Individual Retribution

²⁷ The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals.^{(A) 28} And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord.^{(B) 29} In those days they shall no longer say:

³⁰ But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of the one who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.^(D)

A New Covenant

³¹ The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.^{(E) 32} It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.^{(F) 33} But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.^{(G) 34} No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.^(H)

Do Not Judge Another

14 Welcome those who are weak in faith^[a] but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions.^{(A) 2} Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables.^{(B) 3} Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat, for God has welcomed them. ⁴ Who are you to pass judgment on slaves of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord^[b] is able to make them stand.

⁵ Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. ⁶ Those who observe the day, observe it for the Lord. Also those who eat, eat for the Lord, since they give thanks to God, while those who abstain, abstain for the Lord and give thanks to God.^(C)

⁷ For we do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.^{(D) 8} If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹ For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.^(E)

¹⁰ Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.^{[c](F) 11} For it is written,

¹² So then, each one of us will be held accountable.^[e](H)

Do Not Make Another Stumble

¹³ Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother or sister.^{(I) 14} I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who considers it unclean.^{(J) 15} If your brother or sister is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ So do not let your good be slandered. ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.^{(K) 18} The one who serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and has human approval.^{(L) 19} Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.^{(M) 20} Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong to make someone stumble by what you eat; ²¹ it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.^{[f](N) 22} Hold the conviction that you have as your own before God. Blessed are those who do not condemn themselves because of what they approve. ²³ But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat because they do not act from faith,^[g] for whatever does not proceed from faith^[h] is sin.^[i]

Please Others, Not Yourselves

15 We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.^{(O) 2} Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor.^{(P) 3} For Christ did not please himself, but, as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”

³⁹ He also told them a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?^{(A) 40} A disciple is not above the teacher, but every disciple who is fully qualified will be like the teacher.^{(B) 41} Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye? ⁴² Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.

A Tree and Its Fruit

⁴³ “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit;^{(C) 44} for each tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a bramble bush.^{(D) 45} The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil, for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.^(E)

The Two Foundations

⁴⁶ “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?^{(F) 47} I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them.^{(G) 48} That one is like a man building a house who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built.^{[a] 49} But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it quickly collapsed, and great was the ruin of that house.”