But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to me; for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted.
Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, receive in your heart and hear with your ears all my words that I speak to you.
Those of you that escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the prostitute after their idols. Then they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;
But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way on their own heads,’ says the Lord Yahweh.”
You, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy against them,
Because with lies you have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, and be saved alive.
“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them?
Therefore speak to them, and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I Yahweh will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols;
that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.”’
“‘“For everyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live in Israel, who separates himself from me, and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of me; I Yahweh will answer him by myself.
“‘“How weak is your heart,” says the Lord Yahweh, “since you do all these things, the work of an impudent prostitute;
Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Israel?
because they rejected my ordinances, and didn’t walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.
“Therefore sigh, you son of man. You shall sigh before their eyes with a broken heart and with bitterness.
It shall be, when they ask you, ‘Why do you sigh?’ that you shall say, ‘Because of the news, for it comes! Every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it comes, and it shall be done, says the Lord Yahweh.’”
I have set the threatening sword against all their gates, that their heart may melt, and their stumblings be multiplied. Ah! It is made as lightning. It is pointed for slaughter.
Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I will deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it.
“Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down.
“You, son of man, shouldn’t it be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart, their sons and their daughters,
For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because you have clapped your hands, stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the contempt of your soul against the land of Israel;
Your borders are in the heart of the seas. Your builders have perfected your beauty.
“Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the middle of the seas;’ yet you are man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God—
by your great wisdom and by your trading you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches—”
“‘therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because you have set your heart as the heart of God,
Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I have cast you to the ground. I have laid you before kings, that they may see you.
“I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries which you have not known.
Tell them, ‘“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?”’
They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.
therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.”’
I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
“‘“Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are completely cut off.’
The man said to me, “Son of man, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I will show you; for you have been brought here so that I may show them to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.”
in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations.
Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the children of Israel.
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but to the intent that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.
Let his heart be changed from man’s, and let an animal’s heart be given to him. Then let seven times pass over him.
But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him.
“You, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this,
Then the king, when he heard these words, was very displeased, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored until the going down of the sun to rescue him.
“The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand on two feet as a man. A man’s heart was given to it.
“Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts much troubled me, and my face was changed in me; but I kept the matter in my heart.”
Then he said to me, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel; for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. I have come for your words’ sake.
The multitude will be lifted up, and his heart will be exalted. He will cast down tens of thousands, but he won’t prevail.
Then he will return into his land with great wealth. His heart will be against the holy covenant. He will take action, and return to his own land.
She will follow after her lovers, but she won’t overtake them; and she will seek them, but won’t find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.’
They feed on the sin of my people, and set their heart on their iniquity.
“Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears early.
For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own deeds have engulfed them. They are before my face.
For they have prepared their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait. Their baker sleeps all the night. In the morning it burns as a flaming fire.
They haven’t cried to me with their heart, but they howl on their beds. They assemble themselves for grain and new wine. They turn away from me.
Though I have taught and strengthened their arms, yet they plot evil against me.
Their heart is divided. Now they will be found guilty. He will demolish their altars. He will destroy their sacred stones.
My people are determined to turn from me. Though they call to the Most High, he certainly won’t exalt them.
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.
According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me.
“Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”
Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Yahweh, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.
Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.
The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’
Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard: There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.
It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, “Yahweh will not do good, neither will he do evil.”
Sing, daughter of Zion! Shout, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem.
Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’
But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.
Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Armies.
and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate,” says Yahweh.
Ephraim will be like a mighty man, and their heart will rejoice as through wine; yes, their children will see it, and rejoice. Their heart will be glad in Yahweh.
The chieftains of Judah will say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Yahweh of Armies their God.’
“Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
If you will not listen, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to my name,” says Yahweh of Armies, “then will I send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart.
This again you do: you cover Yahweh’s altar with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn’t regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand.
For I hate divorce”, says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with violence!” says Yahweh of Armies. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you don’t deal treacherously.
He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”
And the angel said to him, “Cut the fish open, and take the heart, the liver, and the gall, and keep them with you.”
If you turn to him with your whole heart and with your whole soul, to do truth before him, then will he turn to you, and won’t hide his face from you. See what he will do with you. Give him thanks with your whole mouth. Bless the Lord of righteousness. Exalt the everlasting King. I give him thanks in the land of my captivity, and show his strength and majesty to a nation of sinners. Turn, you sinners, and do righteousness before him. Who can tell if he will accept you and have mercy on you?
And if you hope in your heart that they will not be taken, don’t let your countenance fall. I have spoken it, and none of my words will fall to the ground. ”
For you will not find the depth of the heart of man, and you will not perceive the things that he thinks. How will you search out God, who has made all these things, and know his mind, and comprehend his purpose? No, my kindred, don’t provoke the Lord our God to anger!
For he has not tried us in the fire, as he did them, to search out their hearts, neither has he taken vengeance on us; but the Lord does scourge them that come near to him, to admonish them.”
And Ozias said to her, “All that you have spoken, you have spoken with a good heart. There is no one who will deny your words.
For this is not the first day wherein your wisdom is manifested; but from the beginning of your days all the people have known your understanding, because the disposition of your heart is good.
But when you stand before him, don’t be afraid in your heart, but declare to him according to your words; and he will treat you well.”
Holofernes said to her, “Woman, take courage. Don’t be afraid in your heart; for I never hurt anyone who has chosen to serve Nebuchadnezzar, the king of all the earth.
Therefore, O lord and master, don’t neglect his word; but lay it up in your heart, for it is true; for our race will not be punished, neither will the sword prevail against them, unless they sin against their God.
Judith came in and sat down, and Holofernes’ heart was ravished with her. His soul was moved, and he exceedingly desired her company. He was watching for a time to deceive her, from the day that he had seen her.
For your hope will not depart from the heart of men that remember the strength of God forever.
So Mordecai went and did all that Esther commanded him. [And he implored the Lord, making mention of all the works of the Lord; and he said, Lord God, king ruling over all, for all things are in your power, and there is no one that shall oppose you, in your purpose to save Israel. - For you have made the heaven and the earth and every wonderful thing in the world under heaven. And you are Lord of all, and there is no one who shall resist you Lord. You know all things: you know, Lord, that it is not in insolence, nor haughtiness, nor love of glory, that I have done this, to refuse to bow down to the haughty Haman. For I would gladly have kissed the soles of his feet for the safety of Israel. But I have done this, that I might not set the glory of man above the glory of God: and I will not worship any one except you, my Lord, and I will not do these things in haughtiness. And now, O Lord God, the King, the God of Abraam, spare your people, for our enemies are looking upon us to our destruction, and they have desired to destroy your ancient inheritance. Do not overlook your peculiar people, whom you have redeemed for yourself out of the land of Egypt. Hearken to my prayer, and be propitious to your inheritance, and turn our mourning into gladness, that we may live and sing praise to your name, O Lord; and do not utterly destroy the mouth of them that praise you, O Lord. And all Israel cried with all their might, for death was before their eyes. And queen Esther took refuge in the Lord, being taken as it were in the agony of death. And having taken off her glorious apparel, she put on garments of distress and mourning; and instead of grand perfumes she filled her head with ashes and dung, and she greatly brought down her body, and she filled every place of her glad adorning with the torn curls of her hair. And she implored the Lord God of Israel, and said, O my Lord, you alone are our king: help me who am destitute, and have no helper but you, for my danger is near at hand. I have heard from my birth, in the tribe of my kindred that you, Lord, took Israel out of all the nations, and our fathers out of all their kindred for a perpetual inheritance, and have wrought for them all that you have said. And now we have sinned before you, and you have delivered us into the hands of our enemies, because we honored their gods: you are righteous, O Lord. But now they have not been contented with the bitterness of our slavery, but have laid their hands on the hands of their idols, in order to abolish the decree of your mouth, and utterly to destroy your inheritances, and to stop the mouth of them that praise you, and to extinguish the glory of your house and your alter, and to open the mouth of the Gentiles to speak the praises of vanities, and in order that a mortal king should be admired for ever. O Lord, do not resign your sceptre to them that are not, and let them not laugh at our fall, but turn their counsel, against themselves, and make an example of him who has begun to injure us. Remember us , O Lord, manifest yourself in the time of our affliction, and encourage me, O King of gods, and ruler of all dominion. Put harmonious speech into my mouth before the lion, and turn his heart to hate him that fights against us, to the utter destruction of him that consent with him. But deliver us by your hand, and help me who am destitute, and have none but the, O Lord. You know all things, and know that I hate the glory of transgressors, and that I abhor the couch of the uncircumcised, and of every stranger. You know my necessity, for I abhor the symbol of my proud station, which is upon my head in the days of my splendor: I abhor it as a menstruous cloth, and I wear it not in the days of my tranquility. And your handmaid has not eaten at the table of Haman, and I have not honored the banquet of the king, neither have I drunk wine of libations. Neither has your handmaid rejoiced since the day of my promotion until now, except in you, O Lord God of Abraam. O god, who has power over all, hearken to the voice of the desperate, and deliver us from the hand of them that devise mischief; and deliver me from my fear.]
And it came to pass on the third day, when she had ceased praying, that she put off her mean dress, and put on her glorious apparel. And being splendidly arrayed, and having called upon God the Overseer and Preserver of all things, she took her two maids, and she leaned upon one, as a delicate female, and the other followed bearing her train. And she was blooming in the perfection of her beauty; and her face was cheerful, and it were benevolent, but her heart was straitened for fear. And having passed through all the doors, she stood before the king: and he was sitting upon his royal throne, and he had put on all his glorious apparel, covered all over with gold and precious stones, and was very terrible. And having raised his face resplendent with glory, he looked with intense anger: and the queen fell, and changed her color as she fainted; and she bowed herself upon the head of the maid that went before her . But God changed the spirit of the king gentleness, and in intense feeling he sprang from off his throne, and took her into his arms, until she recovered: and he comforted her with peaceful words, and said to her, What is the matter , Esther? I am your brother; be of good cheer, you shall not die, for our command is openly declared to you , Draw near.
And having raised the golden sceptre he laid it upon her neck, and embraced her, and said, Speak to me. And she said to him, I saw you, my lord, as an angel of God, and my heart was troubled for fear of your glory; for you, my lord, are to be wondered at, and your face is full of grace. And while she was speaking, she fainted and fell. Then the king was troubled, and all his servants comforted her.
Love righteousness, you⌃ that be judges of the earth, Think you⌃ of the Lord with a good mind, And in singleness of heart seek you⌃ him;
Because wisdom will not enter into a soul that deviseth evil, Nor dwell in a body that is held in pledge by sin.
For wisdom is a spirit that loves man, And she will not hold a blasphemer guiltless for his lips; Because God bears witness of his reins, And is a true overseer of his heart, And a hearer of his tongue:
Wisdom is radiant and fades not away; And easily is she saw those who love her, And found of those who seek her.
When I considered these things in myself, And took thought in my heart how that in kinship to wisdom is immortality,
For a corruptible body weighs down the soul, And the earthy frame lies heavy on a mind that is full of cares.
Moreover, when nations consenting together in wickedness had been confounded, Wisdom knew the righteous man, and preserved him blameless to God, And kept him strong when his heart yearned toward his child.
His heart is ashes, And his hope of less value than earth, And his life of less honor than clay:












