The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized

1 “And you, ^rson of man, ^stake a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem. 2 ^tAnd put siegeworks against it, ^uand build a siege wall against it, ^vand cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, ^wand plant battering rams against it all around. 3 And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; ^xand set your face toward it, ^yand let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is ^za sign for the house of Israel.

4 “Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment¹ of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, ^ayou shall bear their punishment. 5 For I assign to you a number of days, ^b390 days, ^cequal to the number of the years of their punishment. ^aSo long shall you bear ^dthe punishment of the house of Israel. 6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and ^ebear ^fthe punishment of the house of Judah. ^gForty days I assign you, a day for each year. 7 ^hAnd you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, ⁱwith your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city. 8 And behold, ^jI will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed ^kthe days of your siege.

9 “And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer,² and put them into a single vessel and make your ^lbread from them. ^mDuring the number of days that you lie on your side, ⁿ390 days, you shall eat it. 10 And your food that you eat shall be ^oby weight, ^ptwenty shekels³ a day; from day to day⁴ you shall eat it. 11 And water you shall drink ^oby measure, the sixth part of a hin;⁵ from day to day you shall drink. 12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it ^qin their sight on human dung.” 13 And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat ^rtheir bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” 14 Then I said, ^s“Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself.^{6 t}From my youth up till now I have never eaten ^uwhat died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has ^vtainted meat come into my mouth.” 15 Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow’s dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.” 16 Moreover, he said to me, ^w“Son of man, behold, ^xI will break the supply⁷ of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread ^oby weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water ^oby measure and in dismay. 17 I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and ^ylook at one another in dismay, and ^zrot away because of their punishment.

Jerusalem Will Be Destroyed

1 “And you, ^aO son of man, take a ^bsharp sword. Use it as ^ca barber’s razor and ^dpass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair. 2 ^eA third part you shall burn in the fire ^fin the midst of the city, ^gwhen the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city. ^hAnd a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and ⁱI will unsheathe the sword after them. 3 ^jAnd you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe. 4 ^kAnd of these again you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.

5 “Thus says the Lord God: ^lThis is Jerusalem. I have set her ^min the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6 And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness ⁿmore than the nations, and against my statutes more than ^mthe countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. 7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you are ^omore turbulent than the nations that are all around you, ^pand have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, ^qand have not⁸ even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, 8 therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, ^ram against you. ^sAnd I will execute judgments⁹ in your midst ^tin the sight of the nations. 9 And because of all your abominations I will do with you ^uwhat I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. 10 Therefore ^vfathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. ^sAnd I will execute judgments on you, ^wand any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds. 11 Therefore, ^xas I live, declares the Lord God, surely, ^ybecause you have defiled my sanctuary ^zwith all your detestable things and with all your ^aabominations, ^btherefore I will withdraw.^{10 c}My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity. 12 ^dA third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst; ^da third part shall fall by the sword all around you; ^dand a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.

13 ^e“Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that ^fI am the Lord—that I have spoken in my jealousy—^ewhen I spend my fury upon them. 14 Moreover, I will make you ^ga desolation and ^han object of reproach among ⁱthe nations all around you and in the sight of all who pass by. 15 You shall be¹¹ a reproach and a taunt, a warning ^jand a horror, to ⁱthe nations all around you, ^kwhen I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and ^lwith furious rebukes—I am the Lord; I have spoken— 16 when I send against you^{12 m}the deadly arrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon ⁿyou and break your supply¹³ of bread. 17 I will send famine and ^owild beasts against you, ^pand they will rob you of your children. Pestilence and ^qblood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”

Judgment Against Idolatry

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 ^r“Son of man, ^sset your face toward ^tthe mountains of Israel, and ^uprophesy against them, 3 and say, ^vYou mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to ^wthe mountains and ^xthe hills, to ^ythe ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, ^zand I will destroy your high places. 4 ^zYour altars shall become desolate, and your ^aincense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. 5 ^zAnd I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, ^band I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 Wherever you dwell, ^cthe cities shall be waste and ^dthe high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined,¹⁴ your idols broken and destroyed, your ^aincense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. 7 And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

8 ^e“Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations ^fsome who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries, 9 then those of you who escape ^gwill remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how ^hI have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes ⁱthat go whoring after their idols. ^gAnd they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. 10 And they shall know that I am the Lord. ^jI have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”

11 Thus says the Lord God: ^k“Clap your hands ^land stamp your foot and say, Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, ^mfor they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. 12 ⁿHe who is far off shall die of pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who is left and is preserved shall die of famine. ^oThus I will spend my fury upon them. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, ^pwhen their slain lie among their idols around their altars, ^qon every high hill, ^ron all the mountaintops, ^sunder every green tree, and under ^tevery leafy oak, wherever ^uthey offered pleasing aroma to all their idols. 14 And ^vI will stretch out my hand against them and ^wmake the land desolate and waste, ^xin all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to ^yRiblah.¹⁵ Then ^zthey will know that I am the Lord.”

Kaph

Christ Has Set Us Free

1 For ^sfreedom Christ has ^tset us free; ^ustand firm therefore, and do not submit again to ^va yoke of ^wslavery.

2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that ^xif you accept circumcision, ^yChrist will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that ^zhe is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are ^asevered from Christ, ^byou who would be justified¹ by the law; ^cyou have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly ^dwait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus ^eneither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but ^fonly faith working through love.

7 ^gYou were running well. Who hindered you from obeying ^hthe truth? 8 This persuasion is not from ⁱhim who calls you. 9 ^jA little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 ^kI have confidence in the Lord that you will ^ltake no other view, and ^mthe one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers,² still preach³ circumcision, ⁿwhy am I still being persecuted? In that case ^othe offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish ^pthose who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. ^qOnly do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love ^rserve one another. 14 For ^sthe whole law is fulfilled in one word: ^t“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you ^ubite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Keep in Step with the Spirit

16 But I say, ^vwalk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify ^wthe desires of the flesh. 17 For ^xthe desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, ^yto keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are ^zled by the Spirit, ^ayou are not under the law. 19 Now ^bthe works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, ^cdivisions, 21 envy,⁴ drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that ^dthose who do⁵ such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But ^ethe fruit of the Spirit is ^flove, joy, peace, patience, ^gkindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 ^hgentleness, ⁱself-control; ^jagainst such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus ^khave crucified the flesh with its ^lpassions and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, ^mlet us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 ⁿLet us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Bear One Another’s Burdens

1 Brothers,^{6 o}if anyone is caught in any transgression, ^pyou who are spiritual should restore him in ^qa spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 ^rBear one another’s burdens, and ^sso fulfill ^tthe law of Christ. 3 For ^uif anyone thinks he is something, ^vwhen he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one ^wtest his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For ^xeach will have to bear his own load.

6 ^yLet the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 7 ^zDo not be deceived: God is not mocked, for ^awhatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For ^bthe one who sows to his own flesh ^cwill from the flesh reap corruption, but ^dthe one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And ^elet us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, ^fif we do not give up. 10 So then, ^gas we have opportunity, let us ^hdo good to everyone, and especially to those who are ⁱof the household of faith.

Final Warning and Benediction

11 See with what large letters I am writing to you ^jwith my own hand. 12 ^kIt is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh ^lwho would force you to be circumcised, and only ^min order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But far be it from me to boast ⁿexcept in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which⁷ the world ^ohas been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For ^pneither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but ^qa new creation. 16 And as for all who walk by this rule, ^rpeace and mercy be upon them, and upon ^sthe Israel of God.

17 From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

18 ^tThe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be ^uwith your spirit, brothers. Amen.