In this Sunday’s readings the Lord sends Ezekiel to speak to a rebellious people, “whether they heed or resist” that word. The Obama administration’s quest for a comprehensive energy and climate change legislation, which gained approval in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, will likely face stiff resistance in the Senate.

The bill passed by the House would require large companies, including utilities and manufacturers, to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases associated with global warming 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 through a “cap-and-trade” program that allows pollution permits to be bought and sold.

Other features of the bill included controlling carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels and limiting other greenhouse gases; allowing companies to meet emission-limiting targets by investing in offset projects such as tree planting and forest protection; and establishing standards that will require new buildings to be 50 percent more efficient by 2016. Consumers would be protected from rising energy costs through rebates and credits to low-income households.

The bill was loaded with hundreds of pages of special-interest favors in order to secure the necessary votes, critics said, and environmentalists lamented that its greenhouse-gas reduction targets had been whittled down. But key sponsor Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California) defended the bill. “We worked hard to craft compromises that addressed the legitimate concerns of industry without undermining the environmental integrity of the legislation,” Waxman said.

Although watered down from the original version, it was still the first time either house of Congress passed a bill imposing a limit on the emissions blamed for the warming of the planet.

Articles by Jeff Mason for Reuters, John M. Broder for the New York Times, and the Associated Press