Book of Common Prayer

⁴ Adonai my God says this: “Shepherd the flock for slaughter. ⁵ Their buyers kill them and go unpunished; while those who sell them say, ‘Barukh Adonai! Now I’m rich!’ Even their own shepherds show them no pity. ⁶ I will no longer show pity to the inhabitants of the land,” says Adonai. “No, I will hand every one of them over to the power of a neighbor and to the power of his king; they will crush the land; and I won’t rescue them from their power.”

⁷ So I shepherded the flock for slaughter, truly the most miserable of the sheep; and I took two staffs for myself. I called the one No‘am [pleasantness], the other I called Hovalim [bound together], and I shepherded the flock. ⁸ “In a single month I got rid of three shepherds, because I grew impatient with them; and besides, they detested me. ⁹ I said, ‘I’m not going to shepherd you. Whichever one is going to die, let it die; whichever is going to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and the rest can all devour each other.’”

¹⁰ I took my staff No‘am and snapped it in two, “in order to break my covenant, which I made with all the peoples.” ¹¹ On that day when it was broken, the most miserable of the sheep who paid attention to me knew that this was indeed a message from Adonai. ¹² I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; if not, don’t.” So they weighed out my wages, thirty silver [shekels, that is, twelve ounces]. ¹³ Concerning that “princely sum” at which they valued me, Adonai said, “Throw it into the treasury!” So I took the thirty silver [shekels] and threw them into the treasury in the house of Adonai.

¹⁴ Then I snapped in two my other staff Hovalim [bound together], in order to break up the brotherhood between Y’hudah and Isra’el. ¹⁵ Adonai said to me, “This time, take the equipment of a worthless shepherd. ¹⁶ For I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who won’t bother about the ones who have been destroyed, won’t seek out the young, won’t heal the broken and won’t feed those standing still; on the contrary, he will eat the meat of the fat ones and break their hoofs in pieces.

¹⁰ Using the grace God gave me, I laid a foundation, like a skilled master-builder; and another man is building on it. But let each one be careful how he builds. ¹¹ For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Yeshua the Messiah. ¹² Some will use gold, silver or precious stones in building on this foundation; while others will use wood, grass or straw. ¹³ But each one’s work will be shown for what it is; the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire — the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. ¹⁴ If the work someone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward; ¹⁵ if it is burned up, he will have to bear the loss: he will still escape with his life, but it will be like escaping through a fire.

¹⁶ Don’t you know that you people are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? ¹⁷ So if anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you yourselves are that temple.

¹⁸ Let no one fool himself. If someone among you thinks he is wise (by this world’s standards), let him become “foolish,” so that he may become really wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is nonsense, as far as God is concerned; inasmuch as the Tanakh says, “He traps the wise in their own cleverness,”^{[a] 20} and again, “Adonai knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless.”^{[b] 21} So let no one boast about human beings, for all things are yours — ²² whether Sha’ul or Apollos or Kefa or the world or life or death or the present or the future: they all belong to you, ²³ and you belong to the Messiah, and the Messiah belongs to God.

³¹ Then, taking the Twelve, Yeshua said to them, “We are now going up to Yerushalayim, where everything written through the prophets about the Son of Man will come true. ³² For he will be handed over to the Goyim and be ridiculed, insulted and spat upon. ³³ Then, after they have beaten him, they will kill him. But on the third day he will rise.” ³⁴ However, they understood none of this; its meaning had been hidden from them, and they had no idea what he was talking about.

³⁵ As Yeshua approached Yericho, a blind man was sitting by the road, begging. ³⁶ When he heard the crowd going past, he asked what it was all about; ³⁷ and they told him, “Yeshua from Natzeret is passing by.” ³⁸ He called out, “Yeshua! Son of David! Have pity on me!” ³⁹ Those in front scolded him in order to get him to shut up, but he shouted all the louder, “Son of David! Have pity on me!” ⁴⁰ Yeshua stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he had come, Yeshua asked him, ⁴¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said, “Lord, let me be able to see.” ⁴² Yeshua said to him, “See again! your trust has healed you!” ⁴³ Instantly he received his sight and began following him, glorifying God; and when all the people saw it, they too praised God.