Book of Common Prayer

26 At the beginning of the reign of Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah, this word came from Adonai: ² “Adonai says: ‘Stand in the courtyard of Adonai’s house and speak to the people from all the cities in Y’hudah who come to worship at Adonai’s house; say everything I order you to say to them, and don’t leave out a word. ³ Maybe they will listen, and each of them turn from his evil way; then I will be able to relent from the disaster I intend to bring on them because of how evil their deeds are. ⁴ So tell them that this is what Adonai says: “If you will not pay attention to me and live according to my Torah, which I have given you, ⁵ and listen to what my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, say — I have sent them frequently, but you haven’t listened — ⁶ then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing for all the nations of the earth.”’”

⁷ The cohanim, the prophets and all the people heard Yirmeyahu speaking these words in the house of Adonai. ⁸ When Yirmeyahu had finished saying everything Adonai had ordered him to say to all the people, the cohanim, prophets and all the people seized him, shouting, “You will die for this! ⁹ Why have you prophesied in the name of Adonai, ‘This house will become like Shiloh,’ and, ‘This city will become uninhabited ruins’?” The people all crowded in on Yirmeyahu in Adonai’s house.

¹⁰ When the officials of Y’hudah heard about it, they came up from the king’s palace to Adonai’s house and sat at the entrance to the New Gate of Adonai’s house. ¹¹ The cohanim and prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man deserves a death sentence, because he has prophesied against this city; you have heard it with your own ears.” ¹² Then Yirmeyahu said to the officials and all the people, “Adonai sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words you have heard. ¹³ Therefore now, improve your ways and your doings; and listen to the voice of Adonai your God; then Adonai will relent from the disaster he has decreed against you. ¹⁴ But as for me, here, I am in your hands; do with me whatever seems good and right to you. ¹⁵ Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city and on its inhabitants; because the fact is that Adonai sent me to you to speak all these words, so that you could hear them.”

¹⁶ The officials and all the people then said to the cohanim and prophets, “This man does not deserve a death sentence, because he has spoken to us in the name of Adonai our God.”

11 “In that case, I say, isn’t it that God has repudiated his people?” Heaven forbid! For I myself am a son of Isra’el, from the seed of Avraham,^[a] of the tribe of Binyamin. ² God has not repudiated his people,^[b] whom he chose in advance. Or don’t you know what the Tanakh says about Eliyahu? He pleads with God against Isra’el, ³ “Adonai, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I’m the only one left, and now they want to kill me too!”^{[c] 4} But what is God’s answer to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not knelt down to Ba‘al.”^{[d] 5} It’s the same way in the present age: there is a remnant, chosen by grace. ⁶ (Now if it is by grace, it is accordingly not based on legalistic works; if it were otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.) ⁷ What follows is that Isra’el has not attained the goal for which she is striving. The ones chosen have obtained it, but the rest have been made stonelike, ⁸ just as the Tanakh says,

⁹ And David says,

¹¹ “In that case, I say, isn’t it that they have stumbled with the result that they have permanently fallen away?” Heaven forbid! Quite the contrary, it is by means of their stumbling that the deliverance has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy.^{[g] 12} Moreover, if their stumbling is bringing riches to the world — that is, if Isra’el’s being placed temporarily in a condition less favored than that of the Gentiles is bringing riches to the latter — how much greater riches will Isra’el in its fullness bring them!

¹⁹ Again there was a split among the Judeans because of what he said. ²⁰ Many of them said, “He has a demon!” and “He’s meshugga! Why do you listen to him?” ²¹ Others said, “These are not the deeds of a man who is demonized — how can a demon open blind people’s eyes?”

²² Then came Hanukkah in Yerushalayim. It was winter, ²³ and Yeshua was walking around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo’s Colonnade. ²⁴ So the Judeans surrounded him and said to him, “How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us publicly!” ²⁵ Yeshua answered them, “I have already told you, and you don’t trust me. The works I do in my Father’s name testify on my behalf, ²⁶ but the reason you don’t trust is that you are not included among my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice, I recognize them, they follow me, ²⁸ and I give them eternal life. They will absolutely never be destroyed, and no one will snatch them from my hands. ²⁹ My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no one can snatch them from the Father’s hands. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

³¹ Once again the Judeans picked up rocks in order to stone him. ³² Yeshua answered them, “You have seen me do many good deeds that reflect the Father’s power; for which one of these deeds are you stoning me?” ³³ The Judeans replied, “We are not stoning you for any good deed, but for blasphemy — because you, who are only a man, are making yourself out to be God ^[a].” ³⁴ Yeshua answered them, “Isn’t it written in your Torah, ‘I have said, “You people are Elohim’ ”?^{[b] 35} If he called ‘elohim’ the people to whom the word of Elohim was addressed (and the Tanakh cannot be broken), ³⁶ then are you telling the one whom the Father set apart as holy and sent into the world, ‘You are committing blasphemy,’ just because I said, ‘I am a son of Elohim’?

³⁷ “If I am not doing deeds that reflect my Father’s power, don’t trust me. ³⁸ But if I am, then, even if you don’t trust me, trust the deeds; so that you may understand once and for all that the Father is united with me, and I am united with the Father.” ³⁹ One more time they tried to arrest him, but he slipped out of their hands.

⁴⁰ He went off again beyond the Yarden, where Yochanan had been immersing at first, and stayed there. ⁴¹ Many people came to him and said, “Yochanan performed no miracles, but everything Yochanan said about this man was true.” ⁴² And many people there put their trust in him.