EZEKIEL 7:1-9:11
HEBREWS 5:1-14
PSALM 105:1-15
PROVERBS 26:28
EZEKIEL 7:1-9:11
Then this message came to me [Ezekiel] 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 disgusting behavior. 4 I will turn my eyes away and show no pity, repaying you in full for all your evil. Then you will know that I am the LORD! 5 " This is what the Sovereign LORD says: With one blow after another I will bring total disaster! 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. It will ring with shouts of anguish, not shouts of joy. 8 Soon I will pour out my fury to complete your punishment for all your disgusting behavior. 9 I will neither spare nor pity you. I will repay you for all your detestable practices. 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 reached a climax. 11 Their violence will fall back on them as punishment for their wickedness. None of these proud and wicked people will survive. All their wealth will be swept away. 12 Yes, the time has come; the day is here! There is no reason for buyers to rejoice over the bargains they find or for sellers to grieve over their losses, for all of them will fall under my terrible anger. 13 And if any merchants should 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 recover. 14 " The trumpets call Israel's army to mobilize, but no one listens, for my fury is against them all. 15 Any who leave the city walls will be killed by enemy swords. Those who stay inside will die of famine and disease. 16 The few who survive and escape to the mountains will moan like doves, weeping for their sins. 17 Everyone's hands will be feeble; their knees will be as weak as water. 18 They will dress themselves in sackcloth; horror and shame will cover them. They will shave their heads in sorrow and remorse. 19 " They will throw away their money, tossing it out like worthless trash. It won't buy their deliverance in that day of the LORD's anger. It will neither satisfy nor feed them, for their love of money made them stumble into sin. 20 They were proud of their gold jewelry and used it to make vile and detestable idols. That is why I will make all their wealth disgusting to them. 21 I will give it as plunder to foreigners from the most wicked of nations, and they will defile it. 22 I will hide my eyes as these robbers invade my treasured land and corrupt it. 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 will 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 against 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!"8:1 THEN on September 17, during the sixth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, while the leaders of Judah were in my home, the Sovereign LORD took hold of me. 2 I saw a figure that appeared to be a man. From the waist down he looked like a burning flame. From the waist up he looked like gleaming amber. 3 He put out what seemed to be a hand and took me by the hair. Then the Spirit lifted me up into the sky and transported me in a vision of God to Jerusalem. I was taken to the north gate of the inner courtyard of the Temple, where there is a large idol that has made the LORD very angry. 4 Suddenly, the glory of the God of Israel was there, just as I had seen it before in the valley. 5 Then the LORD said to me, " Son of man, look toward the north." So I looked, and there to the north, beside the entrance to the gate of the altar, stood the idol that had made the LORD so angry.6 " Son of man," he said, " do you see what they are doing? Do you see the great sins the people of Israel are doing to drive me from my Temple? But come, and you will see even greater sins than these!" 7 Then he brought me to the door of the Temple courtyard, where I could see an opening in the wall. 8 He said to me, " Now, son of man, dig into the wall." So I dug into the wall and uncovered a door to a hidden room. 9 " Go in," he said, " and see the unspeakable wickedness going on in there!" 10 So I went in and saw the walls engraved with all kinds of snakes, lizards, and hideous creatures. I also saw the various idols worshiped by the people of Israel. 11 Seventy leaders of Israel were standing there with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan in the middle. Each of them held an incense burner, so there was a thick cloud of incense above their heads. 12 Then the LORD said to me, " Son of man, have you seen what the leaders of Israel are doing with their idols in dark rooms? They are saying, ` The LORD doesn't see us; he has deserted our land!' " 13 Then he added, " Come, and I will show you greater sins than these!" 14 He brought me to the north gate of the LORD's Temple, and some women were sitting there, weeping for the god Tammuz. 15 " Have you seen this?" he asked. " But I will show you even greater sins than these!" 16 Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the LORD's Temple. At the entrance, between the foyer and the bronze altar, about twenty-five men were standing with their backs to the LORD's Temple. They were facing eastward, worshiping the sun! 17 " Have you seen this, son of man?" he asked. " Is it nothing to the people of Judah that they commit these terrible sins, leading the whole nation into violence, thumbing their noses at me, and rousing my fury against them? 18 Therefore, I will deal with them in fury. I will neither pity nor spare them. And though they scream for mercy, I will not listen."9:1 THEN the LORD thundered, " Bring on the men appointed to punish the city! Tell them to bring their weapons with them!" 2 Six men soon appeared from the upper gate that faces north, each carrying a battle club in his hand. One of them was dressed in linen and carried a writer's case strapped to his side. They all went into the Temple courtyard and stood beside the bronze altar. 3 Then the glory of the God of Israel rose up from between the cherubim, where it had rested, and moved to the entrance of the Temple. And the LORD called to the man dressed in linen who was carrying the writer's case. 4 He said to him, " Walk through the streets of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of all those who weep and sigh because of the sins they see around them." 5 Then I heard the LORD say to the other men, " Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity! 6 Kill them all--old and young, girls and women and little children. But do not touch anyone with the mark. Begin your task right here at the Temple." So they began by killing the seventy leaders. 7 " Defile the Temple!" the LORD commanded. " Fill its courtyards with the bodies of those you kill! Go!" So they went throughout the city and did as they were told. 8 While they were carrying out their orders, I was all alone. I fell face down in the dust and cried out, " O Sovereign LORD! Will your fury against Jerusalem wipe out everyone left in Israel?" 9 Then he said to me, " The sins of the people of Israel and Judah are very great. The entire land is full of murder; the city is filled with injustice. They are saying, ` The LORD doesn't see it! The LORD has forsaken the land!' 10 So I will not spare them or have any pity on them. I will fully repay them for all they have done." 11 Then the man in linen clothing, who carried the writer's case, reported back and said, " I have finished the work you gave me to do."
HEBREWS 5:1-14
Now a high priest is a man chosen to represent other human beings in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers their sacrifices for sins. 2 And because he is human, he is able to deal gently with the people, though they are ignorant and wayward. For he is subject to the same weaknesses they have. 3 That is why he has to offer sacrifices, both for their sins and for his own sins. 4 And no one can become a high priest simply because he wants such an honor. He has to be called by God for this work, just as Aaron was. 5 That is why Christ did not exalt himself to become High Priest. No, he was chosen by God, who said to him, " You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father."
6 And in another passage God said to him, " You are a priest forever
in the line of Melchizedek."
7 While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could deliver him out of death. And God heard his prayers because of his reverence for God. 8 So even though Jesus was God's Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. 9 In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. 10 And God designated him to be a High Priest in the line of Melchizedek. 11 There is so much more we would like to say about this. But you don't seem to listen, so it's hard to make you understand. 12 You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the Scriptures. You are like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food. 13 And a person who is living on milk isn't very far along in the Christian life and doesn't know much about doing what is right. 14 Solid food is for those who are mature, who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong and then do what is right.
PSALM 105:1-15
Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness.
Let the whole world know what he has done.
2 Sing to him; yes, sing his praises.
Tell everyone about his miracles.
3 Exult in his holy name;
O worshipers of the LORD, rejoice!
4 Search for the LORD and for his strength,
and keep on searching.
5 Think of the wonderful works he has done,
the miracles and the judgments he handed down,
6 O children of Abraham, God's servant,
O descendants of Jacob, God's chosen one.
7 He is the LORD our God.
His rule is seen throughout the land.
8 He always stands by his covenant--
the commitment he made to a thousand generations.
9 This is the covenant he made with Abraham
and the oath he swore to Isaac.
10 He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,
to the people of Israel as a never-ending treaty:
11 " I will give you the land of Canaan
as your special possession."
12 He said this when they were few in number,
a tiny group of strangers in Canaan.
13 They wandered back and forth between nations,
from one kingdom to another.
14 Yet he did not let anyone oppress them.
He warned kings on their behalf:
15 " Do not touch these people I have chosen,
and do not hurt my prophets."
PROVERBS 26:28
A lying tongue hates its victims, and flattery causes ruin.
