“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!

But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea.

If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

When Jesus had finished saying these things, He left Galilee and went into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. Large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there. Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?” Jesus answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? . . .

For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love.

When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. Suddenly a leper came and knelt before Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Then Jesus instructed him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift prescribed by Moses, as a testimony to them.” When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came and pleaded with Him, . . .

A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.

Reject a divisive man after a first and second admonition, knowing that such a man is corrupt and sinful; he is self-condemned.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.

Now people were bringing the little children to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them, and the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and told them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And He took the children in His arms, placed His hands on them, and blessed them.

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you. Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive to this day, every one of you. See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the LORD my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land that you are about to enter and possess. . . .

The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.

Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law. Israel cries out to Me, “O our God, we know You!” But Israel has rejected good; an enemy will pursue him. They set up kings, but not by Me. They make princes, but without My approval. With their silver and gold they make themselves idols, to their own destruction. He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? . . .

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you! Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me. Your builders hasten back; your destroyers and wreckers depart from you. Lift up your eyes and look around. They all gather together; they come to you. As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “you will wear them all as jewelry and put them on like a bride. For your ruined and desolate places and your ravaged land will now indeed be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away. . . .

Israel was a luxuriant vine, yielding fruit for himself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better he made the sacred pillars. Their hearts are devious; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and demolish their sacred pillars. Surely now they will say, “We have no king, for we do not revere the LORD. What can a king do for us?” They speak mere words; with false oaths they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field. The people of Samaria will fear for the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn with its idolatrous priests—those who rejoiced in its glory—for it has been taken from them into exile. . . .

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for My sake and for the gospel will fail to receive a hundredfold in the present age—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, along with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

He who brings trouble on his house will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.