The Lord Will Give Salvation

1 ⁱThe oracle of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, ^jwho stretched out the heavens and ^kfounded the earth and ^jformed the spirit of man within him: 2 “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem ^la cup of staggering to ^mall the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem ⁿwill also be against Judah. 3 ^oOn that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. ^pAll who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And ^mall the nations of the earth will gather against it. 4 ^oOn that day, declares the Lord, ^qI will strike every horse ^rwith panic, and its rider ^rwith madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples ^rwith blindness. 5 Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of hosts, their God.’

6 ^o“On that day I will make the clans of Judah ^slike a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And ^tthey shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while ^uJerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.

7 “And the Lord will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. 8 ^oOn that day ^vthe Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that ^wthe feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, ^xlike the angel of the Lord, going before them. 9 ^oAnd on that day ^yI will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Him Whom They Have Pierced

10 “And ^zI will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and ^zpleas for mercy, so that, ^awhen they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, ^bthey shall mourn for him, ^cas one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 11 ^oOn that day ^dthe mourning in Jerusalem will be as great ^eas the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land shall mourn, ^feach family¹ by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of ^gNathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of ^hthe Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; 14 and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves.

1 ⁱ“On that day there shall be ^ja fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

Idolatry Cut Off

2 “And ⁱon that day, declares the Lord of hosts, ^kI will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that ^lthey shall be remembered no more. And also ^mI will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness. 3 And if anyone again prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ⁿ‘You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord.’ And his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.

4 “On that day ^oevery prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, 5 but he will say, ^p‘I am no prophet, I am a worker of the soil, for a man sold me in my youth.’² 6 And if one asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your back?’³ he will say, ‘The wounds I received in the house of my friends.’

The Shepherd Struck

Greeting

1 Paul, a servant¹ of God and ^aan apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and ^btheir knowledge of the truth, ^cwhich accords with godliness, 2 ^din hope of eternal life, which God, ^ewho never lies, ^fpromised ^gbefore the ages began² 3 and ^hat the proper time manifested in his word^{3 i}through the preaching ^jwith which I have been entrusted ^kby the command of God our Savior;

4 To Titus, ^lmy true child in ^ma common faith:

ⁿGrace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Qualifications for Elders

5 ^oThis is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and ^pappoint elders in every town as I directed you— 6 ^qif anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife,⁴ and his children are believers⁵ and not open to the charge of ^rdebauchery or insubordination. 7 For an overseer,^{6 s}as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not ^tbe arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent ^uor greedy for gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, ^vand disciplined. 9 He must ^whold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in ^xsound⁷ doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

10 For there are many who are insubordinate, ^yempty talkers and deceivers, especially those of ^zthe circumcision party.⁸ 11 They must be silenced, since ^athey are upsetting whole families by teaching ^bfor shameful gain what they ought not to teach. 12 ^cOne of the Cretans,⁹ a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”¹⁰ 13 This testimony is true. Therefore ^drebuke them ^esharply, that they ^fmay be sound in the faith, 14 ^gnot devoting themselves to Jewish myths and ^hthe commands of people ⁱwho turn away from the truth. 15 ^jTo the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and ^kunbelieving, nothing is pure; but both ^ltheir minds and their consciences are defiled. 16 ^mThey profess to know God, but they ⁿdeny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, ^ounfit for any good work.

Teach Sound Doctrine

1 But as for you, teach what accords with ^psound¹¹ doctrine. 2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, ^psound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. 3 ^qOlder women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, ^rnot slanderers ^sor slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, ^tpure, ^uworking at home, kind, and ^vsubmissive to their own husbands, ^wthat the word of God may not be reviled. 6 Likewise, urge ^xthe younger men to be self-controlled.