I acted for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

But I refrained from doing so, ¹  and acted instead for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

“‘As for you, profane and wicked prince of Israel, ¹  whose day has come, the time of final punishment,

But they do not know what the Lord is planning; they do not understand his strategy. He has gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed ¹  at the threshing floor.

Those who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,

Then ¹  the experts in the law ²  and the Pharisees began to think ³  to themselves, ⁴  “Who is this man ⁵  who is uttering blasphemies? ⁶  Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

One of the criminals who was hanging there railed at him, saying, “Aren’t ¹  you the Christ? ²  Save yourself and us!”

You must put away every kind of bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and evil, slanderous talk.

So ¹  they are astonished ²  when you do not rush with them into the same flood of wickedness, and they vilify you. ³ 

especially those who indulge their fleshly desires ¹  and who despise authority. Brazen and insolent, ²  they are not afraid to insult ³  the glorious ones, ⁴ 

yet even ¹  angels, who are much more powerful, ²  do not bring a slanderous ³  judgment against them before the Lord. ⁴ 

Yet these men, ¹  as a result of their dreams, ²  defile the flesh, reject authority, ³  and insult ⁴  the glorious ones. ⁵ 

But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend. ¹ 

Because you rage against me, and the uproar you create has reached my ears; ¹  I will put my hook in your nose, ²  and my bridle between your lips, and I will lead you back the way you came.”

I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, ¹  for my lips are contaminated by sin, ²  and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. ³  My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.” ⁴ 

He will speak words against the Most High. He will harass ¹  the holy ones of the Most High continually. His intention ²  will be to change times established by law. ³  They will be delivered into his hand For a time, times, ⁴  and half a time.

Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. ¹  But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, ²  either in this age or in the age to come.

Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. ¹  When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. ²  So pray for this remnant that remains.’” ³ 

I hereby decree ¹  that any people, nation, or language group that blasphemes ²  the god of Shadrach, Meshach, or Abednego will be dismembered and his home reduced to rubble! For there exists no other god who can deliver in this way.”

“Then the king ¹  will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every deity and he will utter presumptuous things against the God of gods. He will succeed until the time of ²  wrath is completed, for what has been decreed must occur. ³