Pride and Fall. ¹⁶ But after he had become strong, he became arrogant to his own destruction and acted treacherously with the Lord, his God. He entered the temple of the Lord to make an offering on the altar of incense. ¹⁷ But Azariah the priest, and with him eighty other priests of the Lord, courageous men, followed him. ¹⁸ They stood up to King Uzziah, saying to him: “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who have been consecrated for this purpose.^(A) Leave the sanctuary, for you have acted treacherously and no longer have a part in the glory that comes from the Lord God.” ¹⁹ Uzziah, who was holding a censer for burning the incense, became angry. But at the very moment he showed his anger to the priests, while they were looking at him in the house of the Lord beside the altar of incense, leprosy broke out on his forehead.^{(B) 20} Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests examined him, and when they saw that his forehead was leprous, they rushed him out. He let himself be expelled, for the Lord had afflicted him. ^21 (C)King Uzziah remained a leper till the day he died. As a leper he lived in a house apart, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord. Therefore his son Jotham was master of the palace and ruled the people of the land.

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. ⁹ He then addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.^{(A) 10} “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’^{(B) 13} But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’^{(C) 14} I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”^(D)

⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.^(A)

^26 [a](A)If we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins ²⁷ but a fearful prospect of judgment and a flaming fire that is going to consume the adversaries.^{(B) 28} Anyone who rejects the law of Moses^[b] is put to death without pity on the testimony of two or three witnesses.^{(C) 29} Do you not think that a much worse punishment is due the one who has contempt for the Son of God, considers unclean the covenant-blood by which he was consecrated, and insults the spirit of grace?^{(D) 30} We know the one who said:

and again:

³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.^(F)