Nov 27th

By the swords of the mighty ones I will cause your multitude to fall; all of them are ruthless ones of the nations,

This is a lamentation, and they shall lament over it. The daughters of the nations shall lament over it. Over Egypt and over all her multitude they shall lament over it,” declares Lord Yahweh.

Now it happened in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me saying,

“Son of man, wail for the hordes of Egypt and bring it down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to the nether world, with those who go down to the pit;

They shall fall in the midst of those who are slain by the sword. She is given over to the sword; they have drawn her and all her multitude away.

The dominant among the mighty ones shall speak of him and his helpers from the midst of Sheol, ‘They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’

“Assyria is there and all her assembly; her graves are round about her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword,

whose graves are put in the remotest parts of the pit, and her assembly is all round about her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, who put terror in the land of the living.

“Elam is there and all her multitude all around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, who put their terror in the land of the living and bore their dishonor with those who went down to the pit.

They have put a bed for her among the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are all around it; all of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword (although their terror was put in the land of the living), and they bore their dishonor with those who go down to the pit; they were put in the midst of the slain.

“Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude are there; their graves are all around them. All of them were slain by the sword uncircumcised, though they put their terror in the land of the living.

Nor do they lie beside the fallen mighty ones of the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war and whose swords were put under their heads; but the punishment for their iniquity rested on their bones, though the terror of these mighty ones was once in the land of the living.

But as for you, in the midst of the uncircumcised you will be broken and lie with those slain by the sword.

“There also is Edom, its kings, and all its princes, who for all their might are put with those slain by the sword; they will lie with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit.

“There also are the chiefs of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who in spite of the terror resulting from their might, in shame went down with the slain. So they lay down uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bore their dishonor with those who go down to the pit.

“These Pharaoh will see, and he will be comforted for all his multitude slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his military force,” declares Lord Yahweh.

“Though I put a terror of him in the land of the living, yet he will be made to lie down among the uncircumcised along with those slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his hordes,” declares Lord Yahweh.

And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

“Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman,

and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people,

then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head.

He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have escaped with his life.

But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’

“Now as for you, son of man, I have given you as a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a word from My mouth and give them warning from Me.

When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand.

But as for you, if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.

“Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus you have spoken, saying, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting away in them; how then can we live?” ’

Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares Lord Yahweh, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’

Now as for you, son of man, say to the sons of your people, ‘The righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous man will not be able to live by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.’

When I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he does iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his which he has done he will die.

But when I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and he turns from his sin and does justice and righteousness,

if a wicked man restores a pledge, pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

None of his sins that he has done will be remembered against him. He has done justice and righteousness; he shall surely live.

“Yet the sons of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right,’ when it is their own way that is not right.

When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does iniquity, then he shall die in it.

But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does justice and righteousness, he will live by them.

Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways.”

Now it happened in the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth of the tenth month, that those who escaped from Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city has been struck down.”

Now the hand of Yahweh had been upon me in the evening, before those who escaped came. And He opened my mouth at the time they came to me in the morning; so my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.

Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying,

“Son of man, they who inhabit these waste places in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one, yet he possessed the land; so to us who are many the land has been given as a possession.’

Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “You eat meat with the blood in it and lift up your eyes to your idols as you shed blood. Should you then possess the land?

You stand on account of your sword, you do abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?” ’

Thus you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “As I live, surely those who are in the waste places will fall by the sword, and whoever is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die of pestilence.

I will make the land a desolation and a desecration, and the lofty pride of her strength will cease; and the mountains of Israel will be desolate so that no one will pass through.

Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I make the land a desolation and a desecration because of all their abominations which they have done.” ’

“But as for you, son of man, the sons of your people who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother, saying, ‘Come now and hear what the word is which comes forth from Yahweh.’

They come to you as people come and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their greedy gain.

Behold, you are to them like a lustful song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words but they do not do them.

So when it comes to pass—behold, it is coming—then they will know that a prophet has been in their midst.”

Do not, many of you, become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment.

For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the entire body as well.

Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well.

Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, they are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot wills.

So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.

Behold how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!

And the tongue is a fire, the very world of unrighteousness; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our existence, and is set on fire by hell.

For every kind of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.

But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God.

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

Does a fountain pour forth from the same opening fresh and bitter water?

Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can saltwater produce fresh.

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good conduct his works in the gentleness of wisdom.

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.

This wisdom is not coming down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil practice.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruits, without doubting, without hypocrisy.

And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.