Ezekiel 5

A Sign of the Coming Judgment
 ¹  "Son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a razor to shave your head and beard. Use a scale to weigh the hair into three equal parts.  ²  Place a third of it at the center of your map of Jerusalem. After acting out the siege, burn it there. Scatter another third across your map and chop it with a sword. Scatter the last third to the wind, for I will scatter my people with the sword.  ³  Keep just a bit of the hair and tie it up in your robe.  ⁴  Then take some of these hairs out and throw them into the fire, burning them up. A fire will then spread from this remnant and destroy all of Israel.
   ⁵  "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: This is an illustration of what will happen to Jerusalem. I placed her at the center of the nations,  ⁶  but she has rebelled against my regulations and decrees and has been even more wicked than the surrounding nations. She has refused to obey the regulations and decrees I gave her to follow.
   ⁷  "Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: You people have behaved worse than your neighbors and have refused to obey my decrees and regulations. You have not even lived up to the standards of the nations around you.  ⁸  Therefore, I myself, the Sovereign LORD, am now your enemy. I will punish you publicly while all the nations watch.  ⁹  Because of your detestable idols, I will punish you like I have never punished anyone before or ever will again.  ¹⁰  Parents will eat their own children, and children will eat their parents. I will punish you and scatter to the winds the few who survive.
   ¹¹  "As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I will cut you off completely. I will show you no pity at all because you have defiled my Temple with your vile images and detestable sins.  ¹²  A third of your people will die in the city from disease and famine. A third of them will be slaughtered by the enemy outside the city walls. And I will scatter a third to the winds, chasing them with my sword.  ¹³  Then at last my anger will be spent, and I will be satisfied. And when my fury against them has subsided, all Israel will know that I, the LORD, have spoken to them in my jealous anger.
   ¹⁴  "So I will turn you into a ruin, a mockery in the eyes of the surrounding nations and to all who pass by.  ¹⁵  You will become an object of mockery and taunting and horror. You will be a warning to all the nations around you. They will see what happens when the LORD punishes a nation in anger and rebukes it, says the LORD.
   ¹⁶  "I will shower you with the deadly arrows of famine to destroy you. The famine will become more and more severe until every crumb of food is gone.  ¹⁷  And along with the famine, wild animals will attack you and rob you of your children. Disease and war will stalk your land, and I will bring the sword of the enemy against you. I, the LORD, have spoken!"

Ezekiel 6

Judgment against Israel's Mountains
 ¹  Again a message came to me from the LORD:  ²  "Son of man, turn and face the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them.  ³  Proclaim this message from the Sovereign LORD against the mountains of Israel. This is what the Sovereign LORD says to the mountains and hills and to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring war upon you, and I will smash your pagan shrines.  ⁴  All your altars will be demolished, and your places of worship will be destroyed. I will kill your people in front of your idols. [4]   ⁵  I will lay your corpses in front of your idols and scatter your bones around your altars.  ⁶  Wherever you live there will be desolation, and I will destroy your pagan shrines. Your altars will be demolished, your idols will be smashed, your places of worship will be torn down, and all the religious objects you have made will be destroyed.  ⁷  The place will be littered with corpses, and you will know that I alone am the LORD.
   ⁸  "But I will let a few of my people escape destruction, and they will be scattered among the nations of the world.  ⁹  Then when they are exiled among the nations, they will remember me. They will recognize how hurt I am by their unfaithful hearts and lustful eyes that long for their idols. Then at last they will hate themselves for all their detestable sins.  ¹⁰  They will know that I alone am the LORD and that I was serious when I said I would bring this calamity on them.
   ¹¹  "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Clap your hands in horror, and stamp your feet. Cry out because of all the detestable sins the people of Israel have committed. Now they are going to die from war and famine and disease.  ¹²  Disease will strike down those who are far away in exile. War will destroy those who are nearby. And anyone who survives will be killed by famine. So at last I will spend my fury on them.  ¹³  They will know that I am the LORD when their dead lie scattered among their idols and altars on every hill and mountain and under every green tree and every great shade tree—the places where they offered sacrifices to their idols.  ¹⁴  I will crush them and make their cities desolate from the wilderness in the south to Riblah [14]  in the north. Then they will know that I am the LORD."

Ezekiel 7

The Coming of the End
 ¹  Then this message came to me from the LORD:  ²  "Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says to Israel:

"The end is here!
  Wherever you look—
east, west, north, or south—
  your land is finished.
 ³  No hope remains,
  for I will unleash my anger against you.
I will call you to account
  for all your detestable sins.
 ⁴  I will turn my eyes away and show no pity.
  I will repay you for all your detestable sins.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.

 ⁵  "This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
Disaster after disaster
  is coming your way!
 ⁶  The end has come.
  It has finally arrived.
  Your final doom is waiting!
 ⁷  O people of Israel, the day of your destruction is dawning.
  The time has come; the day of trouble is near.
Shouts of anguish will be heard on the mountains,
  not shouts of joy.
 ⁸  Soon I will pour out my fury on you
  and unleash my anger against you.
I will call you to account
  for all your detestable sins.
 ⁹  I will turn my eyes away and show no pity.
  I will repay you for all your detestable sins.
Then you will know that it is I, the LORD,
  who is striking the blow.

 ¹⁰  "The day of judgment is here;
  your destruction awaits!
The people's wickedness and pride
  have blossomed to full flower.
 ¹¹  Their violence has grown into a rod
  that will beat them for their wickedness.
None of these proud and wicked people will survive.
  All their wealth and prestige will be swept away.
 ¹²  Yes, the time has come;
  the day is here!
Buyers should not rejoice over bargains,
  nor sellers grieve over losses,
for all of them will fall
  under my terrible anger.
 ¹³  Even if the merchants survive,
  they will never return to their business.
For what God has said applies to everyone—
  it will not be changed!
Not one person whose life is twisted by sin
  will ever recover.

The Desolation of Israel
 ¹⁴  "The trumpet calls Israel's army to mobilize,
  but no one listens,
  for my fury is against them all.
 ¹⁵  There is war outside the city
  and disease and famine within.
Those outside the city walls
  will be killed by enemy swords.
Those inside the city
  will die of famine and disease.
 ¹⁶  The survivors who escape to the mountains
  will moan like doves, weeping for their sins.
 ¹⁷  Their hands will hang limp,
  their knees will be weak as water.
 ¹⁸  They will dress themselves in burlap;
  horror and shame will cover them.
They will shave their heads
  in sorrow and remorse.

 ¹⁹  "They will throw their money in the streets,
  tossing it out like worthless trash.
Their silver and gold won't save them
  on that day of the LORD's anger.
It will neither satisfy nor feed them,
  for their greed can only trip them up.
 ²⁰  They were proud of their beautiful jewelry
  and used it to make detestable idols and vile images.
Therefore, I will make all their wealth
  disgusting to them.
 ²¹  I will give it as plunder to foreigners,
  to the most wicked of nations,
  and they will defile it.
 ²²  I will turn my eyes from them
  as these robbers invade and defile my treasured land.

 ²³  "Prepare chains for my people,
  for the land is bloodied by terrible crimes.
  Jerusalem is filled with violence.
 ²⁴  I will bring the most ruthless of nations
  to occupy their homes.
I will break down their proud fortresses
  and defile their sanctuaries.
 ²⁵  Terror and trembling will overcome my people.
  They will look for peace but not find it.
 ²⁶  Calamity will follow calamity;
  rumor will follow rumor.
They will look in vain
  for a vision from the prophets.
They will receive no teaching from the priests
  and no counsel from the leaders.
 ²⁷  The king and the prince will stand helpless,
  weeping in despair,
and the people's hands
  will tremble with fear.
I will bring on them
  the evil they have done to others,
and they will receive the punishment
  they so richly deserve.
Then they will know that I am the LORD."

<<  6:4 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung; also in 6:5, 6, 9, 13.
<<  6:14 As in some Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts read Diblah.

Hebrews 12

God's Discipline Proves His Love
 ¹  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  ²  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne.  ³  Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; [3]  then you won't become weary and give up.  ⁴  After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.
   ⁵  And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? [5]  He said,

"My child, [5]  don't make light of the LORD's discipline,
  and don't give up when he corrects you.
 ⁶  "For the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child."  ⁷  As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?  ⁸  If God doesn't discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.  ⁹  Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn't we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?    ¹⁰  For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God's discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness.  ¹¹  No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it's painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.
   ¹²  So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.  ¹³  Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.

A Call to Listen to God
 ¹⁴  Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.  ¹⁵  Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.  ¹⁶  Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal.  ¹⁷  You know that afterward, when he wanted his father's blessing, he was rejected. It was too late for repentance, even though he begged with bitter tears.
   ¹⁸  You have not come to a physical mountain, [18]  to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai.  ¹⁹  For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking.  ²⁰  They staggered back under God's command: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death." [20]   ²¹  Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, "I am terrified and trembling." [21] 
   ²²  No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering.  ²³  You have come to the assembly of God's firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect.  ²⁴  You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.    ²⁵  Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven!  ²⁶  When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: "Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also." [26]   ²⁷  This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.
   ²⁸  "Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe."  ²⁹  For our God is a devouring fire.

<<  12:2a Or Jesus, the originator and perfecter of our faith. 12:2b Or Instead of the joy.
<<  12:3 Some manuscripts read Think of how people hurt themselves by opposing him.
<<  12:5a Greek sons; also in 12:7, 8. 12:5b Greek son; also in 12:6, 7.
<<  12:5-6 Prov 3:11-12 (Greek version).
<<  12:9 Or and really live?
<<  12:18 Greek to something that can be touched.
<<  12:20 Exod 19:13.
<<  12:21 Deut 9:19.
<<  12:26 Hag 2:6.