Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 428
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IMMERSE
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PROPHETS
11:12–12:8
And I said to them, “If you like, give me my wages, whatever I am worth;
but only if you want to.” So they counted out for my wages thirty pieces
of silver.
And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—this magnificent
sum at which they valued me! So I took the thirty coins and threw them
to the potter in the Temple of the Lord.
Then I took my other staff, Union, and cut it in two, showing that the
bond of unity between Judah and Israel was broken.
Then the Lord said to me, “Go again and play the part of a worthless
shepherd. This illustrates how I will give this nation a shepherd who will
not care for those who are dying, nor look after the young, nor heal the
injured, nor feed the healthy. Instead, this shepherd will eat the meat of the
fattest sheep and tear off their hooves.
“What sorrow awaits this worthless shepherd
who abandons the flock!
The sword will cut his arm
and pierce his right eye.
His arm will become useless,
and his right eye completely blind.”
This message concerning the fate of Israel came from the Lord: “This
message is from the Lord, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foun
dations of the earth, and formed the human spirit. I will make Jerusalem
like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they
send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. On that day I will make
Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try
to move it, but they will only hurt themselves.
“On that day,” says the Lord, “I will cause every horse to panic and
every rider to lose his nerve. I will watch over the people of Judah, but I
will blind all the horses of their enemies. And the clans of Judah will say
to themselves, ‘The people of Jerusalem have found strength in the Lord
of Heaven’s Armies, their God.’
“On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a flame that sets a wood
pile ablaze or like a burning torch among sheaves of grain. They will burn
up all the neighboring nations right and left, while the people living in
Jerusalem remain secure.
“The Lord will give victory to the rest of Judah first, before Jerusalem,
so that the people of Jerusalem and the royal line of David will not have
greater honor than the rest of Judah. On that day the Lord will defend the
