All your fortifications will be like fig trees with first-ripe fruit: If they are shaken, their figs will fall into the mouth of the eater!

Your warriors will be like women in your midst; the gates of your land will be wide open to your enemies; fire will consume the bars of your gates.

Multiply yourself like the young locust; multiply yourself like the flying locust!

Increase your merchants more than the stars of heaven! They are like the young locust which sheds its skin and flies away.

Your courtiers are like locusts, your officials are like a swarm of locusts! They encamp in the walls on a cold day, yet when the sun rises, they fly away; and no one knows where they are.

Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria! Your officers are slumbering! Your people are scattered like sheep on the mountains and there is no one to regather them!

Your destruction is like an incurable wound; your demise is like a fatal injury! All who hear what has happened to you will clap their hands for joy, for no one ever escaped your endless cruelty!

"Look at the nations and pay attention! You will be shocked and amazed! For I will do something in your lifetime that you will not believe even though you are forewarned.

Look, I am about to empower the Babylonians, that ruthless and greedy nation. They sweep across the surface of the earth, seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them.

Their horses are faster than leopards and more alert than wolves in the desert. Their horses gallop, their horses come a great distance; like a vulture they swoop down quickly to devour their prey.

They sweep by like the wind and pass on. But the one who considers himself a god will be held guilty."

You made people like fish in the sea, like animals in the sea that have no ruler.

Look, the one whose desires are not upright will faint from exhaustion, but the person of integrity will live because of his faithfulness.

Indeed, wine will betray the proud, restless man! His appetite is as big as Sheol's; like death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations; he seizes all peoples.

"You who force your neighbor to drink wine are as good as dead -- you who make others intoxicated by forcing them to drink from the bowl of your furious anger, so you can look at their genitals.

He takes his battle position and shakes the earth; with a mere look he frightens the nations. The ancient mountains disintegrate; the primeval hills are flattened. He travels on the ancient roads.

I will bring distress on the people and they will stumble like blind men, for they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood will be poured out like dirt; their flesh will be scattered like manure.

Bunch yourselves together like straw, you undesirable nation,

before God's decree becomes reality and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff, before the Lord's raging anger overtakes you -- before the day of the Lord's angry judgment overtakes you!

Therefore, as surely as I live," says the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel, "be certain that Moab will become like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah. They will be overrun by weeds, filled with salt pits, and permanently desolate. Those of my people who are left will plunder their belongings; those who are left in Judah will take possession of their land."

The Israelites who remain will not act deceitfully. They will not lie, and a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouth. Indeed, they will graze peacefully like sheep and lie down; no one will terrify them."

Look, at that time I will deal with those who mistreated you. I will rescue the lame sheep and gather together the scattered sheep. I will take away their humiliation and make the whole earth admire and respect them.

Who among you survivors saw the former splendor of this temple? How does it look to you now? Isn't it nothing by comparison?

On that day,' says the Lord who rules over all, 'I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant,' says the Lord, 'and I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you,' says the Lord who rules over all."

"Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets called out, saying, 'The Lord who rules over all says, "Turn now from your evil wickedness,"' but they would by no means obey me," says the Lord.

"You there! Flee from the northland!" says the Lord, "for like the four winds of heaven I have scattered you," says the Lord.

"Sing out and be happy, Zion my daughter! For look, I have come; I will settle in your midst," says the Lord.

The Lord said to Satan, "May the Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Isn't this man like a burning stick snatched from the fire?"

For who dares make light of small beginnings? These seven eyes will joyfully look on the tin tablet in Zerubbabel's hand. (These are the eyes of the Lord, which constantly range across the whole earth.)

Then I turned to look, and there was a flying scroll!

After this the angelic messenger who had been speaking to me went out and said, "Look, see what is leaving."

Then I looked again and saw two women going forth with the wind in their wings (they had wings like those of a stork) and they lifted up the basket between the earth and the sky.

Then he cried out to me, "Look! The ones going to the northland have brought me peace about the northland."

Then say to him, 'The Lord who rules over all says, "Look -- here is the man whose name is Branch, who will sprout up from his place and build the temple of the Lord.

Tyre built herself a fortification and piled up silver like dust and gold like the mud of the streets!

I will take away their abominable religious practices; then those who survive will become a community of believers in our God, like a clan in Judah, and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.

Then I will surround my temple to protect it like a guard from anyone crossing back and forth; so no one will cross over against them anymore as an oppressor, for now I myself have seen it.

Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Look! Your king is coming to you: he is legitimate and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey -- on a young donkey, the foal of a female donkey.

I will bend Judah as my bow; I will load the bow with Ephraim, my arrow! I will stir up your sons, Zion, against yours, Greece, and I will make you, Zion, like a warrior's sword.

Then the Lord will appear above them, and his arrow will shoot forth like lightning; the Lord God will blow the trumpet and will sally forth on the southern storm winds.

The Lord who rules over all will guard them, and they will prevail and overcome with sling stones. Then they will drink, and will become noisy like drunkards, full like the sacrificial basin or like the corners of the altar.

For the household gods have spoken wickedness, the soothsayers have seen a lie, and as for the dreamers, they have disclosed emptiness and give comfort in vain. Therefore the people set out like sheep and become scattered because they have no shepherd.

And they will be like warriors trampling the mud of the streets in battle. They will fight, for the Lord will be with them, and will defeat the enemy cavalry.

The Ephraimites will be like warriors and will rejoice as if they had drunk wine. Their children will see it and rejoice; they will celebrate in the things of the Lord.

On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like an igniter among sticks and a burning torch among sheaves, and they will burn up all the surrounding nations right and left. Then the people of Jerusalem will settle once more in their place, the city of Jerusalem.

On that day the Lord himself will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the weakest among them will be like mighty David, and the dynasty of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them.

"I will pour out on the kingship of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn.

Then I will bring the remaining third into the fire; I will refine them like silver is refined and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name and I will answer; I will say, 'These are my people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is my God.'"

All the land will change and become like the Arabah from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem will be raised up and will stay in its own place from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate and on to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses.

Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can keep standing when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire, like a launderer's soap.

He will act like a refiner and purifier of silver and will cleanse the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will offer the Lord a proper offering.

You have said, 'It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all?

"For indeed the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up," says the Lord who rules over all. "It will not leave even a root or branch.

But for you who respect my name, the sun of vindication will rise with healing wings, and you will skip about like calves released from the stall.

You will trample on the wicked, for they will be like ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing," says the Lord who rules over all.

Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives.

"Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him Emmanuel," which means "God with us."

He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well."

After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to look for the child to kill him."

After Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming on him.

so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

"Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.

When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard.

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

"When you fast, do not look sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unattractive so that people will see them fasting. I tell you the truth, they have their reward.

Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you more valuable than they are?

Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these!

"Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

because he taught them like one who had authority, not like their experts in the law.

Now when Jesus saw a large crowd around him, he gave orders to go to the other side of the lake.

And he said, "Go!" So they came out and went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake and drowned in the water.

After the demon was cast out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, "Never has anything like this been seen in Israel!"

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

"I am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house 'Beelzebul,' how much more will they defame the members of his household!

"Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?"

What did you go out to see? A man dressed in fancy clothes? Look, those who wear fancy clothes are in the homes of kings!

This is the one about whom it is written: 'Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'

"To what should I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to one another,

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look at him, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."

But when the Pharisees saw this they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is against the law to do on the Sabbath."

Someone told him, "Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside wanting to speak to you."

On that day after Jesus went out of the house, he sat by the lake.

And concerning them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: 'You will listen carefully yet will never understand, you will look closely yet will never comprehend.

He presented them with another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a person who sowed good seed in his field.

He gave them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.

He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all the dough had risen."

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears had better listen!

"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field, that a person found and hid. Then because of joy he went and sold all that he had and bought that field.

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls.

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea that caught all kinds of fish.

Then he said to them, "Therefore every expert in the law who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his treasure what is new and old."

And he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

But so that we don't offend them, go to the lake and throw out a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you will find a four drachma coin. Take that and give it to them for me and you."

and said, "I tell you the truth, unless you turn around and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven!

Whoever then humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And whoever welcomes a child like this in my name welcomes me.

What do you think? If someone owns a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for the one that went astray?

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, treat him like a Gentile or a tax collector.