Why, then, do these people of Jerusalem continually turn away from me in apostasy? They hold fast to their deception. They refuse to turn back to me.

But I will completely uproot and destroy any of those nations that will not pay heed,’” says the Lord.

My message is like a fire that purges dross! It is like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces! I, the Lord, so affirm it!

Can wood be taken from it to make anything useful? Or can anyone make a peg from it to hang things on?

I will make you pass under the shepherd’s staff, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

Then the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things you are doing mean for us?”

“This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Moab and Seir say, “Look, the house of Judah is like all the other nations.”

I spelled out my law for him in great detail, but they regard it as something totally unknown to them!

They do not jostle one another; each of them marches straight ahead. They burst through the city defenses and do not break ranks.

But when you do your giving, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

If this matter is heard before the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”

You have heard the blasphemy! What is your verdict?” They all condemned him as deserving death.

He has demonstrated power with his arm; he has scattered those whose pride wells up from the sheer arrogance of their hearts.

But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?”

Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!

Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him.

Was no one found to turn back and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For all seven had married her.”

For in this instance the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’