Jeremiah 2 Cross References - ISV

¹ Israel’s Initial FidelityThis message from the LORD came to me: ² “Go and announce to Jerusalem: ‘This is what the LORD says: “I remember the loyal devotion of your youth, your love as a bride. You followed me in the desert, in a land that was not planted. ³ Israel was consecrated to the LORD, she was the first fruits of his produce. All who devoured her became guilty and disaster came on them,” declares the LORD.’”
⁴ Her Rejection of God’s LoveListen to this message from the LORD, you descendants of Jacob and all the families of the descendants of Israel. ⁵ This is what the LORD says: “What did your ancestors find wrong with me that they left me, and pursued worthless things, and so they became worthless? ⁶ “They didn’t ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through the land of desert and pits, through the land of dryness and deep darkness, a land that people don’t pass through, and where no one lives?’ ⁷ “I brought you into the fruitful land to eat its fruit and its good things. But you came in, defiled my land, and made my inheritance into an abomination. ⁸ “The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is the LORD?’ and those handling the Law didn’t know me. The rulers transgressed against me, the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they followed that which does not profit. ⁹ “Therefore I’ll again accuse you,” declares the LORD, “and I’ll accuse your grandchildren.” ¹⁰ “Indeed, go over to the coasts of Cyprus and see, send to Kedar and pay very close attention. See if there has ever been such a thing as this! ¹¹ Has a nation ever changed gods when they aren’t even gods? But my people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit. ¹² Heavens, be appalled at this, be shocked, be utterly devastated,” declares the LORD. ¹³ “Indeed, my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
¹⁴ Consequences of Israel’s Unfaithfulness“Is Israel a slave, or was he born a servant? Why then has he become plunder? ¹⁵ Young lions roar at him, they cry out loudly. They have made his land into a wasteland, and his cities are destroyed so they are without inhabitants. ¹⁶ Also, people from Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken your skull. ¹⁷ You have done this to yourselves, have you not, by forsaking the LORD your God, when he is the one who led you on the way? ¹⁸ Now, what are you doing on the road to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? And what are you doing on the road to Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphrates? ¹⁹ Your wickedness will be punished, and you will be corrected due to your acts of apostasy. Know and see that it’s evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God, but the fear of me is not in you,” declares the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies. ²⁰ “For long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds, But you said, ‘I won’t serve you!’ Instead, on every high hill and under every green tree, you bend down to commit fornication. ²¹ I planted you myself as a choice vine, from the very best seed. How did you turn against me into a degenerate and foreign vine? ²² Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Lord GOD.
²³ Israel’s Passion for Sin“How can you say, ‘I’m not defiled. I haven’t gone after the Baals.’? Look at what you’ve done in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift young camel galloping aimlessly; ²⁴ a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her passion. When she’s in heat, who can turn her away? None of the males who pursue her need to tire themselves out, for in her month they’ll find her.” ²⁵ “Don’t run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you say, ‘It’s hopeless! Because I love foreign gods, I’ll go after them!’” ²⁶ “As a thief is disgraced when he’s caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced— they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, ²⁷ who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’ They have turned their back to me, but not their faces. In the time of their trouble, they’ll say, ‘Rise up! Deliver us!’” ²⁸ “But where are your gods that you made for yourselves? Let them rise up, if they can deliver you in the time of your trouble. You have as many gods as you have towns, Judah. ²⁹ Why do you contend with me? You have rebelled against me,” declares the LORD. ³⁰ “I’ve punished your children with no results, they have accepted no discipline. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.” ³¹ “You, generation, pay attention to this message from the LORD! Am I the desert to Israel, or a land of gloom? Why do my people say, ‘We’re free to roam? We won’t come to you anymore.’ ³² Will a young woman forget her wedding ornaments, or a bride her attire? But my people have forgotten me days without number. ³³ How well you perfect your techniques for seeking love. Therefore you can teach even the most immoral women your techniques. ³⁴ On your skirts is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor, even though you didn’t catch them breaking in. Yet despite all these things, ³⁵ you say, ‘I’m innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.’” “I’m about to bring charges against you because you say, ‘I haven’t sinned.’ ³⁶ Why do you go about changing your mind so much? You will also be disappointed by Egypt, just as you were disappointed by Assyria. ³⁷ You will also go out from this place with your hands over your heads. For the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you won’t prosper through them.”

¹¹ The Visions of the Almond Branch and Boiling PotThis message from the LORD came to me, asking, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
I replied, “I see an almond branch.”

¹ Jeremiah’s Temple Sermon: Judah’s IdolatryThe message that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

²⁸ Let the prophet who has a dream relate the dream, but let whoever receives my message speak my message truthfully. What does straw have in common with wheat?” declares the LORD.

¹ The End has ComeThis message from the LORD arrived for me:

¹ God Has Spoken to UsGod, having spoken in former times in fragmentary and varied fashion to our forefathers by the prophets,

²¹ because no prophecy ever originated through a human decision. Instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

³¹ When Israel saw the great force by which the LORD had acted against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed the LORD and Moses his servant.

⁸ Moses also said, “When the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread in the morning to satisfy you, the LORD will hear your complaints directed against him. Who are we? Your complaints aren’t against us, but rather against the LORD.”

³ Then Moses came and reported all the words of the LORD and all the statutes to the people, and they all answered with one voice, “We will do everything that the LORD has decreed.”
⁴ So Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He got up early in the morning and built an altar with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain. ⁵ He sent young Israeli men to offer up burnt offerings and sacrifice bulls as peace offerings to the LORD. ⁶ Moses took half the blood and put it in bowls, while he sprinkled the other half on the altar. ⁷ He took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They said, “We will put into practice and obey everything that the LORD has decreed.”
⁸ Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD made with you based on all these words.”

⁷ Indeed, the LORD your God blessed all the works of your hands. He knows about your travels through this vast desert. The LORD your God was with you these past 40 years, so that you didn’t lack anything.

² Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way these 40 years in the desert, to humble and test you in order to make known what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

¹⁵ who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, and who led you through the vast and dangerous desert, that parched land without water, with its poisonous snakes and scorpions. He brought water out of solid rock for you, ¹⁶ and fed you in the desert with manna that neither you nor your ancestors had known, to humble and test you so that things go well with you later.

¹² You led them during the day by a pillar of cloud, and by a pillar of fire at night to provide light for them on the path they took. ¹³ “You also came down to Mount Sinai, spoke with them from heaven, and gave them impartial regulations, true laws, statutes, and good commands. ¹⁴ You revealed to them your holy Sabbath, and you mandated precepts, statutes, and laws through Moses your servant. ¹⁵ You gave them food from heaven for their hunger and water from the rock for their thirst. You directed them to enter and possess the land that you had promised to give them. ¹⁶ “But they—our ancestors—became arrogant and stubborn, refusing to listen to your commands. ¹⁷ They would not listen, and did not remember the miracles you did among them. Instead, they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return them to their slavery. “But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and rich in gracious love; therefore you did not abandon them. ¹⁸ Moreover, after they had cast a golden calf for themselves, they said, “This is your god who brought you out of Egypt!” and committed terrible blasphemies. ¹⁹ You, in your great compassion, did not abandon them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not leave them in daylight, in order to provide light for them on the path they took. Nor did the pillar of fire abandon them at night, in order to provide light for them and lead them on the path they took. ²⁰ “You gave your good Spirit to instruct them, not withholding manna from them, and providing water to quench their thirst. ²¹ You sustained them in the wilderness for 40 years. They lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.

²⁰ The Benefits of Choosing WisdomWisdom cries out in the street; she raises her voice in the public squares.

¹ Wisdom Calls for an Audience Isn’t wisdom calling out; isn’t understanding raising her voice? ² On top of the highest places along the road she stands where the roads meet. ³ Beside the gates, at the city entrance— at the entrance to the portals she cries aloud: ⁴ “I’m calling to you, men! What I have to say pertains to all mankind!

¹¹ Come out, young women of Zion, and see King Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day— his day of great delight.

¹ False and True Worship “Shout aloud! Don’t hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Declare to my people their rebellions, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

⁷ God’s Grace to IsraelI will recount the gracious deeds of the LORD, the praiseworthy acts of the LORD, according to all the LORD has done for us— yes, the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his gracious love. ⁸ For he said, “Surely they are my people, children who won’t act falsely.” And so he became their savior. ⁹ In all their distress he wasn’t distressed, but the angel of his presence saved them; in his acts of love and in his acts of pity he redeemed them; he carried them and lifted them up all the days of old. ¹⁰ Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; so he changed and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them. ¹¹ Then they remembered the days of old, of Moses his servant. Where is the one who brought up out of the sea the shepherds of his flock? Where is the one who put his Holy Spirit among them, ¹² and who made his glorious arm march at Moses’ right hand, who divided the waters in front of them to win an everlasting name, ¹³ who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the open desert, they did not stumble; ¹⁴ like cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. For you led your people, to win for yourself a glorious name.

⁶ “They didn’t ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through the land of desert and pits, through the land of dryness and deep darkness, a land that people don’t pass through, and where no one lives?’

² “Stand at the gate of the LORD’s Temple and proclaim this message there. Say, ‘Listen to this message from the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD.’”

⁶ The LORD told me, “Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. You are to say, ‘Listen to the words of this covenant and do them.

² Go out to the Valley of Hinnom at the entrance to the Potsherd Gate, and there proclaim the words that I’m telling you.

⁸ God’s Betrothal to Jerusalem“When I passed by you again, I looked at you, and noticed that it was your proper time for love. I spread my cloak over you to cover your nakedness. I made a solemn promise to you and entered into a covenant with you,” declares the Lord GOD. “You belong to me.

²² Throughout all of your detestable practices and immorality, you never did remember your earlier life when you were bare, naked, and wallowing in your own blood.”

⁶⁰ “‘Meanwhile, as for me, I’ll remember my covenant with you from when you were young, because I’ll establish an eternal covenant with you.

³ They committed sexual immorality in Egypt. They did this in their youth. There, their breasts were caressed. Their virgin breasts were fondled.

⁸ She never abandoned the immorality that she practiced in Egypt during her youth, where they laid down with her and fondled her virgin breasts, lavishing her with all kinds of favors.

¹⁹ “Nevertheless, she became even more sexually immoral, even reminiscing about when she was young, when she kept on practicing sexual immorality in the land of Egypt.

¹⁵ There I will restore her vineyards to her, and the Valley of Achor will become a doorway to hope. There she will respond as she did in her youth, when she came up from Egypt.”

¹ Reaping the Wind Storm “Sound the ram’s horn! Like a vulture the enemy will come against the Temple of the LORD, because Israel violated my covenant, transgressing my Law.

² “Get up and go to Nineveh, that great city! Then cry out in protest against it, because their evil has come to my attention.”

¹⁵ Let the person who has ears listen!

¹³ The Parable of the Rich FoolThen someone in the crowd told him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”

²² You are to say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: “Israel is my firstborn son. ²³ And I say to you, ‘Let my son go so he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, then I will kill your firstborn son.’”’”

⁵ And now if you carefully obey me and keep my covenant, you are to be my special possession out of all the peoples, because the whole earth belongs to me, ⁶ but you are to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to me.’ These are the words you are to declare to the Israelis.”

²⁹ “You are not to hold back the fullness of your harvest and the outflow of your wine presses. You are to give to me the firstborn of your sons.

¹⁶ You are to observe the Festival of Harvest, celebrating the first fruits of your work in planting the field, and the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather the fruit of your work from the field.

¹² All the best oil, wine, grain, and first fruits that they give to the LORD are to belong to you. Everyone who is clean in your household may eat it.

⁶ because you are a holy people to the LORD your God. The LORD your God chose you to be his people, his treasured possession from all the peoples on the face of the earth.”

² because you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD chose to make you his precious possession from among all the peoples of the earth.”

¹⁹ so he may elevate you far above all the nations that he has made. Then you will live to the praise, fame, and glory of God, and so be a nation that is holy to the LORD your God, as he has promised.”

¹⁴ Then I would quickly subdue their enemies. I would turn against their foes. ¹⁵ Those who hate the LORD will cringe before him; their punishment will be permanent.

¹⁴ He did not allow anyone to oppress them, or any kings to reprove them. ¹⁵ “Don’t touch my anointed or hurt my prophets!”

²⁵ He caused them to hate his people and to deceive his servants. ²⁶ He sent his servant Moses, along with Aaron, whom he had chosen. ²⁷ They performed his signs among them, his wonders in the land of Ham. ²⁸ He sent darkness, and it became dark. Did they not rebel against his words? ²⁹ He turned their water into blood, so that the fish died. ³⁰ Their land swarmed with frogs even to the chambers of their kings. ³¹ He spoke, and a swarm of insects invaded their land. ³² He sent hail instead of rain, and lightning throughout their land. ³³ It destroyed their vines and their figs, breaking trees throughout their country. ³⁴ Then he commanded the locust to come— grasshoppers without number. ³⁵ They consumed every green plant in their land, and devoured the fruit of their soil. ³⁶ He struck down every firstborn in their land, the first fruits of all their progeny.

¹¹ The Coming Defeat of God’s Enemies“Look! All who are enraged at you will be put to shame and disgraced; those who contend with you will all die.

⁶ I was angry with my people, and I desecrated my heritage, and gave them into your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the aged you laid your yoke most heavily.

¹⁴ God’s Word about Judah’s NeighborsThis is what the LORD says about all the wicked neighbors who strike out against the land I’ve given to my people Israel as their inheritance: “I’m about to uproot them from their land, and I’ll uproot the house of Judah from among them.

¹⁶ In addition, all who devour you will be devoured, and all your oppressors—all of them— will go into captivity. Those who plunder you will become plunder, and all who spoil you will become spoil.

⁷ All who find them devour them, but their enemies say, ‘We’re not guilty, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of righteousness, the LORD, the hope of their ancestors.’

³ Pass it on to your children, and from your children to their children, and from their children to the following generation.

⁷ That nation laid waste my vines, and stripped bare my fig tree, discarding it. It stripped off its bark. ⁸ “Grieve like a virgin, who, dressed in her mourner’s clothes, cries out in memory of the man she was going to marry.

¹ Mourning for the House of Israel “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, to those who rest on the mountain of Samaria— the famous men of the nations to whom the house of Israel came!

¹⁵ I am deeply angry with the nations who are complacent, with whom I was only a little displeased—but they made things worse!”

⁸ For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: “In pursuit of glory I was sent to the nations who plundered you, because whoever injures you injures the pupil of my eye.

² ‘Look, I am making Jerusalem an unstable cup toward all of its surrounding armies when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. ³ It will come about at that time that I will make Jerusalem a heavy weight; so everyone who burdens themselves with it will be crushed, even though all of the nations of the earth gather themselves against it. ⁴ At that time,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will strike every horse with panic and every rider with insanity. I will keep my eyes on the house of Judah, but I will blind every horse of the invading armies.

²⁰ Holiness to the LORD“At that time, there will be written on the bells of the horses: HOLINESS TO THE LORDand the pots in the Temple of the LORD will be like the bowls in front of the altar— ²¹ every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be consecrated to the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. Everyone who offers sacrifices will come, will take them, and will cook in them. Furthermore, at that time, there will no longer be a Canaanite in the Temple of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.”

⁴ He dropped to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
⁵ He asked, “Who are you, Lord?”
The voice said, “I’m Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

¹⁶ If the first part of the dough is holy, so is the whole batch. If the root is holy, so are the branches.

⁵ Greet also the church in their house. Greet my dear friend Epaenetus, who was the first convert to the Messiah in Asia.

⁴ just as he chose us in the Messiah before the creation of the universe to be holy and blameless in his presence. In love

¹⁸ In accordance with his will he made us his children by the word of truth, so that we might become the most important of his creatures.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people to be his very own and to proclaim the wonderful deeds of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

⁴ They have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins, and they follow the lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed from among humanity as the first fruits for God and the lamb.

¹ Deliverance for Zion “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD! Look to the rock from which you were cut, to the quarry from which you were hewn. ² Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. For when he was only one person I called him, but I made him fruitful and made him many. ³ For the LORD will have compassion on Zion, have compassion on all her ruins. He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her deserts like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving, and the sound of singing. Sorrow and sighing will flee away. ⁴ “Pay attention to me, my people! Listen to me, my nation! For instruction will go out from me, and my justice will become a light for the nations. I will quickly bring

²¹ ‘Hear this, you foolish and stupid people: They have eyes, but don’t see; they have ears, but don’t hear.

¹⁵ Listen and pay attention! Don’t be proud, for the LORD has spoken.

³ “You are to say, ‘Hear this message from the LORD, you kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem!
“‘This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I’m about to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of all who hear about it tingle.

¹ “At that time,” declares the LORD, “I’ll be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”

²⁴ “Haven’t you noticed what these people have been saying?—‘The LORD rejected the two families that he had chosen!’ They have contempt for my people and no longer consider them a nation.

⁴ Yet, hear this message from the LORD, king Zedekiah of Judah. This is what the LORD says to you, ‘You won’t die by the sword.

²⁴ Then Jeremiah told all the people and all the women, “All you people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt, listen to this message from the LORD! ²⁵ This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and acted with your hands: “We will certainly carry through on the vows that we vowed to offer sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pour out liquid offerings to her!” Go ahead, carry through on your vows, and diligently do what you vowed!’ ²⁶ But listen to this message from the LORD, all you people of Judah who are living in the land of Egypt. ‘Look, I’ve sworn by my great name’, says the LORD, ‘my name will no longer be invoked by the mouth of any person in the entire land of Egypt, as he says, “As surely as the Lord GOD lives…”

¹ God Accuses Israel “Hear this message from the LORD, people of Israel. Indeed, the LORD brings a charge against the people who live in the land— for there is no truth and no gracious love or knowledge of God in the land.

¹ The LORD’s Indictment against IsraelPlease hear what the LORD says: “Get up and make your case before the mountains, and let the hills listen to your voice.

²¹ They provoked me to jealousy over non-gods, and to be angry over their vanity. Now I’ll provoke them to jealousy over a non-people; and over a foolish nation I’ll provoke them to anger.

²¹ Don’t turn aside after useless things that cannot profit or deliver because they’re useless.

¹⁵ They rejected the LORD’s statutes, the covenant that he had made with their ancestors, and his warnings that he gave them. They pursued meaninglessness—and became meaningless themselves—as they followed the lifestyles of the nations that surrounded them, a practice that the LORD had warned them not to do.

⁸ Those who craft them will become like them, as will all those who trust in them.

³ “So now, you inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, won’t you please, between me and my vineyard. ⁴ What more could I do in my vineyard, that I haven’t already done? When I expected it to produce good grapes, why did it yield wild ones?

¹³ A Rebuke of Hypocritical WorshipThen the Lord said: “Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, worship of me has become merely like rules taught by human beings.

²² God is Weary of Israel “And yet you didn’t call upon me, Jacob; indeed, you are tired of me, Israel! ²³ You haven’t brought me your sheep for a burnt-offering, nor have you honored me with your sacrifices, nor have you made meal offerings for me— yet I have not tired you about incense!

⁹ A Rebuke to Idol WorshipNow, all the forming of images means nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their own witnesses cannot see, and they know nothing. So they will be put to shame.

³¹ “You, generation, pay attention to this message from the LORD! Am I the desert to Israel, or a land of gloom? Why do my people say, ‘We’re free to roam? We won’t come to you anymore.’

⁸ Everyone is stupid and senseless. They follow worthless instruction from a piece of wood!

¹⁴ Everyone is stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false. There is no life in them. ¹⁵ They’re worthless, a work of mockery, and when the time of punishment comes, they’ll perish.

² You plant them and they take root, they grow and bear fruit. “You are near to us,” they say with their mouths, but the truth is that you’re far from their hearts.

²² Can any of the worthless gods of the nations make it rain? Can the heavens themselves bring forth showers? Aren’t you the one who does this, LORD our God? So we hope in you, for you are the one who does all these things.

¹⁷ Everyone is stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his own idols, for his images are false, and there is no life in them. ¹⁸ They’re worthless, a work of mockery, and when the time of punishment comes, they’ll perish.

¹⁵ “Son of Man, your brothers, your other relatives, your fellow exiles, and the entire house of Israel are the people to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘They’ve abandoned the LORD. This land was given to us for an inheritance.’”

⁸ Those who cling to vain idols leave behind the gracious love that could have been theirs.

² Listen, you mountains, to the LORD’s argument! Listen, you strong foundations of the earth, because the LORD has a dispute with his people, and he will set out his case before Israel. ³ “My people, what have I done to you, and how have I offended you? Answer me!

⁸ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

¹⁵ “Men, why are you doing this? We are merely human beings with natures like yours. We are telling you the good news so you’ll turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things, and their senseless hearts were darkened.

¹ Crossing the Reed SeaThe LORD told Moses, ² “Tell the Israelis that they are to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. You are to camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it by the sea. ³ Pharaoh will say about the Israelis, ‘They’re wandering aimlessly in the land, and the desert has closed in on them.’ ⁴ I’ve made Pharaoh’s heart stubborn so he will pursue them. But I’ll receive honor by means of Pharaoh and his army, so that the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” So this is what the Israelis did.
⁵ When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials changed toward the people, and they said, “What have we done in releasing Israel from serving us?” ⁶ So Pharaoh had his chariot prepared and took his troops with him.
⁷ He took 600 of the best chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers in charge of each one. ⁸ The LORD made the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, stubborn, and he defiantly pursued the Israelis as they were leaving. ⁹ The Egyptians pursued them—all the chariot-horses of Pharaoh, along with his horsemen and army—and they overtook them camped by the sea, near Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal Zephon.
¹⁰ As Pharaoh approached, the Israelis looked up, and there were the Egyptians bearing down on them! Extremely frightened, the Israelis cried out to the LORD. ¹¹ They also told Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you took us out to die in the desert? What have you done to us, by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Is this not what we told you in Egypt, when we said, ‘Leave us alone!’ and ‘Let us serve the Egyptians!’? Indeed, it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
¹³ Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid! Stand still and watch how the LORD will deliver you today, because you will never again see the Egyptians whom you’re looking at today. ¹⁴ The LORD will fight for you while you keep still.”
¹⁵ Then the LORD told Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelis to move out!

¹⁴ then you will become arrogant. You’ll neglect the LORD your God,

¹⁰ The LORD’s Work on Behalf of IsraelThe LORD found him in a desert land, in a barren, eerie wilderness. He surrounded, cared for, and guarded him as the pupil of his eye.

¹³ But Gideon replied, “Right… Sir, if the LORD is with us, then why has all of this happened to us? And where are all of his miraculous works that our ancestors recounted to us when they said, ‘The LORD brought us up from Egypt, didn’t he?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us over to Midian!”

¹⁴ Elisha took hold of Elijah’s ornamental cloak that had been left behind, struck the water, and cried out: “Where is the LORD God of Elijah?” All of a sudden, after he had struck the water, the water divided into two parts! One side of the river stood opposite the other, and Elisha crossed over.

⁵ Let darkness and deep gloom reclaim it; let clouds settle down on it; let blackness in mid-day terrify it.

²¹ before I go, never to return, leaving for the land of deep darkness and shadow. ²² It’s a gloomy land, like deepest darkness; where there’s no order, and where even the brightness is like darkness.’”

¹⁰ He never asks, ‘Where is God, my Creator, who gives me songs in the night,

⁴ Even when I walk through a valley of deep darkness, I will not be afraid because you are with me. Your rod and your staff—they comfort me.

⁵ I thought of ancient times, considering years long past.

⁹ In all their distress he wasn’t distressed, but the angel of his presence saved them; in his acts of love and in his acts of pity he redeemed them; he carried them and lifted them up all the days of old.

¹¹ Then they remembered the days of old, of Moses his servant. Where is the one who brought up out of the sea the shepherds of his flock? Where is the one who put his Holy Spirit among them, ¹² and who made his glorious arm march at Moses’ right hand, who divided the waters in front of them to win an everlasting name, ¹³ who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the open desert, they did not stumble;

⁷ There is no one who calls on your name or rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have given us into the control of our iniquity.

² “Go and announce to Jerusalem: ‘This is what the LORD says: “I remember the loyal devotion of your youth, your love as a bride. You followed me in the desert, in a land that was not planted.

⁸ “The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is the LORD?’ and those handling the Law didn’t know me. The rulers transgressed against me, the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they followed that which does not profit.

² Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ still they are swearing falsely.”

¹³ “By a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was rescued.

⁴ The LORD is Israel’s God“I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt, and you have known no god except for me, because except for me there is no savior.

¹⁶ The people living in darkness have seen a great light, and for those living in the land and shadow of death, a light has risen.”

²⁴ “You are not to defile yourselves by doing any of these things, since all of these nations that I’m casting out before you have defiled themselves this way. ²⁵ The land has been defiled, so I brought the punishment of its iniquity to it. As a result, the land is vomiting out its inhabitants.
²⁶ “Therefore, keep my statutes and ordinances. You are not to do any of these detestable things—this applies to the native born and the resident alien who lives among you— ²⁷ because the inhabitants of the land did all of these detestable things and by doing so defiled the land before you. ²⁸ So you are not to let the land vomit you up because of your uncleanness as it is vomiting the nations that were here before you.

²⁷ “We arrived at the place where you’ve sent us,” they reported, “and it certainly does flow with milk and honey. Furthermore, this is its fruit,

⁷ and attempted to reason with the entire congregation of Israel. They told them, “The land that we went through and explored is very, very good. ⁸ If the LORD is pleased with us, he’ll bring us into this land and give it to us. It flows with milk and honey.

³³ You are not to pollute the land where you live, because blood defiles the land, and the land cannot atone for blood that has been spilled on it, except through the blood of the one who spilled it. ³⁴ You are not to defile the land where you will be living, because I’m living among you. I am the LORD, who lives in Israel.”

¹⁰ Serve the LORD Only“When the LORD your God brings you to the land that he promised to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he will give you large and beautiful cities that you didn’t build, ¹¹ houses filled with every good thing that you didn’t supply, wells that you didn’t dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you didn’t plant. When you eat and are satisfied,

¹⁸ Do what is good and right in the LORD’s sight so it may go well with you. Then you’ll enter and possess the good land that the LORD your God promised to your ancestors,

⁷ because the LORD your God is bringing you to a good land—a land with rivers and deep springs flowing to the valleys and hills. ⁸ It’s a land filled with wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates. It’s a land filled with olive oil and honey— ⁹ a land without scarcity. You’ll eat food in it and lack nothing. It’s a land where its rocks are iron and you can dig copper from its mountains.”

¹⁰ For the land that you are about to enter to inherit isn’t like the land of Egypt that you just left, where you plant a seed and irrigate it with your feet like a vegetable garden. ¹¹ Instead, the land that you are crossing over to inherit is a land of hills and valleys that drinks water supplied by rain from heaven, ¹² a land about which the LORD your God is always concerned, because the eyes of the LORD are continuously on it throughout the entire year.”

²³ his body must not remain overnight on the tree. You must bury him that same day, because cursed of God is the one who has been hanged on a tree. Don’t defile your land that the LORD is about to give you as your inheritance.”

²⁵ They conquered fortified cities and fertile ground, possessing houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, with vineyards, olive orchards, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were satiated, and were well nourished, delighting themselves in your great goodness.

⁵⁸ they angered him with their high places and with their carved images they made him jealous. ⁵⁹ God heard and became furious, and he completely rejected Israel.

³⁸ They shed innocent blood— the blood of their sons and daughters— whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, thereby polluting the land with blood. ³⁹ Therefore, they became unclean because of what they did; they have acted like whores by their evil deeds.

¹ God Contemplates Divorcing Israel “When a man divorces his wife, she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife, will the first husband return to her again? The land would be deeply polluted, would it not? Since you have committed fornication with many lovers, would you now return to me?” declares the LORD.

⁹ She took her fornication so lightly that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

¹⁸ First I’ll repay them double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the dead bodies of their detestable images, and they have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”

⁶ That day I promised to bring them out of the land of Egypt to the land that I had explored for them—a land flowing with milk and honey. It’s the most beautiful of all lands.

¹⁷ “Son of Man, when the house of Israel was living on their own land, they defiled it with their lifestyles and behavior; they were as disqualified to be with me as a menstruating woman is to you.

¹⁰ “Get up and go, because there’s no rest for you here! Since everything is polluted, it can only cause destruction, even heavy destruction.

¹⁰ They will teach your ordinances to Jacob, and your Law to Israel. They will offer incense as a pleasant aroma to you and a whole burnt offering upon your altar.

¹² Eli’s Wicked SonsNow the sons of Eli were worthless men who did not know the LORD.

²² So Elijah told the people, “I’m the only one left over as a prophet of the LORD, am I? But Baal’s prophets number 450 men?

²⁹ They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention.

⁴⁰ But Elijah said, “Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don’t let even one of them get away.” So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there.

⁷ These people also stagger from wine and reel from strong drink. Priests and prophets stagger from strong drink; they’re drunk from wine; they reel from strong drink, waver when seeing visions, and stumble when rendering decisions.

¹⁰ For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep— he has closed your eyes, you prophets, he has covered your heads, you seers!”

⁵ There is only loathsome destruction through a people that cannot benefit them, who bring neither help nor profit, but only shame and disgrace.”

⁹ “All you wild animals, come and devour— even all of you wild animals. ¹⁰ His watchmen are blind; they are all without knowledge. They are all dumb dogs— they cannot bark. They keep on dreaming and lying around, and they’re lovers of sleep! ¹¹ Meanwhile, the dogs have a mighty appetite— they can never get enough. And as for them, they are the shepherds who lack understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, each and every one. ¹² “‘Come!’ they say, ‘let’s have some wine, and let’s fill ourselves with strong drink! Then, tomorrow will be like today, or even much better!’”

¹¹ Has a nation ever changed gods when they aren’t even gods? But my people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit.

²² The LORD’s Complaint about His People“For my people are foolish, they don’t know me. They’re stupid children, they have no understanding. They’re skilled at doing evil, but how to do good, they don’t know.”

³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?”

⁸ “Look, you’re trusting in deceptive words that cannot benefit.

⁸ How can you say, ‘We’re wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us,’ when, in fact, the deceitful pen of the scribe has made it into something that deceives. ⁹ The wise men will be put to shame. They’ll be dismayed and taken captive. Look, they have rejected the message from the LORD! So what kind of wisdom do they have? ¹⁰ Therefore, I’ll give their wives to others, and their fields to new owners. Indeed, from the least important to the most important, they’re all greedy for dishonest gain. From prophet to priest, they all act deceitfully. ¹¹ They have treated my people’s wound superficially, telling them, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.

²¹ Because the shepherds are stupid and don’t seek the LORD, therefore, they don’t prosper, and their flock is scattered.

¹⁰ Many shepherds will destroy my vineyard. They’ll trample down my portion. They’ll turn my pleasant portion into a desolate desert.

¹⁹ LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of difficulty, to you the nations will come, and from the ends of the earth they’ll say, “Surely our ancestors inherited deception, things that are worthless, and in which there is no profit.”

¹ A Righteous King for God’s People“How terrible for the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. ² Therefore, this is what the LORD God of Israel says about the shepherds who are shepherding my people, “You have scattered my flock and driven them away. You haven’t taken care of them, and now I’m about to take care of you because of your evil deeds,” declares the LORD.

⁹ An Oracle about False ProphetsConcerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me, and all my bones shake. I’m like a drunk man, like a person overcome with wine, because of the LORD, and because of his holy words. ¹⁰ Indeed, the land is full of adulterers. Indeed, the land mourns because of the curse; the pastures of the wilderness have dried up. The adulterers’ lifestyles are evil, and they use their strength for what is not right. ¹¹ Indeed, both priest and prophet are ungodly. Even in my house I find evil,” declares the LORD. ¹² Therefore their way will be slippery. They’ll be driven out into the darkness, where they’ll fall. For I’ll bring disaster on them, the year of their judgment,” declares the LORD. ¹³ “Among the prophets of Samaria I saw a disgusting thing, for they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. ¹⁴ Among the prophets of Jerusalem I saw a horrible thing, for they commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of those who do evil, so that no one repents of his evil. All of them are like Sodom to me, and her residents like Gomorrah.”
¹⁵ Therefore, this is what the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies says about the prophets, “I’m about to make them eat wormwood and drink poisoned water, because godlessness has spread from the prophets of Jerusalem throughout the land.”

⁶ My people are destroyed because they lack knowledge of me. Because you rejected that knowledge, I will reject you as a priest for me. Since you forget the Law of your God, I will also forget your children.

¹⁸ Judgment on the Idol Maker“Where is the benefit in owning a carved image, that motivates its maker to carve it? It is only a cast image— a teacher that lies— because the engraver entrusts himself to his carving, crafting speechless idols.

⁶ True teachings were in his mouth, and falsehood was not found on his lips. He walked with me peacefully and righteously, and he turned many from sin. ⁷ For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he’s the messenger of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.
⁸ “But you priests turned aside from the way, and by your teaching you caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. ⁹ “So I also made you despised, humiliating you before all of the people, because you aren’t following my ways and are showing partiality when you teach.”

²⁶ because what profit will a person have if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life?

⁵² How terrible it will be for you experts in the Law! You have taken away the key to knowledge. You didn’t go in yourselves, and you kept out those who were trying to go in.”

⁵⁵ You don’t know him, but I know him. If I were to say that I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and keep his word.

³ They’ll do this because they haven’t known the Father or me.

¹⁷ Who is a Jew?Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the Law, and boast about God, ¹⁸ and know his will, and approve of what is best because you have been instructed in the Law; ¹⁹ and if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of ignorant people, and a teacher of infants because you have the full content of knowledge and truth in the Law— ²¹ as you teach others, do you fail to teach yourself? As you preach against stealing, do you steal? ²² As you forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? As you abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ As you boast about the Law, do you dishonor God by breaking the Law? ²⁴ As it is written, “God’s name is being blasphemed among the gentiles because of you.”

² Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not use trickery or pervert God’s word. By clear statements of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.

⁵ You are not to bow down to them in worship or serve them, because I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the iniquity of the parents to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,

⁵ then I’ll oppose that man and his family and eliminate him from contact with his people, along with all the prostitutes who accompany him and who have committed prostitution with Molech.”

¹³ When God Goes to CourtThe LORD is taking his place to argue his case; he’s standing up to judge the people.

²⁶ Recount the brief! Let’s argue the matter together; Present your case, so that you may be proved right.

²⁹ Why do you contend with me? You have rebelled against me,” declares the LORD.

³⁵ you say, ‘I’m innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.’” “I’m about to bring charges against you because you say, ‘I haven’t sinned.’

³⁵ I’ll bring you into the wilderness of the nations. I’ll judge you right there, face to face. ³⁶ Just as I judged your ancestors in the wilderness in the land of Egypt, so I’ll judge you,” declares the LORD.

² Gomer is Rebuked “Call your mother to account, call her— for she is not my wife, and I’m not her husband. Let her do away with her seductive looks and remove her adultery from between her breasts.

² Listen, you mountains, to the LORD’s argument! Listen, you strong foundations of the earth, because the LORD has a dispute with his people, and he will set out his case before Israel.

⁴ Javan’s descendants included Elisha, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim, ⁵ from whom the coastal peoples spread into their own lands and nations, each with their own language and family groups.

¹³ Here’s a list of the names of Ishmael’s sons, recorded by their names and descendants: Nebaioth was the firstborn, followed by Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

²⁴ Ships under control of Kittim will devastate Asshur and Eber, until they are permanently destroyed.”

³⁰ All the witnesses said, “Nothing has happened or has been seen like this from the day the Israelis came here from the land of Egypt to this day! Think about it, get some advice about it, and then speak up about it!”

⁷ Javan’s descendants were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.

¹ The Levitical DivisionsAfter David had reached old age, and had completed his reign, he set his son Solomon as king over Israel.

¹² The four descendants of Kohath included Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

⁵ How terrible for me, that I am an alien in Meshech, that I reside among the tents of Kedar!

¹⁶ For this is what the LORD is saying to me: “Within three years, according to the years of a contract worker, the pomp of Kedar will come to an end.

¹³ “Therefore, this is what the LORD says: ‘Ask the nations. Who has ever heard of anything like this? You have done a most horrible thing, virgin Israel. ¹⁴ Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes? Or does the cold water from a foreign land ever cease to flow?

⁶ equipped with oars made from oaks from Bashan, with ivory-inlaid cypress wood decking imported from the coastlands of Cypress,

³⁰ because ships will come against him from the Mediterranean islands. Disheartened, he’ll return, incited to vehemence against the holy covenant, and he’ll take action. As he returns, he’ll show deference to those who abandon the holy covenant.

¹ Disciplining for Sexual ImmoralityIt is actually reported that sexual immorality exists among you, and of a kind that is not found even among the gentiles. A man is actually living with his father’s wife!

²⁹ How blessed are you, Israel! Who can be like you, a people delivered by the LORD, your shield of help and your finely crafted sword. May your enemies cower before you. You will tread down their high places.”

³ But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.

²⁰ They exchanged their glory with the image of a grass-eating bull.

⁴ Their idols are silver and gold, crafted by human hands.

¹⁹ and have thrown their gods into the fire—but they are not gods, but rather the products of human hands, mere wood and stone. So the Assyrians destroyed them.

⁵ This is what the LORD says: “What did your ancestors find wrong with me that they left me, and pursued worthless things, and so they became worthless?

²⁰ Can a person make a god for himself? They are not gods!

⁵ “Because all of the people will walk, each person in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.

²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images that looked like mortal human beings, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

⁴ Now concerning eating food offered to idols: We know that no idol is real in this world and that there is only one God.

¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things like silver or gold that you have been ransomed from the worthless way of life handed down to you by your ancestors,

¹ The Song of Moses Hear, heavens, and I will speak! Listen, earth, to the words of my mouth!

² Rebellious JudahListen, you heavens, and let the earth pay attention, because the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them to adulthood, but then they rebelled against me.

¹⁹ Listen, earth! I’m about to bring calamity on this people, on the fruit of their plans, because they didn’t listen to my words and they rejected my instruction.

²⁹ Land, land, land, listen to this message from the LORD!

⁴⁵ Jesus Dies on the Cross
From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.

⁵⁰ Then Jesus cried out with a loud voice again and died. ⁵¹ Suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth shook, rocks were split open, ⁵² tombs were opened, and many saints who had died were brought back to life. ⁵³ After his resurrection, they came out of their tombs, went into the Holy City, and appeared to many people.

¹³ But you have abandoned me and served other gods. Therefore I will no longer be delivering you.

¹⁰ “Then they cried out to the LORD: ‘We have sinned because we have forsaken the LORD and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.’

⁹ For with you is a fountain of life, and in your light we will see light.

¹¹ Yet my people didn’t obey my voice; Israel didn’t submit to me. ¹² So I allowed them to continue in their stubbornness, living by their own advice. ¹³ If only my people would obey me, if only Israel would walk in my ways!

⁴ Their idols are silver and gold, crafted by human hands. ⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see. ⁶ They have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell. ⁷ They have hands, but cannot touch; feet, but cannot walk; they cannot even groan with their throats. ⁸ Those who craft them will become like them, as will all those who trust in them.

³ Do not look to nobles, nor to mere human beings who cannot save. ⁴ When they stop breathing, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans evaporate!

² “Utterly pointless,” says the Teacher. “Absolutely pointless; everything is pointless.”

¹⁴ I observed every activity done on earth. My conclusion: all of it is pointless—like chasing after the wind.

¹¹ Then I examined all of my accomplishments that I had brought about by my own efforts, including the work that I had labored so hard to complete—and it was all pointless, like chasing after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained on earth.

²¹ For sometimes people who strive to obtain wisdom, knowledge, and equity leave everything as an inheritance to a person who never worked for it. This, too, is pointless and greatly troublesome.

²⁶ After all, to the person who is good in God’s sight, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner he gives the troublesome task of acquiring and accumulating in order to leave it to someone who is good in the sight of God. This also is pointless and chasing after the wind.

⁴ Then I examined all sorts of work, including all kinds of excellent achievements that create envy in others. This also is pointless and chasing after the wind.

⁸ “Utterly pointless,” says the Teacher. “Everything is pointless.”

³ The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s feeding trough, but Israel doesn’t know, and my people don’t understand.

¹³ Therefore my people go into exile because they lack understanding; my honored men go hungry, and the crowd is parched with thirst.

⁹ A Rebuke to Idol WorshipNow, all the forming of images means nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their own witnesses cannot see, and they know nothing. So they will be put to shame.
¹⁰ Who would shape a god or cast an image that profits nothing? ¹¹ To be sure, all who associate with it will be put to shame; and as for the craftsmen, they are only human. Let them all gather together and take their stand. Then let them be terrified—they will be humiliated together.
¹² The blacksmith prepares a tool and works in the coals, then fashions an idol with hammers, working by the strength of his arm. He even becomes hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint.
¹³ The carpenter measures it with a line; he traces its shape with a stylus, then fashions it with planes and shapes it with a compass. He makes the idol like a human figure, with human beauty, to be at home in a shrine. ¹⁴ He cuts down cedars, or chooses a cypress tree or an oak, and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. Or he plants a cedar, and the rain makes it grow. ¹⁵ He divides it up for people to burn. Taking part of it, he warms himself, makes a fire, and bakes bread. Or perhaps he constructs a god and worships it. He makes it an idol and bows down to it. ¹⁶ Half the wood he burns in the fire, and over that half he places meat so he can eat. He sits by its coals, warms himself, and says, “Ah! I am warm in front of the fire.” ¹⁷ And the rest of it he makes into a god. To blocks of wood he bows down, worships, prays, and says, “Save me, since you are my god.”
¹⁸ They don’t realize; they don’t understand, because their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds, too, so they cannot understand. ¹⁹ No one stops to think. No one has the knowledge or understanding to think—yes to think!—“Half of it I burned in the fire. I even baked bread on its coals, and I roasted meat and ate it. And am I about to make detestable things from what is left? Am I about to bow down to blocks of wood?” ²⁰ He tends ashes. A deceived mind has lead him astray. It cannot be his life, nor can he say, “There’s a lie in my right hand.”

⁶ Those who pour out gold in a purse, weigh silver in a balance, hire a goldsmith in order to make a god, and then they bow down and even worship it. ⁷ And they lift it on their shoulders, carry it, set it up in its place, and there it stands. It cannot move from that spot. One may even call to it, but it cannot answer nor save him from his distress.

² Why spend your money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in rich food.

⁸ For he said, “Surely they are my people, children who won’t act falsely.” And so he became their savior.

¹⁶ “I’ll pronounce my judgments against them because of all their wickedness. They have forsaken me, they have burned incense to other gods, and they have bowed down in worship to the works of their own hands.”

¹⁷ You have done this to yourselves, have you not, by forsaking the LORD your God, when he is the one who led you on the way?

²⁶ “As a thief is disgraced when he’s caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced— they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,

³¹ “You, generation, pay attention to this message from the LORD! Am I the desert to Israel, or a land of gloom? Why do my people say, ‘We’re free to roam? We won’t come to you anymore.’ ³² Will a young woman forget her wedding ornaments, or a bride her attire? But my people have forgotten me days without number.

²⁶ “Evil men are found among my people. They lie in wait like someone who traps birds. They set a trap, but they do so to catch people.

⁶ You have deserted me,” declares the LORD. “You keep going backward. I’ll reach out my hand and destroy you. I’m tired of showing compassion.

¹³ LORD, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn aside from you will be written in the dust, because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water.

¹⁴ Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes? Or does the cold water from a foreign land ever cease to flow?

⁸ Lately my people have acted like an enemy— you strip travelers who thought they were as secure as those who return from war.

³ “My people, what have I done to you, and how have I offended you? Answer me!

¹⁴ But whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never become thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become a well of water for him, springing up to eternal life.”

³⁷ Rivers of Living WaterOn the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!

¹⁷ These men are dried-up springs, mere clouds driven by a storm. Gloomy darkness is reserved for them.

⁶ Then he told me, “It has happened! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give a drink from the spring of the water of life to the one who is thirsty.

¹ The Vision of the River of the Water of LifeThen the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal. It was flowing from the throne of God and the lamb.

¹⁷ Concluding InvitationThe Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”
Let everyone who hears this say, “Come!”
Let everyone who is thirsty come!
Let anyone who wants the water of life take it as a gift!

³ Look!” Abram said, “You haven’t given me any offspring, so a servant born in my house is going to be my heir.”

²² You are to say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: “Israel is my firstborn son.

⁷ A Testimony to Extravagant PossessionsI acquired male and female slaves, and had other slaves born in my house. I also acquired for myself increasing numbers of herds and flocks—more than anyone who had lived before me in Jerusalem.

¹ A Call to Return to God This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Look! It’s because of your sins that you were sold, and because of your transgressions that your mother was sent away.

⁵ Then Samson went down in the direction of Timnah with his father and mother and arrived as far as the vineyards of Timnah. And—surprise!—a young lion came roaring at him!

¹⁰ “The lioness may roar, and the lion cub may growl; but even the ivory teeth of the full grown lion are broken.

⁴ I am surrounded by lions. I lie down with those who burn with fire— that is, with people whose teeth are like spears and arrows— whose tongues are like sharp swords.

⁷ God’s Diagnosis“Your country lies desolate; your cities have been incinerated. Before your very eyes, foreigners are devouring your land— they’ve brought devastation on it, while the land is overthrown by foreigners.

⁹ The LORD of the Heavenly Armies has declared this so I could hear it: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great and beautiful houses, without occupants.

²⁹ With a roar like a lion, they snarl, and like young lions, they growl; they seize their prey and then carry it off, with no one to rescue.

¹¹ Then I asked, “For how long, LORD?”
He replied: “Until cities lie waste, without inhabitants, and houses without people; and the land becomes utterly desolate.

¹ The Earth is Judged “Watch out! The LORD is about to depopulate the land and devastate it; he will turn it upside down and scatter its inhabitants.

⁷ A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will be ruined, and without inhabitants.

⁶ Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will devastate them. A leopard is watching their towns, and everyone who goes out of them will be torn to pieces. For their transgressions are many, and their apostasies numerous.

¹¹ “I’ll make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a refuge for jackals. I’ll make the towns of Judah desolate, without inhabitants.”

³⁰ The LORD will Judge the Nations“You are to prophesy all these things against them, and you are to say to them, ‘The LORD roars from his high place, from his holy dwelling he lifts his voice. He roars loudly against his flock, and against all who live on the earth; he shouts like those treading grapes.

⁹ Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD that this house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be without an inhabitant?” Then all the people gathered around Jeremiah at the LORD’s Temple.

¹⁰ “This is what the LORD says: ‘You are saying about this place, “It is a ruin without people and without animals.” Yet in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem which are desolate places without inhabitants and without animals, there will again be heard

²² Look, I’m in command of them,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I’ll bring them back to this city. They’ll capture it and burn it with fire, and I’ll turn the towns of Judah into desolate places without inhabitants.’”

²² The LORD could no longer bear it because of your evil deeds and the repulsive things that you did. So your land has become a ruin and an object of horror and ridicule without an inhabitant, as is the case today.

¹⁷ Hope for Israel“Israel is a scattered flock, driven out by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria, and then afterward King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gnawed his bones.

¹⁴ I’m also going to turn you into a waste and an object of insult among the nations that surround you and in front of every person who passes by.

¹⁴ Therefore I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I—even I—will tear them to pieces, and then I will leave. I will take them away, and there will be no rescue.

¹⁰ They will go after the LORD, who will roar like a lion; and when he roars, the children will come trembling from the west.

⁷ “So I will be like a lion to them. Like a leopard I will stalk them along the road. ⁸ I will confront them like a bear deprived of her cubs; I will tear open their ribs. I will devour them like a lion— the wild beasts will rip them apart.

⁴ Will a lion roar in the forest without having found its prey? Will a young lion cry from its den without having caught anything?

⁸ A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who will not prophesy?

¹² This is what the LORD says: “Just as a shepherd might save from the lion’s mouth only two leg bones or a scrap of an ear, the Israelis will be saved in a similar manner— those in Samaria who sit on the remains of their broken beds, and those in Damascus who lie on the edge of their couches.”

¹¹ Nineveh: the Lion’s Den DestroyedWhere is this lion’s den? Where is the place where the young lions fed, where the lion and its mate walked with their young, the place where they feared nothing?

¹⁸ Neither their silver nor their gold will deliver them in the Day of the LORD’s wrath; but the entire land will be consumed by the fire of his jealousy, for he will bring the inhabitants of the land to a sudden end.”

⁵ Woe to those who live along the coast, the people of Philistia! This message from the LORD is being spoken against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines: ‘I’ll destroy you until no one lives there!’

⁶ “I have destroyed nations— their fortifications are deserted. I have turned their main thoroughfares into wastelands where no one will travel. Their cities are desolate; as a result, not one man remains— no, not even a single resident.

²⁰ GadAbout Gad he said: “Blessed be the one who enlarges Gad! Like a roaring lion, he crouches, tearing arm and scalp.

²¹ Look, you’re trusting on Egypt to lean on like a staff, but it’s a crushed reed, and if you lean on it, it will collapse and pierce your hand. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just like that to everyone who relies on him!

³³ Pharaoah Neco placed him in custody at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, so that he would not reign in Jerusalem, and imposed a tribute of 100 talents of silver and a talent of gold.

⁶ From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there’s no soundness evident— only bruises, sores, and festering wounds that haven’t been cleaned out, bandaged, or treated with oil.”
⁷ God’s Diagnosis“Your country lies desolate; your cities have been incinerated. Before your very eyes, foreigners are devouring your land— they’ve brought devastation on it, while the land is overthrown by foreigners.

⁸ He will sweep on into Judah, overflowing as he passes through, like flood waters reaching up to a person’s neck. His outstretched wings will flow as wide as your land, O Immanuel!”

¹³ The princes of Zoan have become fools, and the princes of Memphis deluded; the leaders of its tribes have led Egypt astray.

¹ Foolish Trust in Egypt “Oh, you stubborn children,” declares the LORD, “who carry out plans— but they are not mine, and who make alliances— but not by my Spirit, piling sin upon sin. ² They set out to go down to Egypt, without asking my advice; taking refuge in Pharaoh’s protection, and seeking shelter in Egypt’s shadow. ³ But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and sheltering in Egypt’s shadow your longing. ⁴ And it will turn out that his officials are at Zoan, and his envoys will reach Hanes. ⁵ There is only loathsome destruction through a people that cannot benefit them, who bring neither help nor profit, but only shame and disgrace.”
⁶ The Animals of the NegevAn oracle about the animals of the Negev: “Through a land of trouble, dryness, and distress, of lionesses and roaring lions, where there is no water, a land of vipers and darting snakes, he carries their riches on donkeys’ backs, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a nation that cannot benefit them,

¹ Only the LORD can Help “How terrible it will be for those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the chariot, because there are so many, and in charioteers, because they are so strong— but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or seek the LORD! ² Yet he is also wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words, but will rise up against the house of those who practice evil and against anyone who assists people who work iniquity. ³ The Egyptians are men, not God, and their horses are physical, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, anyone who assists will stumble, and the one who is helped will fall; and they will all perish together.”

⁷ So they went into the land of Egypt, because they did not obey the LORD, and they travelled as far as Tahpanhes.
⁸ Nebuchadnezzar’s Invasion of Egypt PredictedThen this message from the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: ⁹ “Take large stones in your hands, and, in the sight of the men of Judah, bury them in the mortar of the brickwork at the entrance of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes.

¹ Jeremiah Warns the Refugees in EgyptThis is the message that came to Jeremiah for all the Judeans who were living in the land of Egypt, who were living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, saying,

¹⁴ “Announce in Egypt, proclaim in Migdol. Proclaim also in Memphis and Tahpanhes. Say, ‘Take your positions and be ready, for the sword will devour all around you.’

¹⁹ Prepare your baggage for exile, daughter living in Egypt, for Memphis will become a desolate place. It will become a ruin without inhabitant.

¹³ Destruction of Egypt’s Gods“This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images that come from Memphis. There will no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt, and I will terrify the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ I’ll set fire to Egypt, and Aswan will writhe in agony. Thebes will be demolished, and Memphis will face daily distress.

¹⁵ and if you refuse my statutes, loathe my ordinances, and fail to carry out all of my commands, thereby breaching my covenant, ¹⁶ then I will certainly do this to you: I’ll appoint sudden terror to infect you like tuberculosis and fever. Your eyes will fail and your life will waste away. You’ll plant in vain, because your enemies will consume what you plant. ¹⁷ I’ll set my face against you so that you’ll be defeated before your enemies. Those who hate you will have dominion over you and you’ll keep fleeing even when no one is pursuing you.
¹⁸ “If, despite all of this, you still don’t listen to me, then I’ll punish you seven times more on account of your sins. ¹⁹ I’ll break your mighty pride. I’ll make the heavens to be like iron and the ground like bronze. ²⁰ Your strength will be spent in vain, because your land won’t yield its produce and the trees of the land won’t yield their fruit.
²¹ “If you live life contrary to me and remain unwilling to listen to me, then I’ll add to your wounds seven times more on account of your sins. ²² I’ll send wild beasts against you from the open country to deprive you of your children, destroy your cattle, and decrease your number so that your roads become desolate.
²³ “If, despite these things, you still won’t return to me, but live life contrary to me, ²⁴ then I’ll certainly oppose you. I’ll take vengeance against you seven fold on account of your sins. ²⁵ I’ll bring the sword against you to execute the vengeance of my covenant. When you gather in your cities, I’ll send a pestilence. As a result, you’ll be delivered into the control of your enemies. ²⁶ When I destroy the source of your bread, ten women will bake bread in one oven. Then they’ll return back your bread by weight. You’ll eat but won’t be satisfied.
²⁷ “If, after all of this time, you don’t listen to me, but instead live life contrary to me, ²⁸ I’ll oppose you with vicious rage. Indeed, I myself will punish you seven fold on account of your sins. ²⁹ At that time, you’ll eat the flesh of your sons and you’ll eat the flesh of your daughters. ³⁰ I’ll destroy your high places and cut down your sun pillars. Then I’ll cast your dead bodies on top of the bodies of your idols. I’ll loathe you. ³¹ I’ll lay your cities to waste and destroy your sanctuaries so I don’t have to smell the scent of your soothing odors. ³² I’ll make the land so desolate that your enemies who live in it will be astonished.”
³³ Captivity among the Nations“I’ll scatter you among the nations and draw the sword after you so that your land becomes desolate and your towns become ruins. ³⁴ Then the land will finally be pleased with its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time, the land will rest and take its Sabbaths. ³⁵ As long as it lies desolate, it will have rest that it will not have had during your Sabbaths when you were living in it.
³⁶ “As for the remnants among you, I’ll bring despair in their hearts in the land of their enemies so that even the sound of a blown leaf will chase them and they flee as though pursued by the sword and fall when no one is pursuing. ³⁷ They’ll stumble over each other as though fleeing before the sword, even though no one is pursuing.
“You won’t have power to resist your enemies. ³⁸ You’ll perish among the nations and the land of your enemies will consume you. ³⁹ The remnants among you will waste away in the land of your enemies due to their iniquity. Indeed, they’ll also waste away on account of the iniquities of their ancestors with them.”
⁴⁰ Return from Captivity“Nevertheless, when they confess their iniquity, the iniquity of their ancestors, and their unfaithfulness by which they acted unfaithfully against me by living life contrary to me— ⁴¹ causing me to oppose them and take them to the land of their enemies so that the uncircumcised foreskin of their hearts can be humbled and so that they accept the punishment of their iniquity— ⁴² then I’ll remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham. I’ll also remember the land. ⁴³ They will leave the land so it can rest while it lies desolate without them. That’s when they’ll receive the punishment of their iniquity, because indeed they will have rejected my ordinances and despised my statutes. ⁴⁴ Yet, despite all of these things, when they’re in the land of their enemies, I won’t reject or despise them so as to completely destroy them and by doing so violate my covenant with them, because I am the LORD their God. ⁴⁵ Instead, on account of them, I’ll remember my covenant with their ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt right before the eyes of the nations, so that I could be their God. I am the LORD.”
⁴⁶ These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws that the LORD made between himself and the Israelis on Mount Sinai, as recorded by the hand of Moses.

²³ “But if you won’t do so, look out! You will be sinning against the LORD. Be certain of this, that your sin will catch up to you!

¹⁵ Reversal of Blessings“But if you don’t obey the LORD your God and faithfully carry out all his commands and statutes that I’m giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you and overwhelm you.
¹⁶ “Cursed will you be in the city and cursed will you be in the country.
¹⁷ “Cursed will be your grain basket and your kneading bowl.
¹⁸ “Cursed will your children be, as well as the produce of your land, the offspring of your beasts and cattle, and the offspring of your flock.
¹⁹ “Cursed will you be in your comings and goings.”
²⁰ Diseases and Drought“The LORD will send the curse among you, will confuse you, and will rebuke you in everything you undertake until you are destroyed and perish quickly because of your evil deeds, since you will have forsaken him. ²¹ The LORD will cause you to be ill with long-lasting diseases until you are wiped out from the land that you are entering to possess. ²² The LORD will afflict you with tuberculosis, fever, inflammation, high fever, drought, blight, and mildew. These will attack you until you are completely destroyed. ²³ The sky above your head will become bronze while the ground beneath you will become iron. ²⁴ The LORD will change the rain on your land to powder and dust. It will come down from the sky until you are exterminated.”
²⁵ From Defeat to Exile“The LORD will cause you to be defeated by your enemies. You’ll go out against them in one direction, but you’ll flee from them in seven directions. Consequently, you’ll be in a state of great terror throughout all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ Your dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth, with no one to chase them away.
²⁷ “The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, skin disease, and festering rashes, and none of them will be curable. ²⁸ The LORD will afflict you with insanity, blindness, and mental confusion. ²⁹ As a result, you’ll wander aimlessly in broad daylight just as a blind person wanders in darkness. You won’t prosper in life. Instead you’ll be oppressed and plundered all day long, with no deliverer.
³⁰ You’ll be engaged to a woman, but another man will rape her. You’ll build a house but you won’t live in it. You’ll plant a vineyard but you won’t harvest it. ³¹ Your ox will be slaughtered in front of you, and you won’t be able to eat it. Your donkey will be stolen from you while you watch and won’t be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be handed to your enemies and there will be no deliverer. ³² Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while you watch, and you won’t be able to approach them at all, and you’ll be powerless to help.
³³ “A people whom you don’t know will devour what your land and labor produces. You’ll be only oppressed and discouraged continuously ³⁴ until you are driven insane from what your eyes will see.
³⁵ “The LORD will inflict you with incurable boils on your knees and legs, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
³⁶ “The LORD will banish you and your king whom you will appoint over you to go to a nation that neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you’ll serve other gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ You’ll become a desolation and a proverb, and you’ll be mocked among the people where the LORD will drive you.”
³⁸ Complete Reversal“You’ll plant many seeds in a field, but your harvest will be small because the locust will consume it. ³⁹ You’ll plant a vineyard, but you won’t drink wine or harvest any grapes, because worms will consume it. ⁴⁰ You’ll have olive trees throughout your territory, but you won’t be able to anoint yourself with oil, because the olives will drop off the trees. ⁴¹ You’ll bear sons and daughters, but they won’t belong to you, because they’ll go into captivity. ⁴² Whirling locusts will consume every tree and the produce of your land. ⁴³ The foreigner in your midst will be elevated higher and higher over you, while you are brought low little by little. ⁴⁴ He will lend to you, but you won’t lend to him. He’ll be the head, but you’ll be the tail. ⁴⁵ All these curses will come upon you and will overwhelm you until you are exterminated, because you didn’t obey the LORD your God to keep his commands and statutes, which he had commanded you. ⁴⁶ These curses will serve as a sign and wonder for you and your descendants as long as you live.”
⁴⁷ Servitude and Bondage“Because you didn’t serve the LORD your God joyfully and wholeheartedly, despite the abundance of everything you have, ⁴⁸ you’ll serve your enemies whom the LORD your God will send against you. You will serve in famine and in drought, in nakedness, and in lack of everything. They’ll set a yoke of iron upon your neck until they have exterminated you.
⁴⁹ “The LORD will raise a distant nation against you from the other side of the earth. Swooping down like a vulture, ⁵⁰ it will be a nation whose language you don’t understand, whose stern appearance neither shows regard nor extends grace to anyone whether old or young. ⁵¹ Its army will consume the offspring of your animals and the produce of your soil until you are exterminated. They will leave you without your grain, wine, oil, the increase of your cattle, and the lamb of your flock, until you are completely destroyed. ⁵² They’ll besiege all your cities until your high and fortified walls in which you have trusted collapse throughout the land. Indeed, they will besiege all your cities, which the LORD your God gave you.”
⁵³ Cannibalism“You’ll eat your own children—the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God gave you—on account of the siege and the distress with which your enemy will oppress you. ⁵⁴ Even the compassionate man among you—the very sensitive one—will look with evil in his eyes toward his brother, his beloved wife, and his surviving sons, whom he spared. ⁵⁵ He will withhold from each of them the flesh of his sons that he is eating—since there will be nothing left—on account of the siege and distress with which your enemy will oppress you in all your cities. ⁵⁶ The most tender and sensitive lady among you, who doesn’t venture to touch the soles of her feet to the ground on account of her daintiness, will look with hostility in her eyes against her beloved husband, her sons, and her daughters. ⁵⁷ She will eat her afterbirth and her newborn children secretly—since there will be nothing left—on account of the siege and distress with which your enemy will oppress you in your cities.”
⁵⁸ Reduction in Population“If you aren’t careful to observe all the words of this Law that have been written in this book, instructing you to fear this glorious and awesome name of the LORD your God, ⁵⁹ then he will inflict extraordinary plagues on you and your children, great and lasting plagues, and severe and lasting illnesses. ⁶⁰ He will inflict on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they won’t be curable. ⁶¹ Moreover, the LORD will inflict you with illnesses and plagues that were not written in this Book of the Law, until you are exterminated. ⁶² Because you will not have obeyed the LORD your God, very few of you will be left—instead of you being as numerous as the stars in the heavens. ⁶³ Just as the LORD delighted to prosper and increase you, so now the LORD will delight to destroy, exterminate, and banish you from the land that you are about to enter to possess.”
⁶⁴ Scattering among the Nations“He’ll scatter you among the peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you’ll serve other gods made of wood and stones, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. ⁶⁵ Among those nations you’ll have no rest. There’ll be no resting place for the soles of your feet. Instead, the LORD will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a despairing spirit. ⁶⁶ You’ll cling to life, being fearful by both night and day, with no assurance of survival. ⁶⁷ In the morning you’ll say, ‘I wish it were evening.’ Yet in the evening you’ll say, “I wish it were morning,” on account of what you’ll dread and what you’ll see. ⁶⁸ Finally, the LORD will bring you back to Egypt by ship, a place that I said you’ll never see again. There you’ll try to sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

¹⁹ The LORD’s ResponseThe LORD saw it and became jealous, provoked by his sons and daughters.

⁹ David Addresses Solomon Directly“Now as for you, my son Solomon, get to know the God of your father. Serve him with a sound heart and a devoted soul, because the LORD is searching every heart, every plan and thought. He will be found by you, assuming you are seeking him, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you forever.

¹⁹ “But if you turn away and abandon my statutes and my commands that I have given you, and if you walk away to serve other gods and worship them, ²⁰ then I will tear them up by the roots from the ground that I had given them! And as for this Temple that I have set apart for my name, I will throw it out of my sight and make it the butt of jokes and a means of ridicule among people worldwide!

⁸ It’s been my experience that those who plow the soil of iniquity and those who sow the seed of trouble will reap their harvest!

²⁰ You have led your people like a flock by the hands of Moses and Aaron.

⁵³ He led them to safety so they would not fear. As for their enemies, the sea covered them. ⁵⁴ He brought the people to the border of his holy mountain, which he acquired by his might.

⁷ He led them in a straight way to find a city where they could live.

¹⁶ To the one who led his people into the wilderness, for his gracious love is everlasting—

⁴ “Oh, you sinful nation! You people burdened down by iniquity! You offspring of those who keep practicing what is evil! You corrupt children! “They’ve abandoned the LORD; they’ve despised the Holy One of Israel; in their estrangement, they’ve walked away from me.

¹³ “Indeed, my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

¹⁹ Your wickedness will be punished, and you will be corrected due to your acts of apostasy. Know and see that it’s evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God, but the fear of me is not in you,” declares the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies.

¹⁸ “Your lifestyles and your actions have brought these things on you. This is your calamity—it is indeed bitter, for it has reached your heart!”

⁹ “You have destroyed yourself, Israel, although I remain your help.

³ from the Shihor east of Egypt as far as the border of Ekron on the north (which is considered part of Canaan). This includes the five rulers of the Philistines, the Gazites, the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, the Ekronites, and the Avvites.

⁷ So Ahaz sent envoys to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, to tell him, “I am your servant and son. Save me from the king of Aram and the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” ⁸ Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that was in the LORD’s Temple and in the palace treasuries and sent them as a gift to the king of Assyria, ⁹ so the king of Assyria listened to Ahaz. He attacked Damascus, captured it, sent its people away into exile to Kir, and executed Rezin.

²⁰ King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria attacked Ahaz and, instead of helping him, attacked him. ²¹ Even though Ahaz took some of the assets belonging to the LORD’s Temple from the royal palace, and from the palaces belonging to the princes, and gave them to the king of Assyria, none of his gifts did any good.

¹ Foolish Trust in Egypt “Oh, you stubborn children,” declares the LORD, “who carry out plans— but they are not mine, and who make alliances— but not by my Spirit, piling sin upon sin. ² They set out to go down to Egypt, without asking my advice; taking refuge in Pharaoh’s protection, and seeking shelter in Egypt’s shadow. ³ But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and sheltering in Egypt’s shadow your longing. ⁴ And it will turn out that his officials are at Zoan, and his envoys will reach Hanes. ⁵ There is only loathsome destruction through a people that cannot benefit them, who bring neither help nor profit, but only shame and disgrace.”
⁶ The Animals of the NegevAn oracle about the animals of the Negev: “Through a land of trouble, dryness, and distress, of lionesses and roaring lions, where there is no water, a land of vipers and darting snakes, he carries their riches on donkeys’ backs, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a nation that cannot benefit them, ⁷ to Egypt, which gives help that is worthless and useless. Therefore I call her, ‘Rahab, who just sits still.’”

¹ Only the LORD can Help “How terrible it will be for those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the chariot, because there are so many, and in charioteers, because they are so strong— but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or seek the LORD!

³⁶ Why do you go about changing your mind so much? You will also be disappointed by Egypt, just as you were disappointed by Assyria.

⁵ Pharaoh’s army had come out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
⁶ Then this message from the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet: ⁷ “This is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘This is what you are to say to the king of Judah who sent you to me to inquire of me, “Look, Pharaoh’s army that has come to help will go back to its own land of Egypt, ⁸ and then the Chaldeans will come back to fight against this city, to capture it, and burn it with fire.”’ ⁹ “This is what the LORD says: ‘Don’t deceive yourselves by saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” ‘for they won’t go. ¹⁰ Indeed, even if you defeated the entire Chaldean army that is fighting against you, and they had only wounded men left in their tents, they would get up and burn this city with fire.’”’”

¹⁷ Our eyes failed, searching in vain for hope; we kept watching and looking for a nation that would not help.

¹⁵ But he rebelled against the king of Babylon by sending his messengers to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Or will the one who did this escape? Will he break the covenant, but still be delivered?’”

¹³ When Ephraim examined his illness and Judah his injury, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and inquired of the great king; but he could not cure you nor heal your injury.

¹¹ “Ephraim is also like a silly dove, lacking sense: They call out to Egypt, and turn toward Assyria.

¹¹ Though his bones were full of youthful vigor; yet they will lie down with him in the dust. ¹² Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth, though he conceals it under his tongue, ¹³ though he savors it and delays swallowing it so he can taste it again and again in his mouth, ¹⁴ his food will turn rancid in his stomach— it will become a cobra’s poison inside him. ¹⁵ “Though he swallows wealth, he will vomit it; God will dislodge it from his stomach. ¹⁶ He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will slay him.

¹ To the Director: By the servant of the LORD, David.
An Oracle from the LORD An oracle that came to me about the transgressions of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes.

³¹ They will eat the fruit of their way, and they will be filled with their own devices.

²² The wicked person’s iniquities will capture him, and he will be held with the cords of his sin.

⁹ “The expressions on their faces give them away. They parade their sin around like Sodom; they don’t even try to hide it. How horrible it will be for them, because they have brought disaster on themselves!”

⁵ “Now, let me tell you, won’t you please, what I’m going to do to my vineyard. “I’m going to take away its protective hedge, and it will be devoured; I’ll break down its wall, and it will be trampled.

⁶ The Example of SamariaIn the time of King Josiah the LORD told me, “Have you seen what unfaithful Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she committed fornication there. ⁷ I thought, ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to me.’ But she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw this. ⁸ I saw that even though I had sent unfaithful Israel away for all her adulteries and had given her a divorce decree, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t fear, and she, too, committed adultery.

¹¹ A Call for RepentanceThen the LORD told me, “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. ¹² Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say, ‘Return, unfaithful Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I won’t look on you in anger, for I am gracious,’ declares the LORD. ‘I won’t remain angry forever. ¹³ ‘Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God, and have scattered your favors to strangers under every green tree. But you haven’t obeyed me,’ declares the LORD.
¹⁴ “Return, unfaithful people,” declares the LORD, “for I am your husband. I’ll take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I’ll bring you to Zion.

²² God Calls for Repentance“Turn back, unfaithful people, and I’ll heal your unfaithfulness.”
Israel Replies “Look, we’re coming to you because you are the LORD our God.

²² ‘You don’t fear me, do you?’ declares the LORD. ‘You don’t tremble before me, do you? I’m the one who put the sand as a boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot cross. Though the waves toss, they cannot prevail against it, though they roar, they cannot cross it.’

⁵ Why has this people turned away? Why does Jerusalem continue in apostasy? They hold on to deceit and refuse to repent.

²³ As Jehudi would read three or four columns, the king would cut it with a scribe’s knife and throw it into the fire which was in the stove, until all the scroll was burned in the fire in the stove. ²⁴ The king and all his officials who were listening to these words were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments.

¹⁶ For Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn mule! Nevertheless, will not the LORD feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?

⁵ The arrogance of Israel testifies against him; therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity, and Judah with them.

⁷ My people are determined to turn away from me; though they call to the Most High, no one is worshiping.

¹ A Call to Repentance “Return, Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have fallen due to your own iniquity.

¹⁰ I will turn your festivals into mourning, and all of your songs to dirges. I will cause all of you to put on sackcloth and to shave all of your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son, and its conclusion will be like the end of a bitter day.”

¹¹ But they refused to pay attention, turned their backs, and stopped listening.

¹⁸ They don’t fear God.

⁸ so I have come down to deliver them from their domination by the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the territory of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

⁸ All the people answered together: “We’ll do everything that the LORD has said!”
Then Moses reported all the words of the people back to the LORD.

³ Then Moses came and reported all the words of the LORD and all the statutes to the people, and they all answered with one voice, “We will do everything that the LORD has decreed.”

¹⁴ indeed, you are not to bow down in worship to any other god, because the LORD’s name is Jealous—he’s a jealous God— ¹⁵ Otherwise, you may make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and when they prostitute themselves with their gods and offer sacrifices to their gods, someone may invite you and then you may eat some of their sacrifices.
¹⁶ “You are not to take any of their daughters for your sons. Otherwise, when their daughters prostitute themselves with their gods, they may cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods.

¹³ I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you will no longer be their slaves, since I’ve broken their oppressive yoke upon you to make you walk upright.”

²⁰ For the LORD took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace—out of Egypt—to be the people of his inheritance, as you are today.

³⁴ Or has any god ever taken for himself one nation out from another nation with testings, signs, wonders, wars, awesome power, and magnificent, terrifying deeds as the LORD your God did in Egypt before your eyes?

²⁷ As for you, go near and listen to everything that the LORD our God will say to you, then repeat it to us, and we’ll listen and obey.’

² Be sure you destroy there all the places where the nations that you’re going to dispossess serve their gods—upon the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree.

¹⁵ Don’t ever forget that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, yet the LORD your God redeemed you. Therefore, I’m giving you these commands today.

¹⁷ You have declared this very day that the LORD will be your God. You are to walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commands, and judgments, and obey his voice.

¹⁶ The People Reaffirm Their Commitment“We’ll do everything that you commanded,” they replied. “We’ll go wherever you send us.

²⁴ The people replied, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey his voice.”

²⁶ He wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God, took a large stone, moved it under the shade of the oak tree that was near the sanctuary of the LORD,

³² Jeroboam invented a festival for the fifteenth day of the eighth month similar to the festival that takes place in Judah. He approached the altar that he had set up in Bethel and sacrificed to the calves that he had made, having stationed in Bethel the priests that he had appointed.

⁵⁸ they angered him with their high places and with their carved images they made him jealous.

²¹ Diagnosis and Judgment“How the faithful city has become a whore, she who used to be filled with justice! Righteousness used to reside within her, but now only murderers live there.

⁴ Now as to the yoke that has been his burden, and the bar laid on his shoulder— the rod of his oppressor— you have broken it as on the day of Midiam.

²⁷ At that time, his burden will depart from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck. Indeed, the yoke will be broken, because you’ve become obese.”

²⁵ to crush the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains I will trample him down. His yoke will turn away from you, and his burden from your shoulders.”

⁵ you who burn with lust among the oaks, under every spreading tree, who slaughter your children in the ravines, under the clefts of the rocks? ⁶ “Among the smooth stones of the ravines is your portion— there they are as your lot. To them you have poured out drink offerings; you have brought grain offerings. Should I be lenient over such things? ⁷ “You have made your bed on a high and lofty mountain, and you went up to offer sacrifice there.

¹ God Contemplates Divorcing Israel “When a man divorces his wife, she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife, will the first husband return to her again? The land would be deeply polluted, would it not? Since you have committed fornication with many lovers, would you now return to me?” declares the LORD. ² “Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? You have sat beside the road, waiting for them like a nomad in the desert. And you have polluted the land with your fornication and your wickedness.

² When their sons remember, they remember their altars and their Asherah poles beside green trees on the high hills.

⁸ On that day,’ declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, ‘I’ll break the yoke from your neck and will tear off your restraints. Foreigners will no longer make you serve them.

¹⁵ Jerusalem’s Arrogant Unfaithfulness“But you trusted in your beauty. You did what whores do, as a result of your fame. You passed out your sexual favors to anyone who passed by, giving yourself to anyone. ¹⁶ You took some of your clothes and made gaily-colored high places and prostituted yourself all around them—something which had never happened before nor will ever happen again.

²⁴ “You built raised mounds and high places for yourself on every plaza. ²⁵ At every street corner you made your beauty abhorrent when you made yourself available for sex to anyone who was passing by. By doing this, you kept on committing more and more immorality.

²⁸ You committed immorality with the Assyrians, because you still weren’t satisfied. You committed immorality with them, but you still weren’t satisfied.

³¹ When you built your mound on every street corner and constructed your high place at every plaza, you weren’t like a common prostitute, in that you’ve insulted the wages of a prostitute

⁴¹ Then they’ll burn your houses and carry out my sentence against you in the sight of many women.
“That’s how I’ll make you stop your prostitution so you won’t pay any prostitute’s fees anymore.

²⁸ I brought them to the land that I had promised to give them. But whenever they saw any high hill and or any leafy tree, they slaughtered their sacrifices there and presented their offerings that provoked my anger. There they presented their pleasing aromas and poured out their drink offering.

⁵ The Sins of Samaria“Oholah committed sexual immorality while she belonged to me. She lusted for Assyria’s warriors,

⁵ Indeed, their mother has committed prostitution— the one who has been conceiving them has acted disgracefully— when she said, ‘I’m going after my lovers, who provide me food and water, as well as my wool, my flax, my oil, and my wine.’

³ I told her, “You will remain with me a long time, you won’t be promiscuous, you won’t be involved with any man, and I’ll do the same.”

¹³ Now I will break off Assyria’s yoke from you, and tear apart your shackles.”

¹⁹ Indeed, I’ve made myself known to him in order that he may encourage his sons and his household that is born after him to keep the way of the LORD, and to do what is right and just, so that the LORD may bring about for Abraham what he has promised.”

³ Remain in this land, and I’ll be with and bless you by giving all these lands to you and to your descendants in fulfillment of my solemn promise that I made to your father Abraham. ⁴ I’ll cause you to have as many descendants as the stars of the heavens, and I’ll certainly give all these lands to your descendants. Later on, through your descendants all the nations of the earth will bless one another. ⁵ I’m going to do this because Abraham did what I told him to do. He kept my instructions, commands, statutes, and laws.”

²⁸ “Your name won’t be Jacob anymore,” the man replied, “but Israel, because you exerted yourself against both God and men, and you’ve emerged victorious.”

¹⁷ “You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance. You have made a place where you will reside, LORD. Your own hands have established a sanctuary, LORD.

³⁷ Moreover, he loved your ancestors, chose their descendants after them, and brought you out of Egypt, accompanied by his presence and great power,

³² Instead, their vine is from the vines of Sodom and the vineyards of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous, their clusters bitter.

³¹ Israel served the LORD for the entire lifetimes of Joshua and of the officials who outlived Joshua, that is, the ones who had personally known everything that the LORD had done for Israel.

² With your hand you expelled the nations and established our ancestors. You afflicted nations and cast them out.

⁸ You uprooted a vine from Egypt, and drove out nations to transplant it.

⁶ You descendants of Abraham, his servant, You children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

¹ The LORD’s Vineyard I will sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: “The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. ² He plowed its land and cleared it of stones. Then he planted it with the choicest vines, built a watchtower in the middle of it, and dug a wine vat in it; He expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only wild ones.”

⁴ What more could I do in my vineyard, that I haven’t already done? When I expected it to produce good grapes, why did it yield wild ones?

⁸ The LORD Encourages Israel“But as for you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I’ve chosen, the offspring of my friend Abraham—

²¹ Then your people will all be righteous; They’ll possess the land forever. They are the shoot that the LORD planted, the works of his hands, so that I might be glorified.

³ to provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, a mantle of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” “Then people will call them “Oaks of Righteousness”, “The Planting of the LORD”, in order to display his splendor.

¹ Zion’s Punishment How tarnished the gold has become, the finest gold debased! Sacred stones have been scattered at every street corner.

³³ The Parable about the Tenant Farmers
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a wall around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went abroad.

¹ The Parable about the Tenant Farmers
Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went abroad.

⁹ The Parable about the Tenant Farmers
Then he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and went abroad for a long time.

¹ Jesus the True Vine “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vintner.

³⁴ The LORD’s Response“Is this not kept in reserve, sealed up with me in my treasury?

³⁰ “If I wash myself with water from snow, and cleanse my hands with lye, ³¹ you’ll still drop me into the Pit, and my own clothes will despise me.

¹⁷ My transgressions would be sealed up in a bag; you would cover over my sins.

⁸ You have set our iniquities before you, what we have concealed in the light of your presence.

³ LORD, if you were to record iniquities, Lord, who could remain standing?

¹⁷ For I am watching all their ways; they are not hidden from my sight. Their iniquity is not concealed from my eyes.

¹ Judah’s Sin and Its Consequence The sin of Judah is engraved with an iron stylus. It is inscribed with a diamond point on the tablet of their heart and on the horns of their altars.

¹² “Ephraim’s guilt is on record; his sin is stored away.

⁷ “The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: I will never forget anything they have done.

¹² The man answered, “The woman whom you provided for me gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate some of it.”
¹³ Then the LORD God asked the woman, “What did you do?”
“The Shining One misled me,” the woman answered, “so I ate.”

¹³ Samuel approached Saul. “May the LORD bless you,” Saul said. “I’ve carried out the LORD’s command.”
¹⁴ Samuel said, “Then what is this bleating of sheep in my ears and the lowing of cattle that I hear?”

¹⁶ For the Jewish people, there was light and joy, gladness and honor.

² He flatters himself too much to discover his transgression and hate it.

²¹ These things you did, and I kept silent, because you assumed that I was like you. But now I am going to rebuke you, and I will set forth my case before your very own eyes.”

¹³ Whoever hides his transgressions will not succeed, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will find mercy.

¹² Some people view themselves as pure, but haven’t been cleansed from their own filth.

²⁰ This is what an immoral woman is like: she eats, wipes her mouth, then says “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

⁵ you who burn with lust among the oaks, under every spreading tree, who slaughter your children in the ravines, under the clefts of the rocks? ⁶ “Among the smooth stones of the ravines is your portion— there they are as your lot. To them you have poured out drink offerings; you have brought grain offerings. Should I be lenient over such things?

³³ How well you perfect your techniques for seeking love. Therefore you can teach even the most immoral women your techniques. ³⁴ On your skirts is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor, even though you didn’t catch them breaking in. Yet despite all these things, ³⁵ you say, ‘I’m innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.’” “I’m about to bring charges against you because you say, ‘I haven’t sinned.’

² “Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? You have sat beside the road, waiting for them like a nomad in the desert. And you have polluted the land with your fornication and your wickedness.

³¹ They have built high places at Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I didn’t command this, and it never entered my mind!

¹⁴ Instead, they followed their rebellious hearts and the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.”

²² How long will you go this way and that, rebellious daughter? Indeed, the LORD will create a new thing on the earth; a woman will protect a man.

¹ A Prophecy Confronting JerusalemThis message came to me from the LORD: ² “Son of Man, make known to Israel her detestable practices. ³ You are to declare, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: “Your birth place was the territory that belonged to the Canaanites. Your father was an Ammonite and your mother was a Hittite. ⁴ Now as to your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord wasn’t cut. You weren’t washed with water to clean you, and nobody rubbed you with salt. And it’s certain that you weren’t wrapped in strips of cloth. ⁵ Nobody pitied you to do any of these things for you, and nobody showed you any compassion. You were tossed outside on the ground, because you were detested from the day you were born.
⁶ “‘“When I passed by you, I saw you kicking around, covered in your own blood. That’s when I told you, ‘Live!’—while you were wallowing in your blood. I commanded you to live, even as you lay there in your own blood. ⁷ I made you increase like sprouting grain in the field. As a result, you multiplied greatly. Eventually, you reached the age when young women start wearing jewelry. Your breasts were formed, your hair had grown, but you were still bare and naked.”’”
⁸ God’s Betrothal to Jerusalem“When I passed by you again, I looked at you, and noticed that it was your proper time for love. I spread my cloak over you to cover your nakedness. I made a solemn promise to you and entered into a covenant with you,” declares the Lord GOD. “You belong to me. ⁹ I bathed you with water, rinsed your own blood from you, and anointed you with oil. ¹⁰ Then I covered you with embroidered clothing, clothed your feet with leather sandals, wrapped you with fine linen, and dressed you in silk. ¹¹ I adorned you with jewels, placing bracelets on your hand and necklaces on your neck. ¹² I put a ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a crown encrusted with jewels on your head. ¹³ You were adorned with gold, silver, clothing of fine linen, silk, and embroidery. You ate food made from the finest flour, honey, and olive oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, attaining royal status. ¹⁴ Your fame spread throughout the nations because of your beauty. You were perfectly beautiful due to my splendor with which I endowed you,” declares the Lord GOD.
¹⁵ Jerusalem’s Arrogant Unfaithfulness“But you trusted in your beauty. You did what whores do, as a result of your fame. You passed out your sexual favors to anyone who passed by, giving yourself to anyone. ¹⁶ You took some of your clothes and made gaily-colored high places and prostituted yourself all around them—something which had never happened before nor will ever happen again.
¹⁷ “You also took your fine jewelry—including my gold and my silver that I had given you. Then you made for yourself male images and had sex with them! ¹⁸ You took your embroidered gowns and made clothes to cover them. Then you offered my olive oil and incense to them.
¹⁹ “Not only that, you took the food I gave you—my fine flour, olive oil, and honey with which I fed you, and you offered them to those gods in order to appease them. That’s exactly what happened,” says the Lord GOD. ²⁰ “Then you took your sons and daughters whom you bore for me and sacrificed them for your idols to eat. As though your prostitutions were an insignificant thing, ²¹ you also slaughtered my sons and offered them to idols, incinerating them in fire. ²² Throughout all of your detestable practices and immorality, you never did remember your earlier life when you were bare, naked, and wallowing in your own blood.”
²³ The Unfaithfulness of God’s People“How terrible! How terrible it will be for all of your wickedness!” declares the Lord GOD. ²⁴ “You built raised mounds and high places for yourself on every plaza. ²⁵ At every street corner you made your beauty abhorrent when you made yourself available for sex to anyone who was passing by. By doing this, you kept on committing more and more immorality. ²⁶ Then you committed immorality with your neighbors, the Egyptians, with perverted lust, and by doing so you fornicated even more, provoking me to anger.
²⁷ “Therefore, look out! I’ve reached out to oppose you. I withdrew your rations and delivered you to those Philistine women who hate you. Even they were embarrassed at your wicked ways! ²⁸ You committed immorality with the Assyrians, because you still weren’t satisfied. You committed immorality with them, but you still weren’t satisfied. ²⁹ You committed even more immorality with that land of the merchants, the Chaldeans. But you weren’t satisfied even with these!
³⁰ “How weak is your heart,” declares the Lord GOD, “when you committed all of these deeds, the acts of an imperious whore! ³¹ When you built your mound on every street corner and constructed your high place at every plaza, you weren’t like a common prostitute, in that you’ve insulted the wages of a prostitute ³² who commits adultery, preferring a stranger over her husband!
³³ “All prostitutes receive gifts, but you give your gifts to all your lovers, then you bribe them to come to you from everywhere to get your sexual favors! ³⁴ You’re different from other women when you commit immorality—no one can match you in that! After all, you pay fees, but no fee is given to you. You’re certainly different!”
³⁵ The Coming Punishment“Therefore listen to this message from the LORD, you whore! ³⁶ This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because your lust has been poured out and your nakedness has been uncovered by your acts of fornication with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols and the blood of your sons, whom you offered to them, ³⁷ therefore, watch out! I’m about to gather all your lovers from whom you’ve received your pleasure, everyone whom you’ve loved, and those whom you’ve hated. I’ll gather them together to oppose you from every side, and they’ll uncover your nakedness in their presence. Then they’ll see you completely naked. ³⁸ I’ll judge you with the same standards by which I issue verdicts against a woman who commits adultery and murder. I’ll avenge the blood you’ve shed with impassioned wrath.
³⁹ “I’ll also deliver you into their control, and they’ll break down your mounds, tear down your high places, strip off your clothes, remove your fine jewels, and then they’ll leave you stark naked! ⁴⁰ They’ll bring a mob against you to stone you to death and cut you into pieces with their swords. ⁴¹ Then they’ll burn your houses and carry out my sentence against you in the sight of many women.
“That’s how I’ll make you stop your prostitution so you won’t pay any prostitute’s fees anymore. ⁴² I’ll stop being angry with you, and I’ll cease being jealous. I’ll be calm and not be indignant anymore. ⁴³ Because you didn’t remember the time when you were young, but instead you provoked me to anger because of all these things, watch out! I’m going to bring your behavior back to haunt you!” declares the Lord GOD. “Didn’t you do this wicked thing, in addition to all your other detestable practices?”
⁴⁴ Like Mother, Like Daughter“Now, everyone who likes proverbs will quote this proverb about you, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ ⁴⁵ You’re the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and children. You’re the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children.
“Your mother was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite. ⁴⁶ Your elder sister was Samaria. She and her daughters lived in the north, while your younger sister who lived in the south with her daughters was Sodom. ⁴⁷ It wasn’t just that you lived like they did and committed their detestable practices, but in just a little while your behavior led you to become more corrupt than they were!”
⁴⁸ Sins of Sodom“As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “your sister Sodom and her daughters didn’t do what you and your daughters have done. ⁴⁹ Look! This was the sin of your sister Sodom and her daughters: Pride, too much food, undisturbed peace, and failure to help the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ In their arrogance, they committed detestable practices in my presence, so when I saw it, I removed them. ⁵¹ Samaria didn’t commit half of your sins—you practiced more detestable deeds than they did! You’ve caused your sister to be more righteous than you, because of the detestable practices that you’ve committed. ⁵² So now, bear your own shame as you mediate for your sisters. The sins that you’ve committed are more detestable than theirs. That makes them more righteous than you. Indeed, be ashamed and bear your reproach, because you’ve made your sisters to be more righteous than you.”
⁵³ A Change in Circumstances“I’ll bring them back from their captivity—that is, from the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, along with the captivity of Samaria and her daughters and the captivity of your captives among them. ⁵⁴ But you’ll continue to bear your own reproach and be humiliated for everything that you’ve done. You’ll be a comfort to them. ⁵⁵ Your sister Sodom and her daughters will be restored to their former status. Samaria and her daughters will be restored to their former status. Then you and your daughters will be restored to your former status.
⁵⁶ “When you were being so arrogant, you never once mentioned your sister Sodom ⁵⁷ before your wickedness was revealed. Now you’ve become an object of derision to the inhabitants of Aram and its neighbors, including the Philistines—all those around you who despise you. ⁵⁸ You are to bear the punishment of your wickedness and detestable practices,” declares the LORD, ⁵⁹ “since the Lord GOD says, ‘I’ll deal with you according to what you’ve done, when you despised your oath by breaking the covenant.
⁶⁰ “‘Meanwhile, as for me, I’ll remember my covenant with you from when you were young, because I’ll establish an eternal covenant with you. ⁶¹ Then you’ll remember your behavior and be ashamed when you greet your sisters—your elder sister and your younger sister. I’ll give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you. ⁶² I’ll establish my covenant with you, and then you’ll know that I am the LORD. ⁶³ Then you will remember, be ashamed, and you won’t open your mouth anymore due to humiliation when I will have made atonement for you for everything that you’ve done,’ declares the Lord GOD.”

¹ Introducing Oholah and OholibahThis message came to me from the LORD: ² “Son of Man, here are two sisters who are daughters from the same mother. ³ They committed sexual immorality in Egypt. They did this in their youth. There, their breasts were caressed. Their virgin breasts were fondled. ⁴ The older one was named Oholah and her sister was named Oholibah. They belonged to me and gave birth to sons and daughters. Now as to their real identities, Oholah refers to Samaria and Oholibah to Jerusalem.”
⁵ The Sins of Samaria“Oholah committed sexual immorality while she belonged to me. She lusted for Assyria’s warriors, ⁶ who were clothed in blue—including governors and commanders. All of them were desirable young men—horsemen mounted on horses. ⁷ She bestowed her sexual favors on them—all of them, the best of the Assyrians—and with whomever she lusted for.
“She defiled herself with all their idols. ⁸ She never abandoned the immorality that she practiced in Egypt during her youth, where they laid down with her and fondled her virgin breasts, lavishing her with all kinds of favors. ⁹ Therefore, I turned her over to the control of her lovers, that is, into the control of the Assyrians for whom she lusted. ¹⁰ They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters, and executed her with a sword. She became an object of ridicule among other nations when they punished her.”
¹¹ The Sins of Jerusalem“Her sister Oholibah saw this, but she was more corrupt in her lust and sexual immorality than her sister had been in her own sexual immorality. ¹² She lusted after the Assyrians—governors, commanders, warriors clothed in gorgeous attire, cavalry mounted on their horses—all of them desirable young men. ¹³ I saw that she was defiled, because the two of them both were on the same path.
¹⁴ “She became even more sexually immoral when she saw the images of the Chaldean men who had been carved in red on their walls. ¹⁵ Girded with waistbands around their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looked like chariot officers, similar to the Babylonians from Chaldea, where they had been born.
¹⁶ “She lusted after them when she saw them, so she sent messengers to summon them from Chaldea. ¹⁷ The Babylonians came to her love nest and defiled her with their sexual immorality. As a result, she was defiled by them. Even so, she turned away from them in disgust. ¹⁸ She displayed her immorality publicly and stripped herself naked, so I turned away in disgust from her, just as I had turned away in disgust from her sister.
¹⁹ “Nevertheless, she became even more sexually immoral, even reminiscing about when she was young, when she kept on practicing sexual immorality in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ She lusted after her paramours, whose genitals are like those of donkeys, and whose emissions are like those of horses. ²¹ Think about the wickedness that you practiced when you were young, when the Egyptians fondled your breasts, the breasts of your youth.”
²² God’s Rebuke to Jerusalem“Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Look! I’m about to stir up your lovers against you, the ones from whom you’ve turned away in disgust. I’m going to bring them against you from every direction— ²³ the Babylonians, all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, Koa, and all of the Assyrians with them. They’re all desirable young men, governors, commanders, chariot officers, and famous men, all of them mounted on horses.
²⁴ “‘They’ll invade you with weapons, chariots, wagons, and a vast army. They’ll set themselves in place to attack you from every direction with large shields, small shields, and helmets. I’ll turn over judgment to them, and they’ll punish you according to their own standards. ²⁵ I’ll expend my jealousy on you so they’ll deal with you in anger. They’ll cut off your noses and your ears. Your survivors will die violently. They’ll take your sons and daughters away from you, but your survivors will be incinerated. ²⁶ They’ll strip off your clothes and confiscate your jewelry. ²⁷ That’s how I’ll put an end to your obscene conduct and sexual immorality that you kept on practicing since the day you left the land of Egypt so that you won’t look in Egypt’s direction or even remember it anymore.’
²⁸ “This is what the Lord GOD says, ‘I’m about to turn you over to the control of those you hate, to the control of those from whom you turned away in disgust. ²⁹ They’ll deal with you with hatred. They’ll take away your productivity, leaving you naked and defenseless, so that the nakedness of your sexual immorality will be uncovered—your licentious sexual immorality. ³⁰ These things will happen to you because of your sexual immorality that was patterned after what the nations do. You’ve been defiled by their idols. ³¹ You took the path of your sister, so I’ll place her cup in your hand.’
³² “This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You’ll drink from your sister’s cup, which is both large and deep. You’ll become a laughing stock and an object of derision, since the cup is so full! ³³ You’ll be filled with drunkenness and grief. The cup that belongs to your sister Samaria is filled with horror and devastation, ³⁴ but you’ll drink from it and drain it completely. As for the vessel, you’ll break it to pieces and you’ll tear at your breasts, for I’ve spoken,’ declares the Lord GOD.
³⁵ “Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you abandoned me and threw me behind your back, you will bear the consequences of your obscene conduct and sexual immorality.’”
³⁶ What Israel and Samaria DidThen the LORD spoke to me. “Son of Man, speak out in judgment of both Oholah and Oholibah. Make their detestable practices widely known, ³⁷ because they’ve committed adultery, and blood covers their hands. They’ve also committed adultery with their idols, making their sons born to me to pass through the fire as an offering to them.
³⁸ “They’ve also done this to me: They defiled my sanctuary and profaned my Sabbaths, all at the same time! ³⁹ When they killed their sons as offerings to their idols, they brought them to my sanctuary and defiled it. Look what they’ve done with my Temple!
⁴⁰ “In addition, they sent messengers for men to come from afar. When they arrived, you bathed yourself for them, painted your eyes, adorned yourself with jewelry, ⁴¹ then sat down on an elegant bed. A table was arranged in front of it, on which you set out my incense and oil. ⁴² The sound of a carefree multitude accompanied her. Men from a multitude of peoples were coming—including Sabeans from the wilderness, adorned with bracelets on their hands and beautiful crowns on their heads.
⁴³ “After she had worn herself out by her adulterous behavior, I asked her, ‘Will they continue with their sexual immorality and with their prostitution?’ ⁴⁴ They’ve gone to her, like men do, to have sex with a prostitute. They had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, those licentious women. ⁴⁵ Righteous men will judge them with punishments fit for adulterers and for those who shed blood, because they’re adulterers with blood on their hands.”
⁴⁶ The Coming InvasionThis is what the Lord GOD says: “Bring an army against them and deliver them over to terror and plunder. ⁴⁷ Then the army will stone them with stones and cut them to pieces with their swords. They’ll kill their sons and daughters and incinerate their houses. ⁴⁸ I’ll cause obscene conduct to stop throughout the land, because all the women will be admonished not to practice their obscene conduct. ⁴⁹ You’ll receive the consequences for your obscene conduct and bear the punishment for your sins of idolatry. Then you’ll know that I am the Lord GOD.”

²⁹ But the man wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the Law says applies to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

⁸ If we say that we do not have any sin, we are deceiving ourselves and we’re not being truthful to ourselves. ⁹ If we make it our habit to confess our sins, in his faithful righteousness he forgives us for those sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have never sinned, we make him a liar and his word has no place in us.

¹⁷ You say, “I am rich. I have become wealthy. I don’t need anything.” Yet you don’t realize that you are miserable, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. ¹⁸ Therefore, I advise you to buy from me gold purified in fire so you may be rich, white clothes to wear so your shameful nakedness won’t show, and ointment to put on your eyes so you may see.

¹² An empty-headed person will gain understanding when a wild donkey is born a human being!”

⁵ On Wild Animals“Who sets the wild donkey free? Who loosens the bonds of the wild donkey ⁶ to whom I’ve given the Arabah for a home; the salt plain for his dwelling place? ⁷ He despises city noises; he ignores the shouts of the driver. ⁸ He ranges the mountains that are his pasture to search for anything green.

²⁷ who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’ They have turned their back to me, but not their faces. In the time of their trouble, they’ll say, ‘Rise up! Deliver us!’”

⁶ Wild donkeys stand on the barren hills. They pant for air like jackals. Their eyesight fails because there is no vegetation.”

¹⁵ “I will leave and go back to my place until they admit their offense and seek my face. When affliction comes to them, they will eagerly seek me.”

⁴⁸ you’ll serve your enemies whom the LORD your God will send against you. You will serve in famine and in drought, in nakedness, and in lack of everything. They’ll set a yoke of iron upon your neck until they have exterminated you.

¹⁹ because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he will bless himself and say: ‘I will have a peaceful life, even though I’m determined to be stubborn.’ By doing this he will be sweeping away both watered and parched ground alike.’
²⁰ “The LORD won’t forgive such a person. Instead, the zealous anger of the LORD will blaze against him. All the curses that were written in this book will fall on him. Then the LORD will wipe out his memory from under heaven.

¹⁶ They provoked him to jealousy over foreigners and to anger over detestable things.

²² The Apostasy and Death of Ahaz
In the midst of his troubles, King Ahaz became more and more unfaithful to the LORD.

⁶ For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with practices learned from the East and they are fortune-tellers like the Philistines. They cut deals with foreigners.

² at that time the LORD spoke through Amoz’s son Isaiah: “Go loosen the sackcloth that’s around your waist, and take your sandals off your feet.” So that’s what he did: he went around naked and barefoot.
³ Then the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has walked around naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a warning for Egypt and Ethiopia, ⁴ so the king of Assyria will lead away the Egyptian captives and exiles from Cush, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot—with even their buttocks uncovered—to the shame of Egypt.

¹⁰ You grew tired with your many wanderings, but you wouldn’t say: ‘It is hopeless.’ You found new strength for your desire, and so you did not falter.

¹³ ‘Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God, and have scattered your favors to strangers under every green tree. But you haven’t obeyed me,’ declares the LORD.

²² When you say to yourselves, ‘Why have all these things happened to me?’ It’s because of the extent of your iniquity that your skirt has been lifted up, and your heels have suffered violence.

¹⁰ God Responds to the ProphetThis is what the LORD says to these people: “Yes, they do love to wander, and they haven’t restrained their feet. So the LORD won’t accept them now. He will remember their iniquity and punish their sin.”

¹² But they’ll say, ‘It’s useless! We will follow our plans and each of us will pursue his own evil desires.’

¹⁷ Rather, we will keep doing everything that we said we would by offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and by pouring out liquid offerings to her just as we, our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders did in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of bread, things went well for us, and we didn’t experience disaster.

⁴ The nursing child’s tongue cleaves to its palate from thirst. Young children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.

³ Otherwise, I’ll strip her naked— as she was on the day she was born— make her like a wilderness, turn her into a parched land, and cause her to die of thirst.

²² But the father told his servants, ‘Hurry! Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

²⁴ So he shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool off my tongue, because I am suffering in this fire.’

⁴ Or are you unaware of his rich kindness, forbearance, and patience, that it is God’s kindness that is leading you to repent?
⁵ But because of your stubborn and unrepentant heart you are reserving wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

²⁴ For we were saved with this hope in mind. Now a hope that can be observed is not really hope, for who hopes for what can be seen?

⁷ We have lived in great sin from the days of our ancestors even until today, and because of those iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered over to foreign kings, for execution, for captivity, for plunder, and for humiliation, as is the case today.

³² “Now therefore, our God, the great, mighty, and awesome God, who keeps the covenant and gracious love, don’t let all of the difficulties seem trifling to you, all of hardships that have come upon us, upon our kings, upon our leaders, upon our priests, upon our prophets, upon our ancestors, and upon all of your people from the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. ³³ You are righteous in all that is happening to us, because you have acted faithfully while we have practiced evil. ³⁴ Furthermore, neither our kings, nor our leaders, nor our priests nor our ancestors have practiced your Law or paid attention to your commands and warnings by which you admonished them.

³⁰ A thief isn’t despised if he steals to meet his needs when he is hungry, ³¹ but when he is discovered, he must restore seven-fold, forfeiting the entire value of his house.

²⁹ They’ll be ashamed of the oak trees that you desired; and you’ll blush because of the gardens that you have chosen.

²⁴ Since our youth the false gods have consumed the products of our ancestors’ hard work, their sheep and their cattle, their sons and their daughters. ²⁵ “Let us lie down in our shame, and let our humiliation cover us, because both we and our ancestors have sinned against the LORD our God from our youth until this present time. We haven’t obeyed the LORD our God.”

³² because of all the evil that the Israelis and Judeans have done to provoke me. They, their kings, their officials, their priests, their prophets, the people of Judah, and those living in Jerusalem have done these things.

²⁷ Wasn’t Israel an object of mocking for you? Wasn’t he treated like a thief, so that whenever you spoke about him you shook your head in contempt?

⁶ Furthermore, we haven’t listened to your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, to our officials, to our ancestors, and to all of the people of the land. ⁷ ‘To you, Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us, open humiliation—even to this day, to the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, both those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the lands to which you drove them because of their unfaithful acts that they committed against you. ⁸ ‘Open humiliation belongs to us, LORD, to our kings, our officials, and our ancestors, because we’ve sinned against you.

²¹ What benefit did you get from doing those things you are now ashamed of? For those things resulted in death.

⁸ who trampled and troubled the Israelis during that year—eighteen years for the Israelis who lived east of the Jordan River in Gilead, the land occupied by the Amorites. ⁹ The Ammonites crossed the Jordan River to fight against the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim. As a result, Israel was deeply distressed. ¹⁰ Then the Israelis cried out to the LORD and told him, “We have sinned against you because we have abandoned our God to serve the Baals.”
¹¹ The LORD replied to the Israelis, “Aren’t you away from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, and the Philistines? ¹² And when the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites harassed you, you cried out to me, and I delivered you from under their domination. ¹³ But you have abandoned me and served other gods. Therefore I will no longer be delivering you. ¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods that you have chosen for yourselves. Let them deliver you in your time of trouble.”
¹⁵ The Israelis replied to the LORD, “We have sinned, so do to us anything that’s right to do in your opinion, just please deliver us right now.” ¹⁶ When they put away their foreign gods and served the LORD, he brought Israel’s misery to an end.

³⁴ When he struck them, they sought him; they repented, and eagerly sought God. ³⁵ Then they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God was their deliverer. ³⁶ But they deceived him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues. ³⁷ For their hearts weren’t committed to him, and they weren’t faithful to his covenant.

¹⁶ LORD, they came to you in distress; they poured out their secret prayer when your chastenings were afflicting them.

⁶ Those who pour out gold in a purse, weigh silver in a balance, hire a goldsmith in order to make a god, and then they bow down and even worship it. ⁷ And they lift it on their shoulders, carry it, set it up in its place, and there it stands. It cannot move from that spot. One may even call to it, but it cannot answer nor save him from his distress. ⁸ “Remember this, and stand firm; take it again to heart, you rebels.

²⁴ a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her passion. When she’s in heat, who can turn her away? None of the males who pursue her need to tire themselves out, for in her month they’ll find her.”

¹⁷ ‘Like the east wind, I’ll scatter them before the enemy. I’ll show them my back and not my face, on the day of their downfall.’”

²³ You who live in Lebanon, who build your nest in the cedars, how you will groan when pains come upon you, pain like that of a woman giving birth.

³³ They have turned their backs to me rather than their faces. Even though I taught them, teaching them again and again, they didn’t listen to accept correction.

¹⁶ Sun Worship in the TempleThen he brought me to the inner court of the LORD’s Temple. There, at the entrance to the LORD’s Temple, between the porch and the altar, were 25 men, with their backs toward the LORD’s Temple and facing the east, prostrating themselves to the sun.

³⁵ “Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you abandoned me and threw me behind your back, you will bear the consequences of your obscene conduct and sexual immorality.’”

¹⁴ They will not cry to me from their heart— instead, they wail on their beds. They gather together to eat and drink, turning away from me.

¹⁸ Judgment on the Idol Maker“Where is the benefit in owning a carved image, that motivates its maker to carve it? It is only a cast image— a teacher that lies— because the engraver entrusts himself to his carving, crafting speechless idols. ¹⁹ “Woe to the one who says to a tree, ‘Wake up!’ or ‘Arise!’ to a speechless stone. Idols like this can’t teach, can they? Look, even though it is overlaid with gold and silver, there’s no breath in it at all.”

³⁷ “He will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge?

¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods that you have chosen for yourselves. Let them deliver you in your time of trouble.”

¹³ Elisha asked the king of Israel, “What do I have in common with you? Go visit your parents’ prophets.”
The king of Israel replied, “No! The LORD has summoned these three kings so he can hand them over to Moab!”

³⁰ Settlers from Babylon built Succoth-benoth, settlers from Cuth built Nergal, settlers from Hamath built Ashima, ³¹ and settlers from Avva built Nibhaz and Tartak. The residents of Sephar-vaim burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sephar-vaim.

²⁰ “Gather together and come; draw near and enter, your fugitives from the nations. Those who carry around their wooden idols know nothing, nor do those who keep praying to a god that cannot save.

² They stoop, they bow down together, and they are not able to rescue the burden, but they themselves go off into captivity.

⁷ And they lift it on their shoulders, carry it, set it up in its place, and there it stands. It cannot move from that spot. One may even call to it, but it cannot answer nor save him from his distress.

¹³ Judah, you have as many gods as you have towns, and you have set up as many altars to the shameful idols as there are streets in Jerusalem. You burn incense to Baal on these altars.

¹ The Coming Destruction “Israel, the overgrown vine, bears fruit like itself; the more fruitful they become, the more altars they build. The better the land, the more ornate the stone idols.

²³ Israel’s Passion for Sin“How can you say, ‘I’m not defiled. I haven’t gone after the Baals.’? Look at what you’ve done in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift young camel galloping aimlessly;

¹ A Dialogue about Righteousness: The LORD Speaks “Wander through the streets of Jerusalem. Look and investigate; search through her squares and see whether you find anyone— even one person there—doing justice and seeking truth. Then I’ll forgive them.

¹³ “Indeed, from the least important to the most important, they’re all greedy for dishonest gain. From prophet to priest, they all act deceitfully.

² Oh, that I had a lodging place for travelers in the desert, so that I could leave my people and go away from them. For all of them are adulterers, a band of traitors. ³ They use their tongues like a bow. Lies rather than truth fly throughout the land. They progress from one evil to another, and they don’t know me,” declares the LORD. ⁴ “Beware of your neighbors, and don’t trust any of your relatives. For all of your relatives act deceitfully, and every friend goes around as a slanderer. ⁵ People deceive their friends, and they don’t tell the truth. They have taught their tongues to tell lies. They exhaust themselves practicing evil. ⁶ You yourself live in the midst of deception, and because they are deceived they do not know me,” declares the LORD.

¹¹ And all Israel flouted your Law, turning aside from it and not obeying your voice. Because we’ve sinned against him, the curse has been poured upon us, along with the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God.

¹⁰ “I’ve been very zealous for the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies,” he replied. “The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I—that’s right, just me!—am the only one left. Now they’re seeking my life, to get rid of me!”

¹⁴ “I’ve been very zealous for the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies,” he replied. “The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I—that’s right, just me!—am the only one left. Now they’re seeking my life, to get rid of me!”

²¹ But the people conspired against him, and at the direct orders of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the LORD’s Temple.

¹⁶ but they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until there was no remedy for the wrath of the LORD that arose to punish his people.

²⁶ “Then they disobeyed, rebelled against you, and threw your Law behind their backs. They murdered your prophets who had admonished the people to return to you, committing terrible blasphemies.

⁵ “Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? Your whole head is sick, and your whole heart is faint.

¹³ Judgment for Not Repenting“But the people have not returned to rely on him who struck them, nor have they sought the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

³ The Prophet SpeaksLORD, don’t your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they didn’t flinch. You brought them to an end, but they refused to receive discipline. They made their faces harder than stone, and they refused to repent.

²⁹ The bellows blow fiercely to consume the lead with the fire. The assayer keeps on refining, but the impurities aren’t separated out. ³⁰ They’re called reject silver, because the LORD has rejected them.

²⁸ You will say to them, ‘This is the nation that wouldn’t listen to the voice of the LORD its God and wouldn’t accept correction. Truth has perished; it has been eliminated from their discussions.’

²⁰ There was also a man named Uriah, Shemaiah’s son from Kiriath-jearim, who prophesied in the LORD’s name. He prophesied about this city and this land in words similar to those of Jeremiah. ²¹ King Jehoiakim, all his troops, and all the officials heard his words, and the king sought to kill him. Uriah heard about this and was afraid, so he fled and went to Egypt. ²² King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt. He sent Achbor’s son Elnathan, along with a contingent of men into Egypt. ²³ They brought Uriah out of Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who killed him with a sword. Then they threw his body into a common grave.”
²⁴ Yet because Shaphan’s son Ahikam supported Jeremiah, he was not handed over to the people for them to kill.

¹⁸ Ephraim’s Prayer and Confession“I’ve certainly heard Ephraim shuddering with grief as they said, ‘You have disciplined me, and I’m disciplined like an untrained calf. Restore me, and let me return, for you are the LORD my God.

¹³ There is wickedness in your obscene conduct. Even though I’ve cleansed you, your uncleanness cannot be washed away. You cannot be cleansed again until my rage against you has subsided.’

² It won’t obey anyone. It won’t accept discipline. It does not trust in the LORD. It does not approach God.

³⁵ But the farmers took his servants and beat one, killed another, and attacked another with stones. ³⁶ Again, he sent other servants to them, a greater number than the first, but the tenant farmers treated them the same way.

²⁹ “How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.

³⁴ “That is why I am sending you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will whip in your synagogues and persecute from town to town. ³⁵ As a result, you will be held accountable for all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of Berechiah’s son Zechariah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶ I tell all of you with certainty, all these things will happen to those living today.”
³⁷ Jesus Rebukes Jerusalem
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones to death those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

² At the right time, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect from them a share of the produce from the vineyard. ³ But the farmers grabbed the servant, beat him, and sent him back empty-handed. ⁴ Again, the man sent another servant to them. They beat the servant over the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ Then the man sent another, and that one they killed. So it was with many other servants. Some of these they beat, and others they killed. ⁶ He still had one more person to send, a son whom he loved. Finally, he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those farmers told one another, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ ⁸ So they grabbed him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁴⁷ How terrible it will be for you! You build monuments for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them! ⁴⁸ So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors, because they killed those for whom you are building monuments. ⁴⁹ That is why the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles. They will kill some of them and persecute others,’ ⁵⁰ so those living today will be charged with the blood of all the prophets that was shed since the foundation of the world, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who died between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation!

³³ But I must be on my way today, tomorrow, and the next day, because it’s not possible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ ³⁴ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones to death those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you people were unwilling!

⁵² Which of the prophets did your ancestors fail to persecute? They killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers.

¹⁵ who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, who have persecuted us, and who please neither God nor any group of people,

²⁰ The rest of the people who survived these plagues did not repent from their evil actions or stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk. ²¹ They did not repent from their murders, their witchcraft, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.

⁹ and they were burned by the fierce heat. They cursed the name of God, who has the authority over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.

¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you have built beautiful houses and lived in them, ¹³ when your cattle and oxen multiply, when your silver and gold increase, ¹⁴ then you will become arrogant. You’ll neglect the LORD your God,

²⁰ because after I’ve brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey that I promised to their ancestors by an oath, they’ll eat, grow fat, and then they’ll turn to other gods and serve them, while despising me and breaking my covenant.

¹⁵ Israel’s RebellionJacob dined until satisfied; Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. He grew fat, coarse, and gross, so that he abandoned the God who made him and spurned the Rock that was his salvation.

⁷ But Nathan replied to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD God of Israel says:
“‘I anointed you king—and you became king over Israel.
“‘I delivered you from Saul’s control.
⁸ “‘I gave you your former master’s household.
“‘I placed your former master’s wives right in your arms.
“‘I gave you Israel and Judah.
“‘And if this had been too little, I would have added much more than that to you!
⁹ “‘Why did you despise what the LORD has promised by doing what is detestable in his sight?
“‘You struck down Uriah the Hittite with a battle sword.
“‘You took his wife to be your own.
“‘You killed him with the sword of the Ammonite army.

¹⁰ Azariah replied, “Since they began to bring their gifts into the LORD’s Temple, we have eaten and have been satisfied. Now we still have plenty left, because the LORD has blessed his people so that we have all of this left over.”

²¹ You sustained them in the wilderness for 40 years. They lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell. ²² You gave them kingdoms and nations, apportioning them as frontier boundaries. They took possession of the land of Sihon, the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Bashan. ²³ “You multiplied their descendants like the stars in heaven and brought them to the land about which you told their ancestors to enter and possess. ²⁴ So their descendants entered and took possession of the land. Before their eyes you subdued those living in the land—the Canaanites— putting them under their control, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, so they could do with them as they pleased. ²⁵ They conquered fortified cities and fertile ground, possessing houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, with vineyards, olive orchards, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were satiated, and were well nourished, delighting themselves in your great goodness.

⁴ With haughty arrogance, the wicked thinks, “God will not seek justice.” He always presumes “There is no God.”

⁴ those who say, “By our tongues we will prevail; our lips belong to us. Who is master over us?”

⁹ so that I don’t become overfed and deny you by saying, “Who is the LORD?” or so that I don’t become poor and steal, and then misuse the name of my God.

¹⁹ I didn’t speak in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I didn’t say to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in chaos.’ I, the LORD, speak truth, declaring what is right.

⁵ This is what the LORD says: “What did your ancestors find wrong with me that they left me, and pursued worthless things, and so they became worthless? ⁶ “They didn’t ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through the land of desert and pits, through the land of dryness and deep darkness, a land that people don’t pass through, and where no one lives?’ ⁷ She will pursue her lovers, but she won’t catch up with them. She will seek them, but she won’t find them. Then she will say, ‘I’ll go back and return to my first husband, because it was better for me then than now.’ ⁸ She didn’t recognize that it was I who provided her grain, wine, and oil, and it was I who gave her silver, while they crafted gold for Baal.

⁶ As their pastures flourished, all their desires were met. As they were satiated, they became arrogant and therefore ignored me.

¹ Amos is Called to ProphesyThe words of Amos, who was among the sheep breeders of Tekoa, which he spoke concerning Israel during the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah and during the reign of Joash’s son Jeroboam, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

⁹ A Call to Honest Business PracticesThe voice of the LORD cries out to the city— wisdom fears your name: “Heed the rod, and the one who prepared it!

⁹ You are cursed under the curse—the entire nation—because you are robbing me!
¹⁰ “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. So put me to the test in this right now,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and see if I won’t throw open the windows of heaven for you and pour out on you blessing without measure. ¹¹ And I’ll prevent the devourer from harming you, so that he does not destroy the crops of your land. Nor will the vines in your fields drop their fruit,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

⁸ You already have all you want! You have already become rich! You have become kings without us! I wish you really were kings so that we could be kings with you!

¹⁵ ‘I know your actions, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. ¹⁶ Since you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ You say, “I am rich. I have become wealthy. I don’t need anything.” Yet you don’t realize that you are miserable, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

²² When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a half shekel and two bracelets for her wrists, weighing 10 shekels and presented them to her.

³⁰ And so it was, as soon as he saw the nose ring and bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and as soon as he heard what his sister Rebekah was saying about what the man had spoken to her, he went out to the man who was still standing by the camels at the spring!