Idolaters Killed

9 Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Bring near the executioners of the city, ^(A)each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” ² And behold, six men came from the direction of ^(B)the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was ^(C)a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside ^(D)the bronze altar.

³ Now ^(E)the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to ^(F)the threshold of the house. And he called to ^(G)the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist. ⁴ And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and ^(H)put a mark on the foreheads of the men who ^(I)sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” ⁵ And to ^(J)the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. ^(K)Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. ^6 (L)Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but ^(M)touch no one on whom is the mark. And ^(N)begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house. ⁷ Then he said to them, ^(O)“Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out.” So they went out and struck in the city. ⁸ And while they were striking, and I was left alone, ^(P)I fell upon my face, and cried, ^(Q)“Ah, Lord God! ^(R)Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel ^(S)in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”

⁹ Then he said to me, ^(T)“The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. ^(U)The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. For ^(V)they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see.’ ¹⁰ As for me, ^(W)my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; ^(X)I will bring their deeds upon their heads.”

¹¹ And behold, ^(Y)the man clothed in linen, with the writing case at his waist, brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded me.”

The Glory of the Lord Leaves the Temple

10 Then I looked, and behold, ^(Z)on the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim there appeared above them something ^(AA)like a sapphire,^[a] in appearance like a throne. ² And he said to ^(AB)the man clothed in linen, “Go in among ^(AC)the whirling wheels underneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with ^(AD)burning coals from between the cherubim, and ^(AE)scatter them over the city.”

And he went in ^(AF)before my eyes. ³ Now the cherubim were standing ^(AG)on the south side of the house, when the man went in, and ^(AH)a cloud filled ^(AI)the inner court. ⁴ And ^(AJ)the glory of the Lord ^(AK)went up from the cherub to the threshold of the house, and the house ^(AL)was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with ^(AM)the brightness of the glory of the Lord. ⁵ And ^(AN)the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, ^(AO)like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.

⁶ And when he commanded ^(AP)the man clothed in linen, ^(AQ)“Take fire from between ^(AR)the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” he went in and stood beside a wheel. ⁷ And a cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took some of it and put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and went out. ⁸ The cherubim appeared to have ^(AS)the form of a human hand under their wings.

^9 (AT)And I looked, and behold, there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one beside each cherub, and ^(AU)the appearance of the wheels was ^(AV)like sparkling ^(AW)beryl. ¹⁰ And as for their appearance, the four had the same likeness, as if a wheel were within a wheel. ^11 (AX)When they went, they went in any of their four directions^{[b] (AY)}without turning as they went, ^(AZ)but in whatever direction the front wheel^[c] faced, the others followed without turning as they went. ^12 (BA)And their whole body, their rims, and their spokes, their wings,^[d] and the wheels were full of eyes all around—the wheels that the four of them had. ¹³ As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing ^(BB)“the whirling wheels.” ^14 (BC)And every one had four faces: ^(BD)the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was ^(BE)a human face, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

^15 (BF)And the cherubim mounted up. These were ^(BG)the living creatures that I saw by ^(BH)the Chebar canal. ^16 (BI)And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them. And ^(BJ)when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels did not turn from beside them. ^17 (BK)When they stood still, these stood still, and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them, for the spirit of the living creatures^[e] was in them.

^18 (BL)Then ^(BM)the glory of the Lord went out from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. ^19 (BN)And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth ^(BO)before my eyes as they went out, with the wheels beside them. And they stood at the entrance of the ^(BP)east gate of the house of the Lord, and ^(BQ)the glory of the God of Israel was over them.

^20 (BR)These were the living creatures that I saw ^(BS)underneath the God of Israel by ^(BT)the Chebar canal; and I knew that they were cherubim. ^21 (BU)Each had four faces, and each four wings, and underneath their wings ^(BV)the likeness of human hands. ^22 (BW)And as for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the Chebar canal. ^(BX)Each one of them went straight forward.

She

The Bride Gives Her Love

Warning Against Worldliness

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions^[a] are ^(A)at war within you?^{[b] 2} You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask ^(B)wrongly, to spend it on your passions. ^4 (C)You adulterous people!^[c] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? ^(D)Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit ^(E)that he has made to dwell in us”? ⁶ But ^(F)he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ^(G)“God opposes the proud but ^(H)gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. ^(I)Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ^8 (J)Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. ^(K)Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and ^(L)purify your hearts, ^(M)you double-minded. ^9 (N)Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ^10 (O)Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

^11 (P)Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.^[d] The one who speaks against a brother or ^(Q)judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. ¹² There is only ^(R)one lawgiver and ^(S)judge, he who is able to save and ^(T)to destroy. But ^(U)who are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

¹³ Come now, you who say, ^(V)“Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— ¹⁴ yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For ^(W)you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, ^(X)“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. ^(Y)All such boasting is evil. ^17 (Z)So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.