The Lord Is Holy

19 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, ^(A)You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. ^3 (B)Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and ^(C)you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. ^4 (D)Do not turn to idols ^(E)or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.

^5 (F)“When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so ^(G)that you may be accepted. ⁶ It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire. ⁷ If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is ^(H)tainted; it will not be accepted, ⁸ and everyone who eats it shall ^(I)bear his iniquity, because ^(J)he has profaned what is holy to the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from his people.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

^9 (K)“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. ¹⁰ And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

^11 (L)“You shall not steal; ^(M)you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. ^12 (N)You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so ^(O)profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

^13 (P)“You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. ^(Q)The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. ^14 (R)You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall ^(S)fear your God: I am the Lord.

Jehu Slaughters Ahab's Descendants

10 Now Ahab had seventy sons in ^(A)Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of the city,^[a] to the elders, and to ^(B)the guardians of the sons^[b] of Ahab, saying, ² “Now then, as soon as this letter comes to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, fortified cities also, and weapons, ³ select the best and fittest of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne and fight for your master's house.” ⁴ But they were exceedingly afraid and said, “Behold, the two kings could not stand before him. How then can we stand?” ⁵ So he who was over the palace, and he who was over the city, together with the elders and the guardians, sent to Jehu, saying, ^(C)“We are your servants, and we will do all that you tell us. We will not make anyone king. Do whatever is good in your eyes.” ⁶ Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, “If you are on my side, and if you are ready to obey me, take the heads of your master's sons and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow at this time.” Now the king's sons, seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, ^(D)who were bringing them up. ⁷ And as soon as the letter came to them, they took the king's sons ^(E)and slaughtered them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel. ⁸ When the messenger came and told him, “They have brought the heads of the king's sons,” he said, “Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.” ⁹ Then in the morning, when he went out, he stood and said to all the people, “You are innocent. ^(F)It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who struck down all these? ¹⁰ Know then that there shall ^(G)fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the Lord has done ^(H)what he said by his servant Elijah.” ¹¹ So Jehu struck down all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his great men and his close friends and his priests, until he left him none remaining.

¹² Then he set out and went to Samaria. On the way, when he was at Beth-eked of the Shepherds, ¹³ Jehu met ^(I)the relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah, and he said, “Who are you?” And they answered, “We are the relatives of Ahaziah, and we came down to visit the royal princes and the sons of the queen mother.” ¹⁴ He said, “Take them alive.” And they took them alive and slaughtered them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two persons, and he spared none of them.

¹⁵ And when he departed from there, he met ^(J)Jehonadab the son of ^(K)Rechab coming to meet him. And he greeted him and said to him, “Is your heart true to my heart as mine is to yours?” And Jehonadab answered, “It is.” Jehu said,^[c] “If it is, ^(L)give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand. And Jehu took him up with him into the chariot. ¹⁶ And he said, “Come with me, and see ^(M)my zeal for the Lord.” So he^[d] had him ride in his chariot. ¹⁷ And when he came to Samaria, ^(N)he struck down all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had wiped them out, according to the word of the Lord ^(O)that he spoke to Elijah.

Idolatrous Elders Condemned

14 Then certain of the ^(A)elders of Israel came to me ^(B)and sat before me. ² And the word of the Lord came to me: ^3 (C)“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set ^(D)the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. ^(E)Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? ⁴ Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, ^(F)I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, ^5 (G)that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, ^(H)who are all estranged from me through their idols.

⁶ “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: ^(I)Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. ⁷ For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, ^(J)who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, ^(K)I the Lord will answer him myself. ⁸ And ^(L)I will set my face against that man; I ^(M)will make him a sign and a byword ^(N)and cut him off from the midst of my people, ^(O)and you shall know that I am the Lord. ⁹ And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, ^(P)I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. ¹⁰ And they shall bear their punishment^[a]—the punishment of the prophet and the punishment of the inquirer shall be alike— ¹¹ that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor ^(Q)defile themselves anymore with all their transgressions, ^(R)but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord God.”

Jerusalem Will Not Be Spared

¹² And the word of the Lord came to me: ^13 (S)“Son of man, when a land sins against me ^(T)by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and ^(U)break its supply^[b] of bread and send famine upon it, and ^(V)cut off from it man and beast, ^14 (W)even if these three men, ^(X)Noah, ^(Y)Daniel, and ^(Z)Job, were in it, ^(AA)they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord God.

^15 (AB)“If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, ^(AC)and it be made desolate, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts, ¹⁶ even if these three men were in it, ^(AD)as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be delivered, but ^(AE)the land would be desolate.

¹⁷ “Or ^(AF)if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, ^(AG)and I cut off from it man and beast, ^18 (AH)though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered.

¹⁹ “Or ^(AI)if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast, ²⁰ even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness.

²¹ “For thus says the Lord God: How much more ^(AJ)when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, ^(AK)sword, ^(AL)famine, ^(AM)wild beasts, and ^(AN)pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! ²² But behold, ^(AO)some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; behold, when they come out to you, and ^(AP)you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it. ²³ They will console you, when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord God.”

Do Not Hide Your Face from Me

A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is ^(A)faint and ^(B)pours out his complaint before the Lord.

Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon

^26 (A)Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes,^[a] which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷ When Jesus^[b] had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house ^(B)but among the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he ^(C)cried out and fell down before him and said ^(D)with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, ^(E)Son of ^(F)the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” ²⁹ For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon ^(G)into the desert.) ³⁰ Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, ^(H)“Legion,” for many demons had entered him. ³¹ And they begged him not to command them to depart into ^(I)the abyss. ³² Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. ³³ Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into ^(J)the lake and drowned.

³⁴ When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. ³⁵ Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting ^(K)at the feet of Jesus, ^(L)clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. ³⁶ And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed^[c] man had been healed. ³⁷ Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes ^(M)asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. ³⁸ The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹ “Return to your home, and ^(N)declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

Ministers of the New Covenant

3 ^(A)Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, ^(B)as some do, ^(C)letters of recommendation to you, or from you? ^2 (D)You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our^[a] hearts, to be known and read by all. ³ And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of ^(E)the living God, not on ^(F)tablets of stone but on ^(G)tablets of ^(H)human hearts.^[b]

^4 (I)Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. ^5 (J)Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but ^(K)our sufficiency is from God, ⁶ who has made us sufficient to be ^(L)ministers of ^(M)a new covenant, not of ^(N)the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but ^(O)the Spirit gives life.

⁷ Now if ^(P)the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory ^(Q)that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, ⁸ will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? ⁹ For if there was glory in ^(R)the ministry of condemnation, ^(S)the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. ¹⁰ Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹ For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

¹² Since we have such a hope, ^(T)we are very bold, ¹³ not like Moses, ^(U)who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. ¹⁴ But ^(V)their minds were ^(W)hardened. For to this day, ^(X)when they read ^(Y)the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵ Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. ¹⁶ But when ^(Z)one^[c] turns to the Lord, ^(AA)the veil is removed. ¹⁷ Now the Lord^[d] is the Spirit, and where ^(AB)the Spirit of the Lord is, there is ^(AC)freedom. ¹⁸ And we all, with unveiled face, ^(AD)beholding ^(AE)the glory of the Lord,^{[e] (AF)}are being transformed into the same image ^(AG)from one degree of glory to another.^[f] For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.