Old/New Testament
O Land, Hear Yahweh
22 Thus says Yahweh, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there you shall speak this word 2 and say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, O king of Judah, who (A)sits on David’s throne, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates. 3 Thus says Yahweh, “(B)Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his (C)oppressor. Also (D)do not mistreat or do violence to the sojourner, the orphan, or the widow; and do not (E)shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you men will indeed do this thing, then (F)kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting for David on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, even the king himself and his servants and his people. 5 (G)But if you will not obey these words, I (H)swear by Myself,” declares Yahweh, “that this house will become a waste place.”’” 6 For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah:
“You are like (I)Gilead to Me,
Like the summit of Lebanon;
Yet most assuredly I will make you like a (J)wilderness,
Like cities which are not inhabited.
7 For I will set apart (K)destroyers against you,
Each with his weapons;
And they will (L)cut down your choicest cedars
And (M)throw them on the fire.
8 “Many nations will pass by this city; and they will (N)say to one another, ‘Why has Yahweh done thus to this great city?’ 9 Then they will say, ‘Because they (O)forsook the covenant of Yahweh their God and worshiped other gods and served them.’”
10 (P)Do not weep for the dead or console him,
But weep continually for the one who goes away,
For (Q)he will never return
Or see the land of his birth.
11 For thus says Yahweh in regard to [a](R)Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in the place of Josiah his father, who went forth from this place, “He will never return there; 12 but in the place where they took him away into exile, there he will (S)die and not see this land again.
13 “Woe to him who builds his house (T)without righteousness
And his [b]upper rooms without justice,
Who uses his neighbor’s services without pay
And (U)does not give him his wages,
14 Who says, ‘I will (V)build myself a roomy house
With spacious [c]upper rooms
And cut out its windows,
[d]Paneling it with (W)cedar and painting it [e]bright red.’
15 Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
And (X)do justice and righteousness?
Then it was (Y)well with him.
16 He pled the cause of the (Z)afflicted and needy;
Then it was well.
(AA)Is not that what it means to know Me?”
Declares Yahweh.
17 “But your eyes and your heart
Are set on nothing except your own (AB)greedy gain
And on (AC)shedding innocent blood
And on doing oppression and extortion.”
18 Therefore thus says Yahweh in regard to (AD)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah,
“They will not (AE)lament for him:
‘(AF)Alas, my brother!’ or, ‘Alas, sister!’
They will not lament for him:
‘Alas for the master!’ or, ‘Alas for his splendor!’
19 He will be (AG)buried with a donkey’s burial,
Dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out,
And lift up your voice in Bashan;
Cry out also from (AH)Abarim,
For all your (AI)lovers have been broken.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,
But (AJ)you said, ‘I will not listen!’
(AK)This has been your way (AL)from your youth,
That you have not listened to My voice.
22 The wind will sweep away all your (AM)shepherds,
And your (AN)lovers will go into captivity;
Then you will surely be (AO)ashamed and feel dishonor
Because of all your evil.
23 You who inhabit Lebanon,
Nested in the cedars,
How you will groan when pangs come upon you,
(AP)Pain like a woman in childbirth!
24 “As I live,” declares Yahweh, “even though [f](AQ)Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a (AR)signet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull [g]you [h]off; 25 and I will (AS)give you over into the hand of those who are seeking your life, indeed, into the hand of those whom you dread, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 I will (AT)hurl you and your (AU)mother who bore you into another land—there you were not born, but there you will die. 27 But as for the land to which their soul desires to return, they will not return to it.
28 Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar?
Or is he an (AV)undesirable vessel?
Why have he and his seed been (AW)hurled out
And cast into a (AX)land that they had not known?
29 (AY)O land, land, land,
Hear the word of Yahweh!
30 Thus says Yahweh,
‘Write this man down (AZ)childless,
A man who will (BA)not succeed in his days;
For no man of his (BB)seed will succeed
Sitting on the throne of David
Or ruling again in Judah.’”
The Righteous Branch
23 “(BC)Woe to the shepherds who are [i](BD)destroying and scattering the (BE)sheep of My pasture!” declares Yahweh. 2 Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who are shepherding My people: “You have scattered My flock and banished them and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to (BF)attend to you for the (BG)evil of your deeds,” declares Yahweh. 3 “Then I Myself will (BH)gather the remnant of My flock out of all the land where I have banished them and cause them to return to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will also raise up (BI)shepherds over them, and they will [j]shepherd them; and they will (BJ)not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, (BK)nor will any be left unattended,” declares Yahweh.
5 “Behold, the (BL)days are coming,” declares Yahweh,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous [k](BM)Branch;
And He will (BN)reign as king and [l]prosper
And (BO)do justice and righteousness in the land.
6 In His days Judah will be saved,
And (BP)Israel will dwell securely;
And this is His (BQ)name by which He will be called,
‘(BR)Yahweh our righteousness.’
7 “(BS)Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when they will no longer say, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 (BT)but, ‘As Yahweh lives, who (BU)brought up and brought back the seed of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the lands where I had banished them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”
False Prophets Condemned
9 As for the prophets:
My (BV)heart is broken within me;
All my bones tremble;
I have become like a drunken man,
Even like a man overcome with wine,
Because of Yahweh
And because of His holy words.
10 For the land is full of (BW)adulterers;
For the land (BX)mourns because of the curse.
The (BY)pastures of the wilderness have dried up.
Their course also is evil,
And their might is not right.
11 “For (BZ)both prophet and priest are polluted;
Even in My house I have found their evil,” declares Yahweh.
12 “Therefore their way will be like (CA)slippery paths to them;
They will be driven away into the (CB)thick darkness and fall down in it;
For I will bring their (CC)evil upon them,
The year of their [m]punishment,” declares Yahweh.
13 “Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an (CD)offensive thing:
They (CE)prophesied by Baal and (CF)led My people Israel astray.
14 Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen an (CG)appalling thing:
The committing of (CH)adultery and walking in lying;
And they strengthen the hands of (CI)evildoers,
So that no one has turned back from his evil.
All of them have become to Me like (CJ)Sodom,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
15 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the prophets,
‘Behold, I am going to (CK)feed them wormwood
And make them drink [n]poisoned water,
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
Pollution has gone forth into all the land.’”
16 Thus says Yahweh of hosts,
“(CL)Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.
They are (CM)leading you into vanity;
They speak a (CN)vision of their own heart,
Not (CO)from the mouth of Yahweh.
17 They keep saying to those who (CP)spurn Me,
‘Yahweh has said, “(CQ)You will have peace”’;
And as for everyone who walks in the (CR)stubbornness of his own heart,
They say, ‘(CS)Evil will not come upon you.’
18 But (CT)who has stood in the council of Yahweh,
That he should see and hear His word?
Who has given (CU)heed to [o]His word and heard?
19 Behold, the (CV)storm of Yahweh has gone forth in wrath,
Even a whirling storm;
It will whirl down on the head of the wicked.
20 The (CW)anger of Yahweh will not turn back
Until He has (CX)done and established the purposes of His heart;
(CY)In the last days you will clearly understand it.
21 (CZ)I did not send these prophets,
But they ran.
I did not speak to them,
But they prophesied.
22 But if they had (DA)stood in My council,
Then they would have (DB)caused My words to be heard by My people
And would have turned them back from their evil way
And from the evil of their deeds.
23 “Am I a God who is (DC)near,” declares Yahweh,
“And not a God far off?
24 Can a man (DD)hide himself in hiding places
So I do not see him?” declares Yahweh.
“(DE)Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares Yahweh.
25 “I have (DF)heard what the prophets have said who (DG)prophesy a lie in My name, saying, ‘I had a (DH)dream, I had a dream!’ 26 How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy a lie, even these prophets of the (DI)deception of their own heart, 27 who intend to (DJ)make My people forget My name by their dreams which they recount to one another, just as their fathers (DK)forgot My name because of Baal? 28 The prophet who has a dream may recount his dream, but let him who has (DL)My word speak My word in truth. (DM)What does straw have in common with grain?” declares Yahweh. 29 “Is not My word like (DN)fire?” declares Yahweh, “and like a (DO)hammer which shatters a rock? 30 Therefore behold, (DP)I am against the prophets,” declares Yahweh, “who steal My words from each other. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares Yahweh, “who take their tongues and declare, ‘Yahweh declares.’ 32 Behold, I am against those who have prophesied (DQ)lying dreams,” declares Yahweh, “and who recounted them and led My people astray by their lying and (DR)reckless boasting; yet (DS)I did not send them, and I did not command them, and they do not (DT)furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares Yahweh.
33 “Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you, saying, ‘What is the [p](DU)oracle of Yahweh?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What oracle?’ Yahweh declares, ‘I will (DV)abandon you.’ 34 Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The (DW)oracle of Yahweh,’ I will bring punishment upon that man and his household. 35 Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, ‘(DX)What has Yahweh answered?’ or, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’ 36 For you will no longer remember the oracle of Yahweh because every man’s own word will become the oracle, and you have (DY)perverted the words of the (DZ)living God, Yahweh of hosts, our God. 37 Thus you will say to that prophet, ‘What has Yahweh answered you?’ and, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’ 38 For if you all say, ‘The oracle of Yahweh!’ surely thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of Yahweh!” I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of Yahweh!’”’ 39 Therefore behold, (EA)I will surely forget you and abandon you, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers, so that you are out of My presence. 40 I will put an everlasting (EB)reproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.”
Greetings and Grace
1 Paul, (A)a slave of God and an (B)apostle of Jesus Christ, [a]for the faith of God’s (C)elect and (D)the full knowledge of the truth which is (E)according to godliness, 2 in (F)the hope of eternal life, which the God (G)who cannot lie (H)promised [b](I)from all eternity, 3 but (J)at the proper time manifested His word in (K)preaching, (L)with which I was entrusted (M)according to the commandment of (N)God our Savior,
4 To (O)Titus, (P)my genuine child according to our (Q)common faith: (R)Grace and peace from God the Father and (S)Christ Jesus our Savior.
Qualifications of Elders
5 For this reason I left you in (T)Crete, that you would set in order what remains and (U)appoint (V)elders in every city as I directed you, 6 namely, (W)if any man is beyond reproach, the (X)husband of one wife, having faithful children, who are not accused of (Y)dissipation, or (Z)rebellious. 7 For the [c](AA)overseer must be beyond reproach as (AB)God’s steward, not (AC)self-willed, not quick-tempered, not (AD)addicted to wine, not pugnacious, (AE)not fond of dishonest gain, 8 but (AF)hospitable, (AG)loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled, 9 (AH)holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in (AI)sound doctrine and to reprove those who contradict.
10 (AJ)For there are many (AK)rebellious men, (AL)empty talkers and deceivers, especially (AM)those of the circumcision, 11 who must be silenced because they are upsetting (AN)whole families, teaching (AO)things they should not teach (AP)for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “(AQ)Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. For this reason (AR)reprove them (AS)severely so that they may be (AT)sound in the faith, 14 not paying attention to Jewish (AU)myths and (AV)commandments of men who (AW)turn away from the truth. 15 (AX)To the pure, all things are pure, but (AY)to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their (AZ)mind and their conscience are defiled. 16 (BA)They profess to know God, but by their works they (BB)deny Him, being (BC)detestable and (BD)disobedient and (BE)unfit (BF)for any good work.
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