and God met him. Balaam said to him, "I have built the seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each."

Listen to me, you rulers of Israel, you that hate justice and turn right into wrong.

The city's rulers govern for bribes, the priests interpret the Law for pay, the prophets give their revelations for money---and they all claim that the LORD is with them. "No harm will come to us," they say. "The LORD is with us."

He said, "Tell the people of the land and the priests that when they fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during these seventy years, it was not in honor of me.

This is what the LORD said through the earlier prophets at the time when Jerusalem was prosperous and filled with people and when there were many people living not only in the towns around the city but also in the southern region and in the western foothills.

You have said, 'It's useless to serve God. What's the use of doing what he says or of trying to show the LORD Almighty that we are sorry for what we have done?

They took their money and started grumbling against the employer.

'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'while we put up with a whole day's work in the hot sun---yet you paid them the same as you paid us!'

But he spoke back to his father, 'Look, all these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have never disobeyed your orders. What have you given me? Not even a goat for me to have a feast with my friends!

Jesus also told this parable to people who were sure of their own goodness and despised everybody else.

The Pharisee stood apart by himself and prayed, 'I thank you, God, that I am not greedy, dishonest, or an adulterer, like everybody else. I thank you that I am not like that tax collector over there.

The following regulations are to be observed for all time to come. On the tenth day of the seventh month the Israelites and the foreigners living among them must fast and must not do any work.

That day is to be a very holy day, one on which they fast and do no work at all. These regulations are to be observed for all time to come.

(SEE 23:26)

I humble myself by fasting, and people insult me;

At that time I was mourning for three weeks.

I did not eat any rich food or any meat, drink any wine, or comb my hair until the three weeks were past.

When the king of Nineveh heard about it, he got up from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth, and sat down in ashes.

All persons and animals must wear sackcloth. Everyone must pray earnestly to God and must give up their wicked behavior and their evil actions.

and decided to act. I denounced the leaders and officials of the people and told them, "You are oppressing your own relatives!" I called a public assembly to deal with the problem

If you do not obey the law, God will find your prayers too hateful to hear.

their Hebrew slaves, both male and female, so that no one would have an Israelite as a slave.

but later they changed their minds, took them back, and forced them to become slaves again.

the God of Israel, told me to say to the people: "I made a covenant with your ancestors when I rescued them from Egypt and set them free from slavery. I told them that

Just a few days ago you changed your minds and did what pleased me. All of you agreed to set all Israelites free, and you made a covenant in my presence, in the Temple where I am worshiped.

So now, I, the LORD, say that you have disobeyed me; you have not given all Israelites their freedom. Very well, then, I will give you freedom: the freedom to die by war, disease, and starvation. I will make every nation in the world horrified at what I do to you.

"Then the man went out and met one of his fellow servants who owed him a few dollars. He grabbed him and started choking him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he said.

But he refused; instead, he had him thrown into jail until he should pay the debt.

So he called the servant in. 'You worthless slave!' he said. 'I forgave you the whole amount you owed me, just because you asked me to.

The king was very angry, and he sent the servant to jail to be punished until he should pay back the whole amount."

I was angry with my people; I treated them as no longer mine: I put them in your power, and you showed them no mercy; even the aged you treated harshly.

Years later the king of Egypt died, but the Israelites were still groaning under their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry went up to God,

who heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.