O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.

Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.

And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.

Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The LORD look upon it, and require it.

Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.

In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.

And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.

And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.

And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some.

And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.

Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:

Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:

But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.

Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.

Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not.

From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.

They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:

Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me.

And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him;

Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.

But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,

Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.

Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.

Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.

Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.

As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.

And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.

And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.

But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.

Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.

And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.

And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:

And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:

And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.

For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.

And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem.

Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither.

And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them.

And they said, The Lord hath need of him.

And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way.

Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.

And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.