Disaster after disaster will come, and one rumor after another. They will seek a vision from a prophet; priestly instruction will disappear, along with counsel from the elders.

Destruction ¹  and Death say, ‘With our ears we have heard a rumor about where it can be found.’ ² 

Look, I will take control of his mind; ¹  he will receive ²  a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down ³  with a sword in his own land.”’”

Look, I will take control of his mind; ¹  he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down ²  with a sword in his own land.”’”

Do not lose your courage or become afraid because of the reports that are heard in the land. For a report will come in one year. Another report will follow it in the next. There will be violence in the land with ruler fighting against ruler.”

Therefore I despise myself, ¹  and I repent in dust and ashes!

So ¹  the news ²  about him spread into all areas of the region. ³ 

Listen! News is coming even now. ¹  The rumble of a great army is heard approaching ²  from a land in the north. ³  It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble, places where only jackals live.

They say, ¹  ‘An awful disease ²  overwhelms him, ³  and now that he is bed-ridden he will never recover.’ ⁴ 

He does not fear bad news. He ¹  is confident; he trusts ²  in the Lord.

So the saying circulated ¹  among the brothers and sisters ²  that this disciple was not going to die. But Jesus did not say to him that he was not going to die, but rather, “If I want him to live ³  until I come back, ⁴  what concern is that of yours?”

When he sees chariots, teams of horses, ¹  riders on donkeys, riders on camels, he must be alert, very alert.”

But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do that ¹  because what you are saying about Ishmael is not true.” ² 

Now, brothers and sisters, ¹  if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? ²  In that case the offense of the cross ³  has been removed. ⁴ 

While they were still on their way, the following report reached David: “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons; not one of them is left!”

While deployed there, the army received this report: ¹  “Zimri has conspired against the king and assassinated him.” ²  So all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that very day in the camp.

Jesus ¹  also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who was informed of accusations ²  that his manager ³  was wasting ⁴  his assets.

Indeed, ask about the distant past, starting from the day God created humankind ¹  on the earth, and ask ²  from one end of heaven to the other, whether there has ever been such a great thing as this, or even a rumor of it.