How Your Life Can Make a Difference

¹² When they were but few in number,
   few indeed, and strangers in it,
¹³ they wandered from nation to nation,
   from one kingdom to another.
¹⁴ He allowed no one to oppress them;
   for their sake he rebuked kings:
¹⁵ “Do not touch my anointed ones;
   do my prophets no harm.”

¹⁶ He called down famine on the land
   and destroyed all their supplies of food;
¹⁷ and he sent a man before them—
   Joseph, sold as a slave.
¹⁸ They bruised his feet with shackles,
   his neck was put in irons,
¹⁹ till what he foretold came to pass,
   till the word of the Lord proved him true.
²⁰ The king sent and released him,
   the ruler of peoples set him free.
²¹ He made him master of his household,
   ruler over all he possessed,
²² to instruct his princes as he pleased
   and teach his elders wisdom.

Paul’s Hardships

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³ We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. ⁴ Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; ⁵ in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; ⁶ in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; ⁷ in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; ⁸ through glory and dishonour, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; ⁹ known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; ¹⁰ sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

¹¹ We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. ¹² We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. ¹³ As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children —open wide your hearts also.

Warning Against Idolatry

¹⁴ Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? ¹⁵ What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will live with them
   and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
   and they will be my people.”

¹⁷ Therefore,

   “Come out from them
and be separate,
     says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
   and I will receive you.”

¹⁸ And,

“I will be a Father to you,
   and you will be my sons and daughters,
    says the Lord Almighty.”

7 Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah

3 See now, the Lord,
   the Lord Almighty,
is about to take from Jerusalem and Judah
   both supply and support:
all supplies of food and all supplies of water,
   ² the hero and the warrior,
the judge and the prophet,
   the diviner and the elder,
³ the captain of fifty and the man of rank,
   the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter.

⁴ “I will make mere youths their officials;
   children will rule over them.”

⁵ People will oppress each other—
   man against man, neighbour against neighbour.
The young will rise up against the old,
   the nobody against the honoured.

⁶ A man will seize one of his brothers
   in his father’s house, and say,
“You have a cloak, you be our leader;
   take charge of this heap of ruins!”
⁷ But in that day he will cry out,
   “I have no remedy.
I have no food or clothing in my house;
   do not make me the leader of the people.”

⁸ Jerusalem staggers,
   Judah is falling;
their words and deeds are against the Lord,
   defying his glorious presence.
⁹ The look on their faces testifies against them;
   they parade their sin like Sodom;
they do not hide it.
   Woe to them!
They have brought disaster upon themselves.

¹⁰ Tell the righteous it will be well with them,
   for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.
¹¹ Woe to the wicked!
   Disaster is upon them!
They will be paid back
   for what their hands have done.

¹² Youths oppress my people,
   women rule over them.
My people, your guides lead you astray;
   they turn you from the path.

¹³ The Lord takes his place in court;
   he rises to judge the people.
¹⁴ The Lord enters into judgment
   against the elders and leaders of his people:
“It is you who have ruined my vineyard;
   the plunder from the poor is in your houses.
¹⁵ What do you mean by crushing my people
   and grinding the faces of the poor?”
    declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

¹⁶ The Lord says,
   “The women of Zion are haughty,
walking along with outstretched necks,
   flirting with their eyes,
strutting along with swaying hips,
   with ornaments jingling on their ankles.
¹⁷ Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion;
   the Lord will make their scalps bald. ”

¹⁸ In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, ¹⁹ the earrings and bracelets and veils, ²⁰ the headdresses and anklets and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms, ²¹ the signet rings and nose rings, ²² the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses ²³ and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls.

²⁴ Instead of fragrance there will be a stench;
   instead of a sash, a rope;
instead of well-dressed hair, baldness;
   instead of fine clothing, sackcloth;
   instead of beauty, branding.
²⁵ Your men will fall by the sword,
   your warriors in battle.
²⁶ The gates of Zion will lament and mourn;
   destitute, she will sit on the ground.

4 In that day seven women
   will take hold of one man
and say, “We will eat our own food
   and provide our own clothes;
only let us be called by your name.
   Take away our disgrace!”

The Branch of the Lord

² In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. ³ Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem. ⁴ The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire. ⁵ Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory will be a canopy. ⁶ It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.

The Song of the Vineyard

5 I will sing for the one I love
   a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
   on a fertile hillside.
² He dug it up and cleared it of stones
   and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
   and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
   but it yielded only bad fruit.

³ “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
   judge between me and my vineyard.
⁴ What more could have been done for my vineyard
   than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
   why did it yield only bad?
⁵ Now I will tell you
   what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
   and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
   and it will be trampled.
⁶ I will make it a wasteland,
   neither pruned nor cultivated,
   and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
   not to rain on it.”

⁷ The vineyard of the Lord Almighty
   is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
   are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
   for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.