The Disciples Argue About Greatness

24 (A)Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. 25 (B)And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ 26 (C)But not so among you; on the contrary, (D)he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. 27 (E)For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet (F)I am among you as the One who serves.

28 “But you are those who have continued with Me in (G)My trials. 29 And (H)I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, 30 that (I)you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, (J)and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

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Qualifications for High Priesthood

For every high priest taken from among men (A)is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can [a]have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to (B)weakness. Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for (C)himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as (D)Aaron was.

A Priest Forever

(E)So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him:

(F)“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.”

As He also says in another place:

(G)“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek”;

who, in the days of His flesh, when He had (H)offered up prayers and supplications, (I)with vehement cries and tears to Him (J)who was able to save Him from death, and was heard (K)because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned (L)obedience by the things which He suffered. And (M)having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, 10 called by God as High Priest (N)“according to the order of Melchizedek,” 11 of whom (O)we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become (P)dull of hearing.

Spiritual Immaturity

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the [b]oracles of God; and you have come to need (Q)milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is (R)a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are [c]of full age, that is, those who by reason of [d]use have their senses exercised (S)to discern both good and evil.

Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 5:2 deal gently with
  2. Hebrews 5:12 sayings, Scriptures
  3. Hebrews 5:14 mature
  4. Hebrews 5:14 practice

The Value of a Good Name

22 A (A)good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
Loving favor rather than silver and gold.

The (B)rich and the poor have this in common,
The (C)Lord is the maker of them all.

A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself,
But the simple pass on and are (D)punished.

By humility and the fear of the Lord
Are riches and honor and life.

Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;
He who guards his soul will be far from them.

(E)Train up a child in the way he should go,
[a]And when he is old he will not depart from it.

The (F)rich rules over the poor,
And the borrower is servant to the lender.

He who sows iniquity will reap (G)sorrow,[b]
And the rod of his anger will fail.

(H)He who has a [c]generous eye will be (I)blessed,
For he gives of his bread to the poor.

10 (J)Cast out the scoffer, and contention will leave;
Yes, strife and reproach will cease.

11 (K)He who loves purity of heart
And has grace on his lips,
The king will be his friend.

12 The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge,
But He overthrows the words of the faithless.

13 (L)The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside!
I shall be slain in the streets!”

14 (M)The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit;
(N)He who is abhorred by the Lord will fall there.

15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child;
(O)The rod of correction will drive it far from him.

16 He who oppresses the poor to increase his riches,
And he who gives to the rich, will surely come to poverty.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 22:6 Even
  2. Proverbs 22:8 trouble
  3. Proverbs 22:9 Lit. good

The Fall of Babylon Proclaimed

21 The [a]burden against the Wilderness of the Sea.

As (A)whirlwinds in the South pass through,
So it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.
A distressing vision is declared to me;
(B)The treacherous dealer deals treacherously,
And the plunderer plunders.
(C)Go up, O Elam!
Besiege, O Media!
All its sighing I have made to cease.

Therefore (D)my loins are filled with pain;
(E)Pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor.
I was [b]distressed when I heard it;
I was dismayed when I saw it.
My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me;
(F)The night for which I longed He turned into fear for me.
(G)Prepare the table,
Set a watchman in the tower,
Eat and drink.
Arise, you princes,
Anoint the shield!

For thus has the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman,
Let him declare what he sees.”
And he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen,
A chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels,
And he listened earnestly with great care.
[c]Then he cried, “A lion, my Lord!
I stand continually on the (H)watchtower in the daytime;
I have sat at my post every night.
And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!”
Then he answered and said,
(I)“Babylon is fallen, is fallen!
And (J)all the carved images of her gods
He has broken to the ground.”

10 (K)Oh, my threshing and the grain of my floor!
That which I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
The God of Israel,
I have declared to you.

Proclamation Against Edom

11 (L)The [d]burden against Dumah.

He calls to me out of (M)Seir,
“Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?”
12 The watchman said,
“The morning comes, and also the night.
If you will inquire, inquire;
Return! Come back!”

Proclamation Against Arabia

13 (N)The [e]burden against Arabia.

In the forest in Arabia you will lodge,
O you traveling companies (O)of Dedanites.
14 O inhabitants of the land of Tema,
Bring water to him who is thirsty;
With their bread they met him who fled.
15 For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword,
From the bent bow, and from the distress of war.

16 For thus the Lord has said to me: “Within a year, (P)according to the year of a hired man, all the glory of (Q)Kedar will fail; 17 and the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the people of Kedar, will be diminished; for the Lord God of Israel has spoken it.

Proclamation Against Jerusalem

22 The [f]burden against the Valley of Vision.

What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops,
You who are full of noise,
A [g]tumultuous city, (R)a joyous city?
Your slain men are not slain with the sword,
Nor dead in battle.
All your rulers have fled together;
They are captured by the archers.
All who are found in you are bound together;
They have fled from afar.
Therefore I said, “Look away from me,
(S)I will weep bitterly;
Do not labor to comfort me
Because of the plundering of the daughter of my people.”

(T)For it is a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity
(U)By the Lord God of hosts
In the Valley of Vision—
Breaking down the walls
And of crying to the mountain.
(V)Elam bore the quiver
With chariots of men and horsemen,
And (W)Kir uncovered the shield.
It shall come to pass that your choicest valleys
Shall be full of chariots,
And the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.

(X)He removed the [h]protection of Judah.
You looked in that day to the armor (Y)of the House of the Forest;
(Z)You also saw the [i]damage to the city of David,
That it was great;
And you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
10 You numbered the houses of Jerusalem,
And the houses you broke down
To fortify the wall.
11 (AA)You also made a reservoir between the two walls
For the water of the old (AB)pool.
But you did not look to its Maker,
Nor did you have respect for Him who fashioned it long ago.

12 And in that day the Lord God of hosts
(AC)Called for weeping and for mourning,
(AD)For baldness and for girding with sackcloth.
13 But instead, joy and gladness,
Slaying oxen and killing sheep,
Eating meat and (AE)drinking wine:
(AF)“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

14 (AG)Then it was revealed in my hearing by the Lord of hosts,
“Surely for this iniquity there (AH)will be no atonement for you,
Even to your death,” says the Lord God of hosts.

The Judgment on Shebna

15 Thus says the Lord God of hosts:

“Go, proceed to this steward,
To (AI)Shebna, who is over the house, and say:
16 ‘What have you here, and whom have you here,
That you have hewn a sepulcher here,
As he (AJ)who hews himself a sepulcher on high,
Who carves a tomb for himself in a rock?
17 Indeed, the Lord will throw you away violently,
O mighty man,
(AK)And will surely seize you.
18 He will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball
Into a large country;
There you shall die, and there (AL)your glorious chariots
Shall be the shame of your master’s house.
19 So I will drive you out of your office,
And from your position [j]he will pull you down.

20 ‘Then it shall be in that day,
That I will call My servant (AM)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah;
21 I will clothe him with your robe
And strengthen him with your belt;
I will commit your responsibility into his hand.
He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
And to the house of Judah.
22 The key of the house of David
I will lay on his (AN)shoulder;
So he shall (AO)open, and no one shall shut;
And he shall shut, and no one shall open.
23 I will fasten him as (AP)a peg in a secure place,
And he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house.

24 ‘They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers. 25 In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off; for the Lord has spoken.’ ”

Proclamation Against Tyre

23 The (AQ)burden[k] against Tyre.

Wail, you ships of Tarshish!
For it is laid waste,
So that there is no house, no harbor;
From the land of [l]Cyprus it is revealed to them.

Be still, you inhabitants of the coastland,
You merchants of Sidon,
[m]Whom those who cross the sea have filled.
And on great waters the grain of Shihor,
The harvest of [n]the River, is her revenue;
And (AR)she is a marketplace for the nations.

Be ashamed, O Sidon;
For the sea has spoken,
The strength of the sea, saying,
“I do not labor, nor bring forth children;
Neither do I rear young men,
Nor bring up virgins.”
(AS)When the report reaches Egypt,
They also will be in agony at the report of Tyre.

Cross over to Tarshish;
Wail, you inhabitants of the coastland!
Is this your (AT)joyous city,
Whose antiquity is from ancient days,
Whose feet carried her far off to dwell?
Who has taken this counsel against Tyre, (AU)the crowning city,
Whose merchants are princes,
Whose traders are the honorable of the earth?
The Lord of hosts has (AV)purposed it,
To [o]bring to dishonor the (AW)pride of all glory,
To bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.

10 Overflow through your land like [p]the River,
O daughter of Tarshish;
There is no more [q]strength.
11 He stretched out His hand over the sea,
He shook the kingdoms;
The Lord has given a commandment (AX)against Canaan
To destroy its strongholds.
12 And He said, “You will rejoice no more,
O you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon.
Arise, (AY)cross over to Cyprus;
There also you will have no rest.”

13 Behold, the land of the (AZ)Chaldeans,
This people which was not;
Assyria founded it for (BA)wild beasts of the desert.
They set up its towers,
They raised up its palaces,
And brought it to ruin.

14 (BB)Wail, you ships of Tarshish!
For your strength is laid waste.

15 Now it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:

16 “Take a harp, go about the city,
You forgotten harlot;
Make sweet melody, sing many songs,
That you may be remembered.”

17 And it shall be, at the end of seventy years, that the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will return to her hire, and (BC)commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 Her gain and her pay (BD)will be set apart for the Lord; it will not be treasured nor laid up, for her gain will be for those who dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for [r]fine clothing.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 21:1 oracle, prophecy
  2. Isaiah 21:3 Lit. bowed
  3. Isaiah 21:8 DSS Then the observer cried, “My Lord!
  4. Isaiah 21:11 oracle, prophecy
  5. Isaiah 21:13 oracle, prophecy
  6. Isaiah 22:1 oracle, prophecy
  7. Isaiah 22:2 boisterous
  8. Isaiah 22:8 Lit. covering
  9. Isaiah 22:9 Lit. breaches in the city walls
  10. Isaiah 22:19 LXX omits he will pull you down; Syr., Tg., Vg. I will pull you down
  11. Isaiah 23:1 oracle, prophecy
  12. Isaiah 23:1 Heb. Kittim, western lands, especially Cyprus
  13. Isaiah 23:2 So with MT, Vg.; LXX, Tg. Passing over the water; DSS Your messengers passing over the sea
  14. Isaiah 23:3 The Nile
  15. Isaiah 23:9 pollute
  16. Isaiah 23:10 The Nile
  17. Isaiah 23:10 restraint, lit. belt
  18. Isaiah 23:18 choice

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