The sentries patrolling the city saw me. I asked them, "Have you found my lover?"

Then he said to me, "Make the minds of these people dull, their ears deaf, and their eyes blind, so that they cannot see or hear or understand. If they did, they might turn to me and be healed."

I asked, "How long will it be like this, Lord?" He answered, "Until the cities are ruined and empty---until the houses are uninhabited---until the land itself is a desolate wasteland.

The time for punishment has come, the time when people will get what they deserve. When that happens, Israel will know it! "This prophet," you say, "is a fool. This inspired man is insane." You people hate me so much because your sin is so great.

God has sent me as a prophet to warn his people Israel. Yet wherever I go, you try to trap me like a bird. Even in God's Temple the people are the prophet's enemies.

I know that after I leave, fierce wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock.

The time will come when some men from your own group will tell lies to lead the believers away after them.

Those men are not true apostles---they are false apostles, who lie about their work and disguise themselves to look like real apostles of Christ.

Good people may punish me and rebuke me in kindness, but I will never accept honor from evil people, because I am always praying against their evil deeds.

That is why I have sent my prophets to you with my message of judgment and destruction. What I want from you is plain and clear:

You will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time will come when those who kill you will think that by doing this they are serving God.

"I myself thought that I should do everything I could against the cause of Jesus of Nazareth.

That is what I did in Jerusalem. I received authority from the chief priests and put many of God's people in prison; and when they were sentenced to death, I also voted against them.

and I was so zealous that I persecuted the church. As far as a person can be righteous by obeying the commands of the Law, I was without fault.

On her forehead was written a name that has a secret meaning: "Great Babylon, the mother of all prostitutes and perverts in the world."

And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God's people and the blood of those who were killed because they had been loyal to Jesus. When I saw her, I was completely amazed.

Solomon has a vineyard in a place called Baal Hamon. There are farmers who rent it from him; each one pays a thousand silver coins.

On your walls, Jerusalem, I have placed sentries; They must never be silent day or night. They must remind the LORD of his promises And never let him forget them.

"Listen to another parable," Jesus said. "There was once a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a hole for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to tenants and left home on a trip.

The tenants grabbed his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

Last of all he sent his son to them. 'Surely they will respect my son,' he said.

So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

"He will certainly kill those evil men," they answered, "and rent the vineyard out to other tenants, who will give him his share of the harvest at the right time."

"The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees are the authorized interpreters of Moses' Law.

"How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You make fine tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of those who lived good lives;

So you actually admit that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets!

You snakes and children of snakes! How do you expect to escape from being condemned to hell?

As a result, the punishment for the murder of all innocent people will fall on you, from the murder of innocent Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the Temple and the altar.

"Happy are you when people hate you, reject you, insult you, and say that you are evil, all because of the Son of Man!

They called the apostles in, had them whipped, and ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus; and then they set them free.

As the apostles left the Council, they were happy, because God had considered them worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of Jesus.

For Christ's sake we are fools; but you are wise in union with Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! We are despised, but you are honored!

we wear ourselves out with hard work. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure;

Some were mocked and whipped, and others were put in chains and taken off to prison.

They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were killed by the sword. They went around clothed in skins of sheep or goats---poor, persecuted, and mistreated.

Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God's throne.

Happy are you if you are insulted because you are Christ's followers; this means that the glorious Spirit, the Spirit of God, is resting on you.

However, if you suffer because you are a Christian, don't be ashamed of it, but thank God that you bear Christ's name.