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40  Thus were they polluted by their actions, ♦︎
   and in their wanton deeds went whoring after other gods.
41  Therefore was the wrath of the Lord
      kindled against his people, ♦︎
   and he abhorred his inheritance.
42  He gave them over to the hand of the nations, ♦︎
   and those who hated them ruled over them.
43  So their enemies oppressed them ♦︎
   and put them in subjection under their hand.
44  Many a time did he deliver them,
      but they rebelled through their own devices ♦︎
   and were brought down through their wickedness.
45  Nevertheless, he saw their adversity, ♦︎
   when he heard their lamentation.
46  He remembered his covenant with them ♦︎
   and relented according to the greatness of his faithful love.
47  He made them also to be pitied ♦︎
   by all who had taken them captive.
48  Save us, O Lord our God,
      and gather us from among the nations, ♦︎
   that we may give thanks to your holy name
      and glory in your praise.

12 Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, so that they may declare it? Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? ¹³And the Lord says: Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, or walked in accordance with it, ¹⁴but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their ancestors taught them. ¹⁵Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am feeding this people with wormwood, and giving them poisonous water to drink. ¹⁶I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.

The People Mourn in Judgement

¹⁷ Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Consider, and call for the mourning-women to come;
   send for the skilled women to come;
¹⁸ let them quickly raise a dirge over us,
   so that our eyes may run down with tears,
   and our eyelids flow with water.
¹⁹ For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
   ‘How we are ruined!
   We are utterly shamed,
because we have left the land,
   because they have cast down our dwellings.’

²⁰ Hear, O women, the word of the Lord,
   and let your ears receive the word of his mouth;
teach to your daughters a dirge,
   and each to her neighbour a lament.
²¹ ‘Death has come up into our windows,
   it has entered our palaces,
to cut off the children from the streets
   and the young men from the squares.’
²² Speak! Thus says the Lord:
‘Human corpses shall fall
   like dung upon the open field,
like sheaves behind the reaper,
   and no one shall gather them.’

23 Thus says the Lord: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; ²⁴but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord.

25 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will attend to all those who are circumcised only in the foreskin: ²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all those with shaven temples who live in the desert. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.

Peter and John before the Council

4While Peter and John^* were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, ²much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. ³So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. ⁴But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.

5 The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, ⁶with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John,^* and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. ⁷When they had made the prisoners^* stand in their midst, they inquired, ‘By what power or by what name did you do this?’ ⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders, ⁹if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, ¹⁰let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,^* whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. ¹¹This Jesus^* is
“the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;
   it has become the cornerstone.”^*
12There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.’