Jeremiah 3 Cross References - ISV

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. ³ This is why the rain has been withheld and there are no spring showers. Yet you have a harlot’s look and you refuse to be ashamed. ⁴ Have you not just called out to me, ‘My father, you are the friend of my youth— ⁵ will he hold on to his anger forever, will he persist in his wrath to the end?’ Look, you have spoken and done evil things, and you have succeeded in it.”
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. ⁹ She took her fornication so lightly that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. ¹⁰ Yet in all this her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to me with her whole heart, but rather deceptively,” declares the LORD.
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. ¹⁵ I’ll give you shepherds after my own heart, and they’ll shepherd you with knowledge and good sense.”
¹⁶ “And in those days when you increase in numbers and multiply in the land,” declares the LORD, “people will no longer say, ‘The Ark of the Covenant of the LORD,’ and it won’t come to mind, and they won’t remember it or miss it, nor will it be made again. ¹⁷ At that time people will call Jerusalem, “The Throne of the LORD,” and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. They’ll no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires. ¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and together they’ll come to the land that I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.”
¹⁹ God’s Desire for His People“I said, ‘How I wanted to treat you like children, and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations.’ I said, ‘You will call me, my father, and won’t turn back from following me.’ ²⁰ Instead, like an unfaithful wife leaves her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, house of Israel,” declares the LORD.
²¹ Israel Cries for Help“A voice is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the children of Israel because they have perverted their way. They have forgotten the LORD their God.”
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. ²³ Truly the hills are a deception, and the mountains are confusion. Truly, in the LORD our God is Israel’s salvation.” 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.”

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.

²⁹ If from there you will seek the LORD your God, then you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and soul. ³⁰ In your distress, when all these things happen to you in days to come and you return to the LORD your God, then you will hear his voice. ³¹ For God is compassionate. The LORD your God won’t fail you. He won’t destroy you or forget the covenant that he confirmed with your ancestors.”

²¹ they are to bring her to the door of her father’s house. Then the men of the city are to stone her with boulders until she dies for doing a detestable thing in Israel—acting like a prostitute while in her father’s house. By doing this, you will remove this evil from among you.

¹ Various Laws“If a man chooses to enter into marriage with a woman, but she finds herself displeasing to him because he has found something objectionable about her, he must draw up divorce papers, hand them to her, and then send her out of his house. ² If she goes out from his house, becomes the wife of another man, ³ and this second husband dislikes her, he, also, must draw up divorce papers, hand them to her, and then send her away from his house. Should the second husband die, ⁴ her first husband who married her and divorced her earlier must not remarry her, because she was defiled, since this is detestable to the LORD. Don’t defile the land that the LORD your God is about to give you as a possession.

² But his mistress was sexually unfaithful to him, and then she left him to live in her father’s home in Bethlehem in the territory of Judah. She had been living there for a period of about four months

⁵ The earth lies defiled beneath its inhabitants; because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.

⁶ Steps to Reconciliation“Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. ⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous person his thoughts. Let him return to the LORD, So he’ll have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he’ll pardon abundantly. ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. ⁹ “For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

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.

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.

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;

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

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.

¹ Instructions for True Repentance “Israel, if you return to me,” declares the LORD, “Return to me, remove your detestable idols from my presence, and don’t waver.

¹⁴ Jerusalem, wash your evil from your heart so that you may be delivered. How long will you harbor evil schemes within you?

⁴ A Stubborn People“You are to say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “Will a person fall down and then not get up? Will someone turn away and then not turn back again? ⁵ Why has this people turned away? Why does Jerusalem continue in apostasy? They hold on to deceit and refuse to repent. ⁶ I’ve listened and I’ve heard, and what they say is not right. No one repents of his evil and says, ‘What have I done?’ “They all turn to their own course like a horse racing into battle.

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.

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!

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.”

¹¹ “Tell them, ‘As certainly as I’m alive and living,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I receive no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Instead, my pleasure is that the wicked repent from their behavior and live. Turn back! Turn back, all of you, from your wicked behavior! Why do you have to die, you house of Israel?’”

² Hosea’s Wife and FamilyWhen a message from the LORD came to Hosea, the LORD told him, “Go marry a prostitute and have children with her, because the land is prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”

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.’ ⁶ “Look how I’m blocking her path with thorns and building a wall to hinder her, so she can’t find her way. 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.’

¹ A Call to Repentance “Return, Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have fallen due to your own iniquity. ² Bring a prepared speech with you as you return to the LORD. Say to him: ‘Take away all our iniquity, and accept what is good. Then we will present the fruit of our lips. ³ Assyria won’t save us; we won’t be riding on horses, Nor will we be saying anymore to the work of our hands, “You are our God.” Indeed, in you the orphan finds mercy.’ ⁴ “I will correct their apostasy, loving them freely, since my anger will have turned away from them.

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.

³ So tell them, ‘This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: “Return to me,” declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and I will return to you.

¹⁶ No one would give him anything, even though he would gladly have filled himself with the husks the pigs were eating.
¹⁷ “Then he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more food than they can eat, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and you. ¹⁹ I don’t deserve to be called your son anymore. Treat me like one of your hired men.”’
²⁰ “So he got up and went to his father. While he was still far away, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him affectionately. ²¹ Then his son told him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and you. I don’t deserve to be called your son anymore.’ 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. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let’s eat and celebrate! ²⁴ Because my son was dead and has come back to life. He was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

¹⁴ So she took off her mourning apparel, covered herself with a shawl, and concealed her outward appearance. Then she went out and sat at the entrance of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah, because she knew that even though Shelah had grown up, she wasn’t being given to him as his wife.

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.

³ He had 700 princess wives and 300 mistresses who turned his heart away from the LORD,

¹³ The king defiled the high places which faced Jerusalem on the south side of Corruption Mountain, which King Solomon of Israel had constructed for Ashtoreth, the Sidonian abomination, for Chemosh, the Moabite abomination, and for Milcom, the Ammonite abomination.

¹¹ She is brazen and defiant— her feet don’t remain at home.

²⁸ Surely she lies in wait like a bandit, increasing those who are faithless among mankind.

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.

²¹ Israel Cries for Help“A voice is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the children of Israel because they have perverted their way. They have forgotten the LORD their God.”

²⁹ “Cut off your hair and throw it away; let your lamentations rise on the barren heights, because the LORD has rejected and abandoned the generation that is subject to his wrath.

⁴ All of a sudden, the glory of the God of Israel was there! It looked like what I had seen back in the valley. ⁵ Then he told me, “Son of Man, look up toward the north.”
So I looked off toward the north. Suddenly, off toward the north, facing the gate that led to the altar, the image that provoked God’s jealousy was standing near the entrance.
⁶ Then the Spirit told me, “Son of Man, don’t you see what they’re doing? The house of Israel practices awful, detestable things here, so I’m going far away from my sanctuary. But you’re about to see things even more detestable than these.”

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 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.

²³ In the afterlife, where he was in constant torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus by his side.

¹⁹ I’ll break your mighty pride. I’ll make the heavens to be like iron and the ground like bronze.

²³ The sky above your head will become bronze while the ground beneath you will become iron.

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.

⁶ I’ll make it a wasteland, and it won’t be pruned or cultivated. Instead, briers and thorns will grow up. I’ll also issue commands to the clouds, that they drop no rain upon it.”

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.

²⁴ They don’t say to themselves, ‘Let’s fear the LORD our God, who gives rain in its season, both the autumn and the spring rain. He sets aside for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’

¹⁵ Were they ashamed because they did what was repugnant to God? They were not ashamed at all— they don’t even know how to blush! Therefore they’ll fall with those who fall. When I punish them, they’ll be brought down,” says the LORD.

¹² Are they ashamed because they have done what is repugnant to God? They weren’t ashamed at all; they don’t even know how to blush! Therefore they’ll fall with those who fall. When I punish them, they’ll be brought down,” says the LORD.

¹² The Reason for JudgmentWho is the wise person who understands this, and to whom has the LORD spoken so that he may declare it? Why is the land destroyed, ruined like the desert, without anyone passing through it?

⁴ The ground is cracked, because there has been no rain in the land. The farmers are disappointed, and they cover their heads in shame.

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.

¹⁶ “As for the message that you reported to us in the name of the LORD, we won’t listen to you! 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.

⁷ But the house of Israel won’t listen to you, since they weren’t willing to listen to me. That’s because the entire house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.

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!”

¹⁶ Isn’t our food supply cut off right in front of us, along with joy and gladness from the Temple of our God? ¹⁷ Seeds shrivel within their furrows, the storehouses lie empty, and granaries stand in ruins because the grain has withered. ¹⁸ Oh, how the livestock groan! The herds of cattle wander about because they have no pasture. Even flocks of sheep suffer! ¹⁹ To you, LORD, I cry out, because fire has devoured the open pastures, and has set all the cultivated trees ablaze. ²⁰ The livestock also cries out to you, because their water sources have evaporated and because fire has consumed the open pastures.

⁷ “I therefore have withheld the rain from you three months before the harvest, causing rain to come upon one city, but not upon another, and upon one field but not upon another, so that it would wither.

⁵ The righteous LORD who lives within her will do no wrong; he will bring justice to light morning by morning. He never fails, but the unjust are shameless.
The Integrity of God’s Justice

¹¹ I sent a drought on the land, on the mountains, on your grain, on your new wines, on your oil—on everything the ground produces—on men, on livestock, and on everything you do!’”

¹¹ But they refused to pay attention, turned their backs, and stopped listening. ¹² They made their hearts hard like a diamond, to keep from obeying the Law and the messages that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies sent by his Spirit through the former prophets.

²⁵ See to it that you do not ignore the one who is speaking. For if the hearers did not escape when they ignored the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we turn away from the one who is from heaven!

¹⁴ For this God is our God forever and ever. He will guide us until death.

⁵ For you are my hope, Lord GOD, my security since I was young.

¹⁷ God, you taught me from my youth, so I am still declaring your awesome deeds.

⁹ Bet
The Benefits of the WordHow can a young man keep his behavior pure? By guarding it in accordance with your word.

⁴ for giving prudence to the naïve, and knowledge and discretion to the young.

¹⁷ someone who abandoned the companion of her youth and forgot the covenant of her God.

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.

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!’”

¹⁹ God’s Desire for His People“I said, ‘How I wanted to treat you like children, and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations.’ I said, ‘You will call me, my father, and won’t turn back from following me.’

⁹ They’ll come crying, and I’ll lead them as they pray for mercy. I’ll make them walk by streams of water, along a straight path on which they won’t stumble. For I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn.”

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. ¹⁹ Indeed, after I turned away, then I repented. And after I came to understand, I slapped my forehead. I was both ashamed and humiliated because I bear the disgrace of my youth.’”
²⁰ God’s Gracious Response“Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? Indeed, as often as I’ve spoken about him, I surely still remember him. Therefore I deeply yearn for him. I’ll surely have great compassion on him,” declares the LORD.

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 A Call to Repentance “Return, Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have fallen due to your own iniquity. ² Bring a prepared speech with you as you return to the LORD. Say to him: ‘Take away all our iniquity, and accept what is good. Then we will present the fruit of our lips. ³ Assyria won’t save us; we won’t be riding on horses, Nor will we be saying anymore to the work of our hands, “You are our God.” Indeed, in you the orphan finds mercy.’

¹⁴ Yet you ask, ‘For what reason?’ Because the LORD acts as a witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you were unfaithful to her, your partner, the wife of your covenant.

⁷ Will the Lord reject me forever and not show favor again? ⁸ Has his gracious love ceased forever? Will his promise be unfulfilled in future generations? ⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger withheld his compassion? Interlude

⁵ Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger from generation to generation?

⁸ The LORD is compassionate and gracious, patient, and abundantly rich in gracious love. ⁹ He does not maintain a dispute continuously or remain angry for all time.

¹⁶ For I won’t accuse forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the human spirit would grow faint before me— even the souls that I have created.

⁹ Don’t be angry beyond measure, LORD, and don’t remember our iniquity for a season. Please look now, we are all your people.

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.

⁶ “‘“Watch out! Each of the princes of Israel has misused his authority to shed blood.

¹ God’s Warning to His People “Woe to those who are crafting iniquity, planning evil well into the night! When morning’s light comes, they carry out their plans because they have the power to do so.

³ And speaking of evil, they practice it eagerly—with both hands! Both leader and judge demand a bribe, the famous confess their perverted desires, and they scheme together.

¹ The LORD’s Rebuke to Jerusalem Woe to this filthy, polluted, and oppressive city! ² It won’t obey anyone. It won’t accept discipline. It does not trust in the LORD. It does not approach God. ³ Its national officials are roaring lions; its judges are like wolves of the night that don’t leave the bones for the morning. ⁴ Its prophets are arrogant and treacherous. Its priests have contaminated the sanctuary. They give perverse interpretations of the Law. ⁵ The righteous LORD who lives within her will do no wrong; he will bring justice to light morning by morning. He never fails, but the unjust are shameless.
The Integrity of God’s Justice

²³ They erected high places, sacred pillars, and Asherim for themselves on every high hill and under every green tree.

⁷ The Idolatry of the Northern KingdomThis happened because the Israelis had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt and from the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, because they were fearing other gods, ⁸ and because they were following the rules of the nations whom the LORD had expelled before the Israelis and that the kings of Israel had practiced.
⁹ The Israelis practiced secret things that were not right, offending the LORD their God. In addition, they built high places for use by all their towns, watchtowers, and fortified cities. ¹⁰ They set up pillars and Asherim on every high hill and in the shade of every green tree, ¹¹ where they made offerings on all the high places, as did the nations whom the LORD had expelled before them. They also practiced other wickedness, provoking the LORD to become angry, ¹² and they served idols, a practice that the LORD had warned them, “You are not to do this.”
¹³ Nevertheless, the LORD had warned both Israel and Judah by means of every prophet and seer: “Turn away from your evil practices and keep my commandments and statutes according to the entire Law that I gave your ancestors and that I sent to you through my servants, the prophets.” ¹⁴ But they would not listen. Instead, they were stubborn, just like their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. 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.
¹⁶ They abandoned all of the commands given by the LORD their God, crafted for themselves cast images of two calves, constructed an Asherah, worshipped all of the stars in heaven, and served Baal. ¹⁷ They passed their sons and daughters through fire, practiced divination, cast spells, and sold themselves to practice what the LORD considered to be evil, thereby provoking him.

⁷ “You have made your bed on a high and lofty mountain, and you went up to offer sacrifice there.

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.

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.

²⁴ But they didn’t listen, nor did they pay attention. They pursued their own plans, stubbornly following their own evil desires. They went backward and not forward.

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

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

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.

¹³ Nevertheless, the LORD had warned both Israel and Judah by means of every prophet and seer: “Turn away from your evil practices and keep my commandments and statutes according to the entire Law that I gave your ancestors and that I sent to you through my servants, the prophets.” ¹⁴ But they would not listen. Instead, they were stubborn, just like their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God.

⁶ Couriers were sent throughout all of Israel and Judah with letters written by the king and his princes, just as the king had commanded: “Listen, you descendants of Israel! Come back to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so he may come back to those of you who have escaped and survived from domination by the kings of Assyria. ⁷ Don’t be like your ancestors and your relatives, who weren’t faithful to the LORD God of their ancestors, who, as a result, made them a desolate horror, as you well know. ⁸ So don’t be stiff-necked like your ancestors were. Instead, submit to the LORD, enter his sanctuary that he has sanctified forever, and serve the LORD your God so that he’ll stop being angry with you. ⁹ If you return to the LORD, your relatives and children will receive compassion from those who took them away captive, and they’ll return to this land, because the LORD is both gracious and compassionate—he will not turn away from you if you return to him.”
¹⁰ Couriers crossed from city to city throughout the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun, but those people just mocked them and laughed at them. ¹¹ Nevertheless, a few men from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and traveled to Jerusalem. ¹² God also poured out his grace throughout Judah, giving them a dedicated heart to do what the king and princes had decreed according to the message from the LORD.

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. ⁹ She took her fornication so lightly that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. ¹⁰ Yet in all this her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to me with her whole heart, but rather deceptively,” declares the LORD.
¹¹ A Call for RepentanceThen the LORD told me, “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

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.

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.”

¹ A Call for Israel to Repent “Come, let us return to the LORD; even though he has torn us, he will heal us. Even though he has wounded us, he will bind our wounds. ² After two days, he will restore us to life, on the third day he will raise us up, and we will live in his presence. ³ Let us know, let us pursue knowledge of the LORD; his coming is as certain as the dawn. He will come to us like the rain, like the autumn and spring rains come on the earth. ⁴ “What am I to do with you, Ephraim? What am I to do with you, Judah? Your love is like a morning rain cloud— it passes away like the morning dew.

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

¹ Various Laws“If a man chooses to enter into marriage with a woman, but she finds herself displeasing to him because he has found something objectionable about her, he must draw up divorce papers, hand them to her, and then send her out of his house.

³ and this second husband dislikes her, he, also, must draw up divorce papers, hand them to her, and then send her away from his house. Should the second husband die,

⁶ As a result, during the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelis off to Assyria, placing them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities ruled by the Medes.
⁷ The Idolatry of the Northern KingdomThis happened because the Israelis had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt and from the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, because they were fearing other gods, ⁸ and because they were following the rules of the nations whom the LORD had expelled before the Israelis and that the kings of Israel had practiced.
⁹ The Israelis practiced secret things that were not right, offending the LORD their God. In addition, they built high places for use by all their towns, watchtowers, and fortified cities. ¹⁰ They set up pillars and Asherim on every high hill and in the shade of every green tree, ¹¹ where they made offerings on all the high places, as did the nations whom the LORD had expelled before them. They also practiced other wickedness, provoking the LORD to become angry, ¹² and they served idols, a practice that the LORD had warned them, “You are not to do this.”
¹³ Nevertheless, the LORD had warned both Israel and Judah by means of every prophet and seer: “Turn away from your evil practices and keep my commandments and statutes according to the entire Law that I gave your ancestors and that I sent to you through my servants, the prophets.” ¹⁴ But they would not listen. Instead, they were stubborn, just like their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. 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.
¹⁶ They abandoned all of the commands given by the LORD their God, crafted for themselves cast images of two calves, constructed an Asherah, worshipped all of the stars in heaven, and served Baal. ¹⁷ They passed their sons and daughters through fire, practiced divination, cast spells, and sold themselves to practice what the LORD considered to be evil, thereby provoking him. ¹⁸ As a result, the LORD was angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. No one was left except for the tribe of Judah.
¹⁹ But Judah, too, did not keep the commands of the LORD their God. Instead, they lived the lifestyle that Israel had chosen,

⁹ Shalmaneser Attacks SamariaIn the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign (that is, during the seventh year of Elah’s son Hoshea’s reign as king of Israel), King Shalmaneser from Assyria invaded Samaria and besieged it. ¹⁰ Three years later, they captured Samaria during the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign as king of Israel. ¹¹ After this, the king of Assyria carried Israel off into exile in Assyria, settling them in Halah, on the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities controlled by the Medes,

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.

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!”

⁹ Therefore, I turned her over to the control of her lovers, that is, into the control of the Assyrians for whom she lusted.

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.”

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. 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.

⁴ Likewise, the people of Israel will dwell a long time without a king, without a prince, without sacrifice, without sacred pillars, and with neither ephod nor teraphim.

¹⁵ “Even though you prostitute yourself, Israel— let not Judah incur guilt— don’t go to Gilgal, or visit Beth-aven, or swear an oath using the LORD’s name. ¹⁶ For Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn mule! Nevertheless, will not the LORD feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture? ¹⁷ Ephraim has become entwined with idols; leave him alone!

¹⁵ “All of their wickedness started in Gilgal, because I began to hate them there. Because of the wickedness of their behavior, I will drive them from my Temple. I will not love them anymore; all their leaders are rebels. ¹⁶ Ephraim is blighted; its roots shriveled. It can bear no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will kill their cherished offspring. ¹⁷ “My God will reject them, because they did not obey him, and they will become wanderers among the nations.”

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?

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.

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

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!

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.”

¹² My people seek counsel from their piece of wood, and their diviner’s rod speaks to them. For a spirit of prostitution causes them to go astray; in their immorality they desert their God.

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.”

³³ Josiah also removed all the detestable things from the territories that belonged to the people of Israel, and made everyone who lived in Israel to serve the LORD their God. For the rest of his life, they didn’t abandon their quest to follow the LORD God of their ancestors.

⁴⁴ When they hear of me, they will obey me; foreigners will submit to me.

³ Say to God: “How awesome are your works! Because of your great strength your enemies cringe before you.”

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.

⁶ I’m sending my fury against a godless nation, and I’ll command him against the people with whom I’m angry to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets.

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.

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.

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.”

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

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

² and when you—you and your descendants, that is—will have returned to him and obeyed all the commands that I’m giving you today with all your heart and soul,

²⁹ During the lifetime of King Pekah of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria attacked. He captured the cities of Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, and Hazor. He also captured Gilead, Galilee, and the entire territory of Naphtali, and carried its people off to Assyria.

⁶ As a result, during the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelis off to Assyria, placing them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities ruled by the Medes.

²³ until the LORD removed Israel from his presence, just as he had warned through all of his prophets who served him. So Israel was carried off into exile from their own land into Assyria, where they remain to this day.

¹ Hezekiah Becomes King of Judah
Now it happened that during the third year of the reign of Elah’s son Hoshea, king of Israel, that Ahaz’ son Hezekiah became king.

⁹ If you return to the LORD, your relatives and children will receive compassion from those who took them away captive, and they’ll return to this land, because the LORD is both gracious and compassionate—he will not turn away from you if you return to him.”

⁵ How long, LORD, will you be angry? Forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?

⁵ Indeed you, Lord, are kind and forgiving, overflowing with gracious love to everyone who calls on you.

¹⁵ But you, Lord, are a compassionate God, merciful and patient, with unending gracious love and faithfulness.

⁸ The LORD is compassionate and gracious, patient, and abundantly rich in gracious love.

¹⁷ Yet the LORD’s gracious love remains throughout eternity for those who fear him and his righteous acts extend to their children’s children,

⁸ Gracious and merciful is the LORD, slow to become angry, and overflowing with gracious love.

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

²² I’ve wiped away your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist. Return to me; because I’ve redeemed you.

⁵ will he hold on to his anger forever, will he persist in his wrath to the end?’ Look, you have spoken and done evil things, and you have succeeded in it.”

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.

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.

¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and together they’ll come to the land that I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.”

⁸ but they’ll say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives who brought the descendants of the Israelis from the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them and brought them into the land.’ Then they’ll live in their own land.”

¹¹ For I’ll be with you to save you,’ declares the LORD. ‘For I’ll put an end to all the nations where I scattered you; but I won’t make an end of you. I’ll discipline you justly, but I certainly won’t leave you unpunished.’

⁸ Look, I’m bringing them from the northern region, and I’ll gather them from the farthest parts of the earth. among them will be the blind and the lame, together with the pregnant woman and the woman in labor. A large group will return here.

²⁰ God’s Gracious Response“Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? Indeed, as often as I’ve spoken about him, I surely still remember him. Therefore I deeply yearn for him. I’ll surely have great compassion on him,” declares the LORD.

²⁶ then I might reject the descendants of Jacob and my servant David by not taking some of his descendants as rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Indeed, I’ll restore their fortunes, and I’ll have compassion on them.’”

²⁵ The Final Restoration of Israel“Therefore this is what the Lord GOD has to say: ‘I’m going to restore the resources of Jacob and show mercy to the entire house of Israel. I’ll be zealous for my own reputation and for my holiness.

¹ A Call for Israel to Repent “Come, let us return to the LORD; even though he has torn us, he will heal us. Even though he has wounded us, he will bind our wounds.

⁸ “How can I give up on you, Ephraim? I will deliver you, will I not, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? I can’t make you like Zeboim, can I? My heart stirs within me; my compassion also fans into flame! ⁹ I will not act in my anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim, For I am God, and not a human— the Holy One among you— so I will not enter the city in anger.

¹⁸ Who is like God?Is there any God like you, forgiving iniquity, passing over transgressions by the survivors who are your heritage? He is not angry forever, because he delights in gracious love. ¹⁹ He will again show us compassion; he will subdue our iniquities. You will hurl all their sins into the deepest sea. ²⁰ You will remain true to Jacob, and merciful to Abraham, as you promised our ancestors long ago.

²⁰ Now the Law crept in so that the offense would increase. But where sin increased, grace increased even more, ²¹ so that, just as sin ruled by bringing death, so also grace might rule by bringing justification that results in eternal life through Jesus the Messiah, our Lord.

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.

¹ Restoration after the Exile“When all these things happen to you—both the blessings and the curses that I’ve presented to you—and you take them seriously in all the nations where the LORD your God will deport you, ² and when you—you and your descendants, that is—will have returned to him and obeyed all the commands that I’m giving you today with all your heart and soul, ³ then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and will show compassion to you. He will gather you from among the peoples where he had scattered you.

²⁷ The Song of the Ransomed“He’ll sing to mankind with these words: ‘I’ve sinned. I have twisted what is right. Yet he has not repaid me like I deserve. ²⁸ He has redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit; my life will see the light.’

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!’”

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.

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.”

²⁰ We acknowledge, LORD, our wickedness, the guilt of our ancestors. Indeed, we have sinned against you.

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.

¹⁸ I will get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and you. ¹⁹ I don’t deserve to be called your son anymore. Treat me like one of your hired men.”’
²⁰ “So he got up and went to his father. While he was still far away, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him affectionately. ²¹ Then his son told him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and you. I don’t deserve to be called your son anymore.’

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.

⁹ If the Lord of the Heavenly Armies hadn’t left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom; we would be like Gomorrah.

¹³ Even though a tenth of its people remain in it, it will once again be burned, like a terebinth or an oak tree, the stump of which, though the tree has been felled, still contains holy seed.”

²² For even if your people of Israel number as many as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Overwhelming, righteous destruction is decreed,

¹¹ At that time, the LORD will reach out his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people, from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. ¹² He will raise a banner for the nations and will assemble the dispersed of Israel; he will gather the scattered people of Judah from the corners of the earth.

⁶ Nevertheless, gleanings will remain in Israel, as when an olive tree is beaten— two or three ripe olives left in the topmost branches, four or five left among the branches of a fruit-filled tree,” declares the LORD God of Israel.

¹³ So it will be on the earth and among the nations— as when an olive tree is beaten, or as gleanings when the grape harvest has ended.”
¹⁴ Glorifying God“They raise their voices; they shout for joy; from the west they shout aloud over the LORD’s majesty. ¹⁵ Therefore, you in the east, give glory to the LORD! You in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the LORD God of Israel!

⁵ For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of the Heavenly Armies is his name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of the whole earth.

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.

³ “I’ll gather the remnant of my flock from all the countries where I’ve driven them, and bring them back to their pasture where they’ll be fruitful and increase in numbers.

⁸ Look, I’m bringing them from the northern region, and I’ll gather them from the farthest parts of the earth. among them will be the blind and the lame, together with the pregnant woman and the woman in labor. A large group will return here. ⁹ They’ll come crying, and I’ll lead them as they pray for mercy. I’ll make them walk by streams of water, along a straight path on which they won’t stumble. For I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn.” ¹⁰ Nations, listen to this message from the LORD, and declare it in the distant coastlands. Say, “The one who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.”

³² It won’t be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.

¹¹ The Coming True Shepherd“This is what the LORD says: ‘Watch me! I’m going to search for my flock. I’ll watch over them myself. ¹² Just as a shepherd looks after his flock during the day time while he is with them, so also I’m going to watch over my sheep, delivering them from every place where they’ve been scattered during the times of gloom and doom. ¹³ I’m going to bring them out from foreign nations and from foreign lands. Then I’ll bring them to their own land and feed them in Israel—on the mountains, in their valleys, and in all of their settlements throughout the land. ¹⁴ I’ll feed them in excellent pastures, and even the very heights of Israel’s mountains will serve as verdant pastures for them in which they’ll rest and feed—yes, even on the fertile mountains of Israel!

¹⁹ I will make you my wife forever— I will make you my wife in a way that is righteous, in a manner that is just, by a love that is gracious, and by a motive that is mercy. ²⁰ I will make you my wife because of my faithfulness, and you will know the LORD.

⁷ “Arise, sword, against my shepherd, against the mighty one who is related to me,” declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. “Strike the shepherd, the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn against the insignificant ones. ⁸ It will come about in all of the land,” declares the LORD, “that two thirds of the people living there will die, but a third will survive who live there. ⁹ And I will bring that surviving third through, testing them as if through fire, purifying them like silver, assaying them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

²⁷ Isaiah also calls out concerning Israel, “Although the descendants of Israel are as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, only a few will be saved.

⁴ But what was the divine reply to him? “I have reserved for myself 7,000 people who have not knelt to worship Baal.” ⁵ So it is at the present time: there is a remnant, chosen by grace. ⁶ But if this is by grace, then it is no longer on the basis of actions. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.

¹⁴ but now your kingdom won’t be established. The LORD has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as Commander-in-Chief over his people because you didn’t obey that which the LORD commanded you.”

²¹ What the righteous person says nourishes many, but fools die because they lack discerning hearts.

²⁰ And although the LORD gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers won’t hide themselves anymore, but your own eyes will see your teachers. ²¹ And whether you turn to the right or turn to the left, your ears will hear a message behind you: “This is the way, walk in it.”

⁴ I’ll raise up shepherds over them, and they’ll shepherd them. My flock will no longer be afraid or terrified, and none will be missing,” declares the LORD.

²³ God’s Shepherd: His Servant David“‘Then I’ll install one shepherd for them—my servant David—and he will feed them, will be there for them, and will serve as their shepherd.

²⁴ David’s Rule as King“‘“My servant King David will be there for them, and one shepherd will be appointed for them. They will live according to my decrees, keep my regulations, and practice them.

⁴ “Then he will take his stand, shepherding by means of the strength of the LORD, by the power of the name of the LORD his God. And they will be firmly established; indeed, from then on he will become great— to the ends of the earth. ⁵ And he will be our peace.”
God’s Judgment on Assyria “When the Assyrian invades our land, trampling through our palaces, we will raise up seven shepherds against him, even eight significant men.

⁴² The Lord said, “Who, then, is the faithful and careful servant manager whom his master will put in charge of giving all his other servants their share of food at the right time?

¹ The Illustration of the Sheepfold “Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, the person who doesn’t enter the sheepfold through the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a bandit. ² The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ It’s to him the gatekeeper opens the gate, and it’s his voice the sheep hear. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has driven out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. ⁵ They’ll never follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they don’t recognize the voice of strangers.”

¹⁵ Jesus Speaks with PeterWhen they had finished breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
Peter told him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus told him, “Feed my lambs.”
¹⁶ Then he asked him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter told him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus told him, “Take care of my sheep.” ¹⁷ He asked him a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was deeply hurt that he had asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” So he told him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you!”
Jesus told him, “Feed my sheep.

²⁸ Pay attention to yourselves and to the entire flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to be shepherds of God’s church, which he acquired with his own blood.

⁶ God’s Spirit Reveals EverythingHowever, when we are among mature people, we do speak a message of wisdom, but not the wisdom of this world or of the rulers of this world, who are passing off the scene.

¹² Now, we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we can understand the things that were freely given to us by God. ¹³ We don’t speak about these things with words taught us by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual things to spiritual people.

¹ Spiritual ImmaturityBrothers, I couldn’t talk to you as spiritual people but as worldly people, as mere infants in the Messiah. ² I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, because you weren’t ready for it. And you’re still not ready!

¹¹ And it is he who gifted some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, and still others to be pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints, to do the work of ministry, and to build up the body of the Messiah

¹² In fact, though by now you should be teachers, you still need someone to teach you the basic truths of God’s word. You have become people who need milk instead of solid food. ¹³ For everyone who lives on milk is still a baby and does not yet know the difference between right and wrong. ¹⁴ But solid food is for mature people, whose minds are trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.

² Like newborn babies, thirst for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow in your salvation.

¹ Be Shepherds of God’s FlockTherefore, as a fellow elder, a witness of the Messiah’s sufferings, and one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I appeal to the elders among you: ² Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over it, not because you must but because you want to, and not greedily but eagerly, as God desires. ³ Do not lord it over the people entrusted to you, but be examples to the flock. ⁴ Then, when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the victor’s crown of glory that will never fade away.

²² The least of them will become a thousand, and the smallest one a mighty nation. “I am the LORD; When the time is right, I will do this swiftly.”

⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore the places long devastated; they will build again the ruined cities, they will build again the places devastated for many generations.

¹⁷ A New UniverseTake notice! I’m about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things won’t be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

¹ The Worship that God Commands This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you would build for me, and where will my resting place be? ² All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came into being,” declares the LORD. “But this is the one to whom I will look favorably: to the one who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at my message.

⁴ Don’t trust deceptive words like these, and say, ‘The Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD,’

¹⁹ Thanksgiving and the sounds of laughter will come out of them. I’ll cause them to increase in numbers and not decrease. I’ll honor them and not make them insignificant.

²⁷ Restoration and Responsibility“Look, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I’ll sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah using people and animals as seed.

⁸ But you mountains of Israel are going to sprout branches and bear fruit for my people Israel, because they’ll be coming soon.’”
⁹ The Future of Israel’s Mountains“Watch me! I’m on your side! I’ll be turning in your direction, and you mountains will be plowed and planted. ¹⁰ I’m going to make the entire house of Israel grow—every single member—and their cities will be inhabited with all the ruins rebuilt. ¹¹ I’ll make both the population and the livestock increase throughout your territories. They’ll increase and be fruitful. I’ll make your territories to be settled like you were in the past, and you will be treated better than you ever were before. At that time you will know that I am the LORD.
¹² “I’ll lead my people, my nation of Israel, across you mountains, and they will take possession of you again, and you’ll be their inheritance once more. Never again will you leave them robbed of children.

²⁶ I’ll make a secure covenant with them, one that will last forever. I will establish them, make them increase in population, and will place my sanctuary in their midst forever.

¹⁰ Despite this, the number of the people of Israel will be like ocean sand, which can neither be measured nor counted. And the time will come when instead of it being said, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’ ¹¹ And the people of Judah and the people of Israel will be united as one. They will appoint for themselves a single leader and will take dominion over the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.

⁹ “Look! I’m giving the order: I will sift the house of Israel throughout all the nations, as one sifts with a sieve, yet not a single kernel will reach the ground!

¹⁴ I will surely restore my people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them. They will plant vineyards and drink the wine from them. They will plant gardens and eat the fruit from them. ¹⁵ I will plant the people of Israel in their own land, never again to be torn out of their land that I gave them,” says the LORD your God.

¹¹ When this happens, you will not be ashamed of your actions by which you sinned against me, because I will remove from among you those who revel in pride. Arrogance will have no place in my holy mountain.

⁴ “This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: ‘There will yet be old men and old women sitting in the parks of Jerusalem, each one of them holding canes in their hands due to their old age! ⁵ The city parks will be filled with boys and girls. They will play in the city’s open parks.’

⁷ “The people of Ephraim will become like mighty soldiers; they will be glad, like those who have wine. Their children will see this and rejoice; their hearts will find joy in the Lord. ⁸ I will whistle for them, gathering them together, because I have redeemed them, and they will multiply as they were before. ⁹ I will scatter them among the nations, and so they will remember me in distant countries. They will rear their children, and they will return.

¹¹ Josiah fathered Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

⁹ Don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have father Abraham!’ because I tell you that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones!

²⁰ Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain. But you Jews say that the place where people should worship is in Jerusalem.”
²¹ Jesus told her, “Believe me, dear lady, the hour is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You don’t know what you’re worshiping. We Jews know what we’re worshiping, because salvation comes from the Jews. ²³ Yet the time is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Indeed, the Father is looking for people like that to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

⁹ This illustration for today indicates that the gifts and sacrifices being offered could not clear the conscience of a worshiper, ¹⁰ since they deal only with food, drink, and various washings, which are required for the body until the time when things would be set right.
¹¹ The Messiah Has Offered a Superior SacrificeBut when the Messiah came as a high priest of the good things that have come, he went through the greater and more perfect tent that was not made by human hands and that is not a part of this creation. ¹² Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he went into the Most Holy Place once for all and secured our eternal redemption.

⁸ In this passage he says, “You never wanted or took delight in sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and sin offerings,” which are offered according to the Law. ⁹ Then he says, “See, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second.

¹⁹ How We Should LiveTherefore, my brothers, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), ²¹ and since we have a great high priest over the household of God,

²¹ When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, he told himself, “I will never again curse the land because of human beings—even though human inclinations remain evil from youth—nor will I destroy every living being ever again, as I’ve done.

³⁹ That way, when you see the tassel, you’ll remember all the commands of the LORD and you’ll observe them. Then you won’t seek your own interests and desires that lead you to be unfaithful.

²⁹ “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but what has been revealed belongs to us and to our children forever, so that we might observe the words of this Law.”

¹⁹ However, after the leader had died, they would relapse to a condition more corrupt than their ancestors, following other gods, serving them, and worshiping them. They would not abandon their activities or their obstinate lifestyles.

⁸ They will not be like the rebellious generation of their ancestors, a rebellious generation, whose heart was not steadfast, and whose spirits were unfaithful to God.

³ Glorious things are spoken about you, city of God. Interlude

² “It will come about in the last days that the mountain that is the LORD’s Temple will be established as the highest of mountains, and will be raised above the hills; all the nations will stream to it. ³ Many groups of people will come, commenting, “Come! Let’s go up to the Temple of the God of Jacob, that they may teach us his ways. Then let’s walk in his paths.”
The Rule of God from Jerusalem “Instruction will proceed from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. ⁴ He will judge between the nations, and will render verdicts for the benefit of many. “They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nations will not raise swords against nations, and they will not learn warfare anymore.

¹ Holy is the LORDIn the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne, high and exalted. The train of his robe filled the Temple.

⁸ Yes, LORD, in the path of your judgments we wait; your name and your Law are the soul’s desire.

¹⁸ Lift up your eyes and look around— they have all gathered together and are coming to you. “As surely as I live,” says the LORD, “you will clothe yourself with all of them like ornaments, and tie them on like a bride. ¹⁹ Indeed, your ruins, your desolate places, and your devastated land will now be too crowded for your inhabitants, while those who swallowed you up will be far away. ²⁰ “The children who are grieving at present will yet say in your hearing, ‘This place is too crowded for me; make room for me, so I may have a place to live.’ ²¹ Then you’ll ask in your heart, ‘Who bore these children for me, although I was childless and barren, and an exile and cast aside? Who brought these up? Look! For my part I was left all alone; but as for these, where have they come from?’ ²² “For this what the LORD says, ‘Watch! I’ll lift up my hand to the nations and raise my banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.’ ²³ “Oh, yes! Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens will be your nursing mothers. They will bow to you with their faces to the ground, and lick the dust from your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.

⁶ “Also, the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, and to bless the LORD’S name, observing the Sabbath without profaning it, and who hold fast my covenant—

¹⁹ So people will fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glories from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a pent-up stream that the breath of the LORD drives along.

³ Nations will come to your light, and kings before your dawn. ⁴ “Lift up your eyes and look around: They all gather together, they come to you; your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried on the hip.” ⁵ Then you will look and be radiant; your heart will swell with joy, because the abundance of the seas will be diverted to you, and the riches of the nations will come to you. ⁶ Throngs of camels will blanket you: the young camels of Midian and Ephu; all those from Shebu will come. They’ll carry gold and frankincense, and proclaim the praise of the LORD. ⁷ All Kedar’s flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you. and they’ll come up with acceptance upon my altar, and I’ll glorify my glorious house.”
⁸ The Future Restoration of Zion“Who are these that fly like clouds, and like doves to their windows? ⁹ For the coastlands will look to me, with the ships of Tarshish in the lead, to bring my children from far away, their silver and gold with them, to the name of the LORD your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.

¹ The Worship that God Commands This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you would build for me, and where will my resting place be?

²⁰ They will bring all—yes, all!— of your kindred from all the nations to my holy mountain Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD—on horses, in chariots, in wagons, and on mules—yes, even on mules!— and on camels,” says the LORD, “just as the Israelis bring a grain offering in a clean vessel to the LORD’s house.

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

⁸ But they would not listen or turn their ear, and each of them stubbornly followed his own evil desires. So I brought on them all the consequences of this covenant that I commanded them to fulfill, but they did not.’”

²¹ For the sake of your name don’t despise us. Don’t dishonor your glorious throne. Remember, don’t break your covenant with us!

¹² You have done even more evil than your ancestors, and each one of you is stubbornly following his own evil desires, refusing to listen to me.

¹² The LORD: The Hope of IsraelA glorious throne exalted from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.

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

²³ This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: “They’ll again speak this message in the land of Judah and its towns when I restore their fortunes: ‘The LORD bless you, righteous dwelling, holy mountain.’

²⁶ From above the canopy that was spread out over their heads, there appeared to be something reminiscent of a throne, resembling sapphire in form.
The Vision of the Glory of GodThere was the likeness of the appearance of a human being seated on the likeness of the throne high above.

⁷ God to Live among His People“Son of Man,” the Lord GOD told me, “This is where my throne is, where I place the soles of my feet, and where I will live among the Israelis forever. The house of Israel will no longer defile my holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their unfaithfulness, by the lifeless idols of their kings on their funeral mounds,

¹ The Future Reign of God “But in the last days it will come about that the Temple Mount of the LORD will be firmly set as the leading mountain. It will be exalted above its surrounding hills, and people will stream toward it. ² Many nations will approach and say, ‘Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the Temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us about his ways, and we will walk according to his directions.’ “Indeed, the Law will proceed from Zion, and the message of the LORD from Jerusalem. ³ And he will judge among many people, rebuking strong nations far away; and they will reshape their swords as plowshares and their spears as pruning hooks. No nation will threaten another, nor will they train for war anymore. ⁴ Instead, each man will sit in the shade of his grape vines and beneath the shade of his fig tree,” since the LORD of the Heavenly Armies has spoken. 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.

¹¹ “Many nations will cling to the LORD at that time and will become my people. I will live in your midst, and you will know that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies has sent me to you.

²⁰ Future Visits by Nations to Jerusalem“This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: ‘In the future, people will come, including residents of many cities, ²¹ and they will travel from one place to another place and say, “Let’s go quickly to pray in the presence of the LORD and to inquire of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.’ And I will go, too. ²² Many people and powerful nations will come to inquire of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies in Jerusalem, and to pray in the presence of the LORD.”’”
²³ “This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: ‘In the future, ten men speaking all the languages of the nations will grab hold of one Jewish person by the hem of his garment and say, “Let us go up to Jerusalem with you, because we heard that God is with you.”’”

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.

¹⁴ For sin will not have mastery over you, because you are not under Law but under grace.

⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not those of the world. Instead, they have the power of God to demolish fortresses. We tear down arguments ⁵ and every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive in order to obey the Messiah.

²⁶ But the heavenly Jerusalem is the free woman, and she is our spiritual mother.

¹⁷ The Old Life and the NewTherefore, I tell you and insist on in the Lord not to live any longer like the gentiles live, thinking worthless thoughts. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. ¹⁹ Since they have lost all sense of shame, they have abandoned themselves to sensuality and practice every kind of sexual perversion without restraint.

¹¹ At that time, the LORD will reach out his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people, from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. ¹² He will raise a banner for the nations and will assemble the dispersed of Israel; he will gather the scattered people of Judah from the corners of the earth.
¹³ Israel’s Victory over Its EnemiesEphraim’s jealousy will vanish, and those who are hostile to Judah will be eliminated; Ephraim will no longer be jealous of Judah, and Judah will not be hostile to Ephraim.

¹⁵ Rather it will be said, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelis up from the land of the north and from all the lands to which the LORD had banished them.’ I’ll bring them back to their land, which I gave to their ancestors.

³ Indeed, the time will come,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I’ll restore the security of my people Israel and Judah,’ says the LORD. ‘I’ll bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors, and they’ll possess it.’”

⁴ In those days, and at that time,” declares the LORD, “the people of Israel will come together with the people of Judah. They’ll be weeping as they travel along, and they’ll be seeking the LORD their God.

²⁰ In those days and at that time,’ declares the LORD, ‘the iniquity of Israel will be searched for, but there will be none; and the sin of Judah, but none will be found, because I’ll pardon those I leave as a remnant.’”

¹⁶ “Now as for you, Son of Man, grab a stick of wood for yourself and write on it these words: ‘FOR JUDAH AND THE ISRAELIS, HIS COMPANIONS’
“Then grab another stick and write on it: ‘FOR JOSEPH, THE STICK OF EPHRAIM, AND ALL THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, HIS COMPANIONS’
¹⁷ “Then join them together end-to-end so that they become a single baton in your hand. ¹⁸ When the descendants of your people ask you, ‘Would you please explain to us what you mean by this?’ ¹⁹ you are to tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “Watch me! I’m taking the baton that represents Joseph, which Ephraim is holding in his hand, along with his companions the tribes of Israel, and I’m going to join them with the baton that represents Judah. I’m making them a single baton, that is, a complete baton in my hand.”
²⁰ “The batons on which you engrave your writing are to remain right in front of them in your hand. ²¹ Then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Watch me take the Israelis out of the nations where they’ve gone and return them from every direction. I’m going to bring them back into their own land. ²² I’m going to make them a united people in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and I’ll set a single king to rule over them. They’ll never again be two separate people. They’ll never again be divided into two kingdoms.

²⁵ The Final Restoration of Israel“Therefore this is what the Lord GOD has to say: ‘I’m going to restore the resources of Jacob and show mercy to the entire house of Israel. I’ll be zealous for my own reputation and for my holiness. ²⁶ They’ll forget their shame and all of their unfaithfulness by which they behaved so unfaithfully toward me. They will live on their land in confidence, not in fear. ²⁷ When I bring them back from the nations and gather them together from the lands that belong to their enemies, I will demonstrate my holiness through them right in front of the eyes of the world, ²⁸ and they will learn that I am the LORD their God, who sent them into exile and who gathered them back to their land. I will not leave any of them remaining in exile.

¹¹ And the people of Judah and the people of Israel will be united as one. They will appoint for themselves a single leader and will take dominion over the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.

¹² “Ephraim surrounds me with lies, and the house of Israel surrounds me with deceit, But Judah still rules with God, and remains faithful, along with the godly ones.”

¹⁵ I will plant the people of Israel in their own land, never again to be torn out of their land that I gave them,” says the LORD your God.

⁶ “I will fortify the house of Judah, and the house of Joseph I will save. I will surely bring them back, because I care about them. They will be as if I had never cast them away. Since I am the LORD their God, I will answer them.

²⁴ They rejected the desirable land, and they didn’t trust his promise.

³⁵ The wise will inherit honor, but he holds fools up for ridicule.

¹⁶ But you are our Father, even Abraham does not know us and Israel has not acknowledged us; you are he, O LORD, our Father, from long ago, ‘Our Redeemer’ is your name.

⁸ God, our Father, will ActBut as for you, O LORD, you are our Father; and we are clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hands.

⁴ Have you not just called out to me, ‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—

⁷ Why should I forgive you? Your sons have forsaken me, and you have sworn by those who aren’t gods. When I gave them enough food to satisfy them, they committed adultery and marched to the prostitute’s house.

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

³⁹ I’ll give them one heart and one lifestyle so they’ll fear me always for their own good and for the good of their descendants after them. ⁴⁰ I’ll make an everlasting covenant with them that I won’t turn away from doing good for them. I’ll put the fear of me in their hearts so they won’t turn away from me.

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.

⁹ The Insignificant Horn“A somewhat insignificant horn emerged from one of them. It moved rapidly against the south, against the east, and against the Glory.

¹⁶ “‘However, the one who invades him will do whatever he wants to do. No one will oppose him. He’ll establish himself in the Beautiful Land, wielding devastating power.

⁴¹ He’ll enter the Beautiful Land, and many will fall, even though these will escape his control: Edom, Moab, and certain Ammonite officials.

⁴⁵ When he pitches his royal pavilions between the seas facing the mountain of holy Glory, he’ll come to his end, and no one will help him.’”

⁸ “How can I give up on you, Ephraim? I will deliver you, will I not, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? I can’t make you like Zeboim, can I? My heart stirs within me; my compassion also fans into flame!

⁸ Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ⁹ Therefore, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

¹¹ Responses to the WordHe came to his own creation, yet his own people did not receive him. ¹² However, to all who received him, those believing in his name, he gave authority to become God’s children, ¹³ who were born, not merely in a genetic sense, nor from lust, nor from man’s desire, but from the will of God.

¹⁵ For you have not received a spirit of slavery that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with the Messiah—if, in fact, we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

¹⁷ Therefore, “Get away from them and separate yourselves from them,” declares the Lord, “and don’t touch anything unclean. Then I will welcome you. ¹⁸ I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters,” declares the Lord Almighty.

²⁶ You are God’s ChildrenFor all of you are God’s children through faith in the Messiah Jesus.

⁵ in order to redeem those who were under the Law, and thus to adopt them as his children. ⁶ Now because you are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to cry out, “Abba! Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if you are a child, then you are also an heir because of what God did.

⁵ he predestined us for adoption to himself through Jesus the Messiah, according to the pleasure of his will,

³⁹ Now, we do not belong to those who turn back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

³ Our Hope and Joy are in the MessiahBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah! Because of his great mercy he has granted us a new birth, resulting in an immortal hope through the resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah, from the dead ⁴ and to an inheritance kept in heaven for you that can’t be destroyed, corrupted, or changed.

¹ We are God’s ChildrenSee what kind of love the Father has given us: We are called God’s children—and that is what we are! For this reason the world does not recognize us, because it did not recognize him, either.
² Dear friends, we are now God’s children, but what we will be like has not been revealed yet. We know that when the Messiah is revealed, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is. ³ And everyone who has this hope based on him keeps himself pure, just as the Messiah is pure.

⁸ And neither had you heard, nor did you understand, nor did you open your ear long ago. Indeed, I knew that you would act very deceitfully, and they would call you a rebel from birth.

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.

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. ⁹ She took her fornication so lightly that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. ¹⁰ Yet in all this her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to me with her whole heart, but rather deceptively,” declares the LORD.

¹¹ For both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me,” declares the LORD.

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.

¹ Hosea Reconciles with His WifeThen the LORD told me: “Go love your wife again, even though she is being loved by another and is committing adultery. Love her the same way the LORD loves the people of Israel, even though they look to other gods and love raisin cakes.”

⁷ They have been unfaithful to the LORD, having raised unbelieving children. In the coming month they will be devoured, along with their fields.

⁷ “But like Adam, they broke the covenant; in this they have acted deceitfully against me.

¹¹ Judah has become unfaithful, and a detestable thing was committed in Israel and Jerusalem. Indeed, Judah profaned the Holy Place of the LORD, which he loves, and married a daughter of a foreign god.

³² Then the angel of the LORD asked him, “Why did you beat your donkey in the space of only three footsteps? I’ve come to oppose you, because I say that what you’re doing is perverted.

²⁷ The Song of the Ransomed“He’ll sing to mankind with these words: ‘I’ve sinned. I have twisted what is right. Yet he has not repaid me like I deserve.

⁹ Whoever walks in integrity lives prudently, but whoever perverts his way of life will be exposed.

³ A man’s foolishness ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the LORD.

² He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon, to the high places to weep; over Nebo and over Medeba Moab wails. His head is completely bald, and every beard is shaved off.

¹⁰ For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock that is your strength. Therefore even though you plant delightful plants, sowing them with imported vine-seedlings,

³² Will a young woman forget her wedding ornaments, or a bride her attire? But my people have forgotten me days without number.

¹⁵ Why do you cry out because of your injury? Your wound won’t heal. Because your wickedness is severe, and your sins are numerous, I’ve done all these things to you. 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. ¹⁷ Indeed, I’ll bring you healing, and I’ll heal you of your wounds,’ declares the LORD, ‘because they have called you an outcast and have said, “It is Zion, no one cares for her!”’”

⁴ In those days, and at that time,” declares the LORD, “the people of Israel will come together with the people of Judah. They’ll be weeping as they travel along, and they’ll be seeking the LORD their God. ⁵ They’ll ask the way to Zion, turning their faces in that direction. They’ll come and join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that won’t be forgotten.

¹⁶ Fugitives will escape to the mountains like doves fleeing through the valleys, all of them moaning because of their own iniquity.

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 “Israel has neglected its maker in building palaces. Judah has multiplied its fortified cities, but I will send fire to their cities, and it will consume their fortresses.”

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

⁹ Please listen to this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you officials of the house of Israel, you who hate administering justice, who pervert the very meaning of equity,

¹⁰ I will pour out on the house of David and on the residents of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and of supplications, and they will look to me—the one whom they pierced.’”
Mourning in JerusalemThen they will mourn for him, as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him, as for a firstborn son. ¹¹ At that time, Jerusalem will mourn deeply, like the mourning about Hadad-rimmon that took place in the plain of Megiddo. ¹² And so the land will mourn, families by families, alone by themselves—the family of the house of David by itself with their wives by themselves, the family of the house of Nathan by itself with their wives by themselves, ¹³ the family of the house of Levi by itself with their wives by themselves, the family of Shimei by itself with their wives by themselves— ¹⁴ all of the surviving families by themselves, along with their wives by themselves.

¹⁰ For having sorrow in a godly way results in repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regrets. But the sorrow of the world produces death.

⁴ Take me with you! Let’s run away! Let the king bring me into his private chambers.
The Young Women The daughters of Jerusalem will rejoice and be happy for you. We will value your love more than wine. They love you appropriately.

⁸ Measure by measure, in their exile you contended with them; with his fierce blast he removed them, as on a day when the east wind blows.

¹⁷ Indeed, I’ll bring you healing, and I’ll heal you of your wounds,’ declares the LORD, ‘because they have called you an outcast and have said, “It is Zion, no one cares for her!”’”

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.

⁶ “‘Look, I’ll bring restoration and healing to it, and I’ll heal them. I’ll reveal to them an abundance of peace and faithfulness.

⁵ Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come in awe to the LORD and to his goodness in the last days.

¹ A Call for Israel to Repent “Come, let us return to the LORD; even though he has torn us, he will heal us. Even though he has wounded us, he will bind our wounds. ² After two days, he will restore us to life, on the third day he will raise us up, and we will live in his presence.

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.

⁴ “I will correct their apostasy, loving them freely, since my anger will have turned away from them.

⁸ “Ephraim, what have I in common with idols? I have listened and will pay attention to him. I am like a flourishing cypress; in me will your fruit be found.”

⁹ And I will bring that surviving third through, testing them as if through fire, purifying them like silver, assaying them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

⁸ Deliverance comes from the LORD! May your blessing be on your people. Interlude

³⁹ But deliverance for the righteous one comes from the LORD; he is their strength in times of distress. ⁴⁰ The LORD helps and delivers them; he will deliver them from the wicked, and he will save them because they have sought refuge in him.

¹ A Song of Ascents
The Guardian of God’s People I lift up my eyes toward the mountains— from where will my help come? ² My help is from the LORD, maker of heaven and earth.

² “Look! God—yes God—is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid. For the LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

¹¹ I, yes I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.

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.

¹⁵ God as Savior of Israel“Truly you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.

¹⁷ But Israel will be saved by the LORD with everlasting salvation; you won’t be put to shame or disgraced ever again.”

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.

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.

¹ God’s Day of Vengeance “Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, in garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in such splendor, marching in his great might? It is I, speaking in vindication, mighty to save.

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. ¹⁶ The Portion of Jacob is not like these. He made everything, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. The LORD of the Heavenly Armies is his name.

⁸ Hope of Israel, its deliverer in time of trouble, why are you like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who sets up his tent for a night?

¹⁴ The Prophet’s Call for Help and JusticeHeal me, LORD, and I’ll be healed; deliver me, and I’ll be delivered, because you are my praise.

⁷ But I’ll have mercy on the house of Judah, and I’ll save them by the LORD their God—I will not save them by the bow, by the sword, by battle, by horses, or by cavalry.”

⁸ Those who cling to vain idols leave behind the gracious love that could have been theirs. ⁹ But as for me, with a voice of thanksgiving I will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance is the LORD’s!”

²² You don’t know what you’re worshiping. We Jews know what we’re worshiping, because salvation comes from the Jews.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

¹⁰ “I found Israel, as one finds grapes in the wilderness; Your ancestors seemed to me like the fruit gleaned from a fig tree’s first harvest. When they went to Baal-peor, they devoted themselves to that filth, and they became loathsome, like what they loved.

⁶ Indeed, that glory will be carried to Assyria— it will become a present for an avenging king. Ephraim will be disgraced, and Israel will become ashamed of its decision.

¹⁷ When that happens, my anger will burn against them, because they will have abandoned me. I’ll hide my face from them, they will be consumed, and many evils and distresses will find them. When this happens, they will say, ‘These troubles have happened to us because God isn’t among us.’ ¹⁸ I’ll surely hide my face in that day on account of the evil that they will have done for they turned to other gods.”

² As for you, you must not make any treaties with the inhabitants of this land. Instead, tear down their altars.’ But you haven’t obeyed me. What have you done?

⁶ and said, “My God, I am too ashamed and hurt to turn to you, because we’re in our iniquities over our heads. Furthermore, my God, our sins have grown as high as the heavens. 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. ⁸ Though now, for a moment, grace has been shown from the LORD our God, leaving a few survivors to escape, and providing us a secure hold in his Holy Place, so that our God might enlighten us and give us relief from our servitude. ⁹ Even though we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our slavery. Instead, he has extended gracious love to us in the presence of the kings of Persia, to grant us revival, to set up the Temple of our God, to repair its damage, and to give us a protective wall for Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁰ Now, our God, what can we say besides this? Because we have abandoned your commandments ¹¹ that you gave in the writings of your servants, the prophets: ‘The land you are entering to possess is a morally unclean land due to the moral uncleanness of the peoples of the lands—along with their abominations—that has filled it from one end to the other with their impurities. ¹² So, therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor marry their daughters to your sons, and under no circumstances are you to seek their well-being or their wealth, so that you may remain strong, enjoying the best things the land has to give, and so that you may establish an inheritance for your children forever.’ ¹³ “After all that has happened to us because of our evil behavior, and because of our great sin—considering that you our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us this deliverance— ¹⁴ should we violate your commandments by intermarrying with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you had consumed us, with not even a remnant surviving to escape? ¹⁵ LORD God of Israel, you are just: As a result, we remain here today delivered. Look at us! Because of our sin, we cannot stand in your presence as a result of everything that has happened.”

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.

⁷ In Egypt, our ancestors neither comprehended your awesome deeds nor remembered your abundant gracious love. Instead, they rebelled beside the sea, the Reed Sea.

²⁹ May my accusers be clothed with shame and wrapped in their humiliation as with a robe.

¹³ I did not obey my teachers and did not listen to my instructors.

¹¹ Look! All those who light a fire, who surround yourselves with flaming torches— walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have set ablaze! This is what you will receive from my hand: you will lie down in torment.

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,

²⁶ Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as one mourns at the death of an only son. For the destroyer will come on us suddenly.

²¹ I spoke to you when you were secure, but you said, “I won’t listen!” This has been your way since your youth, for you haven’t obeyed me.

⁷ Our ancestors sinned and no longer exist yet we continue to bear the consequences of their sin.

¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head— woe to us, because we have sinned!

¹⁸ The Coming Terror“They’ll clothe themselves with sackcloth, terror will overcome them, shame will cover their faces, and baldness will spread over their entire heads.

³² I won’t be doing any of this for your sake,” declares the Lord GOD, “so keep that in mind. Be ashamed and frustrated because of your behavior, you house of Israel!”’”

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. ⁹ But to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we’ve rebelled against him ¹⁰ and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws that he gave us through his servants the prophets.

² Many of those who are sleeping in the dust of the earth will awaken—some to life everlasting, and some to disgrace and everlasting contempt.

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