Old/New Testament
The Lord will punish Jerusalem's people
22 The Lord gave this message to me: 2 ‘Son of man, you must warn the people in this city about their punishment. The people are murderers. They have done many disgusting things. Are you ready to tell them that? 3 Say to them, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: Because you murder people, you have caused your punishment to come. You make idols for yourselves, and that has made you unclean. 4 Because you have murdered people and you have made disgusting idols, you are now guilty. This has brought the time of your punishment very near. Your years of power have come to an end. I will cause the people of other nations to laugh at you. They will all insult you. 5 The people of countries that are near to you will laugh at you. Those who live far away will also laugh at you. You will no longer receive any honour because your city is full of trouble.
6 Each ruler of Israel that lives in you, Jerusalem, has been a murderer. Each one has used his power to kill people. 7 The people in the city do not respect their parents. They have been cruel to the foreigners who live among you. They have cheated widows and children who have no family. 8 You have not respected my holy things. You have not made my Sabbath days special. 9 There are men among you who tell lies so that they can kill other people. There are people who eat the food of idols on the mountains. They do disgusting things among you. 10 Some men have sex with their father's wife. Some men have sex with a woman at the time when she bleeds each month and she is unclean. 11 One man has sex with another man's wife. Another man has sex with his son's wife. Another man among you has sex with the daughter of his own father. These are disgusting things to do. 12 People among you accept bribes to kill somebody. When some of you lend money to people, you make them pay more money back to you. Some of you use your power to make people give you money. You people of Jerusalem have forgotten me. That is what the Lord says.
13 Listen to me! I will show you that I am angry with you. You have cheated people and taken their money. You have murdered people who live among you. 14 When I have punished you, you will no longer feel brave or strong. I, the Lord, have said what I will do. And I will do it. 15 I will send you away to live among many other nations. I will stop you doing evil things. 16 All the other nations will see that you are useless. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” ’
17 The Lord gave this message to me: 18 ‘Son of man, Israel's people have become like dirt to me. They are like useless bits of metal that remain after silver is made pure in a hot oven. 19 So this is what the Lord God says: All of you have become like useless dirt. So listen to me! I will bring you all together into the middle of Jerusalem. 20 It will be like a hot oven that I put you in. It will be like an oven where men cause different metals to melt to make them pure. Because I am very angry with you, I will bring you into the city to punish you there. 21 I will put you in my oven, Jerusalem. And I will burn you with my hot anger. 22 My great anger will cause you to melt, like men cause silver to melt in a hot oven. Then you will know that I am the Lord. And you will know that I have punished you with my anger.’
23 The Lord gave this message to me: 24 ‘Son of man, say to the land of Israel, “I am angry with you. Because of that, you will receive no rain to make you clean.”
25 The rulers in the land hurt people, like strong lions that tear animals in pieces. They use their power to destroy people. They take for themselves riches and valuable things that belong to other people. They have killed many men so that there are now many widows in the land.
26 The priests in the land do not obey my law. They do not respect my holy things. They do not think that holy things are different from ordinary things. They say that unclean things and clean things are the same.[a] They refuse to make my Sabbath days special. Because of this, people do not give me any honour.
27 The officers in the land are like wolves that catch other animals and tear them into pieces. They use their power to murder people so that they can take their money for themselves.
28 The prophets in the land give false messages. They say that bad things are good. They see false visions. They tell lies about what will happen. They say, “This is what the Almighty Lord says.” But I, the Lord, have not spoken to them.
29 The people in the land make people give them money. They rob people. They are cruel to poor people and to weak people. They cheat foreign people who live among them. They do not allow them to have justice.
30 I looked among the people for a man who would make the land safe. He would make it a good, strong place again, with nothing bad in it. Then I would not destroy it. But I could not find anyone like that. 31 So I will certainly destroy them. I will punish them with my great anger, like a fire that burns them completely. I will now punish them as they deserve for their sins. That is what the Almighty Lord says.’
A story about two bad sisters
23 The Lord gave this message to me: 2 ‘Son of man, there were two sisters who had the same mother. 3 They were prostitutes in Egypt, from the time that they were both young women. Men touched their breasts and made love to them. 4 The older sister was called Oholah. The younger one was called Oholibah. In this story, Oholah is Samaria. Oholibah is Jerusalem. They became my wives, and later they gave birth to sons and daughters for me.[b]
5 Oholah was my wife but she continued to live as a prostitute. She wanted men from Assyria to be her lovers. 6 Her lovers were soldiers who wore blue clothes. Some of them were army officers and leaders. They were all strong young men. Some of them rode on horses. 7 Oholah gave herself to them as a prostitute. She had sex with all the important young men of Assyria. She did these disgusting things with anyone that she wanted. She worshipped their idols and she made herself unclean. 8 She had lived as a prostitute in Egypt when she was young. Men had sex with her. They touched her breasts and they enjoyed her body for themselves. She continued to do that with the Assyrian men.
9 She wanted the Assyrian men to be her lovers. Because of that I put her under their power. 10 They removed her clothes to make her ashamed. They took away her sons and daughters. They attacked her and they killed her. Because of her punishment, women everywhere talked about her.
11 Ohalah's sister, Oholibah, saw this, but she did even worse things than her sister. She wanted other lovers even more than her sister did. 12 She, too, wanted Assyrian men to be her lovers. They were army officers and leaders. They were brave soldiers in beautiful clothes. Some of them rode on horses. They were all strong young men. 13 I saw that she was living in the same way that her sister had done. Like her sister, she made herself unclean.
14 But Oholibah did even worse things, as a prostitute does. She saw pictures of men on the walls. They were bright red pictures that people had made of Babylonian men. 15 The men wore belts around their bodies. They wore large cloths around their heads. They looked like Babylonian army officers who came from Chaldea. 16 When Oholibah saw these pictures, she wanted the men to be her lovers. She sent messages to them in Babylonia. 17 The Babylonian soldiers came to have sex with her. They did many disgusting things with her so that she was unclean. After they had done this to her, she became upset. She turned away from them.
18 She was not ashamed to have sex with many other men. Everyone knew that she lived as a prostitute. So I was very upset. I turned away from her, as I had turned away from her sister. 19 But she wanted more and more men to be her lovers. She remembered how she had lived as a prostitute in Egypt when she was a young woman. 20 She wanted those strong men to be her lovers. They had sex in a strong way, like donkeys or horses. 21 Yes, Oholibah, you thought about the disgusting ways that you had sex when you were young. You wanted men to touch your breasts and make love to you as the Egyptian men had done.
22 So this is what the Almighty Lord says to you, Oholibah: “Listen to me! I will cause your lovers to become angry with you. The lovers that you turned away from will come to attack you. I will bring them from every direction to attack you. 23 The soldiers from Babylon and from Chaldea will come. Men from Pekod, Shoa and Koa will come. All the Assyrian soldiers will come with them. They will be beautiful young men, army officers, leaders and important men. They will all ride on horses. 24 They will attack you with their weapons, their chariots and with a large army of soldiers. They will come together all around you, on every side. They will have different kinds of shields. They will wear helmets on their heads. I will give them authority to judge you. They will punish you in the way that they choose.
25 You have not been faithful to me, so I am very angry with you. I will cause these men to punish you in cruel ways. They will cut off your noses and your ears. They will use their swords to kill any men who remain. They will take away your sons and daughters. Fire will destroy any of your people who remain. 26 They will pull off your clothes. They will take away your beautiful jewels. 27 That is how I will stop you living in a disgusting way. You will no longer live as a prostitute, in the way that you lived in Egypt. You will not want to live in that way again. You will not think about how you lived in Egypt any more.”
28 This is what the Almighty Lord says: “Listen! I will put you under the power of people that you hate. Those were the people that you turned away from because you were upset. 29 They will be cruel to you. They will take away everything that you worked hard to get. When they leave you, you will have no clothes to wear. You will be ashamed. Everyone will see that you have lived as a prostitute and you have done disgusting things. 30 I am punishing you in this way because you were not faithful to me. You wanted other nations to be your lovers. You became unclean because you worshipped their idols. 31 You have lived in the same bad way that your sister lived. So I will punish you as I punished her.”
32 This is what the Lord God says:
“You will drink from the same cup of punishment that I gave to your sister.
It is a cup that holds a lot of punishment.
People will laugh at you and they will insult you.
33 You will suffer very much.
You will be drunk and very sad.
The cup of your punishment will destroy you.
Like your sister Samaria, nothing will remain in you.
34 You will have to drink all the punishment that is in that cup!
Then you will break the cup into pieces.
You will cut your breasts to show that you are very upset.
I, the Almighty Lord, have said this.”
35 This is what the Almighty Lord says: “You have forgotten me. You have not been faithful to me. You have lived as a prostitute and you have done disgusting things. So now you must receive the punishment that you deserve.” ’
36 The Lord said to me, ‘Son of man, you must judge Oholah and Oholibah. Warn them that they have done disgusting things. 37 They have not been faithful to me. They have murdered people. They have worshipped idols. They have not been faithful to me as their husband. They have even offered their children as food to their idols. Those were my children that they burned with fire.
38 Also, they have done these things against me: They made my holy place unclean. At the same time, they did not obey my rules for Sabbath days. 39 They offered their sons as sacrifices to their idols. Then, on the same day, they came into my temple! That is how they made my own special house unclean.
40 The two sisters sent messages to men in places far away. When the men came to visit them, the sisters washed themselves. Yes, you made your eyes beautiful with paint. You wore beautiful jewels. 41 You sat on a beautiful bed with a table in front of it. On the table you put incense and olive oil that I had given to you.
42 There was a crowd of happy men around them. They included men who came from the desert and who were drunk. They put rings on the sisters' hands and beautiful crowns on their heads. 43 I said this about the woman who had become tired of having sex with so many men: “They will continue to have sex with her, as she is a prostitute.” 44 So the men had sex with her, as men have sex with prostitutes. That is how they had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, those two prostitutes. 45 But good men will say that those women are guilty. They will punish them as they deserve, because they have not been faithful to me. They have also murdered people.
46 This is what the Almighty Lord says: Bring an army to attack those women. Make them very afraid. Take away their valuable things. 47 The army will throw stones at them and cut them with their swords. They will kill their sons and daughters. They will destroy their houses with fire.
48 That is how I will stop the people of this land from doing disgusting things. All the women will see what has happened to Oholah and Oholibah. They will not do the same disgusting things themselves. 49 And you, Oholah and Oholibah, will receive the punishment that you deserve. You have lived as prostitutes, and you have not been faithful to me. Instead, you have worshipped idols. So I will punish you. Then you will know that I am the Almighty Lord. ’
God has given us a new life because of Christ
1 This letter is from me, Peter. I am an apostle of Jesus Christ.
I am writing to you, God's own people that he has chosen. You are now living in many different places, in the regions called Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.[a] You are living in these foreign places as strangers. 2 God, the Father, already decided that you should be his people. God's Spirit has made you special people who would obey Jesus Christ. God chose you so that Jesus Christ's blood would make you really clean.[b]
I pray that God will help you and give you peace in your minds more and more.
3 We praise God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He is very kind to us, so that he has given us new life. This is possible because God raised Jesus Christ to new life after his death. Now, as we live, we are sure that we will receive good things from God. 4 We wait to receive all the good things that he has prepared for us. Nobody can ever destroy those things. Nothing can spoil them. They will never become old or less beautiful. God is keeping those things in heaven for you. 5 God is using his great power to keep you safe, because you trust him. He will continue to keep you safe until the last day, when Christ will return. Then you will know that God has saved you completely from sin and from death.
6 All this causes you to be very happy, even when you have troubles. For a short time now, different kinds of troubles may make you sad. 7 The purpose of these troubles is to show whether you really trust God. When you believe in Jesus, that is more valuable even than gold. People put gold into a hot fire to see if it is really good. And even gold will come to an end one day. But if you continue to trust God in your troubles, he will be very happy. On the day when Jesus Christ returns and appears to everyone, God will praise you. He will say that you have done well. That will be great!
8 You have never seen Jesus, but still you love him. You do not see him now, but you believe in him. As a result, you are very happy. There are no words to describe how happy you are. 9 You are happy now because God is saving you from sin. You believe in Jesus, and you know that God saves you because of that.[c]
10 A long time ago, God's prophets spoke about this. They said that God would be very kind to you, his people. They studied carefully to learn how God would save people. 11 They wanted to know when God's special Messiah would come and who he would be. Christ's Spirit showed those prophets that the Messiah would receive much trouble and pain. After that, God would show how great the Messiah is. 12 God showed his prophets that his messages about these things were not really to help them. Instead, God sent his message to the prophets to help you. That message is the good news about Jesus Christ which you have now heard. God sent his Holy Spirit from heaven to help people to tell the good news to you. Even the angels would like to understand more about these things.
Christians should do what is good
13 So now, prepare your minds, so that you are ready to live in a good way. Think clearly about how God helps you. Always remember that God will be very kind to you when Jesus Christ comes again. 14 Obey God, like good children who obey their father. Before you knew the true message about Christ, you very much wanted to do bad things. But now you should not agree to live in that bad way. 15 God has chosen you to be his own people. He is completely good. So you must be completely good too, in the way that you live. 16 In the Bible God says this: ‘You must be completely good, because I am completely good.’[d]
17 God knows what each person has done, and he judges each one for those things. He is always fair when he decides about people. He is never kinder to one person than he is to another person. When you pray to God, you call him ‘Father’. So then, always respect him, while you live as strangers here in the world. 18 Your ancestors lived in a way that did not make them really happy. That is the way that you learned to live as well. But now God has saved you from that way of life. You know that he has bought you for himself. He did not buy you with things that do not continue for ever, like silver or gold. 19 Instead, he bought you with the very valuable blood of Christ, who died as a sacrifice for our sins.[e] He died like a lamb that is completely good and has nothing wrong with it.[f]
20 Before the world began, God had already chosen Christ. But now, during these last days of the world, God has shown Christ to people. God did that so that he could help you. 21 Yes, it is because of Christ that you now believe in God. God raised Christ, so that he became alive again after his death. He did that to show everyone that Christ is great. That is why you believe in God. You trust him that he will do good things for you.
22 You have obeyed God's true message. As a result, you have become clean inside, and now you can really love other believers. So continue to love each other very well, with honest thoughts. 23 You now have a new life! It is not like a human life that quickly comes to an end. It is a new life that will never spoil. You received it because you believed God's message. That message continues for ever and it does not change. 24 The Bible says:
‘All people are like grass.
They may seem beautiful for a short time,
like flowers that grow in the fields.
But grass soon becomes dry and it dies.
Flowers soon fall to the ground.
25 But the Lord God's message will continue for ever.’
That message is the good news about Jesus Christ, which people have taught you.
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