The Lord Will Not Relent

15 Then the Lord said to me, ^(A)“Even if ^(B)Moses and ^(C)Samuel stood before Me, My ^[a]mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.

¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. ^(A)And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ^16 [a]Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. ^(B)The effective, ^[b]fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man ^(C)with a nature like ours, and ^(D)he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. ¹⁸ And he prayed ^(E)again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

⁵ Even so ^(A)the tongue is a little member and ^(B)boasts great things.

See how great a forest a little fire kindles! ⁶ And ^(C)the tongue is a fire, a world of ^[a]iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it ^(D)defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of ^[b]nature; and it is set on fire by ^[c]hell.

^15 (A)who killed both the Lord Jesus and ^(B)their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God ^(C)and are ^[a]contrary to all men, ^16 (D)forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always ^(E)to fill up the measure of their sins; ^(F)but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.

^47 (A)Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, ^(B)“What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”

⁴⁹ And one of them, ^(C)Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, ^50 (D)nor do you consider that it is expedient for ^[a]us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.”

⁴⁰ Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, ^(A)and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”

⁴¹ Jesus said to them, ^(B)“If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

³⁹ And ^(A)those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, ^(B)“You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! ^(C)If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

⁴¹ Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the ^[a]scribes and elders, said, ⁴² “He ^(D)saved others; Himself He cannot save. ^[b]If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe ^[c]Him. ^43 (E)He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”