Now when Mordecai became aware of all that had been done, he ¹  tore his garments and put on sackcloth and ashes. He went out into the city, crying out in a loud ²  and bitter voice.

You have scrutinized my inner motives; ¹  you have examined me during the night. ²  You have carefully evaluated me, but you find no sin. I am determined I will say nothing sinful. ³ 

the way ¹  of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship in the sea, and the way of a man with a woman. ² 

During the days of my fleeting life ¹  I have seen both ²  of these things: Sometimes ³  a righteous person dies prematurely ⁴  in spite of ⁵  his righteousness, and sometimes ⁶  a wicked person lives long ⁷  in spite of his evil deeds.

I will make streams flow down the slopes and produce springs in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water and the arid land into springs.

“As for those who consecrate and ritually purify themselves so they can follow their leader and worship in the sacred orchards, ¹  those who eat the flesh of pigs and other disgusting creatures, like mice ²  – they will all be destroyed together,” ³  says the Lord.

May that man be like the cities ¹  that the Lord destroyed without showing any mercy. May he hear a cry of distress in the morning and a battle cry at noon.

The Lord said to him, “Go through the city of Jerusalem ¹  and put a mark ²  on the foreheads of the people who moan and groan over all the abominations practiced in it.”

“‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, surely in the city ¹  of the king who crowned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke – in the middle of Babylon he will die!

You will become fuel for the fire – your blood will stain the middle of the land; ¹  you will no longer be remembered, for I, the Lord, have spoken.’”

On the same day they slaughtered their sons for their idols, they came to my sanctuary to desecrate it. This is what they have done in the middle of my house.

She will be a place where fishing nets are spread, surrounded by the sea. For I have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord. She will become plunder for the nations,

I will send a plague into the city ¹  and bloodshed into its streets; the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it ²  from every side. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Again he measured 1,750 feet and led me through the water, which was now knee deep. Once more he measured 1,750 feet and led me through the water, which was waist deep.

While I was contemplating all this, ¹  a male goat ²  was coming from the west over the surface of all the land ³  without touching the ground. This goat had a conspicuous horn ⁴  between its eyes.

Shepherd your people with your shepherd’s rod, ¹  the flock that belongs to you, ²  the one that lives alone in a thicket, in the midst of a pastureland. ³  Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead, ⁴  as they did in the old days. ⁵ 

There the fire will consume ¹  you; the sword will cut you down; it will devour ²  you like the young locust would.Multiply yourself ³  like the young locust; multiply yourself like the flying locust!

“But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, ¹  it would be better for him to have a huge millstone ²  hung around his neck and to be drowned in the open sea. ³ 

“If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone ¹  tied around his neck and to be thrown into the sea.

But ¹  Jesus rebuked him: ²  “Silence! Come out of him!” ³  Then, after the demon threw the man ⁴  down in their midst, he came out of him without hurting him. ⁵