⁶ For you are a people holy^(A) to the Lord your God.^(B) The Lord your God has chosen^(C) you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.^(D)

⁵ Now if you obey me fully^(A) and keep my covenant,^(B) then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.^(C) Although the whole earth^(D) is mine, ⁶ you^[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests^(E) and a holy nation.’^(F) These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

¹⁷ For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household;^(A) and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?^(B)

⁹ There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil:^(A) first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;^(B)

¹⁵ Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved^(A) them, and he chose you,^(B) their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today.^(C)

³⁶ As I judged your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Sovereign Lord.^{(A) 37} I will take note of you as you pass under my rod,^(B) and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.^{(C) 38} I will purge^(D) 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.^(E)

Woe on Unrepentant Towns^(A)

²⁰ Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. ²¹ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!^(B) For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon,^(C) they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.^{(D) 22} But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.^{(E) 23} And you, Capernaum,^(F) will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.^[a](G) For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. ²⁴ But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”^(H)

¹⁷ If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship^(A) the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain.^{(B) 18} If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord^[a] will bring on them the plague^(C) he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.^(D)