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33  Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes ♦︎
   and I shall keep it to the end.
34  Give me understanding and I shall keep your law; ♦︎
   I shall keep it with my whole heart.
35  Lead me in the path of your commandments, ♦︎
   for therein is my delight.
36  Incline my heart to your testimonies ♦︎
   and not to unjust gain.
37  Turn away my eyes lest they gaze on vanities; ♦︎
   O give me life in your ways.
38  Confirm to your servant your promise, ♦︎
   which stands for all who fear you.
39  Turn away the reproach which I dread, ♦︎
   because your judgements are good.
40  Behold, I long for your commandments; ♦︎
   in your righteousness give me life.

The Boiling Pot

24In the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ²Mortal, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. ³And utter an allegory to the rebellious house and say to them, Thus says the Lord God:
Set on the pot, set it on,
   pour in water also;
⁴ put in it the pieces,
   all the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder;
   fill it with choice bones.
⁵ Take the choicest one of the flock,
   pile the logs^* under it;
boil its pieces,^*
   seethe^* also its bones in it.

6 Therefore, thus says the Lord God:
Woe to the bloody city,
   the pot whose rust is in it,
   whose rust has not gone out of it!
Empty it piece by piece,
   making no choice at all.^*
7 For the blood she shed is inside it;
   she placed it on a bare rock;
she did not pour it out on the ground,
   to cover it with earth.
⁸ To rouse my wrath, to take vengeance,
   I have placed the blood she shed
   on a bare rock,
   so that it may not be covered.
⁹Therefore thus says the Lord God:
Woe to the bloody city!
   I will even make the pile great.
¹⁰ Heap up the logs, kindle the fire;
   boil the meat well, mix in the spices,
   let the bones be burned.
¹¹ Stand it empty upon the coals,
   so that it may become hot, its copper glow,
   its filth melt in it, its rust be consumed.
¹² In vain I have wearied myself;^*
   its thick rust does not depart.
   To the fire with its rust!^*
13 Yet, when I cleansed you in your filthy lewdness,
   you did not become clean from your filth;
you shall not again be cleansed
   until I have satisfied my fury upon you.
¹⁴I the Lord have spoken; the time is coming, I will act. I will not refrain, I will not spare, I will not relent. According to your ways and your doings I will judge you, says the Lord God.

Paul’s Concern for the Corinthian Church

11 I have been a fool! You forced me to it. Indeed you should have been the ones commending me, for I am not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing. ¹²The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, signs and wonders and mighty works. ¹³How have you been worse off than the other churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!

14 Here I am, ready to come to you this third time. And I will not be a burden, because I do not want what is yours but you; for children ought not to lay up for their parents, but parents for their children. ¹⁵I will most gladly spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? ¹⁶Let it be assumed that I did not burden you. Nevertheless (you say) since I was crafty, I took you in by deceit. ¹⁷Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? ¹⁸I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Titus did not take advantage of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves with the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?

19 Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves before you? We are speaking in Christ before God. Everything we do, beloved, is for the sake of building you up. ²⁰For I fear that when I come, I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish; I fear that there may perhaps be quarrelling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. ²¹I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you, and that I may have to mourn over many who previously sinned and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and licentiousness that they have practised.