If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you,
and if the sign or wonder he has spoken to you comes about, but he says, “Let us follow other gods (which you have not known) and let us worship them,”
you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.
I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it.
However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.
Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed.
In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.
And this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”
He did not refuse to confess, but openly declared, “I am not the Christ.”
“Then who are you?” they inquired. “Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.”
So they said to him, “Who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet: “I am a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
. . .
He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.
By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
So then, by their fruit you will recognize them.
This is the burden against Arabia: In the thickets of Arabia you must lodge, O caravans of Dedanites.
Bring water for the thirsty, O dwellers of Tema; meet the refugees with food.
For they flee from the sword—the sword that is drawn—from the bow that is bent, and from the stress of battle.
For this is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker would count it, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.
The remaining archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” For the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.
However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.
If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—
the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
In a little while the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live.
. . .
I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised them, just as God had told him.
If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other unloved, and both bear him sons, but the unloved wife has the firstborn son,
when that man assigns his inheritance to his sons he must not appoint the son of the beloved wife as the firstborn over the son of the unloved wife.
Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of his unloved wife, by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For that son is the firstfruits of his father’s strength; the right of the firstborn belongs to him.
This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut:
The Levitical priests—indeed the whole tribe of Levi—shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They are to eat the offerings made by fire to the LORD; that is their inheritance.
Although they have no inheritance among their brothers, the LORD is their inheritance, as He promised them.
This shall be the priests’ share from the people who offer a sacrifice, whether a bull or a sheep: the priests are to be given the shoulder, the jowls, and the stomach.
You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the first wool sheared from your flock.
For the LORD your God has chosen Levi and his sons out of all your tribes to stand and minister in His name for all time.
. . .
Ishmael’s descendants settled from Havilah to Shur, which is near the border of Egypt as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.
“Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.
He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the streets.
A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”
This is what God the LORD says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it:
. . .
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—
the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.
The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged in marriage to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
Then Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and with their hands uplifted, all the people said, “Amen, Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD and the message does not come to pass or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
He will be a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.
So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised.
And Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him.
When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.
Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
. . .
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.
And I will hold accountable anyone who does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name.
But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.”
And this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”
He did not refuse to confess, but openly declared, “I am not the Christ.”
“Then who are you?” they inquired. “Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.”
And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me;
in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me;
and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world has been condemned.
For I have given them the words You gave Me, and they have received them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me.
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now My kingdom is not of this realm.”
But even the archangel Michael, when he disputed with the devil over the body of Moses, did not presume to bring a slanderous charge against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subject to violence, and the violent lay claim to it.
For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.
And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.
He who has ears, let him hear.
. . .
I hope you will bear with a little of my foolishness, but you are already doing that.
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it way too easily.
I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”
. . .
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers,
not to be easily disconcerted or alarmed by any spirit or message or letter seeming to be from us, alleging that the Day of the Lord has already come.
Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness—the son of destruction—is revealed.
He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
Do you not remember that I told you these things while I was still with you?
. . .
The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,
and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.
For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie,
in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.
“Hear this, O priests! Take heed, O house of Israel! Give ear, O royal house! For this judgment is against you because you have been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread out on Tabor.
The rebels are deep in slaughter; but I will chastise them all.
I know all about Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me. For now, O Ephraim, you have turned to prostitution; Israel is defiled.
Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, for a spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the LORD.
Israel’s arrogance testifies against them; Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; even Judah stumbles with them.
. . .
Jesus said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks will come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
It would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.
Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
. . .
Then He proceeded to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it out to some tenants, and went away for a long time.
At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed.
So he sent another servant, but they beat him and treated him shamefully, sending him away empty-handed.
Then he sent a third, but they wounded him and threw him out.
‘What shall I do?’ asked the owner of the vineyard. ‘I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.’
. . .
Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a wine vat, and built a watchtower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.
At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard.
But they seized the servant, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.
Then he sent them another servant, and they struck him over the head and treated him shamefully.
He sent still another, and this one they killed. He sent many others; some they beat and others they killed.
. . .
Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. “May you never bear fruit again!” He said. And immediately the tree withered.
When the disciples saw this, they marveled and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.
Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.
When the harvest time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit.
But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.
Again, he sent other servants, more than the first group. But the tenants did the same to them.
Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
. . .
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.
For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: the whole supply of food and water,
the mighty man and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the soothsayer and the elder,
the commander of fifty and the dignitary, the counselor, the cunning magician, and the clever enchanter.
“I will make mere lads their leaders, and children will rule over them.”
The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the young will rise up against the old, and the base against the honorable.
. . .
“Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.
He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the streets.
A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”
This is what God the LORD says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it:
. . .
“Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.
He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the streets.
A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”
Let the desert and its cities raise their voices; let the villages of Kedar cry aloud. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them cry out from the mountaintops.
Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.
After all this, O LORD, will You restrain Yourself? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in Me as well.
In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am.
You know the way to the place where I am going.”
“Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?”
. . .
“I have told you these things so that you will not fall away.
They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.
They will do these things because they have not known the Father or Me.
But I have told you these things so that when their hour comes, you will remember that I told you about them. I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.
Now, however, I am going to Him who sent Me; yet none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’
. . .
Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.
Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Jesus replied, “Elijah does indeed come, and he will restore all things.
But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him whatever they wished. In the same way, the Son of Man will suffer at their hands.”
Then the disciples understood that He was speaking to them about John the Baptist.
Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples:
“The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.
So practice and observe everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
. . .
What, then, is the advantage of being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?
Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.”
But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms.
. . .
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