The Lord Will Care for Judah

Two Shepherds

⁴ This is what the Lord my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter.^{(AN) 5} Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’ Their own shepherds do not spare them.^{(AO) 6} For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” declares the Lord. “I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbors^(AP) and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.”^(AQ)

⁷ So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter,^(AR) particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. ⁸ In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.

The flock detested^(AS) me, and I grew weary of them ⁹ and said, “I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish.^(AT) Let those who are left eat^(AU) one another’s flesh.”

¹⁰ Then I took my staff called Favor^(AV) and broke it, revoking^(AW) the covenant I had made with all the nations. ¹¹ It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord.

¹² I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.^(AX)

¹³ And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver^(AY) and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.^(AZ)

¹⁴ Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to me, “Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hooves.

Jerusalem’s Enemies to Be Destroyed

12 A prophecy:^(BD) The word of the Lord concerning Israel.

The Lord, who stretches out the heavens,^(BE) who lays the foundation of the earth,^(BF) and who forms the human spirit within a person,^(BG) declares: ² “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup^(BH) that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling.^(BI) Judah^(BJ) will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. ³ On that day, when all the nations^(BK) of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock^(BL) for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure^(BM) themselves. ⁴ On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares the Lord. “I will keep a watchful eye over Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations.^{(BN) 5} Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong,^(BO) because the Lord Almighty is their God.’

⁶ “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot^(BP) in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume^(BQ) all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact^(BR) in her place.

⁷ “The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah.^{(BS) 8} On that day the Lord will shield^(BT) those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest^(BU) among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God,^(BV) like the angel of the Lord going before^(BW) them. ⁹ On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations^(BX) that attack Jerusalem.^(BY)

Mourning for the One They Pierced

¹⁰ “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit^[b](BZ) of grace and supplication.^(CA) They will look on^[c] me, the one they have pierced,^(CB) and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child,^(CC) and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.^{(CD) 11} On that day the weeping^(CE) in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.^{(CF) 12} The land will mourn,^(CG) each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, ¹³ the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, ¹⁴ and all the rest of the clans and their wives.^(CH)

Psalm 126

A song of ascents.

Sin, Faith, Duty

17 Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble^(A) are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come.^{(B) 2} It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones^(C) to stumble.^{(D) 3} So watch yourselves.

“If your brother or sister^[a] sins against you, rebuke them;^(E) and if they repent, forgive them.^{(F) 4} Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”^(G)

⁵ The apostles^(H) said to the Lord,^(I) “Increase our faith!”

⁶ He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed,^(J) you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.^(K)

⁷ “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? ⁸ Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me^(L) while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? ⁹ Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”^(M)

Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy

¹¹ Now on his way to Jerusalem,^(N) Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.^{(O) 12} As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy^[b](P) met him. They stood at a distance^{(Q) 13} and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master,^(R) have pity on us!”

¹⁴ When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”^(S) And as they went, they were cleansed.

¹⁵ One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God^(T) in a loud voice. ¹⁶ He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.^(U)

¹⁷ Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”^(V)

The Coming of the Kingdom of God^(W)

²⁰ Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come,^(X) Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, ²¹ nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’^(Y) because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”^[c]

²² Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man,^(Z) but you will not see it.^{(AA) 23} People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them.^{(AB) 24} For the Son of Man in his day^[d] will be like the lightning,^(AC) which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. ²⁵ But first he must suffer many things^(AD) and be rejected^(AE) by this generation.^(AF)

²⁶ “Just as it was in the days of Noah,^(AG) so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. ²⁷ People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸ “It was the same in the days of Lot.^(AH) People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. ²⁹ But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

³⁰ “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.^{(AI) 31} On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything.^{(AJ) 32} Remember Lot’s wife!^{(AK) 33} Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.^{(AL) 34} I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. ³⁵ Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”^{(AM) [36] [e]}

³⁷ “Where, Lord?” they asked.

He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”^(AN)