3-15So Moses sent them off from the Wilderness of Paran at the command of God. All of them were leaders in Israel, one from each tribe. These were their names:from Reuben: Shammua son of Zaccurfrom Simeon: Shaphat son of Horifrom Judah: Caleb son of Jephunnehfrom Issachar: Igal son of Josephfrom Ephraim: Hoshea son of Nunfrom Benjamin: Palti son of Raphufrom Zebulun: Gaddiel son of Sodifrom Manasseh (a Joseph tribe): Gaddi son of Susifrom Dan: Ammiel son of Gemallifrom Asher: Sethur son of Michaelfrom Naphtali: Nahbi son of Vophsifrom Gad: Geuel son of Maki.
25,26"You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?"
40Jesus looked her in the eye. "Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
55,56The Jewish Passover was coming up. Crowds of people were making their way from the country up to Jerusalem to get themselves ready for the Feast. They were curious about Jesus. There was a lot of talk of him among those standing around in the Temple: "What do you think? Do you think he’ll show up at the Feast or not?"
7Oh, let me warn you, sisters in Jerusalem,by the gazelles, yes, by all the wild deer:Don’t excite love, don’t stir it up,until the time is ripe—and you’re ready.
1Draw in close now, nations. Listen carefully,you people. Pay attention!Earth, you, too, and everything in you.World, and all that comes from you.
2-4And here’s why: God is angry,good and angry with all the nations,So blazingly angry at their arms and armiesthat he’s going to rid earth of them, wipe them out.The corpses, thrown in a heap,will stink like the town dump in midsummer,Their blood flowing off the mountainslike creeks in spring runoff.Stars will fall out of the skylike overripe, rotting fruit in the orchard,And the sky itself will be folded up like a blanketand put away in a closet.All that army of stars, shriveled to nothing,like leaves and fruit in autumn, dropping and rotting!
8-15It’s God’s scheduled time for vengeance,the year all Zion’s accounts are settled.Edom’s streams will flow sluggish, thick with pollution,the soil sterile, poisoned with waste,The whole countrya smoking, stinking garbage dump—The fires burning day and night,the skies black with endless smoke.Generation after generation of wasteland—no more travelers through this country!Vultures and skunks will police the streets;owls and crows will feel at home there.God will reverse creation. Chaos!He will cancel fertility. Emptiness!Leaders will have no one to lead.They’ll name it No Kingdom There,A country where all kingsand princes are unemployed.Thistles will take over, covering the castles,fortresses conquered by weeds and thornbushes.Wild dogs will prowl the ruins,ostriches have the run of the place.Wildcats and hyenas will hunt together,demons and devils dance through the night.The night-demon Lilith, evil and rapacious,will establish permanent quarters.Scavenging carrion birds will breed and brood,infestations of ominous evil.
23,24The sky over your head will become an iron roof, the ground under your feet, a slab of concrete. From out of the skies God will rain ash and dust down on you until you suffocate.
1After all this, God tested Abraham. God said, "Abraham!""Yes?" answered Abraham. "I’m listening."
11Just then an angel of God called to him out of Heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!""Yes, I’m listening."
12"Don’t lay a hand on that boy! Don’t touch him! Now I know how fearlessly you fear God; you didn’t hesitate to place your son, your dear son, on the altar for me."
8,9"If your hand or your foot gets in the way of God, chop it off and throw it away. You’re better off maimed or lame and alive than the proud owners of two hands and two feet, godless in a furnace of eternal fire. And if your eye distracts you from God, pull it out and throw it away. You’re better off one-eyed and alive than exercising your twenty-twenty vision from inside the fire of hell.
12-14"Look at it this way. If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders off, doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine and go after the one? And if he finds it, doesn’t he make far more over it than over the ninety-nine who stay put? Your Father in heaven feels the same way. He doesn’t want to lose even one of these simple believers.
15-17"If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.
6-13I hate all this silly religion,but you, God, I trust.I’m leaping and singing in the circle of your love;you saw my pain,you disarmed my tormentors,You didn’t leave me in their clutchesbut gave me room to breathe.Be kind to me, God—I’m in deep, deep trouble again.I’ve cried my eyes out;I feel hollow inside.My life leaks away, groan by groan;my years fade out in sighs.My troubles have worn me out,turned my bones to powder.To my enemies I’m a monster;I’m ridiculed by the neighbors.My friends are horrified;they cross the street to avoid me.They want to blot me from memory,forget me like a corpse in a grave,discard me like a broken dish in the trash.The street-talk gossip has me"criminally insane"!Behind locked doors they plothow to ruin me for good.
14-18Desperate, I throw myself on you:you are my God!Hour by hour I place my days in your hand,safe from the hands out to get me.Warm me, your servant, with a smile;save me because you love me.Don’t embarrass me by not showing up;I’ve given you plenty of notice.Embarrass the wicked, stand them up,leave them stupidly shaking their headsas they drift down to hell.Gag those loudmouthed liarswho heckle me, your follower,with jeers and catcalls.
24Be brave. Be strong. Don’t give up.Expect God to get here soon.
5-9"I, God, the Master, say:‘Disaster after disaster! Look, it comes!Endtime—the end comes.The end is ripe. Watch out, it’s coming!This is your fate, you who live in this land.Time’s up.It’s zero hour.No dragging of feet now,no bargaining for more time.Soon now I’ll pour my wrath on you,pay out my anger against you,Render my verdict on the way you’ve lived,make you pay for your disgusting obscenities.I won’t look the other way,I won’t feel sorry for you.I’ll make you pay for the way you’ve lived.Your disgusting obscenities will boomerang on you.Then you’ll realizethat it is I, God, who have hit you.
10-13"‘Judgment Day!Fate has caught up with you.The scepter outsized and pretentious,pride bursting all bounds,Violence strutting,brandishing the evil scepter.But there’s nothing to them,and nothing will be left of them.Time’s up.Countdown: five, four, three, two . . .Buyer, don’t boast; seller, don’t worry:Judgment wrath has turned the world topsy-turvy.The bottom has dropped out of buying and selling.It will never be the same again.But don’t fantasize an upturn in the market.The country is bankrupt because of its sins,and it’s not going to get any better.
19-27"‘They throw their money into the gutters.Their hard-earned cash stinks like garbage.They find that it won’t buy a thingthey either want or need on Judgment Day.They tripped on moneyand fell into sin.Proud and pretentious with their jewels,they deck out their vile and vulgar no-gods in finery.I’ll make those god-obscenities a stench in their nostrils.I’ll give away their religious junk—strangers will pick it up for free,the godless spit on it and make jokes.I’ll turn my face so I won’t have to lookas my treasured place and people are violated,As violent strangers walk inand desecrate place and people—A bloody massacre,as crime and violence fill the city.I’ll bring in the dregs of humanityto move into their houses.I’ll put a stop to the boasting and struttingof the high-and-mighty,And see to it that there’ll be nothing holyleft in their holy places.Catastrophe descends. They look for peace,but there’s no peace to be found—Disaster on the heels of disaster,one rumor after another.They clamor for the prophet to tell them what’s up,but nobody knows anything.Priests don’t have a clue;the elders don’t know what to say.The king holds his head in despair;the prince is devastated.The common people are paralyzed.Gripped by fear, they can’t move.I’ll deal with them where they are,judge them on their terms.They’ll know that I am God.’"
1-4"Do you know the month when mountain goats give birth?Have you ever watched a doe bear her fawn?Do you know how many months she is pregnant?Do you know the season of her delivery,when she crouches down and drops her offspring?Her young ones flourish and are soon on their own;they leave and don’t come back.
9-12"Will the wild buffalo condescend to serve you,volunteer to spend the night in your barn?Can you imagine hitching your plow to a buffaloand getting him to till your fields?He’s hugely strong, yes, but could you trust him,would you dare turn the job over to him?You wouldn’t for a minute depend on him, would you,to do what you said when you said it?
19-25"Are you the one who gave the horse his prowessand adorned him with a shimmering mane?Did you create him to prance proudlyand strike terror with his royal snorts?He paws the ground fiercely, eager and spirited,then charges into the fray.He laughs at danger, fearless,doesn’t shy away from the sword.The banging and clangingof quiver and lance don’t faze him.He quivers with excitement, and at the trumpet blastraces off at a gallop.At the sound of the trumpet he neighs mightily,smelling the excitement of battle from a long way off,catching the rolling thunder of the war cries.
25"I’ll not be drinking wine again until the new day when I drink it in the kingdom of God."
30Jesus said, "Don’t be so sure. Today, this very night in fact, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times."
35,36Going a little ahead, he fell to the ground and prayed for a way out: "Papa, Father, you can—can’t you?—get me out of this. Take this cup away from me. But please, not what I want—what do you want?"
9"Come here," he said, "and put me out of my misery. I’m nearly dead already, but my life hangs on."
19-21Oh, oh, Gazelles of Israel, struck down on your hills,the mighty warriors—fallen, fallen!Don’t announce it in the city of Gath,don’t post the news in the streets of Ashkelon.Don’t give those coarse Philistine girlsone more excuse for a drunken party!No more dew or rain for you, hills of Gilboa,and not a drop from springs and wells,For there the warriors’ shields were dragged through the mud,Saul’s shield left there to rot.
26O my dear brother Jonathan,I’m crushed by your death.Your friendship was a miracle-wonder,love far exceeding anything I’ve known—or ever hope to know.
5,6I took you through the wilderness for forty years and through all that time the clothes on your backs didn’t wear out, the sandals on your feet didn’t wear out, and you lived well without bread and wine and beer, proving to you that I am in fact God, your God.
9Diligently keep the words of this Covenant. Do what they say so that you will live well and wisely in every detail.
10-13You are all standing here today in the Presence of God, your God—the heads of your tribes, your leaders, your officials, all Israel: your babies, your wives, the resident foreigners in your camps who fetch your firewood and water—ready to cross over into the solemnly sworn Covenant that God, your God, is making with you today, the Covenant that this day confirms that you are his people and he is God, your God, just as he promised you and your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
2-4Heaven and earth, you’re the jury.Listen to God’s case:"I had children and raised them well,and they turned on me.The ox knows who’s boss,the mule knows the hand that feeds him,But not Israel.My people don’t know up from down.Shame! Misguided God-dropouts,staggering under their guilt-baggage,Villainous gang,band of vandals—My people have walked out on me, their God,turned their backs on The Holy of Israel,walked off and never looked back.
11,12"Why this frenzy of sacrifices?"God’s asking."Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of burnt sacrifices,rams and plump grain-fed calves?Don’t you think I’ve had my fillof blood from bulls, lambs, and goats?When you come before me,whoever gave you the idea of acting like this,Running here and there, doing this and that—all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship?
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13-17"Quit your worship charades.I can’t stand your trivial religious games:Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings—meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more!Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them!You’ve worn me out!I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion,while you go right on sinning.When you put on your next prayer-performance,I’ll be looking the other way.No matter how long or loud or often you pray,I’ll not be listening.And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearingpeople to pieces, and your hands are bloody.Go home and wash up.Clean up your act.Sweep your lives clean of your evildoingsso I don’t have to look at them any longer.Say no to wrong.Learn to do good.Work for justice.Help the down-and-out.Stand up for the homeless.Go to bat for the defenseless.
7A curse on their uncontrolled anger,on their indiscriminate wrath.I’ll throw them out with the trash;I’ll shred and scatter them like confetti throughout Israel.
8-12You, Judah, your brothers will praise you:Your fingers on your enemies’ throat,while your brothers honor you.You’re a lion’s cub, Judah,home fresh from the kill, my son.Look at him, crouched like a lion, king of beasts;who dares mess with him?The scepter shall not leave Judah;he’ll keep a firm grip on the command staffUntil the ultimate ruler comesand the nations obey him.He’ll tie up his donkey to the grapevine,his purebred prize to a sturdy branch.He will wash his shirt in wineand his cloak in the blood of grapes,His eyes will be darker than wine,his teeth whiter than milk.
21-26Naphtali is a deer running freethat gives birth to lovely fawns.Joseph is a wild donkey,a wild donkey by a spring,spirited donkeys on a hill.The archers with malice attacked,shooting their hate-tipped arrows;But he held steady under fire,his bow firm, his arms limber,With the backing of the Champion of Jacob,the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.The God of your father—may he help you!And may The Strong God—may he give you his blessings,Blessings tumbling out of the skies,blessings bursting up from the Earth—blessings of breasts and womb.May the blessings of your fatherexceed the blessings of the ancient mountains,surpass the delights of the eternal hills;May they rest on the head of Joseph,on the brow of the one consecrated among his brothers.
13,14On the Sabbath, we left the city and went down along the river where we had heard there was to be a prayer meeting. We took our place with the women who had gathered there and talked with them. One woman, Lydia, was from Thyatira and a dealer in expensive textiles, known to be a God-fearing woman. As she listened with intensity to what was being said, the Master gave her a trusting heart—and she believed!
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15After she was baptized, along with everyone in her household, she said in a surge of hospitality, "If you’re confident that I’m in this with you and believe in the Master truly, come home with me and be my guests." We hesitated, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
16-18One day, on our way to the place of prayer, a slave girl ran into us. She was a psychic and, with her fortunetelling, made a lot of money for the people who owned her. She started following Paul around, calling everyone’s attention to us by yelling out, "These men are working for the Most High God. They’re laying out the road of salvation for you!" She did this for a number of days until Paul, finally fed up with her, turned and commanded the spirit that possessed her, "Out! In the name of Jesus Christ, get out of her!" And it was gone, just like that.
1,2Clear my name, God; stick up for meagainst these loveless, immoral people.Get me out of here, awayfrom these lying degenerates.I counted on you, God.Why did you walk out on me?Why am I pacing the floor, wringing my handsover these outrageous people?
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3,4Give me your lantern and compass,give me a map,So I can find my way to the sacred mountain,to the place of your presence,To enter the place of worship,meet my exuberant God,Sing my thanks with a harp,magnificent God, my God.
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5Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?Why are you crying the blues?Fix my eyes on God—soon I’ll be praising again.He puts a smile on my face.He’s my God.
1-3"‘Message from God, the Master: The gate of the inside courtyard on the east is to be shut on the six working days, but open on the Sabbath. It is also to be open on the New Moon. The prince will enter through the entrance area of the gate complex and stand at the gateposts as the priests present his burnt offerings and peace offerings while he worships there on the porch. He will then leave, but the gate won’t be shut until evening. On Sabbaths and New Moons, the people are to worship before God at the outside entrance to that gate complex.
12"‘When the prince brings a freewill offering to God, whether a burnt offering or a peace offering, the east gate is to be opened for him. He offers his burnt or peace offering the same as he does on the Sabbath. Then he leaves, and after he is out, the gate is shut.
19,20Then the man brought me through the north gate into the holy chambers assigned to the priests and showed me a back room to the west. He said, "This is the kitchen where the priests will cook the guilt offering and sin offering and bake the grain offering so that they won’t have to do it in the outside courtyard and endanger the unprepared people out there with The Holy."
9-15"But now I’m the one they’re after,mistreating me, taunting and mocking.They abhor me, they abuse me.How dare those scoundrels—they spit in my face!Now that God has undone me and left me in a heap,they hold nothing back. Anything goes.They come at me from my blind side,trip me up, then jump on me while I’m down.They throw every kind of obstacle in my path,determined to ruin me—and no one lifts a finger to help me!They violate my broken body,trample through the rubble of my ruined life.Terrors assault me—my dignity in shreds,salvation up in smoke.
20-23"I shout for help, God, and get nothing, no answer!I stand to face you in protest, and you give me a blank stare!You’ve turned into my tormenter—you slap me around, knock me about.You raised me up so I was riding highand then dropped me, and I crashed.I know you’re determined to kill me,to put me six feet under.
24-31"What did I do to deserve this?Did I ever hit anyone who was calling for help?Haven’t I wept for those who live a hard life,been heartsick over the lot of the poor?But where did it get me?I expected good but evil showed up.I looked for light but darkness fell.My stomach’s in a constant churning, never settles down.Each day confronts me with more suffering.I walk under a black cloud. The sun is gone.I stand in the congregation and protest.I howl with the jackals,I hoot with the owls.I’m black-and-blue all over,burning up with fever.My fiddle plays nothing but the blues;my mouth harp wails laments."