Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "The Lord, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, says, 'You must surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon. If you do, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down. Indeed, you and your whole family will be spared.

"You must not disobey the Lord your God by saying, 'We will not stay in this land.'

You must not say, 'No, we will not stay. Instead we will go and live in the land of Egypt where we will not face war, or hear the enemy's trumpet calls, or starve for lack of food.'

Then Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and other arrogant men said to Jeremiah, "You are telling a lie! The Lord our God did not send you to tell us, 'You must not go to Egypt and settle there.'

They will hear, 'Run! Save yourselves! Even if you must be like a lonely shrub in the desert!'

For the Lord says, "If even those who did not deserve to drink from the cup of my wrath must drink from it, do you think you will go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but must certainly drink from the cup of my wrath.

"Babylon must fall because of the Israelites she has killed, just as the earth's mortally wounded fell because of Babylon.

(Yod) An enemy grabbed all her valuables. Indeed she watched in horror as Gentiles invaded her holy temple -- those whom you had commanded: "They must not enter your assembly place."

We must pay money for our own water; we must buy our own wood at a steep price.

The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and hard-hearted, and you must say to them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says.'

You must speak my words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.

"Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me.

But when I speak with you, I will loosen your tongue and you must say to them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says.' Those who listen will listen, but the indifferent will refuse, for they are a rebellious house.

You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it.

The food you eat will be eight ounces a day by weight; you must eat it at fixed times.

And you must drink water by measure, a pint and a half; you must drink it at fixed times.

And you must eat the food like you would a barley cake. You must bake it in front of them over a fire made with dried human excrement."

While they are watching, raise your baggage onto your shoulder and carry it out in the dark. You must cover your face so that you cannot see the ground because I have made you an object lesson to the house of Israel."

You must bear your punishment for your obscene conduct and your abominable practices, declares the Lord.

so it would be a lowly kingdom which could not rise on its own but must keep its treaty with him in order to stand.

I said to them, "Each of you must get rid of the detestable idols you keep before you, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God."

this is what the sovereign Lord says: Tear off the turban, take off the crown! Things must change! Exalt the lowly, bring down the proud!

"Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you have forgotten me and completely disregarded me, you must bear now the punishment for your obscene conduct and prostitution."

"Son of man, realize that I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you with a jolt, but you must not mourn or weep or shed tears.

"As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf.

When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you must certainly die,' and you do not warn the wicked about his behavior, the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death.

Suppose I say to the wicked, 'You must certainly die,' but he turns from his sin and does what is just and right.

"This is what you must say to them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those living in the ruins will die by the sword, those in the open field I will give to the wild beasts for food, and those who are in the strongholds and caves will die of disease.

Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? When you drink clean water, must you muddy the rest of the water by trampling it with your feet?

As for my sheep, they must eat what you trampled with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet!

Now they must put away their spiritual prostitution and the pillars of their kings far from me, and then I will live among them forever.

"'When they enter the gates of the inner court, they must wear linen garments; they must not have any wool on them when they minister in the inner gates of the court and in the temple.

Linen turbans will be on their heads and linen undergarments will be around their waists; they must not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat.

When they go out to the outer court to the people, they must remove the garments they were ministering in, and place them in the holy chambers; they must put on other garments so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.

"'They must not shave their heads nor let their hair grow long; they must only trim their heads.

They must not marry a widow or a divorcee, but they may marry a virgin from the house of Israel or a widow who is a priest's widow.

"'They must not come near a dead person or they will be defiled; however, for father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister, they may defile themselves.

After a priest has become ceremonially clean, they must count off a period of seven days for him.

On the day he enters the sanctuary, into the inner court to serve in the sanctuary, he must offer his sin offering, declares the sovereign Lord.

"'This will be their inheritance: I am their inheritance, and you must give them no property in Israel; I am their property.

You must use just balances, a just dry measure (an ephah), and a just liquid measure (a bath).

"'This is the offering you must offer: a sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat; a sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley,

"'This is what the sovereign Lord says: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you must take an unblemished young bull and purify the sanctuary.

This is what you must do on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins inadvertently or through ignorance; so you will make atonement for the temple.

You must divide it equally just as I vowed to give it to your forefathers; this land will be assigned as your inheritance.

You must allot it as an inheritance among yourselves and for the foreigners who reside among you, who have fathered sons among you. You must treat them as native-born among the people of Israel; they will be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.

"Next to the border of Judah from the east side to the west will be the allotment you must set apart. It is to be eight and a quarter miles wide, and the same length as one of the tribal portions, from the east side to the west; the sanctuary will be in the middle of it.

They must not sell or exchange any of it; they must not transfer this choice portion of land, for it is set apart to the Lord.

The whole allotment will be eight and a quarter miles square, you must set apart the holy allotment with the possession of the city.

When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must bow down and pay homage to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has erected.

You have issued an edict, O king, that everyone must bow down and pay homage to the golden statue when they hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music.

And whoever does not bow down and pay homage must be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.

Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must bow down and pay homage to the statue that I had made. If you don't pay homage to it, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. Now, who is that god who can rescue you from my power?"

"Then the king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every deity and he will utter presumptuous things against the God of gods. He will succeed until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been decreed must occur.

Then I told her, "You must live with me many days; you must not commit adultery or have sexual intercourse with another man, and I also will wait for you."

For the Israelites must live many days without a king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred fertility pillar, without ephod or idols.

But you must return to your God, by maintaining love and justice, and by waiting for your God to return to you.

But I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. Therefore, you must not acknowledge any God but me; except me there is no Savior.

Justice must flow like torrents of water, righteous actions like a stream that never dries up.

He issued a proclamation and said, "In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, cattle or sheep, is to taste anything; they must not eat and they must not drink water.

Every person and animal must put on sackcloth and must cry earnestly to God, and everyone must turn from their evil way of living and from the violence that they do.

Many nations have now assembled against you. They say, "Jerusalem must be desecrated, so we can gloat over Zion!"

I must endure the Lord's anger, for I have sinned against him. But then he will defend my cause, and accomplish justice on my behalf. He will lead me out into the light; I will experience firsthand his deliverance.

How long, Lord, must I cry for help? But you do not listen! I call out to you, "Violence!" But you do not intervene!

Why do you force me to witness injustice? Why do you put up with wrongdoing? Destruction and violence confront me; conflict is present and one must endure strife.

Therefore you must wait patiently for me," says the Lord, "for the day when I attack and take plunder. I have decided to gather nations together and assemble kingdoms, so I can pour out my fury on them -- all my raging anger. For the whole earth will be consumed by my fiery anger.

On that day they will say to Jerusalem, "Don't be afraid, Zion! Your hands must not be paralyzed from panic!

You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, or the poor, nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow human being.'

These are the things you must do: Speak the truth, each of you, to one another. Practice true and righteous judgment in your courts.

"It was said, 'Whoever divorces his wife must give her a legal document.'

For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.'

From that time on Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him: "God forbid, Lord! This must not happen to you!"

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

The disciples asked him, "Why then do the experts in the law say that Elijah must come first?"

Jesus answered, "You unbelieving and perverse generation! How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I endure you? Bring him here to me."

Then Peter came to him and said, "Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother who sins against me? As many as seven times?"

Now someone came up to him and said, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to gain eternal life?"

It must not be this way among you! Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant,

and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave --

"Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and father children for his brother.'

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Make sure that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come.

then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.

The one on the roof must not come down to take anything out of his house,

and the one in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.

Therefore you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

Peter said to him, "Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you." And all the disciples said the same thing.

He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will must be done."

How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?"

For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.'

Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Then Jesus called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

Then they asked him, "Why do the experts in the law say that Elijah must come first?"

He said to them, "Elijah does indeed come first, and restores all things. And why is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be despised?

He answered them, "You unbelieving generation! How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I endure you? Bring him to me."

After he sat down, he called the twelve and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all."

Now as Jesus was starting out on his way, someone ran up to him, fell on his knees, and said, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

But it is not this way among you. Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant,

and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of all.

"Teacher, Moses wrote for us: 'If a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man must marry the widow and father children for his brother.'