A Call to Repentance

⁶ The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what ^(A)backsliding Israel has done? She has ^(B)gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. ^7 (C)And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous ^(D)sister Judah saw it. ⁸ Then I saw that ^(E)for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had ^(F)put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; ^(G)yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. ⁹ So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she ^(H)defiled the land and committed adultery with ^(I)stones and trees. ¹⁰ And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me ^(J)with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the Lord.

¹¹ Then the Lord said to me, ^(K)“Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. ¹² Go and proclaim these words toward ^(L)the north, and say:

¹⁴ “Return, O backsliding children,” says the Lord; ^(R)“for I am married to you. I will take you, ^(S)one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to ^(T)Zion. ¹⁵ And I will give you ^(U)shepherds according to My heart, who will ^(V)feed you with knowledge and understanding.

A Man with Dropsy Healed on the Sabbath

14 Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. ² And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. ³ And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, ^(A)“Is it lawful to heal on the ^[a]Sabbath?”

⁴ But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. ⁵ Then He answered them, saying, ^(B)“Which of you, having a ^[b]donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” ⁶ And they could not answer Him regarding these things.

Take the Lowly Place

⁷ So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: ⁸ “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; ⁹ and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. ^10 (C)But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. ^11 (D)For whoever exalts himself will be ^[c]humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Christ’s Epistle^(A)

3 Do ^(B)we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, ^(C)epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? ^2 (D)You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; ³ clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ^(E)ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not ^(F)on tablets of stone but ^(G)on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

The Spirit, Not the Letter

⁴ And we have such trust through Christ toward God. ^5 (H)Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but ^(I)our sufficiency is from God, ⁶ who also made us sufficient as ^(J)ministers of ^(K)the new covenant, not ^(L)of the letter but of the ^[a]Spirit; for ^(M)the letter kills, ^(N)but the Spirit gives life.

Glory of the New Covenant

⁷ But if ^(O)the ministry of death, ^(P)written and engraved on stones, was glorious, ^(Q)so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, ⁸ how will ^(R)the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? ⁹ For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry ^(S)of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. ¹⁰ For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. ¹¹ For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

¹² Therefore, since we have such hope, ^(T)we use great boldness of speech— ¹³ unlike Moses, ^(U)who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at ^(V)the end of what was passing away. ¹⁴ But ^(W)their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. ¹⁵ But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. ¹⁶ Nevertheless ^(X)when one turns to the Lord, ^(Y)the veil is taken away. ¹⁷ Now ^(Z)the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is ^(AA)liberty. ¹⁸ But we all, with unveiled face, beholding ^(AB)as in a mirror ^(AC)the glory of the Lord, ^(AD)are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as ^[b]by the Spirit of the Lord.