Woes for the Wicked

8Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field,

Until there is no more room,

So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!

9In my ears the Lord of hosts has sworn, “Surely, many houses shall become desolate,

Even great and fine ones, without occupants.

10For ten acres of vineyard will yield only one bath of wine,

And a homer of seed will yield but an ephah of grain.”

11Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink,

Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them!

12Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine;

But they do not pay attention to the deeds of the Lord,

Nor do they consider the work of His hands.

13Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge;

And their honorable men are famished,

And their multitude is parched with thirst.

14Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure;

And Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry and the jubilant within her, descend into it.

15So the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased,

The eyes of the proud also will be abased.

16But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment,

And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.

17Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,

And strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy.

The Widow’s Gift

1And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. 2And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. 3And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; 4for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.”

5And while some were talking about the temple, that it was adorned with beautiful stones and votive gifts, He said, 6“As for these things which you are looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down.”

7They questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, when therefore will these things happen? And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” 8And He said, “See to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not go after them. 9When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately.”

Things to Come

10Then He continued by saying to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, 11and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

12“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. 13It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. 14So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; 15for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. 16But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, 17and you will be hated by all because of My name. 18Yet not a hair of your head will perish. 19By your endurance you will gain your lives.

20“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. 21Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; 22because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled. 23Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people; 24and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The Return of Christ

25“There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

29Then He told them a parable: “Behold the fig tree and all the trees; 30as soon as they put forth leaves, you see it and know for yourselves that summer is now near. 31So you also, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near. 32Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place. 33Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

34“Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; 35for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. 36But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

37Now during the day He was teaching in the temple, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the mount that is called Olivet. 38And all the people would get up early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him.

1) How does Isaiah connect greed and pride with national collapse and divine judgment?

2) How does Yeshua describe both the devastation and the ultimate hope for those who remain faithful?

3) What perspective helps you stand firm and hopeful when the world around you seems to crumble?

Israel’s Obstinacy

1“Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are named Israel

And who came forth from the loins of Judah,

Who swear by the name of the Lord

And invoke the God of Israel,

But not in truth nor in righteousness.

2For they call themselves after the holy city

And lean on the God of Israel;

The Lord of hosts is His name.

3I declared the former things long ago

And they went forth from My mouth, and I proclaimed them.

Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.

4Because I know that you are obstinate,

And your neck is an iron sinew

And your forehead bronze,

5Therefore I declared them to you long ago,

Before they took place I proclaimed them to you,

So that you would not say, ‘My idol has done them,

And my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.’

6You have heard; look at all this.

And you, will you not declare it?

I proclaim to you new things from this time,

Even hidden things which you have not known.

7They are created now and not long ago;

And before today you have not heard them,

So that you will not say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’

8You have not heard, you have not known.

Even from long ago your ear has not been open,

Because I knew that you would deal very treacherously;

And you have been called a rebel from birth.

9For the sake of My name I delay My wrath,

And for My praise I restrain it for you,

In order not to cut you off.

10Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;

I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

11For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act;

For how can My name be profaned?

And My glory I will not give to another.

Deliverance Promised

12“Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called;

I am He, I am the first, I am also the last.

13Surely My hand founded the earth,

And My right hand spread out the heavens;

When I call to them, they stand together.

14Assemble, all of you, and listen!

Who among them has declared these things?

The Lord loves him; he will carry out His good pleasure on Babylon,

And His arm will be against the Chaldeans.

15I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have called him,

I have brought him, and He will make his ways successful.

16Come near to Me, listen to this:

From the first I have not spoken in secret,

From the time it took place, I was there.

And now the Lord God has sent Me, and His Spirit.”

17Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,

“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit,

Who leads you in the way you should go.

18If only you had paid attention to My commandments!

Then your well-being would have been like a river,

And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

19Your descendants would have been like the sand,

And your offspring like its grains;

Their name would never be cut off or destroyed from My presence.”

20Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans!

Declare with the sound of joyful shouting, proclaim this,

Send it out to the end of the earth;

Say, “The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob.”

21They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts.

He made the water flow out of the rock for them;

He split the rock and the water gushed forth.

22“There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.

Call to Repent

1Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? 3I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

6And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. 7And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ 8And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; 9and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’ ”

Healing on the Sabbath

10And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. 12When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.” 13And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. 14But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him? 16And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?” 17As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

Parables of Mustard Seed and Leaven

18So He was saying, “What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? 19It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

20And again He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.”

Teaching in the Villages

22And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem. 23And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, 24“Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ 26Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; 27and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.’ 28In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. 29And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. 30And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last.”

31Just at that time some Pharisees approached, saying to Him, “Go away, leave here, for Herod wants to kill You.” 32And He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach My goal.’ 33Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem. 34O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! 35Behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”