²¹ I will send you such a blessing^(A) in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years.^{(B) 22} While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.^(C)

²³ “‘The land^(D) must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine^(E) and you reside in my land as foreigners^(F) and strangers. ²⁴ Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption^(G) of the land.

²⁵ “‘If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative^(H) is to come and redeem^(I) what they have sold. ²⁶ If, however, there is no one to redeem it for them but later on they prosper^(J) and acquire sufficient means to redeem it themselves, ²⁷ they are to determine the value for the years^(K) since they sold it and refund the balance to the one to whom they sold it; they can then go back to their own property.^{(L) 28} But if they do not acquire the means to repay, what was sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned^(M) in the Jubilee, and they can then go back to their property.^(N)

²⁹ “‘Anyone who sells a house in a walled city retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time the seller may redeem it. ³⁰ If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and the buyer’s descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee. ³¹ But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as belonging to the open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.

³² “‘The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns,^(O) which they possess. ³³ So the property of the Levites is redeemable—that is, a house sold in any town they hold—and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites. ³⁴ But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.^(P)

¹³ In the fourteenth year^(A) of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah^(B) and captured them. ¹⁴ So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish:^(C) “I have done wrong.^(D) Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents^[a] of silver and thirty talents^[b] of gold. ¹⁵ So Hezekiah gave^(E) him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.

¹⁶ At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors^(F) and doorposts of the temple of the Lord, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem^(G)(H)

¹⁷ The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander,^(I) his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool,^(J) on the road to the Washerman’s Field. ¹⁸ They called for the king; and Eliakim^(K) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna^(L) the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.

¹⁹ The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

²⁶ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,^(R) since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

²⁷ But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

²⁸ Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹ This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive^(S) you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. ³⁰ Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

³¹ “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree^(T) and drink water from your own cistern,^{(U) 32} until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life^(V) and not death!

“Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ ³³ Has the god^(W) of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath^(X) and Arpad?^(Y) Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? ³⁵ Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”^(Z)

³⁶ But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

³⁷ Then Eliakim^(AA) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn,^(AB) and told him what the field commander had said.

³³ As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will reign over you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm^(A) and with outpoured wrath.^{(B) 34} I will bring you from the nations^(C) and gather^(D) you from the countries where you have been scattered—with a mighty hand^(E) and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath.^{(F) 35} I will bring you into the wilderness^(G) of the nations and there, face to face, I will execute judgment^(H) upon you. ³⁶ As I judged your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Sovereign Lord.^{(I) 37} I will take note of you as you pass under my rod,^(J) and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.^{(K) 38} I will purge^(L) you of those who revolt and rebel against me. Although I will bring them out of the land where they are living, yet they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.^(M)

³⁹ “‘As for you, people of Israel, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Go and serve your idols,^(N) every one of you! But afterward you will surely listen to me and no longer profane my holy name^(O) with your gifts and idols.^{(P) 40} For on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel,^(Q) declares the Sovereign Lord, there in the land all the people of Israel will serve me, and there I will accept them. There I will require your offerings^(R) and your choice gifts,^[a] along with all your holy sacrifices.^{(S) 41} I will accept you as fragrant incense^(T) when I bring you out from the nations and gather^(U) you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will be proved holy^(V) through you in the sight of the nations.^{(W) 42} Then you will know that I am the Lord,^(X) when I bring you into the land of Israel,^(Y) the land I had sworn with uplifted hand to give to your ancestors.^{(Z) 43} There you will remember your conduct^(AA) and all the actions by which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves^(AB) for all the evil you have done.^{(AC) 44} You will know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for my name’s sake^(AD) and not according to your evil ways and your corrupt practices, you people of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.^(AE)’”

Prophecy Against the South

⁴⁵ The word of the Lord came to me: ⁴⁶ “Son of man, set your face toward^(AF) the south; preach against the south and prophesy against^(AG) the forest of the southland.^{(AH) 47} Say to the southern forest:^(AI) ‘Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to set fire to you, and it will consume^(AJ) all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and every face from south to north^(AK) will be scorched by it.^{(AL) 48} Everyone will see that I the Lord have kindled it; it will not be quenched.^(AM)’”

⁴⁹ Then I said, “Sovereign Lord,^(AN) they are saying of me, ‘Isn’t he just telling parables?^(AO)’”^[b]

BOOK V

Psalms 107–150

Psalm 107

Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer^(A)(B)

11 One day Jesus was praying^(C) in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord,^(D) teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

² He said to them, “When you pray, say:

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity^[e] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.^(H)

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you;^(I) seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

¹¹ “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for^[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Paul and the False Apostles

11 I hope you will put up with^(A) me in a little foolishness.^(B) Yes, please put up with me! ² I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband,^(C) to Christ, so that I might present you^(D) as a pure virgin to him. ³ But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning,^(E) your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴ For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached,^(F) or if you receive a different spirit^(G) from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel^(H) from the one you accepted, you put up with it^(I) easily enough.

⁵ I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.”^{[a](J) 6} I may indeed be untrained as a speaker,^(K) but I do have knowledge.^(L) We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. ⁷ Was it a sin^(M) for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God^(N) to you free of charge?^{(O) 8} I robbed other churches by receiving support from them^(P) so as to serve you. ⁹ And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed.^(Q) I have kept myself from being a burden to you^(R) in any way, and will continue to do so. ¹⁰ As surely as the truth of Christ is in me,^(S) nobody in the regions of Achaia^(T) will stop this boasting^(U) of mine. ¹¹ Why? Because I do not love you? God knows^(V) I do!^(W)

¹² And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. ¹³ For such people are false apostles,^(X) deceitful^(Y) workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.^{(Z) 14} And no wonder, for Satan^(AA) himself masquerades as an angel of light. ¹⁵ It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.^(AB)