Zechariah 11:17

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.

Having eyes, don’t you see? Having ears, don’t you hear? Don’t you remember?

For the shepherds have become brutish, and have not inquired of Yahweh. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks have scattered.

He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.’

I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd.

For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but Yahweh upholds the righteous.

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.”

The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law didn’t know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things that do not profit.

Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. They have trodden my portion under foot. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.”

According as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.”

Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.

Yahweh is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

Woe to you lawyers! For you took away the key of knowledge. You didn’t enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in, you hindered.”

This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.

The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

Now concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.

For you are great, and do wondrous things. You are God alone.

Behold, you are nothing, and your work is nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination.

They don’t know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see; and their hearts, that they can’t understand.

As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so the house of Israel is ashamed: they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,

They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak. They must be carried, because they can’t move. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”

Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says against the shepherds who feed my people: “You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings,” says Yahweh.

My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have caused them to go astray. They have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill. They have forgotten their resting place.

You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to kill the souls who should not die, and to save the souls alive who should not live, by your lying to my people who listen to lies.’

But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, “Behold, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son,

All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.

He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them.

“Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them;

You see and hear that not at Ephesus alone, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are no gods that are made with hands.

So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.

yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.

What am I saying then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?

to the one a stench from death to death, to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we have set our trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.

Yahweh said to Moses, “When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.

“Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;

From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.

Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God.

Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see. Let their backs be continually bent.

God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?

His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark— dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.

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

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

Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and will say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.

The wind will feed all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Surely then you will be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness.

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says Yahweh.

In the prophets of Jerusalem I have also seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his wickedness. They have all become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.”

“I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’

The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken,” says Yahweh.

Your prophets have seen false and foolish visions for you. They have not uncovered your iniquity, to reverse your captivity, but have seen for you false revelations and causes of banishment.

The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against the shepherds. I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep. The shepherds won’t feed themselves any more. I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.”

Because you thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad;

You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God,’ says the Lord Yahweh.”

The days of visitation have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, and the man who is inspired to be insane, because of the abundance of your sins, and because your hostility is great.

Though he is fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness; and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up. He will plunder the storehouse of treasure.

“Therefore night is over you, with no vision, and it is dark to you, that you may not divine; and the sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will be black over them.

“Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous,

Some therefore of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was division among them.

As the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of God. As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn’t arrive at the law of righteousness.

However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods.

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.

Break the arm of the wicked. As for the evil man, seek out his wickedness until you find none.

Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” says Yahweh, “who tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting; yet I didn’t send them or command them. They don’t profit this people at all,” says Yahweh.

The Lord Yahweh says, “Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and tell them, even the shepherds, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep?

And behold there was a man with a withered hand. They asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” that they might accuse him.

Behold, the days come that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, that there will not be an old man in your house.

When the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” His hand, which he put out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to himself.

If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.

The elder and the honorable man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail.

For Yahweh has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets; and he has covered your heads, the seers.

Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing?

Yahweh said, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word, there:

“A sword is on the Chaldeans,” says Yahweh, “and on the inhabitants of Babylon, on her princes, and on her wise men.

My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the male goats; For Yahweh of Armies has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his majestic horse in the battle.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

“Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’

It also happened on another Sabbath that he entered into the synagogue and taught. There was a man there, and his right hand was withered.

Then he said to them, “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest.

They answered that they didn’t know where it was from.

Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”

“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.”

For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn’t obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened.

Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. Always keep their backs bent.”

Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one.

Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, not for dishonest gain, but willingly;

Woe to them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in Korah’s rebellion.

In these lay a great multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water;