Silence those liars--- all the proud and arrogant who speak with contempt about the righteous.

Listen to their insults and threats. Their tongues are like swords in their mouths, yet they think that no one hears them.

Sin is on their lips; all their words are sinful; may they be caught in their pride! Because they curse and lie,

They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim cruel words like arrows.

They are quick to spread their shameless lies; they destroy good people with cowardly slander.

They laugh at other people and speak of evil things; they are proud and make plans to oppress others.

They speak evil of God in heaven and give arrogant orders to everyone on earth,

Their tongues are like deadly snakes; their words are like a cobra's poison.

There are people who take cruel advantage of the poor and needy; that is the way they make their living.

Then the people said, "Let's do something about Jeremiah! There will always be priests to instruct us, the wise to give us counsel, and prophets to proclaim God's message. Let's bring charges against him and stop listening to what he says."

When the Pharisees heard this, they replied, "He drives out demons only because their ruler Beelzebul gives him power to do so."

You snakes---how can you say good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

It was Enoch, the seventh direct descendant from Adam, who long ago prophesied this about them: "The Lord will come with many thousands of his holy angels

to bring judgment on all, to condemn them all for the godless deeds they have performed and for all the terrible words that godless sinners have spoken against him!"

The wicked are proud and persecute the poor; catch them in the traps they have made.

The wicked do not care about the LORD; in their pride they think that God doesn't matter.

They say to themselves, "We will never fail; we will never be in trouble."

Why do you boast, great one, of your evil? God's faithfulness is eternal.

The enemy said, 'I will pursue them and catch them; I will divide their wealth and take all I want; I will draw my sword and take all they have.'

But one breath from you, LORD, and the Egyptians were drowned; they sank like lead in the terrible water.

The wicked tell God to leave them alone; they don't want to know his will for their lives.

They think there is no need to serve God nor any advantage in praying to him.

The emperor of Assyria boasts, "I have done it all myself. I am strong and wise and clever. I wiped out the boundaries between nations and took the supplies they had stored. Like a bull I have trampled the people who live there.

But the LORD says, "Can an ax claim to be greater than the one who uses it? Is a saw more important than the one who saws with it? A club doesn't lift up a person; a person lifts up a club."

You sent your servants to boast to me that with all your chariots you had conquered the highest mountains of Lebanon. You boasted that there you cut down the tallest cedars and the finest cypress trees, and that you reached the deepest parts of the forests.

You boasted that you dug wells and drank water in foreign lands, and that the feet of your soldiers tramped the Nile River dry.

While I was staring at the horns, I saw a little horn coming up among the others. It tore out three of the horns that were already there. This horn had human eyes and a mouth that was boasting proudly.

While I was looking, I could still hear the little horn bragging and boasting. As I watched, the fourth beast was killed, and its body was thrown into the flames and destroyed.

He will speak against the Supreme God and oppress God's people. He will try to change their religious laws and festivals, and God's people will be under his power for three and a half years.

It even defied the Prince of the heavenly army, stopped the daily sacrifices offered to him, and ruined the Temple.

"The king of Syria will do as he pleases. He will boast that he is greater than any god, superior even to the Supreme God. He will be able to do this until the time when God punishes him. God will do exactly what he has planned.

The king will ignore the god his ancestors served, and also the god that women love. In fact, he will ignore every god, because he will think he is greater than any of them.

The beast was allowed to make proud claims which were insulting to God, and it was permitted to have authority for forty-two months.

It began to curse God, his name, the place where he lives, and all those who live in heaven.