He cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him ¹  a tree. ²  When Moses ³  threw it into the water, the water became safe to drink. There the Lord ⁴  made for them ⁵  a binding ordinance, ⁶  and there he tested ⁷  them.

If a fellow Israelite ¹  from one of your villages ²  in the land that the Lord your God is giving you should be poor, you must not harden your heart or be insensitive ³  to his impoverished condition. ⁴ 

“Your father made us work too hard. ¹  Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.” ² 

I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors, ¹  provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law my servant Moses ordered them to obey.”

“Your father made us work too hard! ¹  Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.” ² 

I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors, ¹  provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law, the rules and regulations given to Moses.”

O Lord God of Israel, you are righteous, for we are left as a remnant this day. Indeed, we stand before you in our guilt. However, because of this guilt ¹  no one can really stand before you.”

Then I said to them, “You see the problem that we have: Jerusalem is desolate and its gates are burned. Come on! Let’s rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that this reproach will not continue.”

Just as he came forth from his mother's womb, naked will he return as he came, and he will take nothing in his hand that he may carry away from his toil.

Indeed, a man will grab his brother right in his father’s house ¹  and say, ²  ‘You own a coat – you be our leader! This heap of ruins will be under your control.’ ³ 

Sheol ¹  below is stirred up about you, ready to meet you when you arrive. It rouses ²  the spirits of the dead for you, all the former leaders of the earth; ³  it makes all the former kings of the nations rise from their thrones. ⁴ 

But these people are looted and plundered; all of them are trapped in pits ¹  and held captive ²  in prisons. They were carried away as loot with no one to rescue them; they were carried away as plunder, and no one says, “Bring that back!” ³ 

Then I will keep the promise I swore on oath to your ancestors to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.” ¹  That is the very land that you still live in today.’” ²  And I responded, “Amen! Let it be so, ³  Lord!”

People of Jerusalem, ¹  I have seen your adulterous worship, your shameless prostitution to, and your lustful pursuit of, other gods. ²  I have seen your disgusting acts of worship ³  on the hills throughout the countryside. You are doomed to destruction! ⁴  How long will you continue to be unclean?’”

I will say, ¹  ‘My dear children of Israel, ²  keep in mind the road you took when you were carried off. ³  Mark off in your minds the landmarks. Make a mental note of telltale signs marking the way back. Return, my dear children of Israel. Return to these cities of yours.

Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and boundless in loyal love ¹  – often relenting from calamitous punishment. ² 

“The Lord who rules over all says, ‘The fast of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth ¹  months will become joyful and happy, pleasant feasts for the house of Judah, so love truth and peace.’

“Blessed are you when people ¹  hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject you as evil ²  on account of the Son of Man!

And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

Indeed, he who ¹  did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?