. 40 For on My holy mountain, on the mountain of the height of Israel, says the Lord God, there all the house of Israel, all of them, shall serve Me in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will seek your offerings and the first fruits of your gifts with all your holy things. 41 I will accept you with your sweet savor when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries in which you have been scattered. And I will be sanctified among you before the nations. 42 You shall know that I am the Lord when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I lifted up My hand to give it to your fathers. 43 There you shall remember your ways and all your deeds in which you have been defiled. And you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that you have committed. 44 You shall know that I am the Lord when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, or according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, says the Lord God.
A Prophecy Against the Negev
45 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 46 Son of man, set your face toward the south, preach against the south, and prophesy against the forest land in the Negev. 47 And say to the forest of the Negev, Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God: I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned in it. 48 All flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it. It shall not be quenched.
49 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Does he not speak parables?’ ”
Babylon, the Sword of the Lord
21 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2 Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and speak against the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel, 3 and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the Lord: I am against you, and will draw My sword from its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. 4 Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore My sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north, 5 that all flesh shall know that I the Lord have drawn forth My sword from its sheath. It shall not return anymore.
6 As for you, son of man, groan with breaking heart and bitter grief, groan before their eyes. 7 It shall be when they say to you, “Why do you groan?” that you shall answer, “Because of the news that is coming. And every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water. It comes and shall be brought to pass,” says the Lord God.
8 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 9 Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord! Say:
A sword, a sword is sharpened
and also furbished!
10 It is sharpened to make a slaughter;
it is furbished so that it may glitter like lightning.
Should we then make cheer, the rod of My son despising every tree?
11 He has given it to be furbished,
that it may be handled;
the sword is sharpened,
and it is furbished to give it into the hand of the slayer.
12 Cry out and howl, son of man;
for it shall be against My people,
it shall be against all the officials of Israel.
Terrors by reason of the sword
shall be upon My people;
therefore strike your thigh.
13 Because it is a trial, and what if even the rod which despises shall be no more? says the Lord God.
14 You therefore, son of man, prophesy
and clap your hands together.
And let the sword be doubled
the third time,
the sword of the slain.
It is the sword of the great one slain,
which surrounds them.
15 That their hearts may faint,
and many fall at all their gates,
I have given the glittering sword.
Ah! It is made for striking like lightning;
it is wrapped up for the slaughter.
16 Show yourself sharp, go to the right hand.
Set yourself. Go to the left hand,
wherever your edge is set.
17 I will also clap My hands together,
and I will cause My fury to rest;
I the Lord have spoken.
18 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying: 19 As for you, son of man, appoint two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come. Both of them shall come out of one land. And make a signpost. Make it at the head of the way to the city. 20 Appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. 21 For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: He shakes the arrows, he consults the images, he looks in the liver. 22 At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem: to appoint battering rams, to open the mouth for the slaughter, to lift up the voice with a battle shout, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast up a ramp, and to build a siege tower. 23 It shall be to them as a false divination in their sight, to those who have sworn oaths. But he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be seized.
24 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins do appear, because, I say, that you have come to remembrance, you shall be seized with the hand.
25 You, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come in the time of the punishment of the end, 26 thus says the Lord God: Remove the diadem and take off the crown. This shall not be the same anymore. Exalt what is low, and abase what is high. 27 A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I shall make it. And it shall be no more until He comes whose right it is, and I shall give it to Him.
A Sword Against the Ammonites
28 You, son of man, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God concerning the sons of Ammon and concerning their reproach, and say,
The sword, the sword is drawn,
furbished for the slaughter,
to cause it to consume
that it may be like lightning,
29 while they see vanity for you,
while they divine a lie to you
to bring you upon the necks
of the wicked who are slain,
whose day has come
in the time of the punishment of the end.
30 Return it to its sheath.
I will judge you
in the place where you were created,
in the land of your nativity.
31 I will pour out My indignation upon you;
I will blow against you in the fire of My wrath,
and deliver you into the hand of cruel men,
skilled in destruction.
32 You shall be fuel to the fire;
your blood shall be in the midst of the land.
You shall be no more remembered,
for I the Lord have spoken.
Warning to the Rich
5 Come now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasures for the last days. 4 Indeed the wages that you kept back by fraud from the laborers who harvested your fields are crying, and the cries of those who harvested have entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts. 5 You have lived in pleasure on the earth and have been wayward. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and killed the righteous man who does not resist you.
Patience and Prayer
7 Therefore be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Notice how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until he receives the early and late rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is drawing near. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, lest you be condemned. Look, the Judge is standing at the door.
10 My brothers, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. 11 Indeed we count them happy who endure. You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the purpose of the Lord, that the Lord is very gracious and merciful.
12 But above all things, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by the earth or by any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes” and your “No” be “No,” that you do not fall into condemnation.
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone merry? Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your faults to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.
17 Elijah was a man subject to natural passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.
19 Brothers, if any one of you strays from the truth and someone corrects him, 20 let him know that he who converts the sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.