The Righteous Will Never Be Moved

Who Is like the Lord Our God?

Prophecy Against Mount Seir

35 The word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (A)“Son of man, ^(B)set your face ^(C)against ^(D)Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, ³ and say to it, Thus says the Lord God: ^(E)Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and ^(F)I will stretch out my hand against you, ^(G)and I will make you a desolation and a waste. ^4 (H)I will lay your cities waste, and you shall become a desolation, and you shall know that I am the Lord. ⁵ Because ^(I)you cherished perpetual enmity and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword ^(J)at the time of their calamity, ^(K)at the time of their final punishment, ⁶ therefore, ^(L)as I live, declares the Lord God, I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; ^(M)because you did not hate bloodshed, therefore blood shall pursue you. ^7 (N)I will make Mount Seir a waste ^(O)and a desolation, and I will cut off from it ^(P)all who come and go. ⁸ And I will fill ^(Q)its mountains with the slain. On your hills and in your valleys and in all ^(R)your ravines ^(S)those slain with the sword shall fall. ^9 (T)I will make you a perpetual desolation, and ^(U)your cities shall not be inhabited. Then ^(V)you will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰ “Because you said, ^(W)‘These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and ^(X)we will take possession of them’—although the ^(Y)Lord was there— ¹¹ therefore, ^(Z)as I live, declares the Lord God, I will deal with you ^(AA)according to the anger and ^(AB)envy that you showed because of your hatred against them. And ^(AC)I will make myself known among them, when I judge you. ¹² And you shall know that I am the Lord.

^(AD)“I have heard all the revilings that you uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They are laid desolate; ^(AE)they are given us to devour.’ ¹³ And ^(AF)you magnified yourselves against me ^(AG)with your mouth, and multiplied your words against me; I heard it. ¹⁴ Thus says the Lord God: ^(AH)While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. ¹⁵ As you ^(AI)rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so I will deal with you; you shall be desolate, ^(AJ)Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then ^(AK)they will know that I am the Lord.

Prophecy to the Mountains of Israel

36 “And you, ^(AL)son of man, prophesy to ^(AM)the mountains of Israel, and say, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. ² Thus says the Lord God: Because ^(AN)the enemy said of you, ^(AO)‘Aha!’ and, ‘The ancient ^(AP)heights have become our possession,’ ³ therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God: Precisely because ^(AQ)they made you desolate and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and ^(AR)you became the talk and evil gossip of the people, ⁴ therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God to ^(AS)the mountains and the hills, the ravines and the valleys, ^(AT)the desolate wastes and the deserted cities, which have become ^(AU)a prey and derision to the rest of the nations all around, ⁵ therefore thus says the Lord God: Surely I have spoken in ^(AV)my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and ^(AW)against all Edom, who ^(AX)gave my land to themselves as a possession ^(AY)with wholehearted joy and ^(AZ)utter contempt, that they might make its pasturelands a prey. ⁶ Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to ^(BA)the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, Thus says the Lord God: ^(BB)Behold, I have spoken in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered ^(BC)the reproach of the nations. ⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(BD)I swear that the nations that are all around you ^(BE)shall themselves suffer reproach.

⁸ “But you, O mountains of Israel, ^(BF)shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for ^(BG)they will soon come home. ⁹ For ^(BH)behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and ^(BI)you shall be tilled and sown. ¹⁰ And ^(BJ)I will multiply people on you, the whole house of Israel, all of it. ^(BK)The cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt. ¹¹ And I will multiply on you ^(BL)man and beast, and ^(BM)they shall multiply and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited as in ^(BN)your former times, and ^(BO)will do more good to you than ever before. ^(BP)Then you will know that I am the Lord. ¹² I will let people walk on you, even my people Israel. ^(BQ)And they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no longer ^(BR)bereave them of children. ¹³ Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, ^(BS)‘You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children,’ ¹⁴ therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the Lord God. ¹⁵ And I will not let you hear anymore ^(BT)the reproach of the nations, and you shall no longer bear the disgrace of the peoples and no longer cause your nation to stumble, declares the Lord God.”

The Lord's Concern for His Holy Name

¹⁶ The word of the Lord came to me: ^17 (BU)“Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, ^(BV)they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were ^(BW)like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. ¹⁸ So ^(BX)I poured out my wrath upon them ^(BY)for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols ^(BZ)with which they had defiled it. ^19 (CA)I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. ^(CB)In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. ²⁰ But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, ^(CC)they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ ²¹ But I had concern ^(CD)for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

3 ^(A)In those days ^(B)John the Baptist came preaching in ^(C)the wilderness of Judea, ^2 (D)“Repent, for ^(E)the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”^{[a] 3} For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

⁴ Now John wore ^(H)a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was ^(I)locusts and ^(J)wild honey. ⁵ Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, ⁶ and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, ^(K)confessing their sins.

⁷ But when he saw many of ^(L)the Pharisees and ^(M)Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ^(N)“You brood of ^(O)vipers! Who warned you to flee from ^(P)the wrath to come? ⁸ Bear fruit ^(Q)in keeping with repentance. ⁹ And do not presume to say to yourselves, ^(R)‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from ^(S)these stones to raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. ^(T)Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

^11 (U)“I baptize you with water ^(V)for repentance, but ^(W)he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you ^(X)with the Holy Spirit and ^(Y)fire. ¹² His ^(Z)winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and ^(AA)gather his wheat into the barn, ^(AB)but the chaff he will burn with ^(AC)unquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

^13 (AD)Then Jesus came ^(AE)from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ^14 (AF)John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. ¹⁶ And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, ^(AG)the heavens were opened to him,^[c] and he ^(AH)saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷ and behold, ^(AI)a voice from heaven said, ^(AJ)“This is my beloved Son,^[d] with whom I am well pleased.”