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Table Etiquette

¹² Are you seated at the table of the great?^*
   Do not be greedy at it,
   and do not say, ‘How much food there is here!’
¹³ Remember that a greedy eye is a bad thing.
   What has been created more greedy than the eye?
   Therefore it sheds tears for any reason.
¹⁴ Do not reach out your hand for everything you see,
   and do not crowd your neighbour^* at the dish.
¹⁵ Judge your neighbour’s feelings by your own,
   and in every matter be thoughtful.
¹⁶ Eat what is set before you like a well-bred person,^*
   and do not chew greedily, or you will give offence.
¹⁷ Be the first to stop, as befits good manners,
   and do not be insatiable, or you will give offence.
¹⁸ If you are seated among many others,
   do not help yourself^* before they do.

Temperance in Drinking Wine

²⁵ Do not try to prove your strength by wine-drinking,
   for wine has destroyed many.
²⁶ As the furnace tests the work of the smith,^*
   so wine tests hearts when the insolent quarrel.
²⁷ Wine is very life to human beings
   if taken in moderation.
What is life to one who is without wine?
   It has been created to make people happy.
²⁸ Wine drunk at the proper time and in moderation
   is rejoicing of heart and gladness of soul.
²⁹ Wine drunk to excess leads to bitterness of spirit,
   to quarrels and stumbling.
³⁰ Drunkenness increases the anger of a fool to his own hurt,
   reducing his strength and adding wounds.
³¹ Do not reprove your neighbour at a banquet of wine,
   and do not despise him in his merrymaking;
speak no word of reproach to him,
   and do not distress him by making demands of him.

Etiquette at a Banquet

32If they make you master of the feast, do not exalt yourself;
   be among them as one of their number.
Take care of them first and then sit down;
²   when you have fulfilled all your duties, take your place,
so that you may be merry along with them
   and receive a garland for your excellent leadership.

^{15 *}Look! On the mountains the feet of one
   who brings good tidings,
   who proclaims peace!
Celebrate your festivals, O Judah,
   fulfil your vows,
for never again shall the wicked invade you;
   they are utterly cut off.

The Destruction of the Wicked City

2A shatterer^* has come up against you.
   Guard the ramparts;
   watch the road;
gird your loins;
   collect all your strength.

² (For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob,
   as well as the majesty of Israel,
though ravagers have ravaged them
   and ruined their branches.)

³ The shields of his warriors are red;
   his soldiers are clothed in crimson.
The metal on the chariots flashes
   on the day when he musters them;
   the chargers^* prance.
⁴ The chariots race madly through the streets,
   they rush to and fro through the squares;
their appearance is like torches,
   they dart like lightning.
⁵ He calls his officers;
   they stumble as they come forward;
they hasten to the wall,
   and the mantelet^* is set up.
⁶ The river gates are opened,
   the palace trembles.
⁷ It is decreed^* that the city^* be exiled,
   its slave women led away,
moaning like doves
   and beating their breasts.
⁸ Nineveh is like a pool
   whose waters^* run away.
‘Halt! Halt!’—
   but no one turns back.
⁹ ‘Plunder the silver,
   plunder the gold!
There is no end of treasure!
   An abundance of every precious thing!’

¹⁰ Devastation, desolation, and destruction!
   Hearts faint and knees tremble,
all loins quake,
   all faces grow pale!
¹¹ What became of the lions’ den,
   the cave^* of the young lions,
where the lion goes,
   and the lion’s cubs, with no one to disturb them?
¹² The lion has torn enough for his whelps
   and strangled prey for his lionesses;
he has filled his caves with prey
   and his dens with torn flesh.

Michael Defeats the Dragon

7 And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, ⁸but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. ⁹The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming,
‘Now have come the salvation and the power
   and the kingdom of our God
   and the authority of his Messiah,^*
for the accuser of our comrades^* has been thrown down,
   who accuses them day and night before our God.
¹¹ But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
   and by the word of their testimony,
for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.
¹² Rejoice then, you heavens
   and those who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
   for the devil has come down to you
with great wrath,
   because he knows that his time is short!’

The Dragon Fights Again on Earth

13 So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued^* the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. ¹⁵Then from his mouth the serpent poured water like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. ¹⁶But the earth came to the help of the woman; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. ¹⁷Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.

53 When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile towards him and to cross-examine him about many things, ⁵⁴lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

A Warning against Hypocrisy

12Meanwhile, when the crowd gathered in thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. ²Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. ³Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.

Exhortation to Fearless Confession

4 ‘I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. ⁵But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority^* to cast into hell.^* Yes, I tell you, fear him! ⁶Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. ⁷But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

8 ‘And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; ⁹but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. ¹⁰And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. ¹¹When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how^* you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; ¹²for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.’