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Ezekiel 16:42-17:24 42 Then I will lay to rest my wrath against you, and my jealousy will turn away from you. I will be calm and no longer be angry. 43 Because you did not remember the days of your youth, and you made me angry during all these actions, I myself will certainly bring your conduct down upon your head. That is the declaration of the Lord God! Haven't you added lewdness to all your abominations? 44 Hear this! Everyone will speak this proverb about you: "Like mother, like daughter." 45 You are a true daughter of your mother, who despises her husband and her children, and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despise their husbands and their children. The mother of all of you was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite. 46 Your older sister is Samaria, who along with her daughters lives north of you, and your younger sister, who lives south of you along with her daughters, is Sodom. 47 You did not merely walk in their ways or act according to their abominations, since in a very short time you became more depraved in all your ways than they were. 48 As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom along with her daughters has not done what you have done along with your daughters. 49 Look, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: Pride, overindulgence in food, and complacent ease were the way for her and her daughters, and she failed to strengthen the hands of the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty, and they committed abominations in my presence, and so I removed them when I saw it. 51 Samaria did not sin half as much as you did. You multiplied your abominations more than they did. You made your sisters appear righteous by all your abominations which you committed. 52 So you must bear your disgrace, because by your sins you appeared to plead your sisters' case for them. Because of your sins—you acted more repulsively than they did—they appear more righteous than you. So you must be ashamed and bear your disgrace, because you made your sisters appear righteous. 53 I will bring about their restoration—the restoration of Sodom and her daughters, and the restoration of Samaria and her daughters, as well as your complete restoration in their midst, 54 so that you will bear your disgrace, and you will be ashamed of everything you did when you appeared to give them comfort. 55 Your sister Sodom and her daughters will return to their former state, and your sister Samaria and her daughters will return to their former state, and you and your daughters will return to your former state. 56 Wasn't your sister Sodom a subject for gossip in your mouth during the days when you were so proud, 57 in the days before your own wickedness was exposed? So now in the same way you are subjected to scorn by the daughters of Edom and by all those around her and by the daughters of the Philistines, who scorn you from all sides. 58 Your lewdness and your abominations, you must now bear, declares the Lord. 59 So this is what the Lord God says. Shall I do with you just as you have done, you who despised your oath, thereby breaking the covenant? 60 No, just the opposite, I myself will remember my covenant I made with you during the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant for you. 61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters who are older than you, in addition to those who are younger than you, and I will give them to you as daughters, and not outside your covenant. 62 I myself will establish my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am the Lord, 63 so that you may remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, when I make atonement for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God. The Parable About the Cedar Sprig17 The word of the Lord came to me. 2 Son of man, present a challenging parable to the house of Israel. 3 Tell the Israelites that this is what the Lord God says. A great eagle with powerful wings, with long feathers, and covered with multicolored plumes, came to Lebanon. He took the tip of a cedar. 4 He plucked off the newest shoot at the very top of the tree, and he carried it to a land of merchants. In a city of traders he planted it. 5 Then he took seed from the land and planted it in a fertile field, like a new plant beside plentiful water. He set it out like a willow twig, 6 so that it would sprout and become a spreading vine, low to the ground, so that its branches would turn toward the one who planted it and its roots would remain under him. So it became a vine and produced shoots and leaves and branches. 7 But there was another great eagle with powerful wings and many plumes. Look at how this vine bent its roots toward him! From the bed where it had been planted, it stretched out its branches toward him, so that he could water it. 8 It had been planted in good soil beside plentiful water to grow branches, to bear fruit, and to become a magnificent vine. 9 Tell them this is what the Lord God says. Will it thrive? Won't he pull up its roots and strip off its fruit so that it dries up? Won't all its new growth dry up? No strong arm or mighty army will be needed to pluck it by its roots. 10 Although it has been planted, will it thrive? When the east wind touches it, won't it shrivel up completely? On the very bed where it had sprouted, it will wither away. 11 The word of the Lord came to me. 12 Tell this to the rebellious house. Don't you know what these things mean? Tell them this. You saw how the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem. He took its king and its officials and brought them back to Babylon with him. 13 Then he took a member from the seed of the royal family, made a covenant with him, and put him under an oath. He took away the leading men of the land 14 so that it would be a lowly kingdom, so that it would not rebel but would keep the covenant with him, so that it could survive. 15 But the prince rebelled against that king by sending his envoys to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he thrive? Can someone who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and still escape? 16 As I live, says the Lord God, in the land of the king who made him king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, in his presence in Babylon, he shall die. 17 He will not be joined by a mighty army or a great force during the war, because Pharaoh will not come when the enemy heaps up ramps and builds siege walls in order to cut off many lives. 18 The king despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Even though he had given his hand to seal the covenant, he did all these things. He shall not escape! 19 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says. As I live, because it was an oath taken in my name that the prince despised, I will bring down on his own head my covenant which he broke. 20 I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my trap. I will bring him to Babylon, and I will enter into judgment with him there for the treachery he has committed against me. 21 All his fugitives together with all his troops will fall by the sword, and the rest will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken. 22 This is what the Lord God says. I myself will take part of the tip of the cedar and plant it. From the topmost of its shoots I will pluck off a tender sprig, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 23 On the high mountain of Israel I will plant it. It will produce branches, bear fruit, and become a magnificent cedar. Flying birds of every kind will live under it. In the shelter of its branches they will nest. 24 Then all the trees in the countryside will know that I, the Lord, bring down the high tree and raise up the low tree, that I make the green tree dry up, and I make the dried-up tree blossom. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will carry it out. Hebrews 8 A Better Promise8 The main point of what we are saying is this: We have the kind of high priest who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. 2 He is the minister in the Holy Place, which is the true sanctuary, which the Lord set up, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, and for that reason this priest also needed to have something that he offered. 4 If this priest were on earth, he would not even be a priest, because there are priests who are designated by the law to offer gifts. 5 They serve at a place that is a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, a place exactly like that about which Moses was told when he was about to complete the tent. For God said, "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain." 6 But now, Jesus has obtained a ministry that is as much superior as the covenant that he mediates is better, because it has been established on the basis of better promises. 7 Indeed, if that first covenant were without fault, there would have been no reason to look for a second. 8 But because God found fault with the people, he said: Look, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant
that I made with their forefathers
at the time when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt.
Because they did not remember my covenant,
I ignored them, says the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind,
and I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 Never again will a man teach his fellow citizen
or his brother, saying, "Know the Lord,"
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful in regard to their unrighteousness,
and I will not remember their sins any longer. 13 When God said "new," he made the first covenant obsolete, and something that is obsolete and growing old is going to disappear. Psalm 106:13-31 Rebellions in the Wilderness13 They quickly forgot his deeds.
They did not wait for his plan.
14 Because they were filled with craving in the wilderness,
they challenged God in the wasteland.
15 So he gave them what they asked for,
but he made them sick so they wasted away. 16 Then they grew jealous of Moses in the camp
and of Aaron, who was holy to the Lord.
17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan,
and it closed over the followers of Abiram.
18 Then fire burned up their followers.
Flames consumed the wicked. 19 They made a calf at Horeb,
and they bowed down to a thing cast from metal.
20 So they exchanged their Glory for a model of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who saved them
by doing great things in Egypt,
22 wonders in the land of Ham,
awesome deeds beside the Red Sea. God's Grace23 So he said he would destroy them.
But Moses, his chosen one, stood between God and the people
to turn aside his wrath, so it did not destroy them. More Rebellions in the Wilderness24 Then they refused the pleasant land.
They did not believe his word.
25 They grumbled in their tents.
They did not listen to the voice of the Lord.
26 So he lifted up his hand and swore to them
that he would make them fall in the wilderness,
27 and make their descendants fall among the nations,
and he would scatter them throughout the lands.
28 Then they yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor,
and they ate sacrifices offered to dead gods.
29 They provoked the Lord by their actions,
and a plague broke out among them.
30 But Phinehas stood up and interceded for them,
and the plague was restrained.
31 So this was credited to him as righteousness
for generation after generation, to eternity. Proverbs 27:7-9 7 A satisfied appetite refuses honey,
but to a hungry appetite, everything bitter tastes sweet.
8 A person who wanders from his place
is like a bird that wanders from its nest.
9 Olive oil and incense bring joy to a heart,
and the sweetness of a friend comes from his sincere advice. | | | Bible Gateway Recommendations | | | |
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