Old/New Testament
Judgment On Evil Rulers
11 And the Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to the eastern gate, the one facing east, of the temple[a] of Yahweh. And look, there were twenty-five men in the doorway of the gate, and I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur in the midst of them, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, the commanders of the people. 2 And he said to me, “Son of man,[b] these are the men who devise mischief,[c] and who are offering bad counsel in this city, 3 who are saying, “The building of houses is not near; the city is the pot, and we are the flesh. 4 Therefore prophesy against them! Prophesy, son of man!”[d]
5 And the Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and he said to me, “Say, ‘thus says Yahweh: “This is what you think, house of Israel, and I myself know them,[e] the thoughts of your spirit. 6 You made your slain ones numerous in this city, and you have filled its streets with slain ones.”’[f] 7 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Your slain ones whom you put in its midst, they are the flesh, and it is the pot, and I[g] will bring you out from its midst. 8 The sword you have feared, and the sword I will bring against you!” declares[h] the Lord Yahweh. 9 “And I will bring you out from its midst, and I will give you into the hand of strangers, and I will execute judgments against you. 10 By the sword you will fall at the border of Israel; I will judge you, and you will know that I am Yahweh. 11 It will not be as a pot to you, and so you would be[i] in the midst of it as flesh, for at the border of Israel I will judge you. 12 And you will know that I am Yahweh, whose[j] rules you did not follow, and whose[k] regulations you did not do, but according to the regulations of the nations that are around you, you acted.”’[l]
13 And it happened that as I was prophesying,[m] Pelatiahu the son of Benaiahu died! And I fell on my face, and I cried with a loud voice, and I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh, you are making a complete destruction of the remnant of Israel!” 14 And the word of Yahweh came[n] to me, saying,[o] 15 “Son of man,[p] your brothers, your brothers, the men of your redemption, and all of the house of Israel, all of it, who said concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem,[q] ‘They are far from Yahweh, therefore to us this land was given as a possession.’ 16 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Though I have removed them far away among the nations and though I have scattered them among the countries, yet I was a sanctuary to them for a little while in the countries to which they have gone.’”[r] 17 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “And I will assemble you from the peoples, and I will gather you from the countries to which you were scattered among them, and I will give the land of Israel to you. 18 And when they come there, then they will remove all of its vile idols and all of its detestable things from it. 19 And I will give to them one heart, and a new spirit I will give[s] in their inner parts. And I will remove their[t] heart of stone from their body, and I will give to them a heart of flesh, 20 so that they may walk in my statutes, and they will keep my regulations, and they will do them, and they will be to me a people, and I myself will be to them as God. 21 But to[u] the heart of their abominations and the detestable things their heart is going. I will bring their way on their head,” declares[v] the Lord Yahweh.’”
22 Then[w] the cherubim lifted up their wings, and their[x] wheels were beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.[y] 23 And the glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and it stood still on the mountain that is to the east of the city. 24 And the Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to Chaldea, to the exiles,[z] in the vision by the spirit of God; and the vision that I had seen left me.[aa] 25 And I spoke to the exiles[ab] all of the words of Yahweh that he had shown me.
The Announcement of the Imminent Coming of the Exile
12 And the word of Yahweh came[ac] to me, saying,[ad] 2 “Son of man,[ae] you are dwelling in the midst of the house of rebellion who has eyes to see and they do not see;[af] they have ears to hear,[ag] and they do not hear, for they are a house of rebellion. 3 And you, son of man,[ah] prepare for yourself[ai] the baggage of an exile, and go into exile by day before their eyes. And you must go into[aj] exile from your place to another place before their eyes; perhaps they will see that they are a house of rebellion. 4 And you must bring out your baggage like the baggage of an exile by day before their eyes, and you must go out in the evening before their eyes like those who go into exile.[ak] 5 Before their eyes dig through for yourself,[al] through the wall, and you must bring the baggage out through it. 6 Before their eyes, on your[am] shoulder, you must lift up the baggage in the dusk, and your face you must cover, so that you may not see the land, for I make you as a sign to the house of Israel.” 7 And I did just as[an] I was commanded; my baggage, like the baggage of an exile, I brought out by day, and in the evening I dug through for myself[ao] into[ap] the wall with my hand in the dusk; I brought the baggage on my shoulder; I carried it before their eyes. 8 And the word of Yahweh came[aq] to me in the morning, saying,[ar] 9 “Son of man,[as] did not they, the house of Israel, the house of rebellion, say to you, ‘What are you doing?’ 10 Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “This oracle is about the prince in Jerusalem and the entire[at] house of Israel who are among them.”’[au] 11 Say, ‘I am your sign, and just as[av] I did, so will it be done to them in the exile; into[aw] captivity they will go.’ 12 And the prince who is in the midst of them, on his shoulder he will carry the baggage in the dusk, and[ax] he will go out; the wall will be dug through[ay] to bring him through it; and he will cover his face so that he will[az] not see the land with his[ba] eye. 13 And I will spread out my net on him, and he will be captured in my hunting snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, but he will not see it, and there he will die. 14 And all who are around him, his help[bb] and all of his troops I will scatter in every direction,[bc] and I will draw[bd] the sword behind them. 15 And they will know that I am Yahweh when I scatter them[be] among the nations and I scatter them in the countries. 16 But[bf] I will spare from them a few men[bg] from the sword, from the famine and from the plague, so that they may tell of all their abominations among the nations to which they will go, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”
17 And the word of Yahweh came[bh] to me, saying,[bi] 18 “Son of man,[bj] you must eat your food with trembling, and your water with shuddering, and with anxiety you must drink. 19 And you must say to the people of the land, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the inhabitants of Jerusalem about the land of Israel: “They will eat their food with anxiety and their water they will drink with horror, because their land will be desolate from[bk] its fullness because of all the violence of those who are dwelling in it.[bl] 20 And the inhabited cites will be desolate,[bm] and the land will be a desolation, and you will know that I am Yahweh.”’”
21 And the word of Yahweh came[bn] to me, saying,[bo] 22 “Son of man,[bp] what is this proverb you people have[bq] about the land of Israel, saying,[br] ‘The days are prolonged,[bs] and every vision has come to nothing.’ 23 Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “I will put an end to this proverb, and they will not quote it as a proverb again in Israel.”’ But[bt] say to them, ‘The days are near, and also the word of every vision.’ 24 For there will not be any longer any false vision[bu] or flattering divination in the midst of the house of Israel. 25 For I, Yahweh, I will speak what I will speak as a word, and it will be done. It will not prolong itself any longer, for in your days, house of rebellion, I will speak a word and I will fulfill it!” declares[bv] the Lord Yahweh. 26 And the word of Yahweh came[bw] to me, saying,[bx] 27 “Son of man,[by] look! The house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision that he is seeing is for many days from now, and for distant times he is prophesying.’ 28 Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “None of my words will be prolonged any longer that I speak as a word, and it will be fulfilled!”’” declares[bz] the Lord Yahweh.
Condemnation of False Prophets
13 And the word of Yahweh came[ca] to me, saying,[cb] 2 “Son of man,[cc] prophesy to[cd] the prophets of Israel who are prophesying,[ce] and you must say to those who are prophets out of their own imagination,[cf] ‘Hear the word of Yahweh!’ 3 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Alas, for the foolish prophets who are going after their own spirit, and they did not see anything![cg] 4 Your prophets have been like foxes[ch] among ruins. 5 You did not go up into[ci] the breaches and repair a wall for the house of Israel to stand firm in the battle on the day of Yahweh. 6 They saw falseness and a lying divination,[cj] the ones saying, ‘Declaration of Yahweh!’ and Yahweh did not send them, and they wait for the confirmation of their word.[ck] 7 Have you not seen a false vision[cl] and spoken a lying divination,[cm] and you said, ‘Declaration of Yahweh!’ but I myself did not speak.[cn] 8 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Because of your speaking falseness and because you envisioned a lie, therefore, look! I am against you!” declares[co] the Lord Yahweh. 9 “And it will be my hand against the prophets who are seeing falseness and who are practicing lying divination. They will not be in the council of my people, and they will not be written down in the record book of the house of Israel, and into[cp] the land of Israel they will not come, and then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh. 10 Because, yes, because they led my people astray, saying[cq] ‘Peace!’ And there is not peace. And when anyone[cr] builds a flimsy wall, look, they coat it with whitewash. 11 Say to those covering it with whitewash that it will fall; there will be a torrent of rain,[cs] and I will give stones of hail; they will fall! [ct] And a windstorm[cu] will burst forth! 12 And look! When the wall falls, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the whitewash with which you covered it?’ 13 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘And so I will let burst forth a windstorm[cv] in my rage, and there will be a torrent of rain[cw] in my anger, and hailstones in my rage for complete destruction.[cx] 14 And I will break down the wall that you covered with whitewash, and I will knock it to the ground, and its foundation will be revealed, and it will fall, and you will come to an end in the midst of it, and you will know that I am Yahweh! 15 And I will fully vent my rage against the wall and against those covering it with whitewash, and I will say to you, “The wall is no more,[cy] and the people covering it are no more,[cz] 16 that is, the prophets of Israel, the ones prophesying concerning Jerusalem and the ones seeing visions of peace, and there is not peace!’” ” declares[da] the Lord Yahweh.
17 “And you, son of man,[db] place your face toward the daughters of your people who prophesy from their imagination,[dc] and prophesy against them! 18 And you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Woe to those who sew[dd] magic charm bands on all the wrists[de] of the hands of my people and those who make the veils[df] that are on the head of people of every height, to ensnare people’s lives![dg] Will you ensnare the lives[dh] of my people and keep yourselves alive?[di] 19 And you defiled me among my people for a handful of barley and for morsels of bread to kill persons who should not die and to keep alive persons who should not live by means of your lies to my people who are listening to your lies.”’[dj] 20 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Look! I am against your magic charm bands with which you are ensnaring persons[dk] as birds; I will tear them from your arms, and I will release the persons that you are ensnaring, treating persons as birds. 21 And I will tear off your veils, and I will deliver my people from your hand, and they will not any longer be in your hand as prey, and you will know that I am Yahweh. 22 Because you disheartened the heart of the righteous by deception, and I have not[dl] caused him pain, and strengthened the hands of the wicked so that he did not turn[dm] from his wicked way to save his life. 23 Therefore falseness[dn] you will not see,[do] and divination you will not practice[dp] any longer, and I will rescue my people from your hand, and you will know that I am Yahweh!’”
Greeting
1 James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion. Greetings!
Trials, Testing, and Faith
2 Consider it all joy, my brothers, whenever you encounter various trials, 3 because you[a] know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask for it from God, who gives to all without reservation and not reproaching, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask for it in faith, without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed about. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Now let the brother of humble circumstances boast in his high position, 10 but the rich person in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a flower of the grass. 11 For the sun rises with its burning heat and dries up the grass, and its flower falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is lost. So also the rich person in his pursuits[b] will wither away.
12 Blessed is the person[c] who endures testing, because when he[d] is approved he will receive the crown of life that he[e] has promised to those who love him. 13 No one who is being tempted should say, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted[f] by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each one is tempted when he[g] is dragged away and enticed by his own desires. 15 Then desire, after it[h] has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it[i] is brought to completion, gives birth to death.
16 Do not be deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of change. 18 By his[j] will he gave birth to us through the message of truth, so that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
Doers of the Message, Not Just Hearers
19 Understand this, my dear brothers: every person must be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, 20 for human[k] anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, putting aside all moral uncleanness and wicked excess, welcome[l] with humility the implanted message which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the message and not hearers only,[m] deceiving yourselves, 23 because if anyone is a hearer of the message and not a doer, this one is like someone[n] staring at his own face[o] in a mirror, 24 for he looks at himself and goes away and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues to do it, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts, this one will be blessed in what he does[p].
26 If anyone thinks he is religious, although he[q] does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our[r] God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
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