Old/New Testament
5 “And you, son of man,[a] take for yourself[b] a sword, sharp as a barber’s razor.[c] Take it for yourself, and you must cause it to pass over your head and over your beard, and you must take for yourself a set of scales for weighing, and you must divide them.[d] 2 A third you must burn with fire in the midst[e] of the city at the completion[f] of the days of the siege, and you must take a third, and you must strike it with the sword around it, and a third you must scatter to the wind, and I will draw a sword behind them. 3 And you must take from these a few in number, and you must tuck them in your hem. 4 And from them again you shall take some, and you must throw them in the middle of the fire, and you must burn them with fire; from it a fire will go out to all of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: This is Jerusalem in the midst of the nations where I have put her, and countries are around her. 6 But she has rebelled against my regulations to the point of wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are around her; for they rejected my regulations, and as for my statutes, they did not walk in them. 7 Therefore, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because of your commotion more than the nations that are around you—you did not walk in my statutes, and you did not do my regulations, and according to the regulations of the nations that are around you, you did not do. 8 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Look! I, even I,[g] am against you, and I will execute judgment in the midst of you before the eyes of the nations, 9 and I will do with you that which I have not done, and which I will not do again, because of all of your detestable things. 10 Therefore[h] parents[i] will eat children[j] in the midst of you, and children[k] will eat their parents,[l] and I will execute judgment in you, and I will scatter your entire remnant to every wind. 11 Therefore as surely as I live,[m] declares[n] the Lord Yahweh, Surely[o] because you have defiled my sanctuary with all of your vile idols and with all of your detestable things, now indeed I[p] will reduce, and my eye will not take pity, and surely I will show no compassion. 12 A third of you will die because of the plague, and because of the famine they will perish in the midst of you, and a third will fall through the sword around you, and a third I will scatter to every direction of the wind, and I will draw the sword behind them. 13 And my anger will come to an end, and I will place my rage on them, and I will relent, and they will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my passion when I fully vent my rage against them.[q] 14 And I will make you into a desolate place and into a disgrace among the nations that surround you before the eyes of every one who passes by.[r] 15 And it will be[s] an object of taunting[t] and an object of mockery, a warning and a horror to the nations that are around you whenever I execute judgments against you in anger and in wrath and in furious punishments! I, Yahweh, have spoken! 16 When I send my arrows of deadly famine against them, which will be as destruction that I will send in order to destroy you, I will increase famine against you, and I will break the supply of food[u] for you. 17 And I will send against you famine and fierce animals,[v] and they will make you childless; and plague and blood will pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I, Yahweh, I have spoken!”
Idolatrous Worship and Idolatrous Objects Denounced
6 And the word of Yahweh came[w] to me, saying, 2 “Son of man,[x] set your face to the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them, 3 and you must say, ‘Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh, thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys: “Look, I am bringing upon you the sword, and I will destroy your high places, 4 and your altars will be desolate, and your incense altars will be broken, and I will throw down your slain ones before[y] your idols, 5 and I will place[z] the corpses of the children of Israel before[aa] their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 In all of your dwellings, the cities will be desolate and the high places will be ruined, so that your altars will be desolate and will suffer punishment. Your idols will be broken and will come to an end, and your incense altars will be cut down, and your works will be destroyed, 7 and the slain one will fall in the midst of you, and then you will know that I am Yahweh. 8 But[ab] I will spare some, so there will be[ac] for you fugitives from the sword among the nations when you are scattered[ad] in the countries. 9 And your fugitives will remember me among the nations to which they were taken captive, that I was shattered by their adulterous heart[ae] which departed from me, and by their adulterous eyes[af] which went after their idols, and they will feel loathing for themselves,[ag] for the evil that they did, for all of their detestable things. 10 And they will know that I am Yahweh; not in vain[ah] I spoke to bring to them this evil.”’ 11 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Clap your hand and stamp with your foot, and say, “Alas, for all of the detestable things of the evil of the house of Israel, because of which[ai] they will fall with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague. 12 The one who is far away will die by the plague, and the one who is near will fall by the sword, and the one who is being left behind and being spared will die by the famine, and I will complete my rage on[aj] them. 13 And you will know that I am Yahweh when their slain ones are in the midst of their idols[ak] around their altars at every high hill, on the tops of all the mountains and under every green tree and under every leafy oak—the place at which they gave a pleasing scent for all of their idols. 14 And I will stretch out my hand against them, and I will make the land a desolation and a wasteland from the desert to Riblah in all of their dwellings, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”’”
Punishment for Abominations Throughout the Land
7 And the word of Yahweh came[al] to me, saying, 2 “And you, son of man,[am] thus says the Lord Yahweh to the land of Israel: ‘The end comes, the end on the four corners of the land. 3 Now the end is on you, and I will send my anger on you, and I will judge you according to your ways, and I will bring on you all your detestable things. 4 And my eye will not take pity on you, and I will not show compassion for your ways; on you I will bring your detestable things; they will be in the midst of you, and you will know that I am Yahweh.’ 5 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Look! Disaster after disaster is coming! 6 The end comes, comes the end! It has awakened against you! Look! It comes! 7 Doom is coming against you, the dweller[an] of the land; the time comes, the day is near, panic and not joy is on the mountains. 8 Soon[ao] I will pour out my rage on you, and I will fully vent my anger on you, and I will judge you according to your ways, and I will bring on you all of your detestable things. 9 And my eye will not take pity, and I will not show compassion. According to your ways I will deal with you,[ap] and your detestable things will be in the midst of you, and you will know that I am Yahweh who strikes.[aq] 10 Look! The day is coming; doom goes out, the staff blossoms, pride sprouts. 11 Violence has grown to become a staff of wickedness; none[ar] from them will remain, and none[as] from their abundance nor from their wealth;[at] and prominence will not be among them. 12 The time has come, the day has arrived; let not the buyer rejoice, and let the seller not mourn, for anger is on all their multitude. 13 For the seller will not return to the merchandise while they are still alive,[au] for the vision is about all of its multitude; it will not change, and a man because of his guilt will not be able to hold onto his life. 14 They shall blow on the trumpet and prepare everything,[av] but there is no one going to the battle, for my anger is on all of their multitude. 15 The sword is outside,[aw] and the plague and the famine are inside;[ax] the one who is in the field will die by the sword, and the one who is in the city, famine and plague will devour him. 16 And if their survivors will escape, they will be on the mountains, like the doves of the valley, all of them groaning, each because of his guilt. 17 All of the hands will hang limp, and all of the knees will be wet with urine.[ay] 18 And they will wear sackcloth, and horror will cover them, and on all of the faces will be shame, and baldness on all of their heads. 19 Their silver they will discard on the streets, and filth will be their gold; their silver and their gold will not be able to rescue them on the day of the wrath of Yahweh. They will not satisfy their hunger[az] and their stomachs they will not fill, for their guilt will be their[ba] stumbling block.
Judgment for the Profanation of the Temple and Sanctuary
20 “‘And the beauty of its[bb] ornament he made into a prideful thing[bc] and made with it their detestable things and their vile idols; therefore I will make it into an impure thing for them. 21 And I will give it into the hand of strangers as plunder and to the wicked people of the earth as spoil, and they will defile it. 22 And I will turn my face from them, and they will defile my treasured place, and violent ones will enter and defile it. 23 Make a chain for the land; it is full of bloody crimes[bd] and the city is full of violence. 24 And I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will take possession of their houses, and I will put to an end the pride of the mighty ones, and their sanctuaries will be defiled. 25 Anguish comes, and they will seek peace, and there will be none. 26 Calamity upon calamity will come, and rumor will be upon rumor. And they will seek a vision from a prophet, but instruction will perish from the priest and counsel from the elders. 27 The king will mourn, and the prince will be dressed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. According to their way I will do to[be] them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they will know that I am Yahweh.’”
The Example of Jesus’ Suffering
12 Therefore, since[a] we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, putting aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us[b], let us run with patient endurance the race that has been set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the originator and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider the one who endured such hostility by sinners against himself,[c] so that you will not grow weary in your souls and give up. 4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your[d] blood as you[e] struggle against sin. 5 And have you completely forgotten the exhortation which instructs you as sons?
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
or give up when you are corrected by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one whom he loves,
and punishes every son whom he accepts.”[f]
7 Endure it for discipline. God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there whom a father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, in which all legitimate sons[g] have become participants, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had our earthly fathers[h] who disciplined us, and we respected them. Will we not much rather subject ourselves to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a few days according to what seemed appropriate to them, but he does so for our benefit, in order that we can have a share in his holiness. 11 Now all discipline seems for the moment not to be joyful but painful, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who are trained by it.
A Serious Warning Against Refusing God
12 Therefore strengthen your slackened hands and your weakened knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame will not be dislocated, but rather be healed. 14 Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. 15 Take care that no one falls short of the grace of God; that no one growing up like a root of bitterness causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one be a sexually immoral or totally worldly person like Esau, who for one meal traded his own birthright. 17 For you know that also afterwards, when he[i] wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, because he did not find an occasion for repentance, although he sought it with tears.
18 For you have not come to something that can be touched, and to a burning fire, and to darkness, and to gloom, and to a whirlwind, 19 and to the noise of a trumpet, and to the sound of words which those who heard begged that not another word be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”[j] 21 And the spectacle was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.”[k] 22 But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to tens of thousands of angels, to the festal gathering 23 and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood[l] that speaks better than Abel’s does.
25 Watch out that you do not refuse the one who is speaking! For if those did not escape when they[m] refused the one who warned them on earth, much less will we escape,[n] if we[o] reject the one who warns from heaven, 26 whose voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, saying,
“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven.”[p]
27 Now the phrase “yet once more” indicates the removal of what is shaken, namely, things that have been created, in order that the things that are not shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we[q] are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be thankful, through which let us serve God acceptably, with awe and reverence. 29 For indeed our God is a consuming fire.
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software