Ezekiel 36:1-38

(1)  "And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD.

(2)  Thus says the Lord GOD: Because the enemy said of you, 'Aha!' and, 'The ancient heights have become our possession,'

(3)  therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Precisely because they made you desolate and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you became the talk and evil gossip of the people,

(4)  therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD: Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains and the hills, the ravines and the valleys, the desolate wastes and the deserted cities, which have become a prey and derision to the rest of the nations all around,

(5)  therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Surely I have spoken in my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave my land to themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, that they might make its pasturelands a prey.

(6)  Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I have spoken in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered the reproach of the nations.

(7)  Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I swear that the nations that are all around you shall themselves suffer reproach.

(8)  "But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home.

(9)  For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown.

(10)  And I will multiply people on you, the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt.

(11)  And I will multiply on you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

(12)  I will let people walk on you, even my people Israel. And they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no longer bereave them of children.

(13)  Thus says the Lord GOD: Because they say to you, 'You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children,'

(14)  therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the Lord GOD.

(15)  And I will not let you hear anymore the reproach of the nations, and you shall no longer bear the disgrace of the peoples and no longer cause your nation to stumble, declares the Lord GOD."

(16)  The word of the LORD came to me:

(17)  "Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity.

(18)  So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it.

(19)  I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them.

(20)  But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, 'These are the people of the LORD, and yet they had to go out of his land.'

(21)  But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.

(22)  "Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.

(23)  And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

(24)  I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.

(25)  I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

(26)  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

(27)  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

(28)  You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

(29)  And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.

(30)  I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.

(31)  Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.

(32)  It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

(33)  "Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt.

(34)  And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by.

(35)  And they will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.'

(36)  Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the LORD; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.

(37)  "Thus says the Lord GOD: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock.

(38)  Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD."

Matthew 23:1-39

(1)  Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,

(2)  "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat,

(3)  so practice and observe whatever they tell you--but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice.

(4)  They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

(5)  They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,

(6)  and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues

(7)  and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.

(8)  But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.

(9)  And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

(10)  Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.

(11)  The greatest among you shall be your servant.

(12)  Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

(13)  "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

(15)  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

(16)  "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.'

(17)  You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?

(18)  And you say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.'

(19)  You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

(20)  So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.

(21)  And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it.

(22)  And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

(23)  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

(24)  You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

(25)  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

(26)  You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

(27)  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.

(28)  So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

(29)  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,

(30)  saying, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'

(31)  Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

(32)  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.

(33)  You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

(34)  Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,

(35)  so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

(36)  Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

(37)  "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!

(38)  See, your house is left to you desolate.

(39)  For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

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