For fools speak folly,(A)
    their hearts are bent on evil:(B)
They practice ungodliness(C)
    and spread error(D) concerning the Lord;
the hungry they leave empty(E)
    and from the thirsty they withhold water.

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19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.(A)

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21 You have no part or share(A) in this ministry, because your heart is not right(B) before God. 22 Repent(C) of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.

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Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan(A) has so filled your heart(B) that you have lied to the Holy Spirit(C) and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?(D) Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal?(E) What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”(F)

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Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees

13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!(A) You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.(B)

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15 What do you mean by crushing my people(A)
    and grinding(B) the faces of the poor?”(C)
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.(D)

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24 One person gives freely, yet gains even more;
    another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.

25 A generous(A) person will prosper;
    whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.(B)

26 People curse the one who hoards grain,
    but they pray God’s blessing on the one who is willing to sell.

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13 As the old saying goes, ‘From evildoers come evil deeds,(A)’ so my hand will not touch you.

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Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.(A) Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire,(B) a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body,(C) sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.(D)

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27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after(A) orphans and widows(B) in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.(C)

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14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own(A) evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin;(B) and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.(C)

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34 You brood of vipers,(A) how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks(B) what the heart is full of. 35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.

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Leaders and Prophets Rebuked

Then I said,

“Listen, you leaders(A) of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel.
Should you not embrace justice,
    you who hate good and love evil;
who tear the skin from my people
    and the flesh from their bones;(B)
who eat my people’s flesh,(C)
    strip off their skin
    and break their bones in pieces;(D)
who chop(E) them up like meat for the pan,
    like flesh for the pot?(F)

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Human Plans and God’s Plans

Woe to those who plan iniquity,
    to those who plot evil(A) on their beds!(B)
At morning’s light they carry it out
    because it is in their power to do it.
They covet fields(C) and seize them,(D)
    and houses, and take them.
They defraud(E) people of their homes,
    they rob them of their inheritance.(F)

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buying the poor(A) with silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals,
    selling even the sweepings with the wheat.(B)

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Judgment on Israel

This is what the Lord says:

“For three sins of Israel,
    even for four, I will not relent.(A)
They sell the innocent for silver,
    and the needy for a pair of sandals.(B)
They trample on the heads of the poor
    as on the dust of the ground
    and deny justice to the oppressed.
Father and son use the same girl
    and so profane my holy name.(C)

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Their hearts are like an oven;(A)
    they approach him with intrigue.
Their passion smolders all night;
    in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
All of them are hot as an oven;
    they devour their rulers.
All their kings fall,(B)
    and none of them calls(C) on me.

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23 Can an Ethiopian[a] change his skin
    or a leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good
    who are accustomed to doing evil.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 13:23 Hebrew Cushite (probably a person from the upper Nile region)

17 Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men,(A)
    nor will he pity(B) the fatherless and widows,
for everyone is ungodly(C) and wicked,(D)
    every mouth speaks folly.(E)

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
    his hand is still upraised.(F)

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A person’s own folly(A) leads to their ruin,
    yet their heart rages against the Lord.(B)

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Psalm 58[a]

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam.[b]

Do you rulers indeed speak justly?(A)
    Do you judge people with equity?
No, in your heart you devise injustice,(B)
    and your hands mete out violence on the earth.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 58:1 In Hebrew texts 58:1-11 is numbered 58:2-12.
  2. Psalm 58:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term

There are those who move boundary stones;(A)
    they pasture flocks they have stolen.(B)
They drive away the orphan’s donkey
    and take the widow’s ox in pledge.(C)
They thrust the needy(D) from the path
    and force all the poor(E) of the land into hiding.(F)
Like wild donkeys(G) in the desert,
    the poor go about their labor(H) of foraging food;
    the wasteland(I) provides food for their children.
They gather fodder(J) in the fields
    and glean in the vineyards(K) of the wicked.(L)
Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;
    they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.(M)
They are drenched(N) by mountain rains
    and hug(O) the rocks for lack of shelter.(P)
The fatherless(Q) child is snatched(R) from the breast;
    the infant of the poor is seized(S) for a debt.(T)
10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked;(U)
    they carry the sheaves,(V) but still go hungry.
11 They crush olives among the terraces[a];
    they tread the winepresses,(W) yet suffer thirst.(X)
12 The groans of the dying rise from the city,
    and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.(Y)
    But God charges no one with wrongdoing.(Z)

13 “There are those who rebel against the light,(AA)
    who do not know its ways
    or stay in its paths.(AB)
14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up,
    kills(AC) the poor and needy,(AD)
    and in the night steals forth like a thief.(AE)
15 The eye of the adulterer(AF) watches for dusk;(AG)
    he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’(AH)
    and he keeps his face concealed.
16 In the dark, thieves break into houses,(AI)
    but by day they shut themselves in;
    they want nothing to do with the light.(AJ)

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Footnotes

  1. Job 24:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

Is not your wickedness great?
    Are not your sins(A) endless?(B)
You demanded security(C) from your relatives for no reason;(D)
    you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.(E)
You gave no water(F) to the weary
    and you withheld food from the hungry,(G)
though you were a powerful man, owning land(H)
    an honored man,(I) living on it.(J)
And you sent widows(K) away empty-handed(L)
    and broke the strength of the fatherless.(M)

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10 Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who(A) is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. 11 Why should I take my bread(B) and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”

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