“Listen to me, you who pursue godliness, ¹  who seek the Lord! Look at the rock from which you were chiseled, at the quarry ²  from which you were dug! ³ 

Listen to me, you who know what is right, you people who are aware of my law! ¹  Don’t be afraid of the insults of men; don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!

For a moth will eat away at them like clothes; a clothes moth will devour them like wool. But the vindication I provide ¹  will be permanent; the deliverance I give will last.”

Then your light will shine like the sunrise; ¹  your restoration will quickly arrive; ²  your godly behavior ³  will go before you, and the Lord’s splendor will be your rear guard. ⁴ 

He wears his desire for justice ¹  like body armor, ²  and his desire to deliver is like a helmet on his head. ³  He puts on the garments of vengeance ⁴  and wears zeal like a robe.

Nations will see your vindication, and all kings your splendor. You will be called by a new name that the Lord himself will give you. ¹ 

You assist ¹  those who delight in doing what is right, ²  who observe your commandments. ³  Look, you were angry because we violated them continually. How then can we be saved? ⁴ 

We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. ¹  We all wither like a leaf; our sins carry us away like the wind.

I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. ¹  They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. ²  They do not know what their God requires of them. ³ 

I will go to the leaders ¹  and speak with them. Surely they know what the Lord demands. ²  Surely they know what their God requires of them.” ³  Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority and refuse to submit to him. ⁴ 

The person who gathers wealth by unjust means is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. ¹  Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. ²  At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool.” ³ 

“‘Sure to be judged ¹  is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. ²  He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.

“Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not suffer ¹  for his father’s iniquity?’ When the son does what is just and right, and observes all my statutes and carries them out, he will surely live.

“But if the wicked person turns from all the sin he has committed and observes all my statutes and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.

“I will display my majesty ¹  among the nations. All the nations will witness the judgment I have executed, and the power I have exhibited ²  among them.

When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will magnify myself among them in the sight of many nations.

Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, you Israelites! ¹  Listen closely, ²  O king! ³  For judgment is about to overtake you! ⁴  For you were like a trap ⁵  to Mizpah, ⁶  like a net ⁷  spread out to catch Tabor. ⁸ 

This is what the Lord says: “Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions ¹  – make that four! ²  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³  They sold the innocent ⁴  for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals. ⁵ 

“But all these nations will someday taunt him ¹  and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ²  ‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead ³  (How long will this go on?) ⁴  – he who gets rich by extortion!’ ⁵ 

While Paul ¹  was discussing ²  righteousness, self-control, ³  and the coming judgment, Felix ⁴  became ⁵  frightened and said, “Go away for now, and when I have an opportunity, ⁶  I will send for you.”