Jerusalem Will Be Destroyed

5 “And you, ^(A)O son of man, take a ^(B)sharp sword. Use it as ^(C)a barber's razor and ^(D)pass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair. ^2 (E)A third part you shall burn in the fire ^(F)in the midst of the city, ^(G)when the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city. ^(H)And a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and ^(I)I will unsheathe the sword after them. ^3 (J)And you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe. ^4 (K)And of these again you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.

⁵ “Thus says the Lord God: ^(L)This is Jerusalem. I have set her ^(M)in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. ⁶ And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness ^(N)more than the nations, and against my statutes more than ^(O)the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. ⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you are ^(P)more turbulent than the nations that are all around you, ^(Q)and have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, ^(R)and have not^[a] even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, ⁸ therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, ^(S)am against you. ^(T)And I will execute judgments^[b] in your midst ^(U)in the sight of the nations. ⁹ And because of all your abominations I will do with you ^(V)what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. ¹⁰ Therefore ^(W)fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. ^(X)And I will execute judgments on you, ^(Y)and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds. ¹¹ Therefore, ^(Z)as I live, declares the Lord God, surely, ^(AA)because you have defiled my sanctuary ^(AB)with all your detestable things and with all your ^(AC)abominations, ^(AD)therefore I will withdraw.^{[c] (AE)}My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity. ^12 (AF)A third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst; ^(AG)a third part shall fall by the sword all around you; ^(AH)and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.

^13 (AI)“Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that ^(AJ)I am the Lord—that I have spoken in my jealousy—^(AK)when I spend my fury upon them. ¹⁴ Moreover, I will make you ^(AL)a desolation and ^(AM)an object of reproach among ^(AN)the nations all around you and in the sight of all who pass by. ¹⁵ You shall be^[d] a reproach and a taunt, a warning ^(AO)and a horror, to ^(AP)the nations all around you, ^(AQ)when I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and ^(AR)with furious rebukes—I am the Lord; I have spoken— ¹⁶ when I send against you^{[e] (AS)}the deadly arrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon ^(AT)you and break your supply^[f] of bread. ¹⁷ I will send famine and ^(AU)wild beasts against you, ^(AV)and they will rob you of your children. Pestilence and ^(AW)blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”

Judgment Against Idolatry

6 The word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (AX)“Son of man, ^(AY)set your face toward ^(AZ)the mountains of Israel, and ^(BA)prophesy against them, ³ and say, ^(BB)You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to ^(BC)the mountains and ^(BD)the hills, to ^(BE)the ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, ^(BF)and I will destroy your high places. ^4 (BG)Your altars shall become desolate, and your ^(BH)incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. ^5 (BI)And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, ^(BJ)and I will scatter your bones around your altars. ⁶ Wherever you dwell, ^(BK)the cities shall be waste and ^(BL)the high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined,^[g] your idols broken and destroyed, your ^(BM)incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. ⁷ And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

^8 (BN)“Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations ^(BO)some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries, ⁹ then those of you who escape ^(BP)will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how ^(BQ)I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes ^(BR)that go whoring after their idols. ^(BS)And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. ¹⁰ And they shall know that I am the Lord. ^(BT)I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”

¹¹ Thus says the Lord God: ^(BU)“Clap your hands ^(BV)and stamp your foot and say, Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, ^(BW)for they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. ^12 (BX)He who is far off shall die of pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who is left and is preserved shall die of famine. ^(BY)Thus I will spend my fury upon them. ¹³ And you shall know that I am the Lord, ^(BZ)when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, ^(CA)on every high hill, ^(CB)on all the mountaintops, ^(CC)under every green tree, and under ^(CD)every leafy oak, wherever ^(CE)they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols. ¹⁴ And ^(CF)I will stretch out my hand against them and ^(CG)make the land desolate and waste, ^(CH)in all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to ^(CI)Riblah.^[h] Then ^(CJ)they will know that I am the Lord.”

Qualifications for Overseers

3 The saying is ^(A)trustworthy: If anyone aspires to ^(B)the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. ² Therefore ^(C)an overseer^[a] must be above reproach, ^(D)the husband of one wife,^{[b] (E)}sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, ^(F)hospitable, ^(G)able to teach, ³ not a drunkard, not violent but ^(H)gentle, not quarrelsome, ^(I)not a lover of money. ⁴ He must manage his own household well, with all dignity ^(J)keeping his children submissive, ⁵ for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for ^(K)God's church? ⁶ He must not be a recent convert, or he may ^(L)become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. ⁷ Moreover, he must be well thought of by ^(M)outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into ^(N)a snare of the devil.

Qualifications for Deacons

^8 (O)Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued,^{[c] (P)}not addicted to much wine, ^(Q)not greedy for dishonest gain. ⁹ They must ^(R)hold the mystery of the faith with ^(S)a clear conscience. ¹⁰ And ^(T)let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. ^11 (U)Their wives likewise^[d] must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, ^(V)faithful in all things. ¹² Let deacons each be ^(W)the husband of one wife, ^(X)managing their children and their own households well. ¹³ For ^(Y)those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

The Mystery of Godliness

¹⁴ I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, ¹⁵ if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. ¹⁶ Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

Kaph