Jesus’ Brothers Disbelieve

After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, (A)because the [a]Jews sought to kill Him. (B)Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. (C)His brothers therefore said to Him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” For (D)even His (E)brothers did not believe in Him.

Then Jesus said to them, (F)“My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. (G)The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me (H)because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to this feast. I am not [b]yet going up to this feast, (I)for My time has not yet fully come.” When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.

The Heavenly Scholar

10 But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. 11 Then (J)the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, “Where is He?” 12 And (K)there was much complaining among the people concerning Him. (L)Some said, “He is good”; others said, “No, on the contrary, He deceives the people.” 13 However, no one spoke openly of Him (M)for fear of the Jews.

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Footnotes

  1. John 7:1 The ruling authorities
  2. John 7:8 NU omits yet

Suffering for God’s Glory

12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice (A)to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that (B)when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 14 If you are [a]reproached for the name of Christ, (C)blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. [b]On their part He is blasphemed, (D)but on your part He is glorified. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a [c]busybody in other people’s matters. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this [d]matter.

17 For the time has come (E)for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, (F)what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now

(G)“If the righteous one is scarcely saved,
Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God (H)commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Peter 4:14 insulted or reviled
  2. 1 Peter 4:14 NU omits the rest of v. 14.
  3. 1 Peter 4:15 meddler
  4. 1 Peter 4:16 NU name

Expressions of Praise

The Beloved

How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
(A)O prince’s daughter!
The curves of your thighs are like jewels,
The work of the hands of a skillful workman.
Your navel is a rounded goblet;
It lacks no [a]blended beverage.
Your waist is a heap of wheat
Set about with lilies.
(B)Your two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle.
(C)Your neck is like an ivory tower,
Your eyes like the pools in Heshbon
By the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
Which looks toward Damascus.
Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel,
And the hair of your head is like purple;
A king is held captive by your tresses.

How fair and how pleasant you are,
O love, with your delights!
This stature of yours is like a palm tree,
And your breasts like its clusters.
I said, “I will go up to the palm tree,
I will take hold of its branches.”
Let now your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
The fragrance of your [b]breath like apples,
And the roof of your mouth like the best wine.

The Shulamite

The wine goes down smoothly for my beloved,
[c]Moving gently the [d]lips of sleepers.
10 (D)I am my beloved’s,
And (E)his desire is toward me.

11 Come, my beloved,
Let us go forth to the field;
Let us lodge in the villages.
12 Let us get up early to the vineyards;
Let us (F)see if the vine has budded,
Whether the grape blossoms are open,
And the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 The (G)mandrakes give off a fragrance,
And at our gates (H)are pleasant fruits,
All manner, new and old,
Which I have laid up for you, my beloved.

Footnotes

  1. Song of Solomon 7:2 Lit. mixed or spiced drink
  2. Song of Solomon 7:8 Lit. nose
  3. Song of Solomon 7:9 Gliding over
  4. Song of Solomon 7:9 LXX, Syr., Vg. lips and teeth.

God’s Anger with Jerusalem

How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion
With a (A)cloud in His anger!
(B)He cast down from heaven to the earth
(C)The beauty of Israel,
And did not remember (D)His footstool
In the day of His anger.

The Lord has swallowed up and has (E)not pitied
All the dwelling places of Jacob.
He has thrown down in His wrath
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
He has brought them down to the ground;
(F)He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.

He has cut off in fierce anger
Every [a]horn of Israel;
(G)He has drawn back His right hand
From before the enemy.
(H)He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire
Devouring all around.

(I)Standing like an enemy, He has bent His bow;
With His right hand, like an adversary,
He has slain (J)all who were pleasing to His eye;
On the tent of the daughter of Zion,
He has poured out His fury like fire.

(K)The Lord was like an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel,
He has swallowed up all her palaces;
(L)He has destroyed her strongholds,
And has increased mourning and lamentation
In the daughter of Judah.

He has done violence (M)to His [b]tabernacle,
(N)As if it were a garden;
He has destroyed His place of assembly;
The Lord has caused
The appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion.
In His burning indignation He has (O)spurned the king and the priest.

The Lord has spurned His altar,
He has (P)abandoned His sanctuary;
He has [c]given up the walls of her palaces
Into the hand of the enemy.
(Q)They have made a noise in the house of the Lord
As on the day of a set feast.

The Lord has [d]purposed to destroy
The (R)wall of the daughter of Zion.
(S)He has stretched out a line;
He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying;
Therefore He has caused the rampart and wall to lament;
They languished together.

Her gates have sunk into the ground;
He has destroyed and (T)broken her bars.
(U)Her king and her princes are among the [e]nations;
(V)The Law is no more,
And her (W)prophets find no [f]vision from the Lord.

10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
(X)Sit on the ground and keep silence;
[g]They (Y)throw dust on their heads
And (Z)gird themselves with sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem
Bow their heads to the ground.

11 (AA)My eyes fail with tears,
My [h]heart is troubled;
(AB)My [i]bile is poured on the ground
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
Because (AC)the children and the infants
Faint in the streets of the city.

12 They say to their mothers,
“Where is grain and wine?”
As they swoon like the wounded
In the streets of the city,
As their life is poured out
In their mothers’ bosom.

13 How shall I (AD)console[j] you?
To what shall I liken you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is spread wide as the sea;
Who can heal you?

14 Your (AE)prophets have seen for you
False and deceptive visions;
They have not (AF)uncovered your iniquity,
To bring back your captives,
But have envisioned for you false (AG)prophecies and delusions.

15 All who [k]pass by (AH)clap their hands at you;
They hiss (AI)and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
Is this the city that is called
(AJ)‘The perfection of beauty,
The joy of the whole earth’?”

16 (AK)All your enemies have opened their mouth against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, (AL)“We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the (AM)day we have waited for;
We have found it, (AN)we have seen it!

17 The Lord has done what He (AO)purposed;
He has fulfilled His word
Which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied,
And He has caused an enemy to (AP)rejoice over you;
He has exalted the [l]horn of your adversaries.

18 Their heart cried out to the Lord,
“O wall of the daughter of Zion,
(AQ)Let tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief;
Give [m]your eyes no rest.

19 “Arise, (AR)cry out in the night,
At the beginning of the watches;
(AS)Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him
For the life of your young children,
Who faint from hunger (AT)at the head of every street.”

20 “See, O Lord, and consider!
To whom have You done this?
(AU)Should the women eat their offspring,
The children [n]they have cuddled?
Should the priest and prophet be slain
In the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 “Young(AV) and old lie
On the ground in the streets;
My virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the (AW)sword;
You have slain them in the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered and not pitied.

22 “You have invited as to a feast day
(AX)The terrors that surround me.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
There was no refugee or survivor.
(AY)Those whom I have borne and brought up
My enemies have (AZ)destroyed.”

Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 2:3 Strength
  2. Lamentations 2:6 Lit. booth
  3. Lamentations 2:7 delivered
  4. Lamentations 2:8 determined
  5. Lamentations 2:9 Gentiles
  6. Lamentations 2:9 Prophetic revelation
  7. Lamentations 2:10 A sign of mourning
  8. Lamentations 2:11 Lit. inward parts
  9. Lamentations 2:11 Lit. liver
  10. Lamentations 2:13 Or bear witness to
  11. Lamentations 2:15 Lit. pass by this way
  12. Lamentations 2:17 Strength
  13. Lamentations 2:18 Lit. the daughter of your eye
  14. Lamentations 2:20 Vg. a span long

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