The Promises of God

ש Sin and Shin

  ¹⁶¹ Rulers persecute me without cause,
   but my heart trembles at your word.
  ¹⁶² I rejoice in your promise
   like one who finds great spoil.
  ¹⁶³ I hate and detest falsehood
   but I love your law.
  ¹⁶⁴ Seven times a day I praise you
   for your righteous laws.
  ¹⁶⁵ Great peace have those who love your law,
   and nothing can make them stumble.
  ¹⁶⁶ I wait for your salvation, Lord,
   and I follow your commands.
  ¹⁶⁷ I obey your statutes,
   for I love them greatly.
  ¹⁶⁸ I obey your precepts and your statutes,
   for all my ways are known to you.

The Certainty of God’s Promise

¹³ When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” ¹⁵ And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

¹⁶ People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. ¹⁷ Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. ¹⁸ God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰ where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

Melchizedek the Priest

7 This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, ² and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” ³ Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

⁴ Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder! ⁵ Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people —that is, from their fellow Israelites—even though they also are descended from Abraham. ⁶ This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. ⁷ And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater. ⁸ In the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living. ⁹ One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, ¹⁰ because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor.

The End Has Come

7 The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel:

  “‘The end! The end has come
   upon the four corners of the land!
  ³ The end is now upon you,
   and I will unleash my anger against you.
  I will judge you according to your conduct
   and repay you for all your detestable practices.
  ⁴ I will not look on you with pity;
   I will not spare you.
  I will surely repay you for your conduct
   and for the detestable practices among you.

“‘Then you will know that I am the Lord.’

⁵ “This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

  “‘Disaster! Unheard-of disaster!
   See, it comes!
  ⁶ The end has come!
   The end has come!
  It has roused itself against you.
   See, it comes!
  ⁷ Doom has come upon you,
   upon you who dwell in the land.
  The time has come! The day is near!
   There is panic, not joy, on the mountains.
  ⁸ I am about to pour out my wrath on you
   and spend my anger against you.
  I will judge you according to your conduct
   and repay you for all your detestable practices.
  ⁹ I will not look on you with pity;
   I will not spare you.
  I will repay you for your conduct
   and for the detestable practices among you.

“‘Then you will know that it is I the Lord who strikes you.

  ¹⁰ “‘See, the day!
   See, it comes!
  Doom has burst forth,
   the rod has budded,
   arrogance has blossomed!
  ¹¹ Violence has arisen,
   a rod to punish the wicked.
  None of the people will be left,
   none of that crowd—
  none of their wealth,
   nothing of value.
  ¹² The time has come!
   The day has arrived!
  Let not the buyer rejoice
   nor the seller grieve,
   for my wrath is on the whole crowd.
  ¹³ The seller will not recover
   the property that was sold—
   as long as both buyer and seller live.
  For the vision concerning the whole crowd
   will not be reversed.
  Because of their sins, not one of them
   will preserve their life.

  ¹⁴ “‘They have blown the trumpet,
   they have made all things ready,
  but no one will go into battle,
   for my wrath is on the whole crowd.
  ¹⁵ Outside is the sword;
   inside are plague and famine.
  Those in the country
   will die by the sword;
  those in the city
   will be devoured by famine and plague.
  ¹⁶ The fugitives who escape
   will flee to the mountains.
  Like doves of the valleys,
   they will all moan,
   each for their own sins.
  ¹⁷ Every hand will go limp;
   every leg will be wet with urine.
  ¹⁸ They will put on sackcloth
   and be clothed with terror.
  Every face will be covered with shame,
   and every head will be shaved.

  ¹⁹ “‘They will throw their silver into the streets,
   and their gold will be treated as a thing unclean.
  Their silver and gold
   will not be able to deliver them
   in the day of the Lord’s wrath.
  It will not satisfy their hunger
   or fill their stomachs,
   for it has caused them to stumble into sin.
  ²⁰ They took pride in their beautiful jewelry
   and used it to make their detestable idols.
  They made it into vile images;
   therefore I will make it a thing unclean for them.
  ²¹ I will give their wealth as plunder to foreigners
   and as loot to the wicked of the earth,
   who will defile it.
  ²² I will turn my face away from the people,
   and robbers will desecrate the place I treasure.
  They will enter it
   and will defile it.

  ²³ “‘Prepare chains!
   For the land is full of bloodshed,
   and the city is full of violence.
  ²⁴ I will bring the most wicked of nations
   to take possession of their houses.
  I will put an end to the pride of the mighty,
   and their sanctuaries will be desecrated.
  ²⁵ When terror comes,
   they will seek peace in vain.
  ²⁶ Calamity upon calamity will come,
   and rumour upon rumour.
  They will go searching for a vision from the prophet,
   priestly instruction in the law will cease,
   the counsel of the elders will come to an end.
  ²⁷ The king will mourn,
   the prince will be clothed with despair,
   and the hands of the people of the land will tremble.
  I will deal with them according to their conduct,
   and by their own standards I will judge them.

“‘Then they will know that I am the Lord. ’”

Idolatry in the Temple

8 In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord came on me there. ² I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man. From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal. ³ He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes to jealousy stood. ⁴ And there before me was the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain.

⁵ Then he said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar I saw this idol of jealousy.

⁶ And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable.”

⁷ Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall. ⁸ He said to me, “Son of man, now dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there.

⁹ And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” ¹⁰ So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel. ¹¹ In front of them stood seventy elders of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.

¹² He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’” ¹³ Again, he said, “You will see them doing things that are even more detestable.”

¹⁴ Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz. ¹⁵ He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.”

¹⁶ He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.

¹⁷ He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose! ¹⁸ Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.”

Judgment on the Idolaters

9 Then I heard him call out in a loud voice, “Bring near those who are appointed to execute judgment on the city, each with a weapon in his hand.” ² And I saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar.

³ Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side ⁴ and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it. ”

⁵ As I listened, he said to the others, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. ⁶ Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple.

⁷ Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out and began killing throughout the city. ⁸ While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem? ”

⁹ He answered me, “The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see.’ ¹⁰ So I will not look on them with pity or spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have done. ”

¹¹ Then the man in linen with the writing kit at his side brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded.”