^7 (A)So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named ^(B)Favor, the other I named ^(C)Union. ^(D)And I tended the sheep.

⁴ Thus said the Lord my God: ^(A)“Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter.

¹⁴ Then I broke ^(A)my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were ^(A)far off have been brought near ^(B)by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For ^(C)he himself is our peace, ^(D)who has made us both one and has broken down ^(E)in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵ by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ^(F)ordinances, that he might create in himself one ^(G)new man in place of the two, so making peace, ¹⁶ and might ^(H)reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

^16 (A)“Son of man, ^(B)take a stick^[a] and write on it, ‘For ^(C)Judah, and ^(D)the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For ^(E)Joseph (the stick of ^(F)Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ ¹⁷ And ^(G)join them one to another into one stick, that ^(H)they may become ^(I)one in your hand. ¹⁸ And when ^(J)your people say to you, ^(K)‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ ¹⁹ say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take ^(L)the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the ^(M)stick of Judah,^[b] and ^(N)make them one stick, ^(O)that they may be one in my hand. ²⁰ When the sticks on which you write are in your hand ^(P)before their eyes, ²¹ then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^(Q)I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and ^(R)bring them to their own land. ²² And ^(S)I will make them one nation in the land, on ^(T)the mountains of Israel. And ^(U)one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer ^(V)two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. ^23 (W)They shall not ^(X)defile themselves anymore ^(Y)with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But ^(Z)I will save them from all the backslidings^[c] in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and ^(AA)they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

The Year of the Lord's Favor

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers, ^(A)has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be ^(B)rich in faith and heirs of ^(C)the kingdom, ^(D)which he has promised to those who love him?