I discovered Israel
like grapes in the wilderness.
I saw your fathers
like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to Baal-peor,
consecrated themselves to Shame,
and became detestable,
like the thing they loved.

Ephraim is struck down;
their roots are withered;
they cannot bear fruit.
Even if they bear children,
I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs.

Their hearts are devious;
now they must bear their guilt.
The Lord will break down their altars
and demolish their sacred pillars.

I will attack them
like a bear robbed of her cubs
and tear open the rib cage over their hearts.
I will devour them there like a lioness,
like a wild beast that would rip them open.

I will ransom them from the power of Sheol.
I will redeem them from death.
Death, where are your barbs?
Sheol, where is your sting?
Compassion is hidden from My eyes.

Samaria will bear her guilt
because she has rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword;
their little ones will be dashed to pieces,
and their pregnant women ripped open.

Don’t be afraid, wild animals,
for the wilderness pastures have turned green,
the trees bear their fruit,
and the fig tree and grapevine yield their riches.

After this
I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity;
then your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
your old men will have dreams,
and your young men will see visions.

I will even pour out My Spirit
on the male and female slaves in those days.

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Israel
for three crimes, even four,
because they sell a righteous person for silver
and a needy person for a pair of sandals.

They trample the heads of the poor
on the dust of the ground
and block the path of the needy.
A man and his father have sexual relations
with the same girl,
profaning My holy name.

Does a lion roar in the forest
when it has no prey?
Does a young lion growl from its lair
unless it has captured something?

Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan
who are on the hill of Samaria,
women who oppress the poor
and crush the needy,
who say to their husbands,
“Bring us something to drink.”

Do not seek Bethel
or go to Gilgal
or journey to Beer-sheba,
for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,
and Bethel will come to nothing.

Therefore, because you trample on the poor
and exact a grain tax from him,
you will never live in the houses of cut stone
you have built;
you will never drink the wine
from the lush vineyards
you have planted.

For I know your crimes are many
and your sins innumerable.
They oppress the righteous, take a bribe,
and deprive the poor of justice at the gates.

It will be like a man who flees from a lion
only to have a bear confront him.
He goes home and rests his hand against the wall
only to have a snake bite him.

Hear this, you who trample on the needy
and do away with the poor of the land,

We can buy the poor with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals
and even sell the chaff!”

Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria
and say, “As your god lives, Dan,”
or “As the way of Beer-sheba lives”—
they will fall, never to rise again.

Woe to those who dream up wickedness
and prepare evil plans on their beds!
At morning light they accomplish it
because the power is in their hands.

If a man of wind comes
and invents lies:
“I will preach to you about wine and beer,”
he would be just the preacher for this people!

As for me, however, I am filled with power
by the Spirit of the Lord,
with justice and courage,
to proclaim to Jacob his rebellion
and to Israel his sin.

Writhe and cry out, Daughter Zion,
like a woman in labor,
for now you will leave the city
and camp in the open fields.
You will go to Babylon;
there you will be rescued;
there the Lord will redeem you
from the power of your enemies!

My people,
remember what Balak king of Moab proposed,
what Balaam son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from the Acacia Grove to Gilgal
so that you may acknowledge
the Lord’s righteous acts.

The statutes of Omri
and all the practices of Ahab’s house
have been observed;
you have followed their policies.
Therefore, I will make you a desolate place
and the city’s residents an object of contempt;
you will bear the scorn of My people.”

The best of them is like a brier;
the most upright is worse than a hedge of thorns.
The day of your watchmen,
the day of your punishment, is coming;
at this time their panic is here.

Nations will see and be ashamed
of all their power.
They will put their hands over their mouths,
and their ears will become deaf.

The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;
the Lord will never leave the guilty unpunished.
His path is in the whirlwind and storm,
and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.

The lion mauled whatever its cubs needed
and strangled prey for its lionesses.
It filled up its dens with the kill,
and its lairs with mauled prey.

Beware, I am against you.
This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.
I will make your chariots go up in smoke
and the sword will devour your young lions.
I will cut off your prey from the earth,
and the sound of your messengers
will never be heard again.

Woe to the city of blood,
totally deceitful,
full of plunder,
never without prey.

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil,
and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
So why do You tolerate those who are treacherous?
Why are You silent
while one who is wicked swallows up
one who is more righteous than himself?

His brilliance is like light;
rays are flashing from His hand.
This is where His power is hidden.

Therefore, wait for Me—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
until the day I rise up for plunder.
For My decision is to gather nations,
to assemble kingdoms,
in order to pour out My indignation on them,
all My burning anger;
for the whole earth will be consumed
by the fire of My jealousy.

For I will then restore
pure speech to the peoples
so that all of them may call
on the name of Yahweh
and serve Him with a single purpose.

I will overturn royal thrones and destroy the power of the Gentile kingdoms. I will overturn chariots and their riders. Horses and their riders will fall, each by his brother’s sword.

I will move against them with My power, and they will become plunder for their own servants. Then you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me.

Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.

“Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at Me whom they pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for Him as one weeps for a firstborn.

If a man still prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will say to him: You cannot remain alive because you have spoken falsely in the name of Yahweh. When he prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will pierce him through.

“For My name will be great among the nations, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name in every place because My name will be great among the nations,” says Yahweh of Hosts.

Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way,” says the Lord of Hosts. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.

“The poor in spirit are blessed,
for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

The pure in heart are blessed,
for they will see God.

Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward!

But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

“Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward!

But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

When you pray, don’t babble like the idolaters, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words.

“Therefore, you should pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,
Your name be honored as holy.

And do not bring us into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
[For Yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.]

Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

You will even be brought before governors and kings because of Me, to bear witness to them and to the nations.

the blind see, the lame walk, those with skin diseases are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news.

But the one sown on the good ground—this is one who hears and understands the word, who does bear fruit and yields: some 100, some 60, some 30 times what was sown.”

After dismissing the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone.

Again, I assure you: If two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven.

Then children were brought to Him so He might put His hands on them and pray. But the disciples rebuked them.

“Which ones?” he asked Him. Jesus answered:

Do not murder;
do not commit adultery;
do not steal;
do not bear false witness;

“If you want to be perfect,” Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

‘These last men put in one hour, and you made them equal to us who bore the burden of the day and the burning heat!’

But Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and the men of high position exercise power over them.

Jesus answered them, “You are deceived, because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God.

Pray that your escape may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.

“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

“This might have been sold for a great deal and given to the poor.”

You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He told the disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

“You have said it,” Jesus told him. “But I tell you, in the future you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

At once Jesus realized in Himself that power had gone out from Him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My robes?”

After He said good-bye to them, He went away to the mountain to pray.

Then He said to them, “I assure you: There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God come in power.”

You know the commandments:

Do not murder;
do not commit adultery;
do not steal;
do not bear false witness;
do not defraud;
honor your father and mother.”

Then, looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

Jesus called them over and said to them, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and their men of high positions exercise power over them.

Therefore I tell you, all the things you pray and ask for—believe that you have received them, and you will have them.

Jesus told them, “Are you not deceived because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God?

And a poor widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little.

Summoning His disciples, He said to them, “I assure you: This poor widow has put in more than all those giving to the temple treasury.

Pray it won’t happen in winter.

Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.

While He was in Bethany at the house of Simon who had a serious skin disease, as He was reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of pure and expensive fragrant oil of nard. She broke the jar and poured it on His head.

For this oil might have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor.” And they began to scold her.

You always have the poor with you, and you can do what is good for them whenever you want, but you do not always have Me.

Then they came to a place named Gethsemane, and He told His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”

Then He went a little farther, fell to the ground, and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.

Stay awake and pray so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

“I am,” said Jesus, “and all of you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

But the angel said to him:

Do not be afraid, Zechariah,
because your prayer has been heard.
Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,
and you will name him John.

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord
and will never drink wine or beer.
He will be filled with the Holy Spirit
while still in his mother’s womb.

And he will go before Him
in the spirit and power of Elijah,
to turn the hearts of fathers
to their children,
and the disobedient
to the understanding of the righteous,
to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.

The angel replied to her:

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore, the holy One to be born
will be called the Son of God.

and to offer a sacrifice (according to what is stated in the law of the Lord: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons).

Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread throughout the entire vicinity.

The Spirit of the Lord is on Me,
because He has anointed Me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent Me
to proclaim freedom to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free the oppressed,

Amazement came over them all, and they kept saying to one another, “What is this message? For He commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out!”