Acts 28:27

Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow,

But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant.

But Jesus said, “Allow the little children, and don’t forbid them to come to me; for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to ones like these.”

in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.

if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.

for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again; and I would heal them.’

“He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and would turn, and I would heal them.”

Brothers, don’t be children in thoughts, yet in malice be babies, but in thoughts be mature.

So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!

‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear:

The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf.

Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

“Don’t keep talking so exceedingly proudly. Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouth, for Yahweh is a God of knowledge. By him actions are weighed.

but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy.

They took fortified cities and a rich land, and possessed houses full of all good things, cisterns dug out, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were filled, became fat, and delighted themselves in your great goodness.

because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs.

I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.

They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy.

It may be they will listen, and every man turn from his evil way; that I may relent from the evil which I intend to do to them because of the evil of their doings.’

“Therefore, you son of man, prepare your stuff for moving, and move by day in their sight. You shall move from your place to another place in their sight. It may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house.

but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.

For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world produces death.

as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

and return to Yahweh your God and obey his voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul,

The Rock: his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.

Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.

Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.

Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit.

But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me.

He will call to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation!’

Their heart is as callous as the fat, but I delight in your law.

Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

lest I be full, deny you, and say, ‘Who is Yahweh?’ or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him, to our God, for he will freely pardon.

It may be they will present their supplication before Yahweh, and will each return from his evil way; for Yahweh has pronounced great anger and wrath against this people.”

You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.

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;

According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me.

Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!

For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”

but I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn’t fail. You, when once you have turned again, establish your brothers.”

but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.

Behold, I will throw her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great oppression, unless they repent of her works.

lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built fine houses and lived in them;

You shall return and obey Yahweh’s voice, and do all his commandments which I command you today.

Is this the way you repay Yahweh, foolish and unwise people? Isn’t he your father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.

But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.

He was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together.

“There is no one like God, Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens for your help, in his excellency on the skies.

Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?’

Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you are returning to Yahweh with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to Yahweh, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”

Yahweh lives! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,

May all my enemies be ashamed and dismayed. They shall turn back, they shall be disgraced suddenly.

His ways are prosperous at all times. He is arrogant, and your laws are far from his sight. As for all his adversaries, he sneers at them.

You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.

They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their redeemer.

Oh come, let’s sing to Yahweh. Let’s shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!

I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word.

Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward.

Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.”

All you inhabitants of the world, and you dwellers on the earth, when a banner is lifted up on the mountains, look! When the trumpet is blown, listen!

This is what Yahweh who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: “Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

“Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a plan against you. Everyone return from his evil way now, and amend your ways and your doings.” ’

I have sent also to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, ‘Every one of you must return now from his evil way, amend your doings, and don’t go after other gods to serve them, then you will dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers:’ but you have not inclined your ear, nor listened to me.

The children are impudent and stiff-hearted. I am sending you to them, and you shall tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says.’

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.

The local governors, the deputies, and the governors, and the king’s counselors, being gathered together, saw these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies. The hair of their head wasn’t singed. Their pants weren’t changed, the smell of fire wasn’t even on them.

Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all of your enemies be cut off.

and said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

that ‘seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should be forgiven them.’ ”

About him we have many words to say, and hard to interpret, seeing you have become dull of hearing.

“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘You shall eat no fat, of bull, or sheep, or goat.

They close up their callous hearts. With their mouth they speak proudly.

Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people, and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.

It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I intend to do to them; that they may each return from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

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.

“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,