¹⁷ As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats:^{(A) 18} Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet and drink what you have fouled with your feet?

²⁰ Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you pushed with flank and shoulder and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, ²² I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged, and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

²³ I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them; he shall feed them and be their shepherd.^{(B) 24} And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I the Lord have spoken.^(C)

²⁵ I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild animals from the land, so that they may live in the wild and sleep in the woods securely.^{(D) 26} I will make them and the region around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing.^{(E) 27} The trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase. They shall be secure on their soil, and they shall know that I am the Lord when I break the bars of their yoke and save them from the hands of those who enslaved them.^{(F) 28} They shall no more be plunder for the nations, nor shall the animals of the land devour them; they shall live in safety, and no one shall make them afraid.^{(G) 29} I will provide for them a splendid vegetation so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land and no longer suffer the insults of the nations.^{(H) 30} They shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord God. ³¹ You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture,^[a] and I am your God, says the Lord God.^(I)

The Coming of the Lord

¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died,^[a] so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. ¹⁴ For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.^{[b](A) 15} For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died.^{[c] 16} For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.^{(B) 17} Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will be with the Lord forever.^{(C) 18} Therefore encourage one another with these words.

5 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you.^{(D) 2} For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.^{(E) 3} When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!^{(F) 4} But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief;^{(G) 5} for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. ⁶ So, then, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober,^{(H) 7} for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night.^{(I) 8} But since we belong to the day, let us be sober and put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation.^{(J) 9} For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,^{(K) 10} who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.^{(L) 11} Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.

²² Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.^{(A) 23} I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations and which you have profaned among them, and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I display my holiness before their eyes.^{(B) 24} I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.^{(C) 25} I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.^{(D) 26} A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.^{(E) 27} I will put my spirit within you and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.^{(F) 28} Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.^{(G) 29} I will save you from all your uncleannesses, and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.^{(H) 30} I will make the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field abundant, so that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. ³¹ Then you shall remember your evil ways and your dealings that were not good, and you shall loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominable deeds.^{(I) 32} It is not for your sake that I will act, says the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and dismayed for your ways, O house of Israel.^(J)

³³ Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the towns to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. ³⁴ The land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. ³⁵ And they will say, “This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined towns are now inhabited and fortified.”^{(K) 36} Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate; I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it.^(L)

³⁷ Thus says the Lord God: I will also let the house of Israel ask me to do this for them: to multiply their people like sheep. ³⁸ Like a consecrated flock, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed festivals, so shall the ruined towns be filled with flocks of people. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.^(M)

God Has Spoken by His Son

1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son,^[a] whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.^{(A) 3} He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains^[b] all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for^[c] sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,^{(B) 4} having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.^(C)

The Son Is Superior to Angels

⁵ For to which of the angels did God^[d] ever say,

Or again,

⁶ And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,

⁷ Of the angels he says,

⁸ But of the Son he says,

¹⁰ And,

¹³ And to which of the angels has he ever said,

¹⁴ Are not all angels^[i] spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?^(K)