EZEKIEL 12:1- 14:11
HEBREWS 7:1- 17
PSALM 105:37- 45
PROVERBS 27:3
Again a message came to me [Ezekiel] from the LORD:2 "Son of man, you live among rebels who could see the truth if they wanted to, but they don't want to. They could hear me if they would listen, but they won't listen because they are rebellious. 3 So now put on a demonstration to show them what it will be like to go off into exile. Pack whatever you can carry on your back and leave your home to go on a journey. Make your preparations in broad daylight so the people can see you, for perhaps they will even yet consider what this means, even though they are such rebels. 4 Bring your baggage outside during the day so they can watch you. Then as they are watching, leave your house in the evening, just as captives do when they begin a long march to distant lands. 5 Dig a hole through the wall while they are watching and carry your possessions out through it. 6 As they watch, lift your pack to your shoulders and walk away into the night. Cover your face and don't look around. All of these actions will be a sign for the people of Israel." 7 So I did as I was told. In broad daylight I brought my pack outside, filled with the things I might carry into exile. Then in the evening while the people looked on, I dug through the wall with my hands and went out into the darkness with my pack on my shoulder. 8 The next morning this message came to me from the LORD:9 "Son of man, these rebels, the people of Israel, have asked you what all this means. 10 Say to them, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says:These actions contain a message for Zedekiah in Jerusalem and for all the people of Israel. '11 Then explain that your actions are a demonstration of what will soon happen to them, for they will be driven from their homes and sent away into exile. 12" Even Zedekiah will leave Jerusalem at night through a hole in the wall, taking only what he can carry with him. He will cover his face, and his eyes will never see his homeland again. 13 Then I will spread out my net and capture him in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Babylonians, though he will never see it, and he will die there. 14 I will scatter his servants and guards to the four winds and send the sword after them. 15 And when I scatter them among the nations, they will know that I am the LORD. 16 But I will spare a few of them from death by war, famine, or disease, so they can confess to their captors about how wicked they have been. Then they will know that I am the LORD! "17 Then this message came to me from the LORD:18" Son of man, tremble as you eat your food. Drink your water with fear, as if it were your last. 19 Give the people this message from the Sovereign LORD concerning those living in Israel and Jerusalem:They will eat their food with trembling and sip their tiny portions of water in utter despair, because their land will be stripped bare on account of their violence. 20 The cities will be destroyed and the farmland deserted. Then you will know that I am the LORD. "21 Again a message came to me from the LORD:22" Son of man, what is that proverb they quote in Israel:`Time passes, making a liar of every prophet'? 23 Give the people this message from the Sovereign LORD:I will put an end to this proverb, and you will soon stop quoting it. Now give them this new proverb to replace the old one:`The time has come for every prophecy to be fulfilled! '24 "Then you will see what becomes of all the false visions and misleading predictions about peace in Israel. 25 For I am the LORD! What I threaten always happens. There will be no more delays, you rebels of Israel! I will fulfill my threat of destruction in your own lifetime, says the Sovereign LORD." 26 Then this message came to me from the LORD:27 "Son of man, the people of Israel are saying, `His visions won't come true for a long, long time.' 28 Therefore, give them this message from the Sovereign LORD:No more delay! I will now do everything I have threatened! I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!" 13:1 THEN this message came to me from the LORD:2 "Son of man, speak against the false prophets of Israel who are inventing their own prophecies. Tell them to listen to the word of the LORD. 3 This is what the Sovereign LORD says:Destruction is certain for the false prophets who are following their own imaginations and have seen nothing at all! 4" O people of Israel, these prophets of yours are like jackals digging around in the ruins. 5 They have done nothing to strengthen the breaks in the walls around the nation. They have not helped it to stand firm in battle on the day of the LORD. 6 Instead, they have lied and said, `My message is from the LORD, 'even though the LORD never sent them. And yet they expect him to fulfill their prophecies! 7 Can your visions be anything but false if you claim, `This message is from the LORD,' when I have not even spoken to you? 8 "Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says:Because what you say is false and your visions are a lie, I will stand against you, says the Sovereign LORD. 9 I will raise my fist against all the lying prophets, and they will be banished from the community of Israel. I will blot their names from Israel's record books, and they will never again see their own land. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD! 10" These evil prophets deceive my people by saying, `All is peaceful! 'when there is no peace at all! It's as if the people have built a flimsy wall, and these prophets are trying to hold it together by covering it with whitewash! 11 Tell these whitewashers that their wall will soon fall down. A heavy rainstorm will undermine it; great hailstones and mighty winds will knock it down. 12 And when the wall falls, the people will cry out, `Where is the whitewash you applied?' 13 "Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says:I will sweep away your whitewashed wall with a storm of indignation, with a great flood of anger, and with hailstones of fury. 14 I will break down your wall right to the foundation, and when it falls, it will crush you. Then you will know that I am the LORD! 15 At last my anger against the wall and those who covered it with whitewash will be satisfied. Then I will say to you:`The wall and those who whitewashed it are both gone. 16 They were lying prophets who claimed peace would come to Jerusalem when there was no peace. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken! '17" Now, son of man, also speak out against the women who prophesy from their own imaginations. 18 This is what the Sovereign LORD says:Destruction is certain for you women who are ensnaring the souls of my people, both young and old alike. You tie magic charms on their wrists and furnish them with magic veils. Do you think you can trap others without bringing destruction on yourselves? 19 You turn my people away from me for a few handfuls of barley or a piece of bread. By lying to my people who love to listen to lies, you kill those who should not die, and you promise life to those who should not live. 20 "And so the Sovereign LORD says:I am against all your magic charms, which you use to ensnare my people like birds. I will tear them from your arms, setting my people free like birds set free from a cage. 21 I will tear off the magic veils and save my people from your grasp. They will no longer be your victims. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 22 You have discouraged the righteous with your lies, when I didn't want them to suffer grief. And you have encouraged the wicked by promising them life, even though they continue in their sins. 23 But you will no longer talk of seeing visions that you never saw, nor will you practice your magic. For I will rescue my people from your grasp. Then you will know that I am the LORD." 14:1 THEN some of the leaders of Israel visited me, and while they were there, 2 this message came to me from the LORD:3 "Son of man, these leaders have set up idols in their hearts. They have embraced things that lead them into sin. Why should I let them ask me anything? 4 Give them this message from the Sovereign LORD:I, the LORD, will punish the people of Israel who set up idols in their hearts so they fall into sin and then come to a prophet asking for help. 5 I will do this to capture the minds and hearts of all my people who have turned from me to worship their detestable idols. 6" Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD:Repent and turn away from your idols, and stop all your loathsome practices. 7 I, the LORD, will punish all those, both Israelites and foreigners, who reject me and set up idols in their hearts so they fall into sin, and who then come to a prophet asking for my advice. 8 I will turn against such people and make a terrible example of them, destroying them. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 9 And if a prophet is deceived and gives a message anyway, it is because I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet. I will stand against such prophets and cut them off from the community of Israel. 10 False prophets and hypocrites-- evil people who claim to want my advice-- will all be punished for their sins. 11 In this way, the people of Israel will learn not to stray from me, polluting themselves with sin. They will be my people, and I will be their God, says the Sovereign LORD. "
This Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem and also a priest of God Most High. When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle against many kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him. 2 Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had won in the battle and gave it to Melchizedek. His name means" king of justice. "He is also" king of peace "because Salem means" peace. "3 There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors-- no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God. 4 Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized how great Melchizedek was by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle. 5 Now the priests, who are descendants of Levi, are commanded in the law of Moses to collect a tithe from all the people, even though they are their own relatives. 6 But Melchizedek, who was not even related to Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God. 7 And without question, the person who has the power to bless is always greater than the person who is blessed. 8 In the case of Jewish priests, tithes are paid to men who will die. But Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that he lives on. 9 In addition, we might even say that Levi's descendants, the ones who collect the tithe, paid a tithe to Melchizedek through their ancestor Abraham. 10 For although Levi wasn't born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham's loins when Melchizedek collected the tithe from him. 11 And finally, if the priesthood of Levi could have achieved God's purposes-- and it was that priesthood on which the law was based-- why did God need to send a different priest from the line of Melchizedek, instead of from the line of Levi and Aaron? 12 And when the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it. 13 For the one we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members do not serve at the altar. 14 What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned Judah in connection with the priesthood. 15 The change in God's law is even more evident from the fact that a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has now come. 16 He became a priest, not by meeting the old requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. 17 And the psalmist pointed this out when he said of Christ," You are a priest forever
in the line of Melchizedek. "
But he [the LORD] brought his people safely out of Egypt, loaded with silver and gold;
there were no sick or feeble people among them.
38 Egypt was glad when they were gone,
for the dread of them was great.
39 The LORD spread out a cloud above them as a covering
and gave them a great fire to light the darkness.
40 They asked for meat, and he sent them quail;
he gave them manna-- bread from heaven.
41 He opened up a rock, and water gushed out
to form a river through the dry and barren land.
42 For he remembered his sacred promise
to Abraham his servant.
43 So he brought his people out of Egypt with joy,
his chosen ones with rejoicing.
44 He gave his people the lands of pagan nations,
and they harvested crops that others had planted.
45 All this happened so they would follow his principles
and obey his laws.
Praise the LORD!
A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but the resentment caused by a fool is heavier than both
HEBREWS 7:1- 17
PSALM 105:37- 45
PROVERBS 27:3
Again a message came to me [Ezekiel] from the LORD:2 "Son of man, you live among rebels who could see the truth if they wanted to, but they don't want to. They could hear me if they would listen, but they won't listen because they are rebellious. 3 So now put on a demonstration to show them what it will be like to go off into exile. Pack whatever you can carry on your back and leave your home to go on a journey. Make your preparations in broad daylight so the people can see you, for perhaps they will even yet consider what this means, even though they are such rebels. 4 Bring your baggage outside during the day so they can watch you. Then as they are watching, leave your house in the evening, just as captives do when they begin a long march to distant lands. 5 Dig a hole through the wall while they are watching and carry your possessions out through it. 6 As they watch, lift your pack to your shoulders and walk away into the night. Cover your face and don't look around. All of these actions will be a sign for the people of Israel." 7 So I did as I was told. In broad daylight I brought my pack outside, filled with the things I might carry into exile. Then in the evening while the people looked on, I dug through the wall with my hands and went out into the darkness with my pack on my shoulder. 8 The next morning this message came to me from the LORD:9 "Son of man, these rebels, the people of Israel, have asked you what all this means. 10 Say to them, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says:These actions contain a message for Zedekiah in Jerusalem and for all the people of Israel. '11 Then explain that your actions are a demonstration of what will soon happen to them, for they will be driven from their homes and sent away into exile. 12" Even Zedekiah will leave Jerusalem at night through a hole in the wall, taking only what he can carry with him. He will cover his face, and his eyes will never see his homeland again. 13 Then I will spread out my net and capture him in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Babylonians, though he will never see it, and he will die there. 14 I will scatter his servants and guards to the four winds and send the sword after them. 15 And when I scatter them among the nations, they will know that I am the LORD. 16 But I will spare a few of them from death by war, famine, or disease, so they can confess to their captors about how wicked they have been. Then they will know that I am the LORD! "17 Then this message came to me from the LORD:18" Son of man, tremble as you eat your food. Drink your water with fear, as if it were your last. 19 Give the people this message from the Sovereign LORD concerning those living in Israel and Jerusalem:They will eat their food with trembling and sip their tiny portions of water in utter despair, because their land will be stripped bare on account of their violence. 20 The cities will be destroyed and the farmland deserted. Then you will know that I am the LORD. "21 Again a message came to me from the LORD:22" Son of man, what is that proverb they quote in Israel:`Time passes, making a liar of every prophet'? 23 Give the people this message from the Sovereign LORD:I will put an end to this proverb, and you will soon stop quoting it. Now give them this new proverb to replace the old one:`The time has come for every prophecy to be fulfilled! '24 "Then you will see what becomes of all the false visions and misleading predictions about peace in Israel. 25 For I am the LORD! What I threaten always happens. There will be no more delays, you rebels of Israel! I will fulfill my threat of destruction in your own lifetime, says the Sovereign LORD." 26 Then this message came to me from the LORD:27 "Son of man, the people of Israel are saying, `His visions won't come true for a long, long time.' 28 Therefore, give them this message from the Sovereign LORD:No more delay! I will now do everything I have threatened! I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!" 13:1 THEN this message came to me from the LORD:2 "Son of man, speak against the false prophets of Israel who are inventing their own prophecies. Tell them to listen to the word of the LORD. 3 This is what the Sovereign LORD says:Destruction is certain for the false prophets who are following their own imaginations and have seen nothing at all! 4" O people of Israel, these prophets of yours are like jackals digging around in the ruins. 5 They have done nothing to strengthen the breaks in the walls around the nation. They have not helped it to stand firm in battle on the day of the LORD. 6 Instead, they have lied and said, `My message is from the LORD, 'even though the LORD never sent them. And yet they expect him to fulfill their prophecies! 7 Can your visions be anything but false if you claim, `This message is from the LORD,' when I have not even spoken to you? 8 "Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says:Because what you say is false and your visions are a lie, I will stand against you, says the Sovereign LORD. 9 I will raise my fist against all the lying prophets, and they will be banished from the community of Israel. I will blot their names from Israel's record books, and they will never again see their own land. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD! 10" These evil prophets deceive my people by saying, `All is peaceful! 'when there is no peace at all! It's as if the people have built a flimsy wall, and these prophets are trying to hold it together by covering it with whitewash! 11 Tell these whitewashers that their wall will soon fall down. A heavy rainstorm will undermine it; great hailstones and mighty winds will knock it down. 12 And when the wall falls, the people will cry out, `Where is the whitewash you applied?' 13 "Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says:I will sweep away your whitewashed wall with a storm of indignation, with a great flood of anger, and with hailstones of fury. 14 I will break down your wall right to the foundation, and when it falls, it will crush you. Then you will know that I am the LORD! 15 At last my anger against the wall and those who covered it with whitewash will be satisfied. Then I will say to you:`The wall and those who whitewashed it are both gone. 16 They were lying prophets who claimed peace would come to Jerusalem when there was no peace. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken! '17" Now, son of man, also speak out against the women who prophesy from their own imaginations. 18 This is what the Sovereign LORD says:Destruction is certain for you women who are ensnaring the souls of my people, both young and old alike. You tie magic charms on their wrists and furnish them with magic veils. Do you think you can trap others without bringing destruction on yourselves? 19 You turn my people away from me for a few handfuls of barley or a piece of bread. By lying to my people who love to listen to lies, you kill those who should not die, and you promise life to those who should not live. 20 "And so the Sovereign LORD says:I am against all your magic charms, which you use to ensnare my people like birds. I will tear them from your arms, setting my people free like birds set free from a cage. 21 I will tear off the magic veils and save my people from your grasp. They will no longer be your victims. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 22 You have discouraged the righteous with your lies, when I didn't want them to suffer grief. And you have encouraged the wicked by promising them life, even though they continue in their sins. 23 But you will no longer talk of seeing visions that you never saw, nor will you practice your magic. For I will rescue my people from your grasp. Then you will know that I am the LORD." 14:1 THEN some of the leaders of Israel visited me, and while they were there, 2 this message came to me from the LORD:3 "Son of man, these leaders have set up idols in their hearts. They have embraced things that lead them into sin. Why should I let them ask me anything? 4 Give them this message from the Sovereign LORD:I, the LORD, will punish the people of Israel who set up idols in their hearts so they fall into sin and then come to a prophet asking for help. 5 I will do this to capture the minds and hearts of all my people who have turned from me to worship their detestable idols. 6" Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD:Repent and turn away from your idols, and stop all your loathsome practices. 7 I, the LORD, will punish all those, both Israelites and foreigners, who reject me and set up idols in their hearts so they fall into sin, and who then come to a prophet asking for my advice. 8 I will turn against such people and make a terrible example of them, destroying them. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 9 And if a prophet is deceived and gives a message anyway, it is because I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet. I will stand against such prophets and cut them off from the community of Israel. 10 False prophets and hypocrites-- evil people who claim to want my advice-- will all be punished for their sins. 11 In this way, the people of Israel will learn not to stray from me, polluting themselves with sin. They will be my people, and I will be their God, says the Sovereign LORD. "
This Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem and also a priest of God Most High. When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle against many kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him. 2 Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had won in the battle and gave it to Melchizedek. His name means" king of justice. "He is also" king of peace "because Salem means" peace. "3 There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors-- no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God. 4 Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized how great Melchizedek was by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle. 5 Now the priests, who are descendants of Levi, are commanded in the law of Moses to collect a tithe from all the people, even though they are their own relatives. 6 But Melchizedek, who was not even related to Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God. 7 And without question, the person who has the power to bless is always greater than the person who is blessed. 8 In the case of Jewish priests, tithes are paid to men who will die. But Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that he lives on. 9 In addition, we might even say that Levi's descendants, the ones who collect the tithe, paid a tithe to Melchizedek through their ancestor Abraham. 10 For although Levi wasn't born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham's loins when Melchizedek collected the tithe from him. 11 And finally, if the priesthood of Levi could have achieved God's purposes-- and it was that priesthood on which the law was based-- why did God need to send a different priest from the line of Melchizedek, instead of from the line of Levi and Aaron? 12 And when the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it. 13 For the one we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members do not serve at the altar. 14 What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned Judah in connection with the priesthood. 15 The change in God's law is even more evident from the fact that a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has now come. 16 He became a priest, not by meeting the old requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. 17 And the psalmist pointed this out when he said of Christ," You are a priest forever
in the line of Melchizedek. "
But he [the LORD] brought his people safely out of Egypt, loaded with silver and gold;
there were no sick or feeble people among them.
38 Egypt was glad when they were gone,
for the dread of them was great.
39 The LORD spread out a cloud above them as a covering
and gave them a great fire to light the darkness.
40 They asked for meat, and he sent them quail;
he gave them manna-- bread from heaven.
41 He opened up a rock, and water gushed out
to form a river through the dry and barren land.
42 For he remembered his sacred promise
to Abraham his servant.
43 So he brought his people out of Egypt with joy,
his chosen ones with rejoicing.
44 He gave his people the lands of pagan nations,
and they harvested crops that others had planted.
45 All this happened so they would follow his principles
and obey his laws.
Praise the LORD!
A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but the resentment caused by a fool is heavier than both
