Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’ Their own shepherds do not spare them.(A)

Read full chapter

Whoever found them devoured(A) them;
    their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty,(B)
for they sinned against the Lord, their verdant pasture,
    the Lord, the hope(C) of their ancestors.’

Read full chapter

and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth(A) and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

But godliness with contentment(B) is great gain.(C) For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.(D) But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.(E) Those who want to get rich(F) fall into temptation and a trap(G) and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money(H) is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith(I) and pierced themselves with many griefs.(J)

Read full chapter

Ephraim boasts,(A)
    “I am very rich; I have become wealthy.(B)
With all my wealth they will not find in me
    any iniquity or sin.”

Read full chapter

In their greed(A) these teachers will exploit you(B) with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

Read full chapter

They will put you out of the synagogue;(A) in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.(B)

Read full chapter

12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.(A) Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

Read full chapter

Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees

13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!(A) You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.(B)

Read full chapter

Jesus at the Temple(A)

12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying(B) and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers(C) and the benches of those selling doves.(D) 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[a](E) but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’[b](F)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Matthew 21:13 Isaiah 56:7
  2. Matthew 21:13 Jer. 7:11

Hear this, you leaders of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel,
who despise justice
    and distort all that is right;(A)
10 who build(B) Zion with bloodshed,(C)
    and Jerusalem with wickedness.(D)
11 Her leaders judge for a bribe,(E)
    her priests teach for a price,(F)
    and her prophets tell fortunes for money.(G)
Yet they look(H) for the Lord’s support and say,
    “Is not the Lord among us?
    No disaster will come upon us.”(I)
12 Therefore because of you,
    Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,(J)
    the temple(K) hill a mound overgrown with thickets.(L)

Read full chapter

Leaders and Prophets Rebuked

Then I said,

“Listen, you leaders(A) of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel.
Should you not embrace justice,
    you who hate good and love evil;
who tear the skin from my people
    and the flesh from their bones;(B)
who eat my people’s flesh,(C)
    strip off their skin
    and break their bones in pieces;(D)
who chop(E) them up like meat for the pan,
    like flesh for the pot?(F)

Read full chapter

21 Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns(A) until you have driven them away,

Read full chapter

18 Is it not enough(A) for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet?(B) Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? 19 Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

Read full chapter

10 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against(A) the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue(B) my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.(C)

Read full chapter

My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill.(A) They were scattered(B) over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.(C)

Read full chapter

“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?(A) You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock.(B) You have not strengthened the weak or healed(C) the sick or bound up(D) the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.(E)

Read full chapter

25 There is a conspiracy(A) of her princes[a] within her like a roaring lion(B) tearing its prey; they devour people,(C) take treasures and precious things and make many widows(D) within her. 26 Her priests do violence to my law(E) and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common;(F) they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean;(G) and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned(H) among them.(I) 27 Her officials(J) within her are like wolves(K) tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people(L) to make unjust gain.(M)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 22:25 Septuagint; Hebrew prophets

The Righteous Branch

23 “Woe to the shepherds(A) who are destroying and scattering(B) the sheep of my pasture!”(C) declares the Lord. Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds(D) who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock(E) and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil(F) you have done,” declares the Lord.

Read full chapter

Israel was holy(A) to the Lord,(B)
    the firstfruits(C) of his harvest;
all who devoured(D) her were held guilty,(E)
    and disaster overtook them,’”
declares the Lord.

Read full chapter

and said: “As far as possible, we have bought(A) back our fellow Jews who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your own people, only for them to be sold back to us!” They kept quiet, because they could find nothing to say.(B)

Read full chapter