Jesus the Cause of Division

⁴⁹ ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!⁵⁰I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!⁵¹Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!⁵²From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three;⁵³they will be divided:father against son   and son against father,mother against daughter   and daughter against mother,mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law   and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’

Interpreting the Time

⁵⁴ He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens.⁵⁵And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens.⁵⁶You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

²³ Am I a God near by, says the ^Lord, and not a God far off?²⁴Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the ^Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the ^Lord.²⁵I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’²⁶How long? Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back—those who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart?²⁷They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal.²⁸Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the ^Lord.²⁹Is not my word like fire, says the ^Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?