But when I arrived at the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard named Irijah, son of Shelemiah, grandson of Hananiah, seized me and accused me of trying to desert to the Babylonians.
(Among the exiles were King Jeconiah, Nehushta the queen mother, the high-ranking officials, the leading men of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and metalworkers.)
“Now you can understand what I meant when I said that the first will end up last and the last will end up being first. Everyone is invited, but few are the chosen.”
Can the Ethiopian change the color of his skin, or the leopard remove his spots? Of course not. And neither can you change from being schooled to do evil to doing good.
The one who has committed manslaughter shall escape for protection to one of these cities and stand at the entrance to the city gates and explain his case to the leaders of the city. The leaders must then receive him into their city and grant him asylum.
The foreigner who joins himself to Yahweh should never say, “Because I’m a foreigner, Yahweh will exclude me from his people.” And the eunuchs should never say, “Because I can’t have children, I’m just a barren tree.”
Then all the leaders and the people said to the priests and prophets, “This man does not deserve to die, for he has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our God.”