2 Kings 24:4

He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,

Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.

Yahweh will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you put your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the evil of your doings, by which you have forsaken me.

The king said to him, “Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father’s house.

Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; in addition to his sin with which he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight.

You say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?

Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”

“But you who forsake Yahweh, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny;

I will utter my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

As a well produces its waters, so she produces her wickedness. Violence and destruction is heard in her. Sickness and wounds are continually before me.

House of David, Yahweh says, ‘Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you; and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his rooms of imagery? For they say, ‘Yahweh doesn’t see us. Yahweh has forsaken the land.’ ”

“ ‘ “Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and you have sacrificed these to them to be devoured. Was your prostitution a small matter,

‘The Lord Yahweh says, “Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness uncovered through your prostitution with your lovers; and because of all the idols of your abominations, and for the blood of your children, that you gave to them;

has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination,

“You, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations.

Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.

The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

But flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat.

It shall be, if you shall forget Yahweh your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you shall surely perish.

Only you shall not eat the blood. You shall pour it out on the earth like water.

Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone.

They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger.

“Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has also made Judah to sin with his idols;

He gave them into the hand of the nations. Those who hated them ruled over them.

Prepare for slaughter of his children because of the iniquity of their fathers, that they not rise up and possess the earth, and fill the surface of the world with cities.

Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths.

Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,

This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, will even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.

But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”

Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and to all the people, saying, “Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.

Yahweh says to me: “Make bonds and bars, and put them on your neck.

They wander as blind men in the streets. They are polluted with blood, So that men can’t touch their garments.

He went up and down among the lions. He became a young lion. He learned to catch the prey. He devoured men.

You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made! You have caused your days to draw near, and have come even to your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries.

“ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Let it suffice you, princes of Israel: remove violence and plunder, and execute justice and righteousness; dispossessing my people,” says the Lord Yahweh.

They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

Arise, and depart! For this is not your resting place, because of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction.

Now many nations have assembled against you, that say, “Let her be defiled, and let our eye gloat over Zion.”

Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. The prey doesn’t depart.

Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.

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.”

from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.’ Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.

By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God testifying with respect to his gifts; and through it he, being dead, still speaks.

having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin; enticing unsettled souls; having a heart trained in greed; children of cursing;

If the thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt of bloodshed for him.

Notwithstanding, Yahweh didn’t turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocation with which Manasseh had provoked him.

For the wicked boasts of his heart’s cravings. He blesses the greedy and condemns Yahweh.

“Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.

Don’t move the ancient boundary stone. Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

Yes, the dogs are greedy. They can never have enough. They are shepherds who can’t understand. They have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter.

“For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.

For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;

As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right. In the middle of his days, they will leave him. At his end, he will be a fool.

Don’t go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and don’t provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; then I will do you no harm.”

You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain.

“ ‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Woe to the bloody city, to the cauldron whose rust is in it, and whose rust hasn’t gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece. No lot is fallen on it.

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.

There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.

“ ‘So you shall not pollute the land where you live; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it.

This is so that innocent blood will not be shed in the middle of your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, leaving blood guilt on you.

Forgive, Yahweh, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and don’t allow innocent blood among your people Israel.” The blood shall be forgiven them.

For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted.

They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood.

arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts. You didn’t find them breaking in, but it is because of all these things.

if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, and don’t walk after other gods to your own hurt;

Because they have forsaken me, and have defiled this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods that they didn’t know, they, their fathers, and the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents,

Yahweh says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

Only know for certain that, if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants; for in truth Yahweh has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”

“We have transgressed and have rebelled. You have not pardoned.

“ ‘Make chains; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.

Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger. Behold, they put the branch to their nose.

Then he said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion; for they say, ‘Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh doesn’t see.’

“I will bring you out of the middle of it, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.

For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire to them to be devoured.

Therefore tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. So should you possess the land?

that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar.

saying, “I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? You see to it.”

added this also to them all, that he shut up John in prison.

that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;

For they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve this.”