Punishment for Disobedience

^14 (A)“But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, ¹⁵ if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but ^(B)break my covenant, ¹⁶ then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with ^(C)wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And ^(D)you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. ¹⁷ I will ^(E)set my face against you, and ^(F)you shall be struck down before your enemies. ^(G)Those who hate you shall rule over you, and ^(H)you shall flee when none pursues you. ¹⁸ And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again ^(I)sevenfold for your sins, ¹⁹ and I will break ^(J)the pride of your power, and I ^(K)will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. ²⁰ And ^(L)your strength shall be spent in vain, for ^(M)your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.

^21 (N)“Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. ²² And ^(O)I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that ^(P)your roads shall be deserted.

²³ “And ^(Q)if by this discipline you are not turned to me ^(R)but walk contrary to me, ^24 (S)then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins. ²⁵ And ^(T)I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant. And if you gather within your cities, ^(U)I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. ^26 (V)When I break your supply^[a] of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and ^(W)you shall eat and not be satisfied.

Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery

20 ^(A)In those days ^(B)Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ^(C)‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” ² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, ³ “Now, O Lord, ^(D)please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and ^(E)with a whole heart, ^(F)and have done what is good in your sight.” ^(G)And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: ⁵ “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah ^(H)the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: ^(I)I have heard your prayer; ^(J)I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, ⁶ and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, ^(K)and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.” ⁷ And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”

⁸ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?” ⁹ And Isaiah said, “This shall be ^(L)the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” ¹⁰ And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow ^(M)to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” ¹¹ And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, ^(N)and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.

Israel's Shedding of Blood

22 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “And you, ^(A)son of man, ^(B)will you judge, will you judge ^(C)the bloody city? ^(D)Then declare to her all her abominations. ³ You shall say, Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that ^(E)her time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! ⁴ You have become guilty ^(F)by the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought ^(G)your days near, the appointed time of^[a] your years has come. ^(H)Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. ⁵ Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; ^(I)your name is defiled; ^(J)you are full of tumult.

⁶ “Behold, ^(K)the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. ⁷ Father and mother ^(L)are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner ^(M)suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow ^(N)are wronged in you. ^8 (O)You have despised my holy things and ^(P)profaned my Sabbaths. ^9 (Q)There are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you ^(R)who eat on the mountains; ^(S)they commit lewdness in your midst. ¹⁰ In you ^(T)men uncover their fathers' nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. ^11 (U)One commits abomination with his neighbor's wife; ^(V)another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; ^(W)another in you violates his sister, his father's daughter. ¹² In you ^(X)they take bribes to shed blood; ^(Y)you take interest and profit^[b] and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but ^(Z)me you have forgotten, declares the Lord God.

¹³ “Behold, ^(AA)I strike my hand at ^(AB)the dishonest gain that you have made, and at ^(AC)the blood that has been in your midst.

With God We Shall Do Valiantly

A Song. A Psalm of David.

The Light in You

^33 (A)“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. ³⁴ Your eye is ^(B)the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is ^(C)bad, your body is full of darkness. ^35 (D)Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. ³⁶ If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, ^(E)as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”

Woes to the Pharisees and Lawyers

³⁷ While Jesus^[a] was speaking, ^(F)a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. ³⁸ The Pharisee was astonished to see ^(G)that he did not first wash before dinner. ³⁹ And the Lord said to him, ^(H)“Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of ^(I)greed and wickedness. ^40 (J)You fools! ^(K)Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹ But ^(L)give as alms those things that are within, and behold, ^(M)everything is clean for you.

^42 (N)“But woe to you Pharisees! For ^(O)you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect ^(P)justice and ^(Q)the love of God. ^(R)These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

Paul's Visions and His Thorn

12 I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and ^(A)revelations of the Lord. ² I know a man ^(B)in Christ who fourteen years ago was ^(C)caught up to ^(D)the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, ^(E)God knows. ³ And I know that this man was caught up into ^(F)paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, ^(G)God knows— ⁴ and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. ⁵ On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, ^(H)except of my weaknesses— ⁶ though if I should wish to boast, ^(I)I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. ⁷ So ^(J)to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,^{[a] (K)}a thorn was given me in the flesh, ^(L)a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ^8 (M)Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹ But he said to me, ^(N)“My grace is sufficient for you, for ^(O)my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that ^(P)the power of Christ may rest upon me. ^10 (Q)For the sake of Christ, then, ^(R)I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For ^(S)when I am weak, then I am strong.