⁵¹ Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other!

³⁴ “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.

Jesus Causes Division

⁴⁹ “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning!

¹⁴ Then I took my other staff, Union, and cut it in two, showing that the bond of unity between Judah and Israel was broken.

¹⁰ Then I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, showing that I had revoked the covenant I had made with all the nations. ¹¹ That was the end of my covenant with them. The suffering flock was watching me, and they knew that the Lord was speaking through my actions.

⁷ Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. ⁸ But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.

⁹ “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers.^{[a] 10} And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other.

⁷ So I cared for the flock intended for slaughter—the flock that was oppressed. Then I took two shepherd’s staffs and named one Favor and the other Union. ⁸ I got rid of their three evil shepherds in a single month.

But I became impatient with these sheep, and they hated me, too.