6 Hear now what the Lord says: Arise, contend and plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.

² Hear, O mountains, the Lord’s controversy, and you strong and enduring foundations of the earth, for the Lord has a controversy (a pleading contention) with His people, and He will [pleadingly] contend with Israel.

³ O My people, what have I done to you? And in what have I wearied you? Testify against Me [answer Me]!

⁴ For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house where you were bond servants, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

⁵ O My people, [earnestly] remember now what Balak king of Moab devised and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; [remember what the Lord did for you] from ^[a]Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous and saving acts of the Lord.^(A)

⁶ With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁸ He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?^(B)

⁹ The voice of the Lord calls to the city [Jerusalem]—and it is sound wisdom to hear and fear Your name—Hear (heed) the rod and Him Who has appointed it.

¹⁰ Are there not still treasures gained by wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a scant measure [a false measure for grain] that is abominable and accursed?

¹¹ Can I be pure [Myself, and acquit the man] with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights?^(C)

¹² For [the city’s] rich men are full of violence; her inhabitants have spoken lies and their tongues are deceitful in their mouths.

¹³ Therefore I have also smitten you with a deadly wound and made you sick, laying you desolate, waste, and deserted because of your sins.

¹⁴ You shall eat but not be satisfied, and your emptiness and hunger shall remain in you; you shall carry away [goods and those you love] but fail to save them, and those you do deliver I will give to the sword.

¹⁵ You shall sow but not reap; you shall tread olives but not anoint yourselves with oil, and [you shall extract juice from] the grapes but not drink the wine.

¹⁶ For the statutes of [idolatrous] Omri you have kept, and all the works of the house of [wicked] Ahab, and you walk in their counsels. Therefore I will make you a desolation and an astonishment and your [city’s] inhabitants a hissing, and you shall bear the reproach and scorn of My people.

7 Woe is me! For I am as when the summer fruits have been gathered, as when the vintage grapes have been gleaned and there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig for which my appetite craves.

² The godly man has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; each hunts his brother with a net.

³ Both their hands are put forth and are upon what is evil to do it diligently; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters his evil desire. Thus they twist between them [the course of justice].

⁴ The best of them is like a brier; the most upright or the straightest is like a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, even of [God’s] judgment and your punishment, has come; now shall be their perplexity and confusion.

⁵ Trust not in a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Keep the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom.^(A)

⁶ For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies are the men (members) of his own house.^(B)

⁷ But as for me, I will look to the Lord and confident in Him I will keep watch; I will wait with hope and expectancy for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

10 And [Jesus] left there [Capernaum] and went to the region of Judea and beyond [east of] the Jordan; and crowds [constantly] gathered around Him again, and as was His custom, He began to teach them again.

² And some Pharisees came up, and, in order to test Him and try to find a weakness in Him, asked, Is it lawful for a man to ^[a]dismiss and repudiate and divorce his wife?

³ He answered them, What did Moses command you?

⁴ They replied, Moses allowed a man to write a bill of divorce and to put her away.^(A)

⁵ But Jesus said to them, Because of your hardness of heart [^[b]your condition of insensibility to the call of God] he wrote you this ^[c]precept in your Law.

⁶ But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female.^(B)

⁷ For this reason a man shall leave [behind] his father and his mother ^[d]and be ^[e]joined to his wife and cleave closely to her permanently,

⁸ And the two shall become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh.^(C)

⁹ What therefore God has united (joined together), let not man separate or divide.

¹⁰ And indoors the disciples questioned Him again about this subject.

¹¹ And He said to them, Whoever ^[f]dismisses (repudiates and divorces) his wife and marries another commits adultery against her;

¹² And if a woman dismisses (repudiates and divorces) her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.

¹³ And they kept bringing young children to Him that He might touch them, and the disciples were reproving them [for it].

¹⁴ But when Jesus saw [it], He was indignant and ^[a]pained and said to them, Allow the children to come to Me—do not forbid or prevent or hinder them—for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

¹⁵ Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive and accept and welcome the kingdom of God like a little child [does] positively shall not enter it at all.

¹⁶ And He took them [the children up ^[b]one by one] in His arms and [^[c]fervently invoked a] blessing, placing His hands upon them.

¹⁷ And as He was setting out on His journey, a man ran up and knelt before Him and asked Him, Teacher, [You are ^[d]essentially and perfectly ^[e]morally] good, what must I do to inherit eternal life [that is, ^[f]to partake of eternal salvation in the Messiah’s kingdom]?

¹⁸ And Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me [^[g]essentially and perfectly ^[h]morally] good? There is no one [^[i]essentially and perfectly ^[j]morally] good—except God alone.

¹⁹ You know the commandments: Do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.^(A)

²⁰ And he replied to Him, Teacher, I have carefully guarded and observed all these and taken care not to violate them from my boyhood.

²¹ And Jesus, looking upon him, loved him, and He said to him, You lack one thing; go and sell all you have and give [the money] to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come [and] accompany Me [^[k]walking the same road that I walk].

²² At that saying the man’s countenance fell and was gloomy, and he went away grieved and sorrowing, for he was holding great possessions.

²³ And Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, With what difficulty will those who possess wealth and ^[l]keep on holding it enter the kingdom of God!

²⁴ And the disciples were amazed and bewildered and perplexed at His words. But Jesus said to them again, Children, how hard it is ^[m]for those who trust (place their confidence, their sense of safety) in riches to enter the kingdom of God!

²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

²⁶ And they were shocked and exceedingly astonished, and said to Him and ^[n]to one another, Then who can be saved?

²⁷ Jesus glanced around at them and said, With men [it is] impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.

²⁸ Peter started to say to Him, Behold, we have ^[o]yielded up and abandoned everything [once and for all and ^[p]joined You as Your disciples, siding with Your party] and accompanied You [^[q]walking the same road that You walk].

²⁹ Jesus said, Truly I tell you, there is no one who has given up and left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for My sake and for the Gospel’s

³⁰ Who will not receive a hundred times as much now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.

³¹ But many [who are now] first will be last [then], and many [who are now] last will be first [then].

³² They were on the way going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on in front of them; and they were bewildered and perplexed and greatly astonished, and those [who were still] following were seized with alarm and were afraid. And He took the Twelve [apostles] again and began to tell them what was about to happen to Him,

³³ [Saying], Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be turned over to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn and sentence Him to death and turn Him over to the Gentiles.

³⁴ And they will mock Him and spit on Him, and whip Him and put Him to death; but after three days He will rise again [^[r]from death].