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Israel’s Continuing Rebellion
20 In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, certain elders of Israel came to consult the Lord and sat down before me.(A) 2 And the word of the Lord came to me: 3 Mortal, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Why are you coming? To consult me? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not be consulted by you. 4 Will you judge them, mortal; will you judge them? Then let them know the abominations of their ancestors(B) 5 and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: On the day when I chose Israel, I swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob—making myself known to them in the land of Egypt—I swore to them, saying, “I am the Lord your God.”(C) 6 On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands.(D) 7 And I said to them, “Cast away the detestable things on which your eyes feast, every one of you, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.”(E) 8 But they rebelled against me and would not listen to me; not one of them cast away the detestable things on which their eyes feasted, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.
Then I thought I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.(F) 9 But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt.(G) 10 So I led them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.(H) 11 I gave them my statutes and showed them my ordinances, by whose observance everyone shall live.(I) 12 Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, so that they might know that I the Lord sanctify them.(J) 13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they did not observe my statutes but rejected my ordinances, by whose observance everyone shall live, and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned.
Then I thought I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to make an end of them.(K) 14 But I acted for the sake of my name, so that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out. 15 Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands,(L) 16 because they rejected my ordinances and did not observe my statutes and profaned my Sabbaths, for their heart went after their idols.(M) 17 Nevertheless, my eye spared them, and I did not destroy them or make an end of them in the wilderness.
18 I said to their children in the wilderness, “Do not follow the statutes of your parents, nor observe their ordinances, nor defile yourselves with their idols. 19 I the Lord am your God; follow my statutes, be careful to observe my ordinances,(N) 20 and hallow my Sabbaths that they may be a sign between me and you, so that you may know that I the Lord am your God.” 21 But the children rebelled against me; they did not follow my statutes and were not careful to observe my ordinances, by whose observance everyone shall live; they profaned my Sabbaths.
Then I thought I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness.(O) 22 But I withheld my hand and acted for the sake of my name, so that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.(P) 23 Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries,(Q) 24 because they had not executed my ordinances but had rejected my statutes and profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their ancestors’ idols. 25 Moreover, I gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.(R) 26 I defiled them through their very gifts, in their offering up all their firstborn, in order that I might horrify them, so that they might know that I am the Lord.(S)
27 Therefore, mortal, speak to the house of Israel and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: In this again your ancestors blasphemed me by dealing treacherously with me.(T) 28 For when I had brought them into the land that I swore to give them, then wherever they saw any high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices and presented the provocation of their offering; there they sent up their pleasing odors, and there they poured out their drink offerings.(U) 29 (I said to them, “What is the high place to which you go? So it is called Bamah[a] to this day.”) 30 Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your ancestors and go astray after their detestable things? 31 When you offer your gifts and make your children pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be consulted by you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not be consulted by you.(V)
32 What is in your mind shall never happen—the thought, “Let us be like the nations, like the tribes of the countries, and worship wood and stone.”
God Will Restore Israel
33 As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I will be king over you.(W) 34 I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, 35 and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.(X) 36 As I entered into judgment with your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, says the Lord God.(Y) 37 I will make you pass under the staff and will bring you within the bond of the covenant.(Z) 38 I will purge out the rebels among you and those who transgress against me; I will bring them out of the land where they reside as aliens, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.(AA)
39 As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go serve your idols, every one of you now and hereafter, if you will not listen to me, but my holy name you shall no more profane with your gifts and your idols.(AB)
40 For on my holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel, says the Lord God, there all the house of Israel, all of them, shall serve me in the land; there I will accept them, and there I will require your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your sacred things.(AC) 41 As a pleasing odor I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations.(AD) 42 You shall know that I am the Lord when I bring you into the land of Israel, the country that I swore to give to your ancestors.(AE) 43 There you shall remember your ways and all the deeds by which you have polluted yourselves, and you shall loathe yourselves for all the evils that you have committed.(AF) 44 And you shall know that I am the Lord when I deal with you for my name’s sake, not according to your evil ways or corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, says the Lord God.(AG)
A Prophecy against the Negeb
45 [b]The word of the Lord came to me: 46 Mortal, set your face toward the south, preach against the south, and prophesy against the forest land in the Negeb;(AH) 47 say to the forest of the Negeb: Hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God: I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree; the blazing flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from south to north shall be scorched by it.(AI) 48 All flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.(AJ) 49 Then I said, “Ah Lord God! They are saying of me, ‘Is he not a maker of allegories?’ ”(AK)
11 But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come,[a] then through the greater and more perfect tent[b] (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation),(A) 12 he entered once for all into the holy place, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.(B) 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified,(C) 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit[c] offered himself without blemish to God, purify our[d] conscience from dead works to worship the living God!(D)
15 For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.[e](E) 16 Where a will[f] is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will[g] takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18 Hence not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.(F) 19 For when every commandment had been told to all the people by Moses in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and goats,[h] with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people,(G) 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent[i] and all the vessels used in worship.(H) 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.(I)
Christ’s Sacrifice Takes Away Sin
23 Thus it was necessary for the sketches of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves need better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.(J) 25 Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the holy place year after year with blood that is not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.(K) 27 And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once and after that the judgment,(L) 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.(M)
Book V
(Psalms 107–150)
Psalm 107
Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Many Troubles
1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.(A)
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
those he redeemed from trouble(B)
3 and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.[a](C)
4 Some wandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to an inhabited town;(D)
5 hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress;(E)
7 he led them by a straight way,
until they reached an inhabited town.(F)
8 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.(G)
9 For he satisfies the thirsty,
and the hungry he fills with good things.(H)
10 Some sat in darkness and in gloom,
prisoners in misery and in irons,(I)
11 for they had rebelled against the words of God
and spurned the counsel of the Most High.(J)
12 Their hearts were bowed down with hard labor;
they fell down, with no one to help.(K)
13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress;(L)
14 he brought them out of darkness and gloom,
and broke their bonds apart.(M)
15 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.(N)
16 For he shatters the doors of bronze
and cuts in two the bars of iron.(O)
17 Some were sick[b] through their sinful ways
and because of their iniquities endured affliction;(P)
18 they loathed any kind of food,
and they drew near to the gates of death.(Q)
19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress;
20 he sent out his word and healed them
and delivered them from destruction.(R)
21 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
22 And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices
and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.(S)
23 Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the mighty waters;
24 they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
25 For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.(T)
26 They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their calamity;(U)
27 they reeled and staggered like drunkards
and were at their wits’ end.(V)
28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out from their distress;
29 he made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.(W)
30 Then they were glad because they had quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.
31 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.(X)
32 Let them extol him in the congregation of the people
and praise him in the assembly of the elders.(Y)
33 He turns rivers into a desert,
springs of water into thirsty ground,(Z)
34 a fruitful land into a salty waste,
because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.(AA)
35 He turns a desert into pools of water,
a parched land into springs of water.(AB)
36 And there he lets the hungry live,
and they establish a town to live in;
37 they sow fields and plant vineyards
and get a fruitful yield.(AC)
38 By his blessing they multiply greatly,
and he does not let their cattle decrease.(AD)
39 When they are diminished and brought low
through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,(AE)
40 he pours contempt on princes
and makes them wander in trackless wastes,(AF)
41 but he raises up the needy out of distress
and makes their families like flocks.(AG)
42 The upright see it and are glad,
and all wickedness stops its mouth.(AH)
43 Let those who are wise pay attention to these things
and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.(AI)
11 Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad,
so that I may answer whoever reproaches me.(A)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.