The Lord Will Care for Judah

Two Shepherds

⁴ This is what the Lord my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter.^{(AN) 5} Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’ Their own shepherds do not spare them.^{(AO) 6} For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” declares the Lord. “I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbors^(AP) and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.”^(AQ)

⁷ So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter,^(AR) particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. ⁸ In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.

The flock detested^(AS) me, and I grew weary of them ⁹ and said, “I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish.^(AT) Let those who are left eat^(AU) one another’s flesh.”

¹⁰ Then I took my staff called Favor^(AV) and broke it, revoking^(AW) the covenant I had made with all the nations. ¹¹ It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord.

¹² I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.^(AX)

¹³ And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver^(AY) and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.^(AZ)

¹⁴ Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to me, “Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hooves.

Jerusalem’s Enemies to Be Destroyed

12 A prophecy:^(BD) The word of the Lord concerning Israel.

The Lord, who stretches out the heavens,^(BE) who lays the foundation of the earth,^(BF) and who forms the human spirit within a person,^(BG) declares: ² “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup^(BH) that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling.^(BI) Judah^(BJ) will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. ³ On that day, when all the nations^(BK) of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock^(BL) for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure^(BM) themselves. ⁴ On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares the Lord. “I will keep a watchful eye over Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations.^{(BN) 5} Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong,^(BO) because the Lord Almighty is their God.’

⁶ “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot^(BP) in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume^(BQ) all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact^(BR) in her place.

⁷ “The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah.^{(BS) 8} On that day the Lord will shield^(BT) those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest^(BU) among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God,^(BV) like the angel of the Lord going before^(BW) them. ⁹ On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations^(BX) that attack Jerusalem.^(BY)

Mourning for the One They Pierced

¹⁰ “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit^[b](BZ) of grace and supplication.^(CA) They will look on^[c] me, the one they have pierced,^(CB) and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child,^(CC) and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.^{(CD) 11} On that day the weeping^(CE) in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.^{(CF) 12} The land will mourn,^(CG) each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, ¹³ the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, ¹⁴ and all the rest of the clans and their wives.^(CH)

Psalm 126

A song of ascents.

Jesus at a Pharisee’s House^(A)

14 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee,^(B) he was being carefully watched.^{(C) 2} There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. ³ Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law,^(D) “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”^{(E) 4} But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.

⁵ Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child^[a] or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?”^{(F) 6} And they had nothing to say.

⁷ When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table,^(G) he told them this parable: ⁸ “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. ⁹ If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. ¹¹ For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”^(H)

¹² Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,^{(I) 14} and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”^(J)

The Parable of the Great Banquet^(K)

¹⁵ When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast^(L) in the kingdom of God.”^(M)

¹⁶ Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. ¹⁷ At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

¹⁸ “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’

¹⁹ “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’

²⁰ “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

²¹ “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’^(N)

²² “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’

²³ “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. ²⁴ I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”^(O)

The Cost of Being a Disciple

²⁵ Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.^{(P) 27} And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.^(Q)

²⁸ “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? ²⁹ For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, ³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

³¹ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.^(R)

³⁴ “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?^{(S) 35} It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.^(T)

“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”^(U)