Symbol of the Cooking Pot^(A)

24 Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, write down the name of the day, this very day—the king of Babylon started his siege against Jerusalem ^(B)this very day. ^3 (C)And utter a parable to the rebellious house, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God:

⁶ ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God:

⁹ ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God:

The Prophet’s Wife Dies

¹⁵ Also the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁶ “Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall ^(Q)neither mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears run down. ¹⁷ Sigh in silence, ^(R)make no mourning for the dead; ^(S)bind your turban on your head, and ^(T)put your sandals on your feet; ^(U)do not cover your ^[f]lips, and do not eat man’s bread of sorrow.”

¹⁸ So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died; and the next morning I did as I was commanded.

¹⁹ And the people said to me, ^(V)“Will you not tell us what these things signify to us, that you behave so?”

²⁰ Then I answered them, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²¹ ‘Speak to the house of Israel, “Thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, ^(W)I will profane My sanctuary, ^[g]your arrogant boast, the desire of your eyes, the ^[h]delight of your soul; ^(X)and your sons and daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword. ²² And you shall do as I have done; ^(Y)you shall not cover your ^[i]lips nor eat man’s bread of sorrow. ²³ Your turbans shall be on your heads and your sandals on your feet; ^(Z)you shall neither mourn nor weep, but ^(AA)you shall pine away in your iniquities and mourn with one another. ²⁴ Thus ^(AB)Ezekiel is a sign to you; according to all that he has done you shall do; ^(AC)and when this comes, ^(AD)you shall know that I am the Lord God.’ ”

²⁵ ‘And you, son of man—will it not be in the day when I take from them ^(AE)their stronghold, their joy and their glory, the desire of their eyes, and ^[j]that on which they set their minds, their sons and their daughters: ²⁶ that on that day ^(AF)one who escapes will come to you to let you hear it with your ears? ^27 (AG)On that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped; you shall speak and no longer be mute. Thus you will be a sign to them, and they shall know that I am the Lord.’ ”

Proclamation Against Ammon

25 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, ^(AH)set your face ^(AI)against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them. ³ Say to the Ammonites, ‘Hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God: ^(AJ)“Because you said, ‘Aha!’ against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity, ⁴ indeed, therefore, I will deliver you as a possession to the ^[k]men of the East, and they shall set their encampments among you and make their dwellings among you; they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. ⁵ And I will make ^(AK)Rabbah ^(AL)a stable for camels and Ammon a resting place for flocks. ^(AM)Then you shall know that I am the Lord.”

⁶ ‘For thus says the Lord God: “Because you ^(AN)clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and ^(AO)rejoiced in heart with all your disdain for the land of Israel, ⁷ indeed, therefore, I will ^(AP)stretch out My hand against you, and give you as plunder to the nations; I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish from the countries; I will destroy you, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

Proclamation Against Moab

⁸ ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Because ^(AQ)Moab and ^(AR)Seir say, ‘Look! The house of Judah is like all the nations,’ ⁹ therefore, behold, I will clear the territory of Moab of cities, of the cities on its frontier, the glory of the country, Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and ^(AS)Kirjathaim. ^10 (AT)To the men of the East I will give it as a possession, together with the Ammonites, that the Ammonites ^(AU)may not be remembered among the nations. ¹¹ And I will execute judgments upon Moab, and they shall know that I am the Lord.”

Proclamation Against Edom

¹² ‘Thus says the Lord God: ^(AV)“Because of what Edom did against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended by avenging itself on them,” ¹³ therefore thus says the Lord God: “I will also stretch out My hand against Edom, cut off man and beast from it, and make it desolate from Teman; ^[l]Dedan shall fall by the sword. ^14 (AW)I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel, that they may do in Edom according to My anger and according to My fury; and they shall know My vengeance,” says the Lord God.

Proclamation Against Philistia

¹⁵ ‘Thus says the Lord God: ^(AX)“Because ^(AY)the Philistines dealt vengefully and took vengeance with ^[m]a spiteful heart, to destroy because of the ^[n]old hatred,” ¹⁶ therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(AZ)“I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the ^(BA)Cherethites ^(BB)and destroy the remnant of the seacoast. ¹⁷ I will ^(BC)execute great vengeance on them with furious rebukes; ^(BD)and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I lay My vengeance upon them.” ’ ”

Proclamation Against Tyre

26 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, ^(BE)because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, ^(BF)‘Aha! She is broken who was the gateway of the peoples; now she is turned over to me; I shall be filled; she is laid waste.’

³ “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. ⁴ And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her, and ^(BG)make her like the top of a rock. ⁵ It shall be a place for spreading nets ^(BH)in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken,’ says the Lord God; ‘it shall become plunder for the nations. ⁶ Also her daughter villages which are in the fields shall be slain by the sword. ^(BI)Then they shall know that I am the Lord.’

⁷ “For thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north ^(BJ)Nebuchadnezzar^[o] king of Babylon, ^(BK)king of kings, with horses, with chariots, and with horsemen, and an army with many people. ⁸ He will slay with the sword your daughter villages in the fields; he will ^(BL)heap up a siege mound against you, build a wall against you, and raise a ^[p]defense against you. ⁹ He will direct his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. ¹⁰ Because of the abundance of his horses, their dust will cover you; your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, the wagons, and the chariots, when he enters your gates, as men enter a city that has been breached. ¹¹ With the hooves of his ^(BM)horses he will trample all your streets; he will slay your people by the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground. ¹² They will plunder your riches and pillage your merchandise; they will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses; they will lay your stones, your timber, and your soil in the ^(BN)midst of the water. ^13 (BO)I will put an end to the sound of ^(BP)your songs, and the sound of your harps shall be heard no more. ^14 (BQ)I will make you like the top of a rock; you shall be a place for spreading nets, and you shall never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken,’ says the Lord God.

¹⁵ “Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: ‘Will the coastlands not ^(BR)shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded cry, when slaughter is made in the midst of you? ¹⁶ Then all the ^(BS)princes of the sea will ^(BT)come down from their thrones, lay aside their robes, and take off their embroidered garments; they will clothe themselves with trembling; ^(BU)they will sit on the ground, ^(BV)tremble every moment, and ^(BW)be astonished at you. ¹⁷ And they will take up a ^(BX)lamentation for you, and say to you:

¹⁹ “For thus says the Lord God: ‘When I make you a desolate city, like cities that are not inhabited, when I bring the deep upon you, and great waters cover you, ²⁰ then I will bring you down ^(CA)with those who descend into the Pit, to the people of old, and I will make you dwell in the lowest part of the earth, in places desolate from antiquity, with those who go down to the Pit, so that you may never be inhabited; and I shall establish glory ^(CB)in the land of the living. ^21 (CC)I will make you a terror, and you shall be no more; ^(CD)though you are sought for, you will never be found again,’ says the Lord God.”

Beware of Personal Favoritism

2 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^(A)the Lord of glory, with ^(B)partiality. ² For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in ^[a]fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in ^[b]filthy clothes, ³ and you ^[c]pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” ⁴ have you not ^[d]shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Listen, my beloved brethren: ^(C)Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be ^(D)rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom ^(E)which He promised to those who love Him? ⁶ But ^(F)you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you ^(G)and drag you into the courts? ⁷ Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are ^(H)called?

⁸ If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ^(I)“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; ⁹ but if you ^[e]show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as ^(J)transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet ^(K)stumble in one point, ^(L)he is guilty of all. ¹¹ For He who said, ^(M)“Do not commit adultery,” also said, ^(N)“Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak and so do as those who will be judged by ^(O)the law of liberty. ¹³ For ^(P)judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown ^(Q)no ^(R)mercy. ^(S)Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Faith Without Works Is Dead^(T)

^14 (U)What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? ^15 (V)If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and ^(W)one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? ¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” ^(X)Show me your faith without ^[f]your works, ^(Y)and I will show you my faith by ^[g]my works. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! ²⁰ But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is ^[h]dead? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works ^(Z)when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? ²² Do you see ^(AA)that faith was working together with his works, and by ^(AB)works faith was made ^[i]perfect? ²³ And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ^(AC)“Abraham believed God, and it was ^[j]accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called ^(AD)the friend of God. ²⁴ You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

²⁵ Likewise, ^(AE)was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

²⁶ For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.