And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "Son of man, make known to Jerusalem its detestable things, and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were from the land of the Canaanites, your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite. And as for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were not thoroughly washed clean with water, and you were not thoroughly rubbed with salt, and you were not carefully wrapped in strips of cloth. No eye took pity on you to do to you one of these things to show compassion for you, and you were thrown into the open field in their despising of you on the day you were born.

"‘And I passed by you, and I saw you kicking about in your blood, and I said to you in your blood, "Live! Grow up; I will make you like a plant of the field." And you grew up, and you became tall and reached full womanhood. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown, but you were naked and bare.

"‘And I passed by you, and I saw you, and look, your time of lovemaking had come, and so I spread out my hem over you, and I covered your nakedness, and I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant with you,’ declares the Lord Yahweh, ‘and you became mine. And I washed you with water, and I rinsed off your blood from on you, and I anointed you with oil. And I clothed you with beautiful finished cloth, and I put sandals on you of fine leather, and I bound you in fine linen, and I covered you with costly fabric. And I adorned you with ornaments, and I put a bracelet on your arms and a necklace on your neck. And I put an ornamental ring on your nose and earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. And you adorned yourself with gold and silver, and your clothing was fine linen and costly fabric and beautiful finished cloth; you ate finely milled flour and honey and olive oil, and you became exceedingly beautiful; you were fit to be a queen. And a name went out for you among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect because of my majesty that I bestowed on you,’ declares the Lord Yahweh. ‘And you trusted in your beauty, and you prostituted on account of your name, and you poured out your fornication on every one passing by, saying, "Let it be his." And you took from your clothes and you made for yourself colorful shrines, and you prostituted on them; this had not happened before, and it will not continue to happen. And you took your beautiful jewelry made from my gold and from my silver that I had given to you, and you made for yourself male images, and you prostituted with them. And you took the clothes of your beautiful finished cloth, and you covered them and my oil and my incense you set before them. And my bread that I gave to you, finely milled flour and oil and honey with which I fed you, then you set it before them as a pleasing odor, and so it was,’ declares the Lord Yahweh. ‘And you took your sons and your daughters whom you had borne for me, and you sacrificed them to them to be eaten, as if your whorings were not enough. And you slaughtered my children, and you gave them to be sacrificed to them. And in all of your detestable things and your fornication you did not remember the days of your childhood when you were naked and bare, when you were kicking about in your blood.

"‘And then after all of your evil! Woe, woe, to you!’ declares the Lord Yahweh. ‘And then you built for yourself a mound, and you made for yourself a high place in every public square. At the head of every street you built your high place and you disgraced your beauty and you spread your feet for every passerby, and you increased your whoring. And you prostituted with the Egyptians, your neighbors who were sexually aroused, and you increased your fornication to provoke me. And look! I stretched out my hand against you, and I reduced your portion, and I gave you into the desire of your haters, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed because of your lewd conduct. And you prostituted with the Assyrians on account of your insatiable lust, and you prostituted with them, and still you were not satisfied. And you increased your fornication to the land of traders, to Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied. How hot with fever was your heart!’ declares the Lord Yahweh. ‘When you did all of these actions of a headstrong female prostitute, when you built your mound at the head of every street and your high place you made on every street, yet you were not like a prostitute, as you were scorning your harlot’s wages. O, adulterous woman! In the place of her husband she received strangers. To all prostitutes they give a fee, but you, you gave your gifts to all of your lovers, and you bribed them to come to you from all around in your whorings! And it was the opposite with you from the other women in your whorings; no one solicited you as a prostitute. You gave a harlot’s wages, and a harlot’s wages were not given to you, and so it was just the opposite.

"‘Therefore, prostitute, hear the word of Yahweh. Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because of the pouring out of your shame and because your nakedness was revealed in your whoring with your lovers, and on account of all of the idols of your detestable things, and according to the blood of your children whom you gave to them, therefore, look! I am gathering all of your lovers whom you were pleased about, and all of whom you loved in addition to all of whom you hated, and I will gather them against you from everywhere, and I will uncover your nakedness to them, and they will see all of your nakedness. And I will judge you with the judgment of women committing adultery and shedding blood, and I will give you the blood of rage and jealousy. And I will give you into their hand, and they will demolish your mound, and they will break down your high places, and they will strip you of your clothes, and they will take your beautiful jewelry, and they will leave you naked and bare. And they will bring up against you a crowd, and they will stone you with stones, and they will cut you to pieces with their swords. And they will burn your houses with fire, and they will execute against you judgments before many women, and I will stop you from prostitution, and also a harlot’s wages you will not give again. And I will satisfy my rage on you, and my jealousy will turn away from you, and I will be calm, and I will not be angry any longer. Because you did not remember the days of your childhood and you made me angry with all of these. And in turn I, look, I will return your way upon your head,’ declares the Lord Yahweh, ‘and did you not do wickedness in addition to all of your detestable things? Look! Everyone quoting a proverb against you, he will quote, saying, ‘Like her mother is her daughter!’ You are a daughter of your mother who abhorred her husband and her children, and you are a sister of your sisters who abhorred their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father was an Amorite. And your elder sister, she is Samaria, and her daughters, who are dwelling on your north, and your younger sister is the one dwelling on your south; she is Sodom and her daughters. And you have not only gone in their ways, but you also did according to their detestable things. In such a short time you behaved more corruptly than they in all of your ways. As surely as I live,’ declares the Lord Yahweh, ‘surely your sister Sodom and her daughters did not do as you and your daughters did. Look! This was the iniquity of Sodom, your sister: Pride, abundance of food, and prosperous ease was to her and to her daughters, and she did not sustain the needy and the poor. And they were proud, and they did a detestable thing before me, and I removed them because I saw it. And Samaria did not sin according to even half of your sins, and you caused your detestable things to increase more than they, and you made your sister righteous in comparison with all of your detestable things that you did. Also, you bear your disgrace, by which you furnished justification to your sisters through your sins by which you acted more abominably than they; they were more righteous than you, and also, you be ashamed and bear your disgrace through your making your sister righteous.

And I will restore their fortune, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and even the fortunes of your captivity in the midst of them, in order that you may bear your disgrace and you may be put to shame because of all that you did at your consoling them. And as for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, they will return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters, they will return to their former state, and you and your daughters will return to your former state. And was not Sodom, your sister, a byword in your mouth in the day of your pride before your evil was uncovered? It was like the time of the scorn of the daughters of Aram and all those around her, and of the daughters of the Philistines, those all around who are despising you. Your wickedness and your detestable things, you, you must bear them,’ declares Yahweh. ‘For thus says the Lord Yahweh: And I will do it to you according to what you have done, who despised the oath to break covenant. And I, I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant. And you will remember your ways, and you will be ashamed when you take your sisters, both the older and the younger, and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of your covenant. And I, I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am Yahweh, in order that you will remember, and you will be ashamed, and you will not open your mouth again because of your disgrace when I forgive you for all that you have done!’" declares the Lord Yahweh.

And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "Son of man, tell a riddle and quote a proverb to the house of Israel, and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "The great eagle with great wings and long feathers and full of variegated plumage came to Lebanon and he took the treetop of the cedar. He plucked the top of its new plant shoot, and he brought it to the land of Canaan and put it in a city of merchants, and he took from the seed of the land and placed it in fertile soil on many waters; like a willow he planted it. And it sprouted, and it became a vine spreading out, low of height, turning its branches to him, and its roots were under it, and it became a vine, and it made branches, and it sent out foliage.

"‘"And there was another great eagle, great of wings and with abundant plumage, and look! This vine stretched out its roots toward him and extended its branches to him to water it from the garden bed where it was planted. It was planted in a good field by many waters to produce branches and to bear fruit to become a beautiful vine."’ Say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Will it prosper? Will he not tear out its roots, and will he not make its fruit scaly, and it will wither, and all of the freshness of its vegetation will dry up? And to lift it from its roots will not require great strength or many people. And look! Though it is planted, will it prosper? When the east wind strikes it, will it not dry up completely? On the garden bed of its vegetation it will dry up!"’"

And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "Say now to the rebellious house of Israel, ‘Do you not know what these are?’ Say, ‘Look! The king of Babylon will come to Jerusalem, and he will take its king and its officials, and he will bring them to himself, to Babylon. And he took from the seed of the kingship, and he made with him a covenant, and he brought him under oath, and he took the rulers of the land, so that they would be a humble kingdom and not lift itself up to keep his covenant in order for it to stand. But he rebelled against him by sending his messengers to Egypt to give to him horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Will he escape doing these things, and can he break the covenant and escape? As I live,’ declares the Lord Yahweh, ‘surely in the place of the king who made him king, who despised his oath and who broke his covenant with him—in the midst of Babylon he will die. And not with a great army and with a great crowd will Pharaoh work with him in the war, at the pouring out of a siege ramp and the building of siege works to destroy many lives. And he despised the oath to break covenant. And, look, he gave his hand in pledge, and yet he did all of these things. He will not escape.’ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘As I live, surely my oath that he despised and my covenant that he broke I will return upon his head. And I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my hunting net, and I will bring him to Babylon, and I will enter into judgment with him there about his infidelity that he displayed against me. And all of his choice troops, among all of his troops, they will fall by the sword, and those who are remaining, they will be scattered to all the directions of the wind, and you will know that I, Yahweh, I have spoken.’ Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘And I will take, even I, from the treetop of the high cedar, and I will plant it, from the head of its new plant shoot I will pluck a tender one, and I will plant it, even I, on a high and lofty mountain. On the height of the mountain of Israel I will plant it, and it will carry branches, and it will bear fruit, and it will become a noble cedar, and all of the birds of all wings will dwell under it in the shade of its branches. And all of the trees of the field will know that I, Yahweh, I will bring low a high tree, and I will exalt a low, fresh tree, and I will make a dry tree flourish. I, Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will do it.’"

And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "What do you mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers, they ate unripe fruit, and the teeth of the child became blunt.’ As I live, declares the Lord Yahweh, it will surely not any longer be appropriate for you to quote this proverb in Israel! Look! All lives are mine. The lives of father and son alike are mine. The person sinning will die. And if a man is righteous and does justice and righteousness, and on the mountains he does not eat and he does not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and the wife of his neighbor he does not defile and he does not approach a woman of menstruation, and he oppresses no one and he returns a pledge for his loan and he commits no robbery and he gives his bread to the hungry and he covers a naked person with a garment, and he does not charge interest and he takes no usury, and he holds back his hand from injustice and he executes a judgment of fairness between persons, and in my statutes he goes about and my regulations he keeps, performing faithfully —then he is righteous, and certainly he will live," declares the Lord Yahweh.

"And now he has a son, a violent one, who sheds blood and does any of these things (though he did not do all of these things), for the son also eats on the mountains and he defiles the wife of his neighbor. He oppresses the needy and the poor, and he commits robbery, and he does not return a pledge for a loan, and he lifts his eyes to the idols so he does a detestable thing. He charges interest and takes usury. Then, shall he live? He shall not live, for he did all of these detestable things. Surely he will die! His blood will be on him.

"And look! He has a son, and he sees all of the sin of his father that he did, and he sees it, but he does not do it. On the mountains he does not eat, and he does not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and the wife of his neighbor he does not defile. And he oppresses no one; he requires no pledge for a loan, and he does not commit robbery; he gives his bread to the hungry, and he covers the naked person with a garment. He brings back his hand from iniquity; he does not take interest and usury; he does my regulations; he goes in my statutes. He will not die because of the guilt of his father; he will surely live! Because his father oppressed severely; he stole from his brother; that which is not good he did in the midst of his people, and look! He will die through his guilt.

"Yet you say, ‘Why does the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ And since the son does justice and righteousness and he keeps all of my statutes and does them, he shall surely live! The person, the one sinning, will die. A son shall not bear the guilt of the father, and a father shall not bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him; the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him. But if the wicked returns from all of his sins that he has done and he keeps all of my statutes and he does justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die! All of his transgressions that he committed will not be remembered against him. Through his righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I delight by any means in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord Yahweh, and not at his turning from his way, so that he lives? And when the righteous turns from his righteousness, so that he does injustice, and does all of the detestable things that the wicked do, then will he live because of all of his righteousness that he did? Those things will not be remembered because of his infidelity that he displayed, and because of his sin that he committed. Through them he shall die.

"Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!’ Listen, now, house of Israel, is my way not fair? Is it not your ways that are not fair? When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and he does injustice, then he will die because of them; because of his injustice that he did he will die! And when the wicked turns from his wickedness that he did and he does justice and righteousness, he will preserve his life. And if he sees and he returns from all of his transgressions that he did, surely he will live; he will not die! And yet they, the house of Israel, say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!’ Are not my ways fair, house of Israel? Are not your ways unfair?

"Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each one according to his ways," declares the Lord Yahweh. "Repent and turn around from all of your transgression, and it will not be as a stumbling block of iniquity to you. Throw away from yourselves all of your transgressions that you committed, and make for yourselves a new heart and new spirit, and so why will you die, house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of the dying," declares the Lord Yahweh. "And so repent and live!"

After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee (that is, Tiberias). And a large crowd was following him because they were observing the signs that he was doing on those who were sick. So Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. (Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.) Then Jesus, when he looked up and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, "Where can we buy bread so that these people can eat?" (Now he said this to test him, because he knew what he was going to do.) Philip replied to him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for them, in order that each one could receive a little." One of his disciples, Andrew the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, "Here is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?" Jesus said, "Make the people recline." (Now there was a lot of grass in the place.) So the men reclined, approximately five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the bread, and after he had given thanks, he distributed it to those who were reclining—likewise also of the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they were satisfied, he said to his disciples, "Gather the remaining fragments so that nothing is lost." So they gathered them, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.

Now when the people saw the sign that he performed, they began to say, "This one is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world!" Then Jesus, because he knew that they were about to come and seize him in order to make him king, withdrew again up the mountain by himself alone.

Now when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea. And getting into a boat, they began to go to the other side of the sea, to Capernaum. And it had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. And the sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. Then when they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were afraid. But he said to them, "It is I! Do not be afraid!" So they were wanting to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat came to the land to which they were going.

On the next day, the crowd that was on the other side of the sea saw that other boats were not there (except one), and that Jesus had not entered with his disciples into the boat, but his disciples had departed alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus.

And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" Jesus replied to them and said, "Truly, truly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were satisfied! Do not work for the food that perishes, but the food that remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has set his seal on this one."

So they said to him, "What shall we do that we can accomplish the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God: that you believe in the one whom that one sent." So they said to him, "Then what sign will you perform, so that we can see it and believe you? What will you do? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’

Then Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly I say to you, Moses did not give you bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven! For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." So they said to him, "Sir, always give us this bread!"

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never be hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty again. But I said to you that you have seen me and do not believe. Everyone whom the Father gives to me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never throw out, because I have come down from heaven not that I should do my will, but the will of the one who sent me. Now this is the will of the one who sent me: that everyone whom he has given me, I would not lose any of them, but raise them up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks at the Son and believes in him would have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."

Now the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven," and they were saying, "Is this one not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Do not grumble among yourselves! No one is able to come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who hears from the Father and learns comes to me. (Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God—this one has seen the Father.) Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that someone may eat from it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

So the Jews began to quarrel among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Then Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves! The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so also the one who eats me—that one will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. The one who eats this bread will live forever."

He said these things while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Thus many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, "This saying is hard! Who can understand it?" But Jesus, because he knew within himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Does this cause you to be offended? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? The Spirit is the one who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, "Because of this I said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by the Father."

For this reason many of his disciples drew back and were not walking with him any longer. So Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." Jesus replied to them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is the devil?" (Now he was speaking about Judas son of Simon Iscariot, because this one—one of the twelve—was going to betray him.)