“For He has thrown down the [arrogant] ones who dwell on high, the lofty and inaccessible city;
He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He hurls it to the dust.

Your dead will live;
Their dead bodies will rise.
You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy!
For your dew is a dew of [celestial] light [heavenly, supernatural],
And the earth will give birth to the spirits of the dead.

Then you [Jerusalem] will be brought low,
You will speak from the earth,
And from the dust where you lie face down
Your muffled words will come.
Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the earth [like one produced by a medium],
And your speech will whisper and squeak from the dust.

But the multitude of your enemies [that assault you] will become like fine dust,
And the multitude of the tyrants like the chaff which blows away;
And it will happen in an instant, suddenly [that your enemy is destroyed].

Wild oxen will also fall with them
And the young bulls with the strong bulls;
And their land will be soaked with blood,
And their dust made greasy with fat.

The streams [of Edom] will be turned into pitch,
And its dust into brimstone,
And its land will become burning pitch.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,
And marked off the heavens with a span [of the hand],
And calculated the dust of the earth with a measure,
And weighed the mountains in a balance
And the hills in a pair of scales?

In fact, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;
Now look, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

“Who has stirred up and put into action one from the east [the king of Persia, Cyrus the Great]
Whom He calls in righteousness to His service and whom victory meets at every step?
The Lord turns nations over to him
And subdues kings.
He makes them like dust with his sword,
Like wind-driven chaff with his bow.

“Come down and sit in the dust,
O virgin daughter of Babylon;
Sit on the ground [in abject humiliation]; there is no throne for you,
O daughter of the Chaldeans,
For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.

“Kings will be your attendants,
And their princesses your nurses.
They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth
And lick the dust of your feet;
And you shall know [with an understanding based on personal experience] that I am the Lord;
For they shall not be put to shame who wait and hope expectantly for Me.

Shake yourself from the dust, arise,
O captive Jerusalem;
Rid yourself of the chains around your neck,
O captive Daughter of Zion.

His grave was assigned with the wicked,
But He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

“Of whom do you make fun?
Against whom do you open wide your mouth
And stick out your tongue?
Are you not children of rebellion (sin),
Offspring of deceit,

The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox [there will no longer be predator and prey]; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain (Zion),” says the Lord.

‘As a cage is full of birds,
So are their houses full of deceit and treachery;
Therefore they have become influential and rich.

“Why then has this people of Jerusalem
Turned away with a perpetual turning away [from Me]?
They hold tightly to deceit (idolatry);
They refuse to repent and return [to God].

“Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit [oppression upon oppression and deceit upon deceit];
Through deceit they refuse to know (understand) Me,” says the Lord.

Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts,

“Behold, I will refine them [through suffering] and test them;
For how else should I deal with the daughter of My people?

Then the Lord said to me, “The [counterfeit] prophets are prophesying lies in My Name. I have neither sent them nor authorized them nor spoken to them. They are prophesying to you made-up visions [pretending to call forth responses from handmade gods], a worthless divination and the deceit of their own mind.

How long [shall this state of affairs continue]? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart,

“Is not My word like fire [that consumes all that cannot endure the test]?” says the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks the [most stubborn] rock [in pieces]?

The elders of the Daughter of Zion
Sit on the ground keeping silent;
They have thrown dust on their heads,
They have covered themselves with sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem
Have bowed their heads to the ground.

Let him put his mouth in the dust [in recognition of his unworthiness];
There may yet be hope.

Let us test and examine our ways,
And let us return to the Lord.

The crown has fallen from our head [our honor is covered with dust]!
Woe to us, for we have sinned!

“For her blood [that she has shed] remains in her midst;
She put it on the bare rock;
She did not pour it on the ground
To cover it with dust.

They will destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; and I will scrape her dust and debris from her and make her as bare as [the top of] a rock.

Because of the great number of his horses, their dust will cover you; your walls [O Tyre] will shake from the noise of the horsemen and the wagons and the chariots when he enters your gates as men enter a city that is breached.

Also they will take your riches as spoil and plunder your merchandise, and tear down your walls and your pleasant houses, and throw your stones and your timber and the debris [from your city] out in the water.

And they will make their voice heard [as they wail loudly] over you
And they will cry bitterly.
They will throw dust on their heads;
They will wallow in ashes.

Some of those who are [spiritually] wise and have insight will fall [as martyrs] in order to refine, to purge and to make those among God’s people pure, until the end time; because it is yet to come at the time appointed [by God].

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake (resurrect), these to everlasting life, but some to disgrace and everlasting contempt (abhorrence).

Ephraim surrounds Me with lies
And the house of Israel with deceit;
Judah is also unruly against God,
Even against the faithful Holy One.

A merchant, in whose hand are false and fraudulent balances;
He loves to oppress and exploit.

“These who pant after (long to see) the dust of the earth on the head of the helpless [as sign of their grief and distress]
Also turn aside the way of the humble;
And a man and his father will go to the same girl
So that My holy name is profaned.

saying,

“When will the New Moon [festival] be over
So that we may sell grain,
And the Sabbath ended so that we may open the wheat market,
Making the ephah [measure] smaller and the shekel bigger [that is, selling less for a higher price]
And to cheat by falsifying the scales,

Announce it not in Gath [in Philistia],
Weep not at all [and in this way betray your grief to Gentiles];
In Beth-le-aphrah (House of Dust) roll in the dust [among your own people].

Therefore you will give parting gifts
On behalf of Moresheth-gath (Micah’s home);
The houses of Achzib (Place of Deceit) will become a deception
To the kings of Israel.

Concerning evil, both of their hands pursue it and do it diligently and thoroughly;
The prince asks, also the judge, for a bribe,
And a great man speaks the [evil] desire of his soul.
So they twist the course of justice between them.

They shall lick the dust like a serpent;
Like crawling things of the earth
They shall come trembling out of their fortresses and hiding places.
They shall turn and come with fear and dread to the Lord our God
And they shall be afraid and stand in awe before You [O Lord].

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power
And He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm,
And the clouds are the dust beneath His feet.

“They make fun of kings
And rulers are a laughing matter to them.
They ridicule every stronghold
And heap up rubble [for earth mounds] and capture it.

“On that day I will also punish all those who leap over the temple threshold,
Who fill their [pagan] lord’s temple with violence and deceit.

I will bring distress on men
So that they will walk like the blind [unable to find a way of escape],
Because they have sinned against the Lord;
Their blood will be poured out like dust [and trampled underfoot],
And their flesh like dung.

For Tyre built herself an [impregnable] stronghold [on an island offshore],
And she has heaped up silver like dust
And gold like the mire of the streets.

“And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will listen and answer them;
I will say, ‘They are My people,’
And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

So now we call the arrogant happy and blessed. Evildoers are exalted and prosper; and when they test God, they escape [unpunished].’”

Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written and forever remains written, ‘You shall not test the Lord your God.’”

Whoever does not welcome you, nor listen to your message, as you leave that house or city, shake the dust [of it] off your feet [in contempt, breaking all ties].

And Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

And he who falls on this Stone will be broken to pieces; but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”

But Jesus, aware of their malice, asked, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites?

One of them, a lawyer [an expert in Mosaic Law], asked Jesus a question, to test Him:

Any place that does not welcome you or listen to you, when you leave there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet as a testimony against them [breaking all ties with them because they rejected My message].”

acts of greed and covetousness, wickedness, deceit, unrestrained conduct, envy and jealousy, slander and profanity, arrogance and self-righteousness and foolishness (poor judgment).

The Pharisees came out and began to argue [contentiously and debate] with Him, demanding from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him [because of their unbelief].

Pharisees came to Jesus to test Him [intending to trick Him into saying something wrong], and asked Him, “Is it lawful [according to Scripture] for a man to divorce his wife and send her away?”

Have you not even read this Scripture:

‘The stone which the builders regarded as unworthy and rejected,
This [very stone] has become the chief Cornerstone

Should we pay [the tax] or should we not pay?” But knowing their hypocrisy, He asked them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a coin (denarius) to look at.”

It was now two days before the Passover and [the festival of] Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes were searching for a deceitful way to arrest Jesus and kill Him;

Jesus replied to him, “It is said [in Scripture], ‘you shall not tempt the Lord your God [to prove Himself to you].’”

And as for all those who do not welcome you, when you leave that city, shake the dust off your feet [breaking all ties with them] as a testimony against them [that they rejected My message].”

‘Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off in protest against you [breaking all ties]; yet understand this, that the kingdom of God has come near [and you rejected it].’

And a certain lawyer [an expert in Mosaic Law] stood up to test Him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Others, trying to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven.

Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken and shattered in pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Here is an Israelite indeed [a true descendant of Jacob], in whom there is no guile nor deceit nor duplicity!”

This is the judgment [that is, the cause for indictment, the test by which people are judged, the basis for the sentence]: the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

But He said this to test Philip, because He knew what He was about to do.

They said this to test Him, hoping that they would have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and began writing on the ground with His finger.

But they shook its dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.

Now then, why are you testing God by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been able to endure?

And as they were shouting and throwing off their coats [getting ready to stone Paul] and tossing dust into the air [expressing their anger],

until they were filled (permeated, saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice and mean-spiritedness. They are gossips [spreading rumors],

each one’s work will be clearly shown [for what it is]; for the day [of judgment] will disclose it, because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality and character and worth of each person’s work.

If any person’s work which he has built [on this foundation, that is, any outcome of his effort] remains [and survives this test], he will receive a reward.

But if any person’s work is burned up [by the test], he will suffer the loss [of his reward]; yet he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has barely escaped] through fire.

But [like a boxer] I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached [the gospel] to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified [as unfit for service].

The first man [Adam] is from the earth, earthy [made of dust]; the second Man [Christ, the Lord] is from heaven.

As is the earthly man [the man of dust], so are those who are of earth; and as is the heavenly [Man], so are those who are of heaven.

Just as we have borne the image of the earthly [the man of dust], we will also bear the image of the heavenly [the Man of heaven].

For this was my purpose in writing, to see if you would stand the test, whether you are obedient and committed to following my instruction in all things.

We have sent with them our brother, whom we have often tested and found to be diligent in many things, but who is now even more diligent [than ever] because of his great confidence in you.

Because of this act of ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to the gospel of Christ which you confess, as well as for your generous participation [in this gift] for them and for all [the other believers in need],

Test and evaluate yourselves to see whether you are in the faith and living your lives as [committed] believers. Examine yourselves [not me]! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves [by an ongoing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test and are rejected as counterfeit?

But each one must carefully scrutinize his own work [examining his actions, attitudes, and behavior], and then he can have the personal satisfaction and inner joy of doing something commendable without comparing himself to another.

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception [pseudo-intellectual babble], according to the tradition [and musings] of mere men, following the elementary principles of this world, rather than following [the truth—the teachings of] Christ.

For our appeal does not come from delusion or impure motives, nor [is it motivated] by deceit [our message is complete, accurate, and based on the truth—it does not change].

But test all things carefully [so you can recognize what is good]. Hold firmly to that which is good.

Where your fathers tried Me by testing [My forbearance and tolerance],
And saw My works for forty years
[And found I stood their test].

By faith Abraham, when he was tested [that is, as the testing of his faith was still in progress], offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises [of God] was ready to sacrifice his only son [of promise];

Blessed [happy, spiritually prosperous, favored by God] is the man who is steadfast under trial and perseveres when tempted; for when he has passed the test and been approved, he will receive the [victor’s] crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

So put aside every trace of malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander and hateful speech;

He committed no sin, nor was deceit ever found in His mouth.

For,“The one who wants to enjoy life and see good days [good—whether apparent or not],
Must keep his tongue free from evil and his lips from speaking guile (treachery, deceit).

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test you [that is, to test the quality of your faith], as though something strange or unusual were happening to you.

speaking about these things as he does in all of his letters. In which there are some things that are difficult to understand, which the untaught and unstable [who have fallen into error] twist and misinterpret, just as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit [speaking through a self-proclaimed prophet]; instead test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets and teachers have gone out into the world.

And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, for the great city, where all who had ships at sea grew rich from her great wealth, because in one hour she has been laid waste!’