Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, zwho sinned, this man aor his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but bthat the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me cwhile it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, dI am the elight of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he fspit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he ganointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, h“Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, i“Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” jOthers said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
The Word of Life
1 aThat which was from the beginning, bwhich we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning cthe word1 of life— 2 the dlife was made emanifest, and we have seen it, and ftestify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was gwith the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our hfellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And iwe are writing these things so that jour2 joy may be complete.
Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 “How long will you say these things,
and the words of your mouth be a great twind?
3 uDoes God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
4 If your vchildren have sinned against him,
he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
5 wIf you will seek God
and xplead with the Almighty for mercy,
6 if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore your rightful habitation.
7 And ythough your beginning was small,
zyour latter days will be very great.
8 “For inquire, please, of bygone ages,
and consider what the fathers have searched out.
9 For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,
for our days on earth are a ashadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you
and utter words out of their understanding?
11 b“Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
12 While yet in flower and not cut down,
they wither before any other plant.
13 Such are the paths of all who forget God;
the chope of the godless shall perish.
14 His confidence is severed,
and his trust is a spider’s web.1
15 He leans against his dhouse, but it does not stand;
he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
16 He is a lush plant before the sun,
and his shoots spread over his garden.
17 His roots entwine the stone heap;
he looks upon a house of stones.
18 If he is destroyed from ehis place,
then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’
19 Behold, this is the joy of his way,
and out of the soil others will spring.
20 “Behold, fGod will not reject a blameless man,
nor take the hand of evildoers.
21 He will yet gfill your mouth with laughter,
and your lips with shouting.
22 Those who hate you will be hclothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”
Israel’s Shedding of Blood
1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “And you, son of man, iwill you judge, will you judge the jbloody city? Then declare to her all her abominations. 3 You shall say, Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that her time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! 4 You have become guilty by the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought your days near, the appointed time of1 your years has come. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. 5 Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; your name is defiled; you are full of tumult.
6 “Behold, the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. 7 kFather and mother are treated with contempt in you; the lsojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the mfatherless and the widow are wronged in you. 8 You have ndespised my holy things and oprofaned my Sabbaths. 9 There are men in you who pslander to shed blood, and people in you who qeat on the mountains; they commit rlewdness in your midst. 10 In you men suncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women twho are unclean in their menstrual impurity. 11 One commits abomination with his uneighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his vdaughter-in-law; another in you violates his wsister, his father’s daughter. 12 In you they take xbribes to shed blood; you take yinterest and profit2 and make gain of your neighbors by zextortion; but me you have aforgotten, declares the Lord God.
13 “Behold, I bstrike my hand at the dishonest gain that you have made, and at the blood that has been in your midst. 14 Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? cI the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. 15 I will dscatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will econsume your uncleanness out of you. 16 And you shall be profaned by your own doing in the sight of the nations, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
17 And the word of the Lord came to me: 18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become fdross to me; all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are dross of silver. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As one gathers silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, to blow the fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. 21 I will gather you and gblow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it. 22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you shall be melted in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord; I have hpoured out my wrath upon you.”
23 And the word of the Lord came to me: 24 “Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is inot cleansed or rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 The jconspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. 26 Her priests have done violence to my law and have kprofaned my holy things. They have made no ldistinction between the holy and the common, neither have they mtaught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes in her midst are like nwolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets have smeared owhitewash for them, seeing pfalse visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. 30 And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and qstand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. 31 Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.”
Oholah and Oholibah
1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, there were two women, rthe daughters of one mother. 3 They splayed the whore in Egypt; they played the whore in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms3 handled. 4 Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
5 “Oholah played the whore while she was mine, and she lusted after her lovers the tAssyrians, warriors 6 clothed in purple, governors and commanders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7 She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted. 8 She did not give up her whoring that she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her. 9 Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 These uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became a byword among women, when judgment had been executed on her.
11 “Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became umore corrupt than her sister4 in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. 12 vShe lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 14 But she carried her whoring further. She saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, 15 wearing belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. 16 When she saw them, wshe lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, she turned from them in disgust. 18 When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, xI turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister. 19 Yet she increased her whoring, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt 20 and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. 21 Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed5 your young breasts.”
22 yTherefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24 And they shall come against you from the north6 with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. They shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments. 25 And I will direct my jealousy against you, that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26 zThey shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. 27 Thus aI will put an end to your lewdness and your whoring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.
28 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, 29 and they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring 30 have brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; therefore bI will give her cup into your hand. 32 Thus says the Lord God:
“You shall drink your sister’s cup
that is deep and large;
you shall be laughed at and held in derision,
for it contains much;
33 you will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow.
A cup of horror and desolation,
the cup of your sister Samaria;
34 you shall drink it and drain it out,
and gnaw its shards,
and tear your breasts;
for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. 35 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have forgotten me and ccast me behind your back, you yourself must dbear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”
36 The Lord said to me: “Son of man, ewill you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up7 to them for food the fchildren whom they had borne to me. 38 Moreover, this they have done to me: they have gdefiled my sanctuary on the same day and hprofaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, this is what they did in my house. 40 They even sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments. 41 You sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed imy incense and my oil. 42 The sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort, drunkards8 were brought from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on the hands of the women, and beautiful crowns on their heads.
43 “Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery, ‘Now they will continue to use her for a whore, even her!’9 44 For they have gone in to her, as men go in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, lewd women! 45 jBut righteous men shall pass judgment on them with the sentence of kadulteresses, and with the sentence of women who lshed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.”
46 For thus says the Lord God: “Bring up a vast host against them, and make them an object of terror and a plunder. 47 And the host shall mstone them and cut them down with their swords. They shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses. 48 Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. 49 And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and you shall know that I am the Lord God.”
