²¹ I will ^(A)command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. ^22 (B)When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of ^(C)the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives.

Redemption of Property

²³ “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for ^(D)the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. ²⁴ And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.

²⁵ “If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, ^(E)then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. ²⁶ If a man has no one to redeem it and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it, ²⁷ let ^(F)him calculate the years since he sold it and pay back the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and then return to his property. ²⁸ But if he does not have sufficient means to recover it, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it shall ^(G)be released, and ^(H)he shall return to his property.

²⁹ “If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, he may redeem it within a year of its sale. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption. ³⁰ If it is not redeemed within a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong in perpetuity to the buyer, throughout his generations; ^(I)it shall not be released in the jubilee. ³¹ But the houses of the villages that have no wall around them shall be classified with the fields of the land. They may be redeemed, and ^(J)they shall be released in the jubilee. ³² As for ^(K)the cities of the Levites, the Levites may redeem at any time the houses in the cities they possess. ³³ And if one of the Levites exercises his right of redemption, then the house that was sold in a city they possess shall be released in the jubilee. For the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the people of Israel. ³⁴ But the fields ^(L)of pastureland belonging to their cities may not be sold, for that is their possession forever.

Sennacherib Attacks Judah

^13 (A)In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. ¹⁴ And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.” ^(B)And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents^[a] of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah ^(C)gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house. ¹⁶ At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. ¹⁷ And the king of Assyria sent the ^(D)Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by ^(E)the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer's Field. ¹⁸ And when they called for the king, there came out to them ^(F)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(G)Shebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

¹⁹ And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? ²⁰ Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? ²¹ Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of ^(H)a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ²² But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he ^(I)whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”? ²³ Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. ²⁴ How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ²⁵ Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”

²⁶ Then ^(J)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and ^(K)Shebnah, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in ^(L)Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” ²⁷ But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?”

²⁸ Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹ Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my^[b] hand. ³⁰ Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ ³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me^[c] and come out to me. Then ^(M)each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, ³² until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, ^(N)a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and ^(O)honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” ^33 (P)Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ^34 (Q)Where are the gods of ^(R)Hamath and ^(S)Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and ^(T)Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ³⁵ Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, ^(U)that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

³⁶ But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, “Do not answer him.” ³⁷ Then ^(V)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah ^(W)with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

The Lord Will Restore Israel

^33 (A)“As I live, declares the Lord God, ^(B)surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and ^(C)with wrath poured out I will be king over you. ^34 (D)I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out. ^35 (E)And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, ^(F)and there I will enter into judgment with you ^(G)face to face. ^36 (H)As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord God. ³⁷ I will make you ^(I)pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. ^38 (J)I will purge out the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against me. ^(K)I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, ^(L)but they shall not enter the land of Israel. ^(M)Then you will know that I am the Lord.

³⁹ “As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: ^(N)Go serve every one of you his idols, now and hereafter, if you will not listen to me; ^(O)but my holy name you shall no more profane with your gifts and your idols.

^40 (P)“For on my holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel, declares the Lord God, there ^(Q)all the house of Israel, all of them, shall serve me in the land. ^(R)There I will accept them, and there I will require your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your sacred offerings. ⁴¹ As a pleasing aroma I will accept you, when ^(S)I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered. And ^(T)I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations. ^42 (U)And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the country that ^(V)I swore to give to your fathers. ^43 (W)And there you shall remember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves, ^(X)and you shall loathe yourselves for all the evils that you have committed. ⁴⁴ And you shall know that I am the Lord, ^(Y)when I deal with you for my name's sake, ^(Z)not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”

^45 [a] And the word of the Lord came to me: ^46 (AA)“Son of man, ^(AB)set your face toward the southland;^{[b] (AC)}preach against the south, and prophesy against the forest land in the Negeb. ⁴⁷ Say to the forest of the Negeb, Hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, Behold, ^(AD)I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every ^(AE)green tree in you and every ^(AF)dry tree. The blazing flame shall not be quenched, and ^(AG)all faces from south to north shall be scorched by it. ^48 (AH)All flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.” ⁴⁹ Then I said, ^(AI)“Ah, Lord God! They are saying of me, ^(AJ)‘Is he not a maker of parables?’”

Book Five

Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So

The Lord's Prayer

11 Now Jesus^[a] was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, ^(A)as John taught his disciples.” ² And he said to them, ^(B)“When you pray, say:

⁵ And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, ⁶ for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; ⁷ and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? ⁸ I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything ^(K)because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence^[c] he will rise and give him whatever he needs. ⁹ And I tell you, ^(L)ask, and ^(M)it will be given to you; ^(N)seek, and you will find; ^(O)knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. ¹¹ What father among you, if his son asks for^[d] a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; ¹² or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, ^(P)who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father ^(Q)give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Paul and the False Apostles

11 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! ² For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since ^(A)I betrothed you to one husband, ^(B)to present you ^(C)as a pure virgin to Christ. ³ But I am afraid that ^(D)as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts ^(E)will be led astray from a ^(F)sincere and ^(G)pure devotion to Christ. ⁴ For if someone comes and ^(H)proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept ^(I)a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. ⁵ Indeed, I consider that ^(J)I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. ^6 (K)Even if I am unskilled in speaking, ^(L)I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way ^(M)we have made this plain to you in all things.

⁷ Or ^(N)did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because ^(O)I preached God's gospel to you free of charge? ⁸ I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. ⁹ And when I was with you and was ^(P)in need, ^(Q)I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia ^(R)supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain ^(S)from burdening you in any way. ^10 (T)As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine ^(U)will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹ And why? ^(V)Because I do not love you? ^(W)God knows I do!

¹² And what I am doing I will continue to do, ^(X)in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. ¹³ For such men are ^(Y)false apostles, ^(Z)deceitful workmen, ^(AA)disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as ^(AB)an angel of light. ¹⁵ So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as ^(AC)servants of righteousness. ^(AD)Their end will correspond to their deeds.