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The Cornerstone of Zion
14 Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, men of mockery,
rulers of these people in Jerusalem:
15 Because you have said,
“We have made[a] a covenant with death,
and we have made an agreement with Sheol.
The overwhelming flood, when it passes through, will not come to us,
for we have made lies[b] our refuge,
and we have hidden ourselves in falsehood.”
16 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says this:
“Look! I am laying a stone in Zion,
a tested[c] stone,
a precious cornerstone,
a founded foundation:
‘The one who trusts will not panic.’[d]
17 And I will make justice the measuring line,
and righteousness the plumb line;
and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,[e]
and waters will flood over the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
you will become a trampling place for the overwhelming flood when it passes through.
19 As often as it passes through,[f] it will take you,
for morning by morning[g] it will pass through,
in the day and in the night,
and understanding the message will be only terror.”
20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on,[h]
and the covering is too narrow when wrapping oneself.
21 For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount Perazim;
he will rave as in the valley at Gibeon
to do his deed—his deed is strange—
and to work his work—his work is alien!
22 And now you must not scoff,
or your bonds will be strong,
for I have heard from the Lord, Yahweh of hosts:
complete destruction
decreed upon all the land.
A Parable of Yahweh’s Work
23 Listen, and hear my voice!
Listen attentively, and hear my word!
24 Is it all day that the plowman plows,
opens to sow seed, harrows his ground?
25 When he has leveled its surface,[i] does he not scatter dill,
and sow cumin seed,
and plant[j] wheat in planted rows,[k]
and barley in an appointed place,
and spelt grain as its border?
26 And his God instructs him about the prescription;[l]
he teaches him.
27 For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
nor is a wheel of a utility cart rolled[m] over cumin,
but dill is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
28 Grain is crushed fine,
but certainly one does not thresh it forever;
and one drives the wheel of his cart,
but his horses do not crush it.
29 This also comes forth from Yahweh of hosts.
He is wonderful in advice;
he makes great wisdom.
Woe to Jerusalem
29 Ah! Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped!
Add year to year,
let festivals recur.
2 Yet[n] I will inflict Ariel,
and there shall be mourning and lamentation,
and it shall be to me like an altar hearth.[o]
3 And I will encamp in a circle[p] against you,
and I will lay siege to you with towers[q]
and I will raise up siegeworks against you.
4 Then[r] you shall be low;
you shall speak from the earth,
and your words[s] will be low, from dust.
And your voice will be from the earth, like a ghost,
and your word will whisper from the dust.
5 But[t] the multitude of your strangers shall be like fine dust,
and the multitude of tyrants like chaff that passes by.
And it will happen in an instant, suddenly.
6 You will be punished by Yahweh of hosts
with thunder and earthquake and great sound,
storm wind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire.
7 And the multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel,
all those who fight against her and her stronghold,
and those who inflict her shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8 And it shall be as when the hungry person dreams—look, he is eating!
And he wakes up and his inner self is empty.
Or[u] as when the thirsty person dreams—look, he is drinking!
And he wakes up and look, he is faint,
and his inner self is longing for water.
So shall be the multitude of all the nations who fight against Mount Zion.
9 Be astonished and be amazed!
Blind yourselves and be blinded!
They are drunk but[v] not from wine;
they stagger but[w] not from strong drink.
10 For Yahweh has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep,
and he has shut your eyes, the prophets,
and he has covered your heads, the seers.
11 And the vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document. When they give it to one who knows the[x] document, saying, “Read[y] this now!” He says, “I am not able, for it is sealed.” 12 And if the document is given to one who does not know how to read,[z] saying, “Read[aa] this now!” he says, “I do not know how to read.”[ab]
13 And the Lord said,
“Because this people draw near with its mouth,
and with its lips it honors me,
and its heart is far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught,
14 therefore look, I am again doing something spectacular
and a spectacle with this spectacular people.
And the wisdom of its wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of its discerning ones shall keep itself hidden.”
15 Ah! Those who make a plan deep, to hide it from Yahweh,
and their deeds are[ac] in a dark place.
And they say, “Who sees us?
And who knows us?”
16 Your perversity!
As if a potter[ad] shall be regarded as the clay!
That the product of its maker says,
“He did not make me,”
and the thing made into shape says of its potter,[ae]
“He has no understanding.”
Blessing after Punishment
17 In a very little while[af] shall not Lebanon change into a fruitful land,
and the fruitful land be regarded as a forest?
18 And on that day, the deaf shall hear the words of a scroll,
and the eyes of the blind shall see out of gloom and darkness.
19 And the meek have joy after joy[ag] in Yahweh,
and the needy of the people shall rejoice in the holy one of Israel.
20 For the tyrant shall be no more,
and the scoffer shall come to an end.
And all those lying in wait for evil shall be cut off;
21 those who mislead a person into sin with a word
and set a trap for the arbitrator[ah] in the gate
and guide away the righteous by emptiness.
22 Therefore Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, says this to the house of Jacob:
“Jacob will no longer be ashamed,
and his face will no longer grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will treat my name as holy,
and they will treat the holy one of Jacob as holy,
and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those who err in spirit will acquire[ai] understanding,
and those who grumble will learn instruction.
Warning against Alliance with Egypt
30 “Oh rebellious children!” declares[aj] Yahweh,
“to make a plan, but[ak] not from me,
and pour out a libation, but[al] not from my Spirit,
so as to add[am] sin to sin.
2 Who go to go down to Egypt,
but[an] they do not ask of my mouth,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt.
3 And the protection of Pharaoh shall be shame to you,
and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, humiliation.
4 For his officials are at Zoan,
and his envoys reach to Hanes.
5 Everyone will start to stink because of a people that cannot profit them,
not for help and not for profiting,
but for shame and also for disgrace.”
Oracle regarding the Negev
6 An oracle of the animals of the Negev:
Through a land of trouble and distress,
of lioness and lion,
among[ao] them are snake and flying serpent;
they carry their wealth on the backs[ap] of male donkeys
and their treasures on the humps[aq] of camels,
to a people that cannot profit them.
7 For[ar] Egyptians[as] help with vanity and emptiness,
therefore I have called this one “Rahab, they are sitting.”
8 Now go, write it on a tablet with them,
and inscribe it on a scroll,
that[at] it may be for the time to come,[au]
forever, forever.
9 For it is a people of rebellion, deceitful children,
children who are not willing to hear the instruction of Yahweh,
10 who say to those who do see, “You must not see!”
and to the seers, “You must not see truth for us;
speak smooth things to us,
see illusions,
11 turn aside from the way, turn aside from the path,
put an end to the holy one of Israel from our face.”
23 But before faith came, we were detained under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. 24 So then, the law became our guardian until Christ, in order that we could be justified by faith. 25 But after[a] faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,[b] 27 for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are descendants of Abraham, heirs according to the promise.
No Longer Slaves But Sons and Heirs
4 Now I say, for as long a time as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he[c] is master of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the time set by his father. 3 So also we, when we were children, we were enslaved under the elemental spirits of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time came, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 in order that he might redeem those under the law, in order that we might receive the adoption. 6 And because you are sons, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba![d] (Father!),” 7 so that you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, also an heir through God.
Do Not Be Enslaved Again
8 But at that time when you[e] did not know God, you were enslaved to the things which by nature are not gods. 9 But now, because you have come to know God, or rather have come to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental spirits? Do you want to be enslaved to them[f] all over again? 10 You carefully observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest perhaps I have labored for you in vain! 12 I ask you, brothers, become like me, because I also have become like you. You have done me no wrong!
Paul’s Personal Appeal
13 But you know that because of an illness of the flesh I proclaimed the gospel to you the first time. 14 And you did not despise or disdain what was a trial for you in my flesh, but you welcomed me like an angel of God, like Christ Jesus. 15 So where is your blessing? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me! 16 So then, have I become your enemy by[g] being truthful to you? 17 They zealously seek you, not commendably, but they want to exclude you, in order that you may seek them zealously. 18 But it is good to be sought zealously in good at all times, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My children, for whom I am having birth pains again, until Christ is formed in you! 20 But I could wish to be present with you now, and to change my tone because I am perplexed about you.
Hagar and Sarah Represent Two Covenants
21 Tell me, you who are wanting to be under the law, do you not understand[h] the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the female slave and one by the free woman. 23 But the one by the female slave was born according to human descent, and the one by the free woman through the promise, 24 which things are spoken allegorically, for these women are two covenants, one from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery, who is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is a slave with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother. 27 For it is written,
“Rejoice, O barren woman, who does not give birth to children;
burst out and shout, you who do not have birth pains,
because many are the children of the desolate woman,
even more than those of the one who has a husband.”[i]
28 But you, brothers, are children of the promise, just as Isaac. 29 But just as at that time the child born according to human descent persecuted the child born according to the Spirit, so also now. 30 But what does the scripture say? “Drive out the female slave and her son, for the son of the female slave will never inherit with the son”[j] of the free woman. 31 Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the female slave but of the free woman.
Confidence in God’s Salvation
For the music director, on Jeduthun.[a]
A psalm of David.[b]
62 Only for God my soul waits in silence.
From him is my salvation.
2 Only he is my rock and my salvation,
my high stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.
3 How long will you attack a man?
All of you will be shattered[c]
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence.
4 They only[d] plan to thrust him down from his high position;
they are pleased with deception.
With their mouths[e] they bless,
but inwardly[f] they curse. Selah
5 Only for God wait in silence, O my soul,
because my hope is from him.
6 Only he is my rock and my salvation,
my high stronghold; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God rests my salvation and my glory;
God[g] is my strong rock, my refuge.
8 Trust him at all times, O people;
pour out before him your heart.
God is a refuge for us. Selah
9 Only a vapor[h] are men of low degree,
a deception are men of high degree.
Weighed[i] in a balance,
together they are lighter than a vapor.
10 Do not trust in extortion,
and do not put vain confidence in robbery.
If wealth increases,
do not set your heart on it.
11 Once God has spoken;
twice I have heard this:
that strength belongs to God.
12 And to you belongs loyal love, O Lord,
because you will render to each according to his work.
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