Ezekiel 11:2

Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;

Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies.

Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect.

Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; for emptiness will be his reward.

Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?

In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.

Hear, heavens, and listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me.

“For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.”

But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter. I didn’t know that they had devised plans against me, saying, “Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit, and let’s cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.”

“Let’s break their bonds apart, and cast their cords from us.”

So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels.

For they don’t sleep unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.

a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?”

You will conceive chaff. You will give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will devour you.

I have spread out my hands all day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts;

What do you plot against Yahweh? He will make a full end. Affliction won’t rise up the second time.

They conceive mischief, and produce iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit.”

Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men.

For they intended evil against you. They plotted evil against you which cannot succeed.

Don’t draw me away with the wicked, with the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts.

My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

those who devise mischief in their hearts. They continually gather themselves together for war.

Don’t devise evil against your neighbor, since he dwells securely by you.

The words of a gossip are like dainty morsels: they go down into a person’s innermost parts.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.

For the ruthless is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who are alert to do evil are cut off—

“Woe to the rebellious children”, says Yahweh, “who take counsel, but not from me; and who make an alliance, but not with my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin,

For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear Yahweh’s law;

For I have heard the defaming of many, “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.”

“ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “It will happen in that day that things will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.

For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies.

He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him.”

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.

Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death.

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

It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.’

Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look, and fail with longing for them all day long. There will be no power in your hand.

Then I sent to him, saying, “There are no such things done as you say, but you imagine them out of your own heart.”

He frustrates the plans of the crafty, So that their hands can’t perform their enterprise.

He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their heart is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb. They flatter with their tongue.

For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, while they conspire together against me, they plot to take away my life.

For they don’t speak peace, but they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.

Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

Behold, they spew with their mouth. Swords are in their lips, “For”, they say, “who hears us?”

I will dwell in your tent forever. I will take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows, deadly words,

“Come,” they say, “let’s destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”

You who love Yahweh, hate evil! He preserves the souls of his saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.

Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it.

There is one who speaks rashly like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise heals.

There are many plans in a man’s heart, but Yahweh’s counsel will prevail.

One who plots to do evil will be called a schemer.

“Don’t say, ‘A conspiracy!’ concerning all about which this people say, ‘A conspiracy!’ neither fear their threats, nor be terrorized.

Therefore the Holy One of Israel says, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on it,

The ways of the scoundrel are evil. He devises wicked plans to destroy the humble with lying words, even when the needy speaks right.

For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you. You have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’

But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them.

There is no one who calls on your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities.

“For long ago I broke off your yoke, and burst your bonds. You said, ‘I will not serve;’ for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute.

As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,’ ” says Yahweh.

“Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her.

I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

“But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone.

Don’t trust in lying words, saying, ‘Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, are these.’

Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit.

“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.” ’

then Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, “You speak falsely. Yahweh our God has not sent you to say, ‘You shall not go into Egypt to live there;’

He said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day.

I have made your forehead as a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”

Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says, “Put the cauldron on the fire. Put it on, and also pour water into it.

Woe to them! For they have wandered from me. Destruction to them! For they have trespassed against me. Though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against me.

There is one gone out of you, who devises evil against Yahweh, who counsels wickedness.

Now I will break his yoke from off you, and will burst your bonds apart.”

You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;

Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and begged him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his plan that he had planned against the Jews.

He plots iniquity on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn’t abhor evil.

in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.

No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity, and speak lies. They conceive mischief, and give birth to iniquity.

Then they said, “Come! Let’s devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law won’t perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let’s strike him with the tongue, and let’s not give heed to any of his words.”

Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.