Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard all the insults you spoke against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They are desolate, they have been given to us for food.”

At the beginning of your requests a message went out, and I have come to convey it to you, for you are of great value in God’s sight. ¹  Therefore consider the message and understand the vision: ² 

Now I have come to help you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to future days.”

What he will honor is a god of fortresses – a god his fathers did not acknowledge he will honor with gold, silver, valuable stones, and treasured commodities.

Many will be purified, made clean, and refined, but the wicked will go on being wicked. None of the wicked will understand, though the wise will understand.

Yet ¹  until now ²  she has refused to acknowledge ³  that I ⁴  was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil; and that it was I who ⁵  lavished on her the silver and gold – which they ⁶  used in worshiping Baal! ⁷ 

They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery ¹  against their God.

Their wicked deeds do not allow them to return to their God; because a spirit of idolatry ¹  controls their heart, ²  and they do not acknowledge the Lord.

But I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. Therefore, you must not acknowledge any God but me; except me there is no Savior.

Who is wise? Let him discern ¹  these things! Who is discerning? Let him understand them! For the ways of the Lord are right; the godly walk in them, but in them the rebellious stumble.

Hearing this, ¹  the men became even more afraid ²  and said to him, “What have you done?” (The men said this because they knew that he was trying to escape ³  from the Lord, ⁴  because he had previously told them. ⁵ )

Therefore night will fall, and you will receive no visions; ¹  it will grow dark, and you will no longer be able to read the omens. ²  The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn to darkness over their heads. ³ 

‘Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.’ Thus the land had become desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful ¹  land a waste.”

Now when Jesus ¹  realized what they were thinking, he said to them, ²  “Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed, ³  and no town or house divided against itself will stand.

“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad ¹  and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is known by its fruit.

And concerning them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: ‘You will listen carefully ¹  yet will never understand, you will look closely ²  yet will never comprehend.

For I tell you the truth, ¹  many prophets and righteous people longed to see ²  what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

And Jesus answered him, ¹  “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood ²  did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven!

And I tell you that Elijah has already come. Yet they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. In ¹  the same way, the Son of Man will suffer at their hands.”

But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief ¹  was coming, he would have been alert and would not have let his house be broken into.