Separation from God

A Confession of Wickedness

²¹ “As for Me, this is My ^(AV)covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My ^(AW)Spirit who is upon you, and My ^(AX)words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your ^[m]offspring, nor from the mouth of your ^[n]offspring’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from now and forever.”

Jesus Answers the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes

^13 (A)Then they *sent some of the Pharisees and ^(B)Herodians to Him in order to ^(C)trap Him in a statement. ¹⁴ They came and *said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and ^[a]do not care what anyone thinks; for You ^[b]are not partial to anyone, but You teach the way of God in truth. Is it ^[c]permissible to pay a ^[d]poll-tax to Caesar, or not? ¹⁵ Are we to pay, or not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a ^[e]denarius to look at.” ¹⁶ And they brought one. And He *said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “^(D)Pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at Him.

^18 (E)Some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) *came to ^[f]Jesus, and began questioning Him, saying, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ^(F)if a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife and does not leave a child, his brother is to ^[g]marry the wife and raise up ^[h]children for his brother. ²⁰ There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died leaving no children. ²¹ The second one ^[i]married her, and died leaving behind no children; and the third likewise; ²² and so the seven together left no children. Last of all the woman also died. ²³ In the resurrection, which one’s wife will she be? For each of the seven had her as his wife.” ²⁴ Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not ^[j]understand the Scriptures nor the power of God? ²⁵ For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ²⁶ But ^[k]regarding the fact that the dead rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, ^(G)in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘^(H)I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ^27 (I)He is not the God ^[l]of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.”

^28 (J)One of the scribes came up and heard them arguing, and ^(K)recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the ^[m]foremost of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The ^[n]foremost is, ‘^(L)Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; ^30 (M)and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘^(N)You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³² And the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher; You have truly stated that ^(O)He is One, and there is no other besides Him; ^33 (P)and to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, ^(Q)is much more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴ When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” ^(R)And then, no one dared any longer to question Him.

A Glorified Zion

The Appearance of False Prophets

2 But ^(A)false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be ^(B)false teachers ^(C)among you, who will ^(D)secretly introduce ^(E)destructive heresies, even ^(F)denying the ^(G)Master who ^(H)bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. ² Many will follow their ^(I)indecent behavior, and because of them ^(J)the way of the truth will be ^(K)maligned; ³ and in their ^(L)greed they will ^(M)exploit you with ^(N)false words; ^(O)their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

⁴ For ^(P)if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into ^[a]hell and ^(Q)committed them to ^[b]pits of darkness, held for judgment; ⁵ and did not spare ^(R)the ancient world, but protected ^(S)Noah, a ^[c]preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a ^(T)flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and if He ^(U)condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an ^(V)example ^[d]of what is coming for the ^(W)ungodly; ⁷ and if He ^(X)rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the ^(Y)perverted conduct of ^[e](Z)unscrupulous people ⁸ (for by what he saw and heard that ^(AA)righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), ^9 (AB)then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from ^[f]a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the ^(AC)day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially those who ^[g](AD)indulge the flesh in its corrupt passion, and ^(AE)despise ^[h]authority.

^[i]Reckless, ^(AF)self-centered, they ^(AG)speak abusively of angelic ^[j]majesties without trembling, ^11 (AH)whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a demeaning judgment against them before the Lord. ¹² But ^(AI)these, like unreasoning animals, ^(AJ)born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, using abusive speech where they have no knowledge, will in ^[k]the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, ¹³ suffering wrong as ^(AK)the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to ^(AL)revel in the ^(AM)daytime. They are stains and blemishes, ^(AN)reveling in their ^[l]deceptions as they ^(AO)feast with you, ¹⁴ having eyes full of adultery ^[m]that never cease from sin, ^(AP)enticing ^(AQ)unstable souls, having hearts trained in ^(AR)greed, ^(AS)accursed children; ¹⁵ abandoning ^(AT)the right way, they have gone astray, having followed ^(AU)the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved ^(AV)the ^[n]reward of unrighteousness; ¹⁶ but he received a rebuke for his own offense, ^(AW)for a mute donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the insanity of the prophet.

¹⁷ These are ^(AX)springs without water and mists driven by a storm, ^(AY)for whom the ^[o]black darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸ For, while speaking out ^(AZ)arrogant words of no ^(BA)value they ^(BB)entice by fleshly desires, by ^(BC)indecent behavior, those who barely ^(BD)escape from the ones who live in error, ¹⁹ promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for ^(BE)by what anyone is overcome, by this he is enslaved. ²⁰ For if, after they have ^(BF)escaped the defilements of the world by ^(BG)the knowledge of the ^(BH)Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again ^(BI)entangled in them and are overcome, ^(BJ)the last state has become worse for them than the first. ^21 (BK)For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from ^(BL)the holy commandment ^(BM)handed on to them. ^22 [p]It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “^(BN)A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”