4 What leads to strife (discord and feuds) and how do conflicts (quarrels and fightings) originate among you? Do they not arise from your sensual desires that are ever warring in your bodily members?

² You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your desires go unfulfilled; [so] you become murderers. [To hate is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned.] You burn with envy and anger and are not able to obtain [the gratification, the contentment, and the happiness that you seek], so you fight and war. You do not have, because you do not ask.^(A)

³ [Or] you do ask [God for them] and yet fail to receive, because you ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives. Your intention is [when you get what you desire] to spend it in sensual pleasures.

⁴ You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God.

⁵ Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love?^(B)

⁶ But He gives us more and more grace (^[a]power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).^(C)

⁷ So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you.

⁸ Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].

⁹ [As you draw near to God] be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep [over your disloyalty]. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame [for your sins].

¹⁰ Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].

¹¹ [My] brethren, do not speak evil about or accuse one another. He that maligns a brother or judges his brother is maligning and criticizing the Law and judging the Law. But if you judge the Law, you are not a practicer of the Law but a censor and judge [of it].

¹² One only is the Lawgiver and Judge Who is able to save and to destroy [the One Who has the absolute power of life and death]. [But you] who are you that [you presume to] pass judgment on your neighbor?

¹³ Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and spend a year there and carry on our business and make money.

¹⁴ Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are [really] but a wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and then disappears [into thin air].

¹⁵ You ought instead to say, If the Lord is willing, we shall live and we shall do this or that [thing].

¹⁶ But as it is, you boast [falsely] in your presumption and your self-conceit. All such boasting is wrong.

¹⁷ So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.

5 Come now, you rich [people], weep aloud and lament over the miseries (the woes) that are surely coming upon you.

² Your abundant wealth has rotted and is ruined, and your [many] garments have become moth-eaten.

³ Your gold and silver are completely rusted through, and their rust will be testimony against you and it will devour your flesh as if it were fire. You have heaped together treasure for the last days.

⁴ [But] look! [Here are] the wages that you have withheld by fraud from the laborers who have reaped your fields, crying out [for vengeance]; and the cries of the harvesters have come to the ears of the Lord of hosts.

⁵ [Here] on earth you have abandoned yourselves to soft (prodigal) living and to [the pleasures of] self-indulgence and self-gratification. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

⁶ You have condemned and have murdered the righteous (innocent man), [while] he offers no resistance to you.

⁷ So be patient, brethren, [as you wait] till the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits expectantly for the precious harvest from the land. [See how] he keeps up his patient [vigil] over it until it receives the early and late rains.

⁸ So you also must be patient. Establish your hearts [strengthen and confirm them in the final certainty], for the coming of the Lord is very near.

⁹ Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you [yourselves] may not be judged. Look! The Judge is [already] standing at the very door.

¹⁰ [As] an example of suffering and ill-treatment together with patience, brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord [as His messengers].

¹¹ You know how we call those blessed (happy) who were steadfast [who endured]. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the Lord’s [purpose and how He richly blessed him in the] end, inasmuch as the Lord is full of pity and compassion and tenderness and mercy.^(A)

¹² But above all [things], my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath; but let your yes be [a simple] yes, and your no be [a simple] no, so that you may not sin and fall under condemnation.

¹³ Is anyone among you afflicted (ill-treated, suffering evil)? He should pray. Is anyone glad at heart? He should sing praise [to God].

¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? He should call in the church elders (the spiritual guides). And they should pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Lord’s name.

¹⁵ And the prayer [that is] of faith will save him who is sick, and the Lord will restore him; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

¹⁶ Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].

¹⁷ Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have [with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours]; and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months.^(B)

¹⁸ And [then] he prayed again and the heavens supplied rain and the land produced its crops [as usual].^(C)

¹⁹ [My] brethren, if anyone among you strays from the Truth and falls into error and another [person] brings him back [to God],

²⁰ Let the [latter] one be sure that whoever turns a sinner from his evil course will save [that one’s] soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins [^[a]procure the pardon of the many sins committed by the convert].

Read full chapter

24 Again in the ninth year [of King Jehoiachin’s captivity by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon], in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

² Son of man, record the name of the day, even of this same day; the king of Babylon set himself against and assailed Jerusalem this same day.

³ And utter a parable against the rebellious house [of Judah] and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Put on a pot; put it on and also pour water into it.

⁴ Put into it the pieces [of meat], all the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder; fill it with the choice of the bones.

⁵ Take the choicest of the flock and burn also the unused bones under it, and make it boil well and seethe its bones in [the pot].

⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose rust and scum are in it and whose rust and scum have not gone out of it! Take out of it piece by piece, without making any choice.

⁷ For the blood she has shed remains in the midst of her; she put it upon the bare rock; she did not pour it on the ground to cover it with dust.

⁸ That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have put her blood [guilt for her children sacrificed to Molech] upon the bare rock, that it would not be covered.

⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Woe to the bloodguilty city! Also I will make the pile [of fuel] great.

¹⁰ Heap on wood, kindle the fire and make it hot, boil well the meat and mix the spices, pour out the broth when thick, and let the bones be burned up.

¹¹ Then set [the pot Jerusalem] back empty upon the coals, that the bronze of it may be hot and may glow and the filthiness of it may be melted in it and the rust and scum of it may be consumed.

¹² She has wearied herself and Me with toil; yet her great rust and scum go not forth out of her, for however hotly the fire burns, her thick rust and filth will not go out of her by fire.

¹³ In your filthiness is abomination; [and therefore] because I would have cleansed you and you were not cleansed, you shall not be cleansed from your filthiness any more until I have satisfied My wrath against and upon you.

¹⁴ I the Lord have spoken it; it shall come to pass and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I relent; according to your ways and according to your doings shall they judge and punish you, says the Lord God.

¹⁵ Also the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁶ Son of man [Ezekiel], behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes [your wife] at a single stroke. Yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears flow.

¹⁷ Sigh and groan, but not aloud [be silent]; make no mourning for the dead; bind your turban upon your head and put your shoes on your feet, and do not cover your beard or eat the bread of mourners [furnished by others].

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

¹⁹ And the people said to me, Will you not tell us what these things are supposed to mean to us, that you are acting as you do?

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, I will profane My sanctuary—[in which you take] pride as your strength, the desire of your eyes, and the pity and sympathy of your soul [that you would spare with your life]; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword.

²² And you shall do as I [Ezekiel] have done; you shall not cover your beard nor eat the bread of mourning [brought to you by others],

²³ And your turbans shall be upon your heads and your shoes upon your feet; you shall not mourn or weep, but you shall pine away for your iniquities (your guilt) and sigh and groan to one another.^(A)

²⁴ Thus Ezekiel is to you a sign; according to all that he has done you shall do. And when this [destruction of the temple] comes, you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord God [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

²⁵ And you, son of man, on the day when I take from them [My temple] their strength and their stronghold, their joy and their glory, the delight of their eyes and their hearts’ chief desire, and also [take] their sons and their daughters—

²⁶ On that day an escaped fugitive shall come to you to cause you to hear of it [the destruction of Jerusalem] with your own ears.

²⁷ In that day your mouth shall be open to him who has escaped, and you shall speak and be no more speechless, and you shall be a sign to them and they shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord.

25 The word of the Lord came again to me, saying,

² Son of man, set your face toward the Ammonites and prophesy against them.

³ And say to the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord God, for thus says the Lord God: Because you said Aha! over My sanctuary when it was profaned and over the land of Israel when it was made desolate and over the house of Judah when it went into captivity and exile,

⁴ Therefore behold, I am delivering you to the people of the East for a possession, and they shall set their encampments among you and make their dwellings in your midst; they shall eat your fruit and they shall drink your milk.

⁵ And I will make Rabbah [your chief city] a stable for camels and [the cities of] the Ammonites a fold for flocks. And you shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

⁶ For thus says the Lord God: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped with the feet and rejoiced [in heart] with all the contempt, malice, and spite that is in you against the land of Israel,

⁷ Therefore behold, I have stretched out My hand against you and will hand you over for a prey and a spoil to the nations, and I will cut you off from the peoples and will cause you to perish and be lost out of the countries; I will destroy you. Then will you know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].^(B)

⁸ Thus says the Lord God: Because Moab says, as does Seir [Edom], Behold, the house of Judah is like all the [heathen] nations,

⁹ Therefore behold, I will lay open the flank of Moab from the cities, from its cities on its frontiers and in every quarter, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim.

¹⁰ I will give it along with the children of Ammon to the people of the East for a possession, that it and the children of Ammon may not be [any more seriously] remembered among the nations.

¹¹ And I will execute judgments and punishments upon Moab, and they shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].^(C)

¹² Thus says the Lord God: Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance and has greatly offended and has become doubly guilty by taking revenge upon them,

¹³ Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will also stretch out My hand against Edom and will cut off and root out man and beast from it, and I will make it desolate; from Teman even to Dedan they shall fall by the sword.

¹⁴ And I will lay My vengeance upon Edom by the hand of My people Israel, and they shall do upon Edom according to My anger and according to My wrath, and they shall know My vengeance, says the Lord God.^(D)

¹⁵ Thus says the Lord God: Because the Philistines have dealt revengefully and have taken vengeance contemptuously, with malice and spite in their hearts, to destroy in perpetual enmity,

¹⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites [an immigration in Philistia] and destroy the remainder of the seacoast.

¹⁷ And I will execute great vengeance upon them with wrathful rebukes and chastisements, and they shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord, when I lay My vengeance upon them.^(E)

26 And in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month [after the carrying away of King Jehoiachin], the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

² Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha! She is broken that has been the gate of the people; she is open to me [Tyre]; I shall become full now that she is desolate and a wasteland,

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 mounts up by its waves.

⁴ And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; I will also ^[a]scrape her dust from her and make her bare like the top of a rock.

⁵ Her island in the midst of the sea shall become a place for the spreading of nets, for I have spoken it, says the Lord God; and she shall become a prey and a spoil to the nations.

⁶ And Tyre’s daughters [her towns and villages on the mainland] in the level place shall be slain by the sword, and they shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

⁷ For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring from the north upon Tyre ^[b]Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, with horses and chariots and with horsemen and a host of many people.

⁸ He shall slay with the sword your daughters [the towns and villages] in the level area [on the mainland], and he shall make a fortified wall against you and cast up a siege mound against you and raise up a roof of bucklers and shields as a defense against you.

⁹ And he shall set his battering engines in shock against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.

¹⁰ Because of the great number of [Nebuchadrezzar’s] horses, their dust will cover you; your walls [O Tyre] will shake at the noise of the horsemen and of the wagon wheels and of the chariots, when he enters into your gates as men enter into the city in whose walls there has been made a breach.

¹¹ With the hoofs of his horses [Nebuchadrezzar] will trample all your streets; he will slay your people with the sword and your strong pillars or obelisks will fall to the ground.

¹² And [your adversaries] shall make a spoil of your riches and make booty of your merchandise. And they shall break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses, and they shall lay the stones and the timber and the very dust from your demolished city out in the midst of the water [between the island and the mainland city site to make a causeway].

¹³ And I will cause the noise of your songs to cease, and the sound of your lyres shall be no more heard.

¹⁴ And I will make you [Tyre] a ^[c]bare rock; you shall be a place upon which to spread nets; you shall never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken it, says the Lord God.

¹⁵ Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: Shall not the isles and coastlands shake at the sound of your fall when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of you?

¹⁶ Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and strip off their embroidered garments; they shall clothe themselves with tremblings; they shall sit upon the ground and shall tremble every moment and be astonished at you and appalled.

¹⁷ They shall take up a lamentation over you and say to you, How you are destroyed and vanished, O renowned city that was won from the seas and inhabited by seafaring men, renowned city that was mighty on the sea, she and her inhabitants who caused their terror to fall upon all who dwell there!

¹⁸ Now the isles and coastlands tremble in the day of your fall; yes, the isles that are in the sea are troubled and dismayed at your departure.

¹⁹ For thus says the Lord God: When I make you a desolate city like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you and great waters cover you,

²⁰ Then I will thrust you down with those who descend into the pit (the place of the dead) to the people of olden times, and I will make you [Tyre] to dwell in the lower world like the places that were desolate of old, with those who go down to the pit, that you be not inhabited or shed forth your glory and renown in the land of the living.

²¹ I will make you a terror [bring you to a dreadful end] and you shall be no more. Though you be sought, yet you shall never be found again, says the Lord God.