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1-5"God’s kingdom is like ten young virgins who took oil lamps and went out to greet the bridegroom. Five were silly and five were smart. The silly virgins took lamps, but no extra oil. The smart virgins took jars of oil to feed their lamps. The bridegroom didn’t show up when they expected him, and they all fell asleep.
1,2Then Jesus started telling them stories. "A man planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, erected a watchtower, turned it over to the farmhands, and went off on a trip. At the time for harvest, he sent a servant back to the farmhands to collect his profits.
5-7When we arrived in Macedonia province, we couldn’t settle down. The fights in the church and the fears in our hearts kept us on pins and needles. We couldn’t relax because we didn’t know how it would turn out. Then the God who lifts up the downcast lifted our heads and our hearts with the arrival of Titus. We were glad just to see him, but the true reassurance came in what he told us about you: how much you cared, how much you grieved, how concerned you were for me. I went from worry to tranquility in no time!
6"You are to eat unraised bread for seven days; on the seventh day there is a festival celebration to God.
5-7Here is God’s Message to the prophets,the preachers who lie to my people:"For as long as they’re well paid and well fed,the prophets preach, ‘Isn’t life wonderful! Peace to all!’But if you don’t pay up and jump on their bandwagon,their ‘God bless you’ turns into ‘God damn you.’Therefore, you’re going blind. You’ll see nothing.You’ll live in deep shadows and know nothing.The sun has set on the prophets.They’ve had their day; from now on it’s night.Visionaries will be confused,experts will be all mixed up.They’ll hide behind their reputations and make lame excusesto cover up their God-ignorance."* * *
1-5Dear friend, do what I tell you;treasure my careful instructions.Do what I say and you’ll live well.My teaching is as precious as your eyesight—guard it!Write it out on the back of your hands;etch it on the chambers of your heart.Talk to Wisdom as to a sister.Treat Insight as your companion.They’ll be with you to fend off the Temptress—that smooth-talking, honey-tongued Seductress.
4Early the next morning, the people got busy and built an altar. They sacrificed Whole-Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings.
14-17"If you sell or buy property from one of your countrymen, don’t cheat him. Calculate the purchase price on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. He is obliged to set the sale price on the basis of the number of harvests remaining until the next Jubilee. The more years left, the more money; you can raise the price. But the fewer years left, the less money; decrease the price. What you are buying and selling in fact is the number of crops you’re going to harvest. Don’t cheat each other. Fear your God. I am God, your God.
4The Twenty-four Elders and the Four Animals fell to their knees and worshiped God on his Throne, praising,Amen! Yes! Hallelujah!
2-5These are the things I want you to teach and preach. If you have leaders there who teach otherwise, who refuse the solid words of our Master Jesus and this godly instruction, tag them for what they are: ignorant windbags who infect the air with germs of envy, controversy, bad-mouthing, suspicious rumors. Eventually there’s an epidemic of backstabbing, and truth is but a distant memory. They think religion is a way to make a fast buck.
5"Here’s what you do," said Jonadab. "Go to bed and pretend you’re sick. When your father comes to visit you, say, ‘Have my sister Tamar come and prepare some supper for me here where I can watch her and she can feed me.’"
4-10"They crown kings, but without asking me.They set up princes but don’t let me in on it.Instead, they make idols, using silver and gold,idols that will be their ruin.Throw that gold calf-god on the trash heap, Samaria!I’m seething with anger against that rubbish!How long before they shape up?And they’re Israelites!A sculptor made that thing—it’s not God.That Samaritan calfwill be broken to bits.Look at them! Planting wind-seeds,they’ll harvest tornadoes.Wheat with no headproduces no flour.And even if it did,strangers would gulp it down.Israel is swallowed up and spit out.Among the pagans they’re a piece of junk.They trotted off to Assyria:Why, even wild donkeys stick to their own kind,but donkey-Ephraim goes out and pays to get lovers.Now, because of their whoring life among the pagans,I’m going to gather them together and confront them.They’re going to reap the consequences soon,feel what it’s like to be oppressed by the big king.
2-4"Take on board with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and a female; one pair of every unclean animal, a male and a female; and seven pairs of every kind of bird, a male and a female, to insure their survival on Earth. In just seven days I will pour rain on Earth for forty days and forty nights. I’ll make a clean sweep of everything that I’ve made."
1,2A great protest was mounted by the people, including the wives, against their fellow Jews. Some said, "We have big families, and we need food just to survive."
21-24After Jesus crossed over by boat, a large crowd met him at the seaside. One of the meeting-place leaders named Jairus came. When he saw Jesus, he fell to his knees, beside himself as he begged, "My dear daughter is at death’s door. Come and lay hands on her so she will get well and live." Jesus went with him, the whole crowd tagging along, pushing and jostling him.
4-8"From the time of my youth, my life has been lived among my own people in Jerusalem. Practically every Jew in town who watched me grow up—and if they were willing to stick their necks out they’d tell you in person—knows that I lived as a strict Pharisee, the most demanding branch of our religion. It’s because I believed it and took it seriously, committed myself heart and soul to what God promised my ancestors—the identical hope, mind you, that the twelve tribes have lived for night and day all these centuries—it’s because I have held on to this tested and tried hope that I’m being called on the carpet by the Jews. They should be the ones standing trial here, not me! For the life of me, I can’t see why it’s a criminal offense to believe that God raises the dead.
4-8Later war broke out with the Philistines at Gezer. That was the time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai of the clan of giants. The Philistines had to eat crow. In another war with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite whose spear was like a ship’s boom. And then there was the war at Gath that featured a hulking giant who had twenty-four fingers and toes, six on each hand and foot—yet another from the clan of giants. When he mocked Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him. These came from the clan of giants and were killed by David and his men.
3-12Weapons flash in the sun,the soldiers splendid in battle dress,Chariots burnished and glistening,ready to charge,A spiked forest of brandished spears,lethal on the horizon.The chariots pour into the streets.They fill the public squares,Flaming like torches in the sun,like lightning darting and flashing.The Assyrian king rallies his men,but they stagger and stumble.They run to the rampartsto stem the tide, but it’s too late.Soldiers pour through the gates.The palace is demolished.Soon it’s all over:Nineveh stripped, Nineveh doomed,Maids and slaves moaning like doves,beating their breasts.Nineveh is a tubfrom which they’ve pulled the plug.Cries go up, "Do something! Do something!"but it’s too late. Nineveh’s soon empty—nothing.Other cries come: "Plunder the silver!Plunder the gold!A bonanza of plunder!Take everything you want!"Doom! Damnation! Desolation!Hearts sink,knees fold,stomachs retch,faces blanch.So, what happened to the famousand fierce Assyrian lionAnd all those cute Assyrian cubs?To the lion and lionessCozy with their cubs,fierce and fearless?To the lion who always returned from the huntwith fresh kills for lioness and cubs,The lion lair heaped with bloody meat,blood and bones for the royal lion feast?* * *
15,16Don’t interfere with good people’s lives;don’t try to get the best of them.No matter how many times you trip them up,God-loyal people don’t stay down long;Soon they’re up on their feet,while the wicked end up flat on their faces.
6,7I call to you, God, because I’m sure of an answer.So—answer! bend your ear! listen sharp!Paint grace-graffiti on the fences;take in your frightened children whoAre running from the neighborhood bulliesstraight to you.