Old/New Testament
3 Understand what I am telling you: The Lord God All-Powerful will take away everything Judah and Jerusalem depend on. He will take away all the food and water. 2 He will take away all the heroes and soldiers. He will take away all the judges, the prophets, the fortunetellers, and the elders. 3 He will take away the army officers and important officials. He will take away the skilled counselors, the magicians, and those who try to tell the future.
4 He says, “I will put young boys in charge of you. They will be your leaders. 5 The people will turn against each other. Young people will not respect those who are older. The common people will not respect important leaders.”
6 At that time a man will grab one of his brothers from his own family and tell him, “You have a coat,[a] so you will be our leader. You will be the leader over all these ruins.”
7 But the brother will refuse and say, “I cannot help you. I don’t have enough food or clothes for my own family. You will not make me your leader.”
8 This will happen because Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen. They turned against the Lord. They said and did things against him, right in front of his glorious eyes.
9 The look on their faces shows that they are guilty. They are like the people of Sodom; they don’t care who sees their sin. But it will be very bad for them. They will get what they deserve.
10 Tell the good people who do what is right that good things will happen to them. They will receive a reward for what they do. 11 But it will be very bad for wicked people, because they, too, will get what they deserve. They will get what they did to others. 12 Even children will defeat my people, and women will rule over them.
My people, your guides lead you the wrong way, and they destroy the path you should follow.
God’s Decision About His People
13 Look, the Lord is standing to judge his people. 14 The Lord is ready to present his case against the elders and leaders of his people.
He says, “You people have burned the vineyard,[b] and what you stole from the poor is still in your houses. 15 What gives you the right to hurt my people? What gives you the right to push the faces of the poor into the dirt?” The Lord God All-Powerful said this.
16 The Lord says, “The women in Zion have become very proud. They walk around with their heads in the air, acting like they are better than other people. They flirt with their eyes and make tinkling sounds with their ankle bracelets as they take their quick little steps.”
17 The Lord will put sores on the heads of those women in Zion. The Lord will make their heads bald. 18 Then the Lord will take away everything they are proud of: the beautiful ankle bracelets, the necklaces that look like the sun and the moon, 19 the earrings, bracelets, and veils, 20 the scarves, the ankle chains, the cloth belts worn around their waists, the bottles of perfume, the charms,[c] 21 the signet rings, and the nose rings, 22 the fine dresses, robes, veils, and purses, 23 the mirrors, linen dresses, turbans, and long shawls.
24 Those women now have sweet-smelling perfume, but it will get moldy and stink. Now they wear belts, but then they will have only ropes to wear. Now they have their hair fixed in fancy ways, but then their heads will be shaved—they will have no hair.[d] Now they have party dresses, but then they will have only mourning clothes. They have beauty marks on their faces now, but then they will have another mark. It will be a mark burned into their skin to show that they are slaves.
25 Your men will be killed with swords. Your heroes will die in war. 26 There will be crying and sadness in the meeting places by the city gates. Jerusalem will sit there empty, like a woman who has lost everything to thieves and robbers and now just sits on the ground and cries.
4 At that time seven women will grab one man and say, “Please marry us! We will supply our own food and make our own clothes. You won’t have to do anything else if you let us wear your name and take away our shame.”
2 At that time the Lord’s plant[e] will be very beautiful and glorious. The people in Israel who survived will be very proud of what the land grows. 3 And all those who are left in Zion and Jerusalem will be called holy. Their names were on the list of people in Jerusalem who were allowed to live.
4 The Lord will wash away the filth[f] from the daughters of Zion.[g] He will wash away the blood from Jerusalem. With a spirit of judgment that burns like fire, he will make everything pure. 5 Then the Lord will create a cloud of smoke in the day and a bright flame of fire[h] at night over every building and over every meeting of the people on the mountain of Zion. And there will be a covering over everyone[i] for protection. 6 It will be a shelter to protect the people from the heat of the sun and from all kinds of storms and rain.
Help Each Other
6 Brothers and sisters, someone in your group might do something wrong. You who are following the Spirit should go to the one who is sinning. Help make that person right again, and do it in a gentle way. But be careful, because you might be tempted to sin too. 2 Help each other with your troubles. When you do this, you are obeying the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to do this, you are only fooling yourself. 4 Don’t compare yourself with others. Just look at your own work to see if you have done anything to be proud of. 5 You must each accept the responsibilities that are yours.
Never Stop Doing Good
6 Whoever is being taught God’s word should share the good things they have with the one who is teaching them.
7 If you think you can fool God, you are only fooling yourselves. You will harvest what you plant. 8 If you live to satisfy your sinful self, the harvest you will get from that will be eternal death. But if you live to please the Spirit, your harvest from the Spirit will be eternal life. 9 We must not get tired of doing good. We will receive our harvest of eternal life at the right time. We must not give up. 10 When we have the opportunity to do good to anyone, we should do it. But we should give special attention to those who are in the family of believers.
Paul Ends His Letter
11 This is my own handwriting. You can see how big the letters are. 12 Those men who are trying to force you to be circumcised are only doing it so that their people will accept them. They are afraid they will be persecuted if they follow only the cross[a] of Christ. 13 They are circumcised, but they don’t obey the law themselves. They want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about what they did to you.
14 I hope I will never boast about things like that. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is my only reason for boasting. Through Jesus’ death on the cross the world is dead[b] to me, and I am dead to the world. 15 It doesn’t matter if anyone is circumcised or not. The only thing that matters is this new life we have from God.[c] 16 Peace and mercy to those who follow this rule—to all God’s people.[d]
17 So don’t give me any more trouble. I have scars on my body that show[e] I belong to Jesus.
18 My brothers and sisters, I pray that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will be with your spirits. Amen.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International