Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for your sin has been your downfall! ¹ 

“I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away. ¹ 

I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, ¹  did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel ²  jealous.

For we all stumble ¹  in many ways. If someone does not stumble ²  in what he says, ³  he is a perfect individual, ⁴  able to control the entire body as well.

And David says, “Let their table become a snare and trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them;

It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything that causes your brother to stumble. ¹ 

For this reason, if food causes my brother or sister to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause one of them ¹  to sin.

We grope along the wall like the blind, we grope like those who cannot see; ¹  we stumble at noontime as if it were evening. Though others are strong, we are like dead men. ² 

Yet my people have forgotten me and offered sacrifices to worthless idols! This makes them stumble along in the way they live and leave the old reliable path of their fathers. ¹  They have left them to walk in bypaths, in roads that are not smooth and level. ² 

They will come back shedding tears of contrition. I will bring them back praying prayers of repentance. ¹  I will lead them besides streams of water, along smooth paths where they will never stumble. ²  I will do this because I am Israel’s father; Ephraim ³  is my firstborn son.’”

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.

Calamity is ¹  hungry for him, ²  and misfortune is ready at his side. ³ 

Even if ¹  he trips, he will not fall headlong, ²  for the Lord holds ³  his hand.

But as for me, my feet almost slipped; my feet almost slid out from under me. ¹ 

So he used suffering to humble them; ¹  they stumbled and no one helped them up.

Even these men ¹  stagger because of wine, they stumble around because of beer – priests and prophets stagger because of beer, they are confused ²  because of wine, they stumble around because of beer; they stagger while seeing prophetic visions, ³  they totter while making legal decisions. ⁴ 

But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together; they gathered together to ambush me. ¹  They tore at me without stopping to rest. ² 

“Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity ¹  right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek ²  me?

Therefore we must not pass judgment on one another, but rather determine never to place an obstacle or a trap before a brother or sister. ¹ 

Therefore, brothers and sisters, ¹  make every effort to be sure of your calling and election. ²  For by doing this ³  you will never ⁴  stumble into sin. ⁵