Kindness for Poor Brothers

³⁵ “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, ^(A)you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. ^36 (B)Take no interest from him or profit, but ^(C)fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. ^37 (D)You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. ^38 (E)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.

^39 (F)“If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: ⁴⁰ he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. ^41 (G)Then he shall go out from you, ^(H)he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return ^(I)to the possession of his fathers. ⁴² For they are ^(J)my servants,^[a] whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. ^43 (K)You shall not rule over him ^(L)ruthlessly but ^(M)shall fear your God. ⁴⁴ As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. ^45 (N)You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. ⁴⁶ You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel ^(O)you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.

Redeeming a Poor Man

⁴⁷ “If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and ^(P)your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you or to a member of the stranger's clan, ⁴⁸ then after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him, ⁴⁹ or his uncle or his cousin may ^(Q)redeem him, or a close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he ^(R)grows rich he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰ He shall calculate with his buyer from the year when he sold himself to him until the year of jubilee, and the price of his sale shall vary with the number of years. The time he was with his owner shall be ^(S)rated as the time of a hired worker. ⁵¹ If there are still many years left, he shall pay proportionately for his redemption some of his sale price. ⁵² If there remain but a few years until the year of jubilee, he shall calculate and pay for his redemption in proportion to his years of service. ⁵³ He shall treat him as a worker hired year by year. ^(T)He shall not rule ruthlessly over him in your sight. ⁵⁴ And if he is not redeemed by these means, then ^(U)he and his children with him shall be released in the year of jubilee. ⁵⁵ For it is ^(V)to me that the people of Israel are servants.^[b] They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Isaiah Reassures Hezekiah

19 ^(A)As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, ^(B)he tore his clothes and ^(C)covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. ² And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, ^(D)covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. ^4 (E)It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent ^(F)to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for ^(G)the remnant that is left.” ⁵ When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which ^(H)the servants of the king of Assyria have ^(I)reviled me. ⁷ Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that ^(J)he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him ^(K)fall by the sword in his own land.’”

Sennacherib Defies the Lord

⁸ The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^(L)Libnah, for he heard that the king had left ^(M)Lachish. ^9 (N)Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has set out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God ^(O)in whom you trust deceive you by promising that ^(P)Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹ Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? ^12 (Q)Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, ^(R)Gozan, ^(S)Haran, Rezeph, and the people of ^(T)Eden who were in Telassar? ^13 (U)Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

The Lord Has Drawn His Sword

21 ^[a] The word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (A)“Son of man, ^(B)set your face toward Jerusalem and ^(C)preach against the sanctuaries.^[b] Prophesy against the land of Israel ³ and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the Lord: ^(D)Behold, I am against you and will draw ^(E)my sword from its sheath and ^(F)will cut off from you both righteous and wicked. ⁴ Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore my sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from south to north. ^5 (G)And all flesh shall know that I am the Lord. I have drawn ^(H)my sword from its sheath; ^(I)it shall not be sheathed again.

⁶ “As for you, son of man, ^(J)groan; with breaking heart and bitter grief, ^(K)groan before their eyes. ^7 (L)And when they say to you, ‘Why do you groan?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news ^(M)that it is coming. ^(N)Every heart will melt, and ^(O)all hands will be feeble; every spirit will faint, and ^(P)all knees will be weak as water. ^(Q)Behold, it is ^(R)coming, and it will be fulfilled,’” declares the Lord God.

⁸ And the word of the Lord came to me: ^9 (S)“Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord, say:

(Or ^(W)shall we rejoice? You have despised the rod, my son, ^(X)with everything of wood.)^{[c] 11} So the sword is given to be polished, that it may be grasped in the hand. It is sharpened and polished ^(Y)to be given into the hand of the slayer. ^12 (Z)Cry out and wail, son of man, for it is against my people. It is against all the princes of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. ^(AA)Strike therefore upon your thigh. ¹³ For it will not be a testing—what could it do if you despise ^(AB)the rod?”^[d] declares the Lord God.

¹⁴ “As for you, ^(AC)son of man, prophesy. ^(AD)Clap your hands and let the sword come down twice, ^(AE)yes, three times,^[e] the sword for those to be slain. It is the sword for the great slaughter, which surrounds them,

Jesus and Beelzebul

^14 (A)Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “He casts out demons ^(B)by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” ¹⁶ while others, ^(C)to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. ^17 (D)But he, ^(E)knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. ¹⁸ And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, ^(F)by whom do ^(G)your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if it is by ^(H)the finger of God that I cast out demons, then ^(I)the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²¹ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; ^22 (J)but when one stronger than he attacks him and ^(K)overcomes him, he takes away his ^(L)armor in which he trusted and ^(M)divides his spoil. ^23 (N)Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

¹⁶ I repeat, ^(A)let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. ¹⁷ What I am saying ^(B)with this boastful confidence, ^(C)I say not as the Lord would^[a] but as a fool. ¹⁸ Since ^(D)many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. ¹⁹ For you gladly bear with fools, ^(E)being wise yourselves! ²⁰ For you bear it if someone ^(F)makes slaves of you, or ^(G)devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or ^(H)strikes you in the face. ²¹ To my shame, I must say, ^(I)we were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. ²² Are they Hebrews? ^(J)So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.