Hosea 2 Cross References - LEB

¹ Say to your brother,* "Ammi,"* and to your sister,* "Ruhamah."* ² Plead with your mother, plead— because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her put away her whoring _⌊from before her_⌋,* and her adultery from between her breasts. ³ Lest I strip her naked and expose her like the day when she was born; I will make her like the desert and turn her into parched land; I will kill her with thirst. ⁴ And I will not have pity on her children, because they are children of whoredom. ⁵ Because their mother was unfaithful;* she who conceived them has acted shamefully, for she said: "I will go after my lovers, the ones who give me my bread, my water, my wool, and my flax, my oil, and my drink." ⁶ Therefore, Look! I am going to hedge her path* _⌊with thorns_⌋,* and I will build a stone wall, a stone wall against her, and she will not find her paths. ⁷ Then she will pursue _⌊her lovers_⌋,* but she will not overtake them; she will seek them and not find them; and she will say, "I will go and return to my first husband because it was better for me then than now." ⁸ But she did not know that it was I who gave her grain, new wine, and oil, and who gave her silver in abundance, and gold which they made into a Baal. ⁹ Therefore I will take again my grain in its time, and my wine in its season; and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness. ¹⁰ And now I will uncover her nakedness before the eyes of her lovers, and no one will rescue her from my hand. ¹¹ And I will put an end to all her mirth, her festivals,* her new moons,* and her Sabbaths,* and all her appointed festivals;* ¹² and I will lay waste to her vines* and her fig trees,* of which she said, "They are my payment for prostitution, which my lovers gave to me." I will make them a forest, and the wild animals* of the field will devour them. ¹³ _⌊I will punish her_⌋* for the days of the Baals, to whom she burns incense, and she decked herself with her ornamental ring and jewelry, and she went after her lovers, and forgot me —a declaration of Yahweh. ¹⁴ Therefore, Look! I am going to allure her and bring her into the desert, and _⌊I will speak tenderly to her_⌋.* ¹⁵ From there I will give her her vineyards, and the Valley of Achor as a doorway of hope. And there she will respond, as in the days of her youth, just as in the day of her coming out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁶ _⌊And on that day_⌋—* a declaration of Yahweh— you will call me, "My husband;"* you will no longer call me, "My Baal."* ¹⁷ I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by their name. ¹⁸ I will make a covenant for them on that day, with the animals* of the field, with the birds* of the heaven, and with the creeping things* of the ground; the bow, the sword, and the war I will abolish from the land, and I will let them lie down in safety. ¹⁹ And I will take you as my wife forever; I will take you as a wife for myself in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. ²⁰ _⌊I will take you as my wife_⌋* in faithfulness, and you will know Yahweh. ²¹ On that day I will answer, _⌊declares Yahweh_⌋,* I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth. ²² And the earth will answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they will answer Jezreel.* ²³ I will sow her for myself in the land; I will have pity on Lo-ruhama;* I will say to Lo-ammi,* "You are my people," and he himself will say, "you are my God."

⁵ And now if you will carefully listen to my voice and keep my covenant, you will be a treasured possession for me out of all the peoples, _⌊for all the earth is mine_⌋,* ⁶ but you, you will belong to me as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you will speak to the _⌊Israelites_⌋."*

³³ "But this is the covenant that I will _⌊make_⌋* with the house of Israel after those days," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh: "I will put my law in their inward parts and on their hearts* I will write it, and I will be to them God, and they themselves will be to me people.

³⁸ And they will be for me a people, and I will be for them God.

²⁰ so that they may walk in my statutes, and they will keep my regulations, and they will do them, and they will be to me a people, and I myself will be to them as God.

²⁸ And you will dwell in the land that I gave to your ancestors,* and you will be to me as a people, and I will be to you as* God.

²⁷ And my tabernacle will be with them, and I will be for them as God, and they will be to me as a nation.

⁹ And he* said, "_⌊Name him_⌋* Lo-ammi,* for you are not my people and I am not your God.* ¹⁰ * The number of the children of Israel will be like the sand of the sea that cannot be measured or counted; and in the place where it is said to them, "You are not my people," it will be said to them, "Children of the living God." ¹¹ Then the children of Judah and Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint for themselves one head; and _⌊they will take possession of_⌋* the land, for great is the day of Jezreel.*

²³ I will sow her for myself in the land; I will have pity on Lo-ruhama;* I will say to Lo-ammi,* "You are my people," and he himself will say, "you are my God."

⁹ And I will bring the remaining third into the fire, and I will refine them like one refines silver, and I will test them like one tests gold. They* will call my name, and I will answer them.* I will say, 'They* are my people,' and they* will say, 'Yahweh is my God.'"

³⁰ For just as you formerly were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of the disobedience of these, ³¹ so also these have now been disobedient for your mercy, in order that they also may now be shown mercy.

¹ Because of this, since we* have this ministry, just as we have been shown mercy, we do not lose heart,

¹³ although I* was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, but I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief,

¹⁰ who once were not a people, but now are the people of God, the ones who were not shown mercy, but now are shown mercy.*

¹ Thus says Yahweh:
"Where is this divorce document of your mother's divorce, with which I dismissed her? or to whom of my creditors did I sell you? Look! you were sold because of your sin, and your mother was dismissed because of your transgressions.

¹ "Call with the throat; you must not keep back! lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare* to my people their rebellion, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

² "Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'Thus says Yahweh,
"I remember concerning you the loyal love of your childhood,* the love of your betrothal-time, your going* after me in the desert,* in the land not sown.

¹ A _⌊saying_⌋:* 'Look, if a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him _⌊and she becomes another man's wife_⌋,* will he return to her again?' Will not that land be greatly defiled? And you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, would you now return to me?" _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

⁶ Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah, the king, "Have you seen what apostate* Israel has done? She has gone on every high hill and under every leafy tree and she has prostituted herself there. ⁷ And I thought, 'After her doing all these things to me she will return,' but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.* ⁸ And I saw that _⌊for this very reason, that_⌋* on account of apostate* Israel committing adultery I divorced her and gave the letter of divorce to her. Yet her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid and she went and prostituted herself also. ⁹ And it was because of the frivolity of her fornication that she defiled the land and committed adultery with the stone and with the tree.

¹³ Only acknowledge your guilt, that against Yahweh your God you have rebelled, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every leafy tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh."

³ And you shall say, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "Look, I am about to bring disaster upon this place so that _⌊everyone who hears it_⌋,* his ears will ring.

²⁰ 'And you took your sons and your daughters whom you had borne for me, and you sacrificed them to them to be eaten,* _⌊as if your whorings were not enough_⌋.*

²⁵ At the head of every street you built your high place and you disgraced your beauty and you spread your feet for every passerby, and you increased your whoring.

⁴ Will you judge them? Will you judge them, son of man?* Make known to them the detestable things of their ancestors.*

⁴³ And I said to* the one worn out with adulteries, 'Now they will prostitute her concerning her fornication, even her.'*

⁴⁵ But righteous men, they will judge them with the judgment of committing adultery, and with the judgment of shedding blood; for they were committing adultery, and blood was on their hands."

² _⌊At the beginning when Yahweh spoke_⌋* through Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife and children of whoredom, because the land commits great whoredom _⌊forsaking Yahweh_⌋."*

⁵ Because their mother was unfaithful;* she who conceived them has acted shamefully, for she said: "I will go after my lovers, the ones who give me my bread, my water, my wool, and my flax, my oil, and my drink."

³⁷ "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How many times I wanted to gather your children together _⌊the way_⌋* a hen gathers her young together under her* wings, and you were not willing! ³⁸ Behold, your house has been left to you desolate! ³⁹ For I tell you, you will never see me from now on until you say,
'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!'"*

⁵¹ "You stiff-necked people and uncircumcised in hearts and in your* ears! You constantly resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so also do you! ⁵² Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand about the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, ⁵³ you who received the law by directions of angels and have not observed it!"

¹⁶ So then, from now on we know no one _⌊from a human point of view_⌋*, if indeed we have known Christ _⌊from a human point of view_⌋*, but now we know him this way no longer.

³ And the people thirsted for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, "Why _⌊ever_⌋* did you bring us up from Egypt to kill me* and my sons and my cattle with thirst?"

¹⁸ And he was very thirsty, and he called to Yahweh and said, "You gave this great victory into the hand of your servant, but now I must die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?"

¹³ over the soil of my people. It goes up in thorns* and briers,* indeed over all of the houses of joy in the jubilant city. ¹⁴ For the palace will be forsaken, the _⌊crowded city_⌋* deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become* a cave forever, the joy of wild asses, a pasture _⌊for_⌋* flocks.

⁹ The land mourns; it languishes. Lebanon feels abashed; it withers. Sharon is like the desert, and Bashan and Carmel _⌊are losing their leaves_⌋.*

³ Your nakedness shall be exposed; indeed, your shame shall become visible. I will take vengeance and I will not _⌊spare_⌋* a person.

¹⁰ _⌊Your holy cities_⌋* have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

⁶ And they did not say, 'Where is Yahweh, the one who brought us up from the land of Egypt, the one who led us in the desert,* in a land of desert plains and gorges,* in a land of dryness and deep darkness, in a land _⌊that no one passes through_⌋,* and no human lives there?'

³¹ O generation, you see the word of Yahweh. Have I been a desert* to Israel? Or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, 'We roam about freely, we will not come again to you'?

²⁶ I looked and behold, the fruitful land was a desert,* and all of its cities were ruined before Yahweh, before the face of _⌊his burning anger_⌋.*

¹⁰ Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trampled down my plot of land. They have made _⌊my pleasant field_⌋* like the desert* of desolation.

²² And if you say in your heart, 'Why have these things happened to me?' Because of the greatness of your iniquity your skirts are uncovered; your heels have endured violence.

²⁶ So in turn I will bare your skirts over your face, and your shame will become visible.

⁶ And he will be like a juniper in the wilderness,* and he will not see when good comes, and he will dwell in the parched places in the desert,* in a land of salt flats,* where no one lives.

⁶ For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah,
"You are like Gilead to me, like the head of the Lebanon. _⌊Surely_⌋* I will make you a desert,* like cities that are not inhabited.

⁴³ Her cities have become as an object of horror, a dry land and a wilderness,* a land in which no person lives, nor does a son of humankind pass through it.

⁴ And as for your birth, _⌊on the day you were born_⌋* your umbilical cord was not cut, and _⌊you were not thoroughly washed clean with water_⌋,* and _⌊you were not thoroughly rubbed with salt_⌋,* and _⌊you were not carefully wrapped in strips of cloth_⌋.* ⁵ _⌊No eye took pity on you_⌋* to do to you one of these things to show compassion for you, and you were thrown _⌊into the open field_⌋* in their despising of you _⌊on the day you were born_⌋.* ⁶ " 'And I passed by you, and I saw you kicking about in your blood, and I said to you in your blood, "Live! ⁷ Grow up;* I will make you like a plant of the field." And you grew up, and you became tall and _⌊reached full womanhood_⌋.* Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown, but you were naked and bare. ⁸ " 'And I passed by you, and I saw you, and look, _⌊your time of lovemaking had come_⌋,* and so I spread out my hem over you, and I covered your nakedness, and I swore to you, and I entered into* a covenant with you,' _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh, 'and _⌊you became mine_⌋.*

²² And in all of your detestable things and your fornication you did not remember the days of your childhood _⌊when you were naked and bare_⌋,* when you were kicking about in your blood.

³⁷ therefore, look! I am gathering all of your lovers _⌊whom you were pleased about_⌋,* and all of whom you loved in addition to all of whom you hated, and I will gather them against you from _⌊everywhere_⌋,* and I will uncover your nakedness to them, and they will see all of your nakedness. ³⁸ And I will judge you with the judgment of women committing adultery and shedding blood, and I will give you the blood of rage and jealousy. ³⁹ And I will give you into their hand, and they will demolish your mound, and they will break down your high places, and they will strip you of your clothes, and they will take _⌊your beautiful jewelry_⌋,* and they will leave you naked and bare.

¹³ And now it is planted in the desert, in a _⌊dry and thirsty land_⌋.*

³⁵ Then I will bring you to the desert of the peoples, and I will execute justice on you there face to face. ³⁶ _⌊Just as_⌋* I executed justice on your ancestors* in the desert of the land of Egypt, likewise I will execute justice on you!" _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

²⁶ And they will strip you of your clothes, and they will take _⌊your splendid jewelry_⌋.* ²⁷ And I will put an end to your obscene conduct coming from you and your fornication from the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them; and you will not remember Egypt again.' ²⁸ For thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Look! I am giving you into the hand of those you hated, into the hand of those from whom* you turned away. ²⁹ And they will deal with you in hatred, and they will take all of your acquisitions, and they will leave you naked and in bareness; and the nakedness of your fornication and your obscene conduct and your whorings will be exposed.

¹⁰ And now I will uncover her nakedness before the eyes of her lovers, and no one will rescue her from my hand.

¹¹ Look, the days are coming," _⌊declares_⌋* my Lord Yahweh, "when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread and not a thirst for water, but _⌊of hearing_⌋* the words of Yahweh! ¹² And they will wander from sea to sea and from the north and to the east. They will roam about to seek the word of Yahweh, but they will not find it! ¹³ In that day the beautiful young women and the young men will faint because of thirst.

¹⁶ And the ten horns that you saw and the beast, these will hate the prostitute and will make her desolate and naked, and they will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.

²² When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, "Is it peace?" And he said, "What peace is there while the prostitutions of your mother Jezebel and her sorceries are numerous?"

¹¹ _⌊When its branches are dry_⌋,* they are broken; women are coming and setting light to it.
For it is not a people of understanding;
therefore his maker will not have compassion on him, and his creator will not show him favor.

³ "But* you, come near here, you children of a soothsayer, offspring of an adulterer and she who commits fornication.

¹⁴ And I will smash them, each one against his brother, and the fathers and the sons together," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. "I will not have compassion, and I will not take pity, and I will not show compassion from destroying them." '"

⁵ For thus says Yahweh, "You must not enter the house of the funeral meal, and you must not go to lament, and you must not show sympathy for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "the loyal love and the compassion.

¹⁸ And so I will act in rage, and my eye will not take pity, and I will not have compassion, and they will cry in my ear with a loud voice, and I will not hear them."

¹⁰ And I, my eye will not take pity, and I will not have compassion; their way I will bring on their head."

⁶ And she conceived again and bore a daughter, and he* said to him,
"_⌊Name her_⌋* Lo-ruhamah,* for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or _⌊forgive them_⌋.*

¹² The angel of Yahweh answered and said, "O Yahweh of hosts, _⌊how long_⌋* will you have no compassion on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you showed fury these seventy years?"*

⁴¹ You are doing the deeds of your father!"
They said* to him, "We were not born from sexual immorality! We have one father, God!"

¹⁸ Consequently therefore, he has mercy on whomever he wishes, and he hardens whomever he wishes.

²² See, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity upon those who have fallen, but upon you the kindness of God—if you continue in his kindness, for otherwise you also will be cut off.

¹³ For judgment is merciless to the one who has not practiced mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

²³ The rulers of the Philistines had gathered to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice. And they said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand."

⁶ and said, "My God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God. For our sins have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown up to the heavens. ⁷ From the days of our ancestors* until this day we have been in great guilt, and because of our sins we ourselves, our kings, and our priests have been handed into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to utter shame, as it is this day.

²¹ How has a faithful city become like a whore? Full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

⁷ You have set your bed upon a high and lofty mountain; indeed, you went up there to slaughter sacrifice. ⁸ And you have set your symbol behind the door and the doorpost; for you depart* from me, and you go up; you make your bed wide, and you _⌊make a deal with_⌋* them, you have loved their bed; you have seen their _⌊genitals_⌋.*

²⁰ "For from long ago you have broken your yoke, you tore to pieces your bonds. And you said, 'I will not serve!' But on every high hill and under every leafy tree you were lying down as a prostitute.

²⁵ Restrain your foot from being barefoot, and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'It is hopeless. No! For I have loved strangers, and after them I will go.'* ²⁶ As the shame of a thief when he is caught in the act, so the house of Israel will be ashamed. They, their kings, their officials, and their priests, and their prophets. ²⁷ Those who say to the tree, 'You are my father,' and to the stone, 'You gave birth to me.' For they have turned their _⌊backs_⌋* to me, and not their faces. But in the time of their trouble they say, 'Arise and save us.'

¹ A _⌊saying_⌋:* 'Look, if a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him _⌊and she becomes another man's wife_⌋,* will he return to her again?' Will not that land be greatly defiled? And you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, would you now return to me?" _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ² "Lift up your eyes at the barren heights, and see where you have not been ravished. Beside the roads you sat for them like an Arab in the desert,* and you have defiled the land with your fornication and with your wickedness. ³ Therefore rain showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come. Yet _⌊you have_⌋* the forehead of a woman prostitute, you refuse to be ashamed. ⁴ Have you not just now called to me, 'My father, you are the close friend of my youth? ⁵ Will he be angry _⌊forever_⌋?* Will he maintain it _⌊always_⌋'?* Look, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could."*

¹³ For the number of your towns are your gods, O Judah, and the number of the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful things, to make smoke offerings to Baal.

¹⁷ But certainly we will do _⌊everything_⌋* that went out from our mouths,* to make smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out to her libations just as we did, we, and our ancestors,* our kings, and our officials, in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, for then _⌊we had enough to eat_⌋,* and we were well-off, and we did not see disaster. ¹⁸ But _⌊since_⌋* we stopped making smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything, and by the sword and by the famine we have perished.

¹⁵ 'And you trusted in your beauty, and you prostituted on account of your name, and you poured out your fornication on every one passing by, saying, "Let it be his." ¹⁶ And you took from your clothes and you made for yourself colorful* shrines, and you prostituted on them; _⌊this had not happened before_⌋,* and it _⌊will not continue to happen_⌋.*

²⁸ And you prostituted with the _⌊Assyrians_⌋* on account of _⌊your insatiable lust_⌋,* and you prostituted with them, and still you were not satisfied. ²⁹ And you increased your fornication to the land of traders,* to Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied. ³⁰ How hot with fever was your heart!' _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh. '_⌊When you did_⌋* all of these actions _⌊of a headstrong female prostitute_⌋,* ³¹ _⌊when you built_⌋* your mound at the head of every street and your high place you made on every street, yet* you were* not like a prostitute, as you were scorning your harlot's wages. ³² O, adulterous woman! In the place of her husband she received strangers. ³³ To all prostitutes they give a fee, but you, you gave your gifts to all of your lovers, and you bribed them to come to you from all around in your whorings! ³⁴ And it was the opposite with you from the other women in your whorings; _⌊no one solicited you as a prostitute_⌋.* _⌊You gave_⌋* a harlot's wages, and a harlot's wages were not given to you, and so it was just the opposite.

⁵ And Oholah prostituted herself _⌊while she was still mine_⌋,* and she lusted for her lovers, for Assyria who was nearby, ⁶ clothed in blue cloth, governors and prefects, _⌊handsome young men_⌋* and all of them horsemen, _⌊experts on horseback_⌋.* ⁷ And she bestowed her fornication on them, on the choice ones of the _⌊Assyrians_⌋,* all of them, and with every one after which she lusted; with all of their idols she defiled herself. ⁸ And her whorings from the time of Egypt she did not abandon, for they slept with her in her childhood, and they caressed the bosoms of her virginity, and they poured out their fornication on her. ⁹ Therefore I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the _⌊Assyrians_⌋* _⌊after whom she lusted_⌋.* ¹⁰ They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. And she became a name for the women, and they executed judgments against her. ¹¹ "And though Oholibah her sister saw, yet in her lust _⌊she behaved more corruptly than her_⌋,* and her whoring was more than the prostitution of her sister.

¹⁶ And she lusted for them _⌊when her eyes saw them_⌋,* and she sent messengers to them at Chaldea. ¹⁷ And so the _⌊Babylonians_⌋* came to her for the bed of lovemaking; and they defiled her with their fornication, and she was defiled by them, and she turned from them.

⁴⁰ _⌊What is worse_⌋,* they sent for men _⌊who come_⌋* from a distant place, to whom a messenger was sent to them, and look! They came! Men for whom you bathed and painted your eyes, and you adorned yourself with an ornament. ⁴¹ And you sat on a magnificent couch and a table prepared _⌊before her_⌋,* and my incense and my olive oil you put on her.* ⁴² And a sound of a carefree crowd was with it,* and in addition to these men, _⌊a crowd of drunken men* was brought in_⌋* from the desert,* and they put bracelets on their arms and a crown of splendor on their heads. ⁴³ And I said to* the one worn out with adulteries, 'Now they will prostitute her concerning her fornication, even her.'* ⁴⁴ And so they went to her like going to a female* prostitute; and thus they went to Oholah and to Oholibah, the women of obscene conduct.

⁵ we have sinned and we have done wrong and we acted wickedly and we rebelled and have been turning aside from your commandments and from your ordinances. ⁶ We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors* and to all the people of the land. ⁷ "_⌊Righteousness belongs to you, O Lord_⌋,* and on us is open shame, just as it is this day to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel, _⌊those who are near and those who are far off_⌋* in all the lands to which you have driven them,* because of their infidelity which they displayed against you. ⁸ Yahweh, on us is open shame, on our kings, on our princes, and on our ancestors,* because we have sinned against you.

² Plead with your mother, plead— because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her put away her whoring _⌊from before her_⌋,* and her adultery from between her breasts.

⁸ But she did not know that it was I who gave her grain, new wine, and oil, and who gave her silver in abundance, and gold which they made into a Baal.

¹² and I will lay waste to her vines* and her fig trees,* of which she said, "They are my payment for prostitution, which my lovers gave to me." I will make them a forest, and the wild animals* of the field will devour them. ¹³ _⌊I will punish her_⌋* for the days of the Baals, to whom she burns incense, and she decked herself with her ornamental ring and jewelry, and she went after her lovers, and forgot me —a declaration of Yahweh.

¹ And Yahweh said to me again, "Go, love a woman _⌊who has a lover_⌋* and is committing adultery, just like the love of Yahweh for the children of Israel, but they are turning to other gods and love raisin cakes."

⁵ You will stumble by day, and the priest also will stumble with you at night. And I will destroy your mother;

¹² My people, consult _⌊their wooden idols_⌋,* and their divining rod gives them oracles; because a spirit of whoredom led them astray, and they played the whore from under their God.* ¹³ On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice, and on the hills they make offerings, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their* shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the whore, and all your daughters-in-law* commit adultery. ¹⁴ _⌊I will not punish your daughters_⌋* when they play the whore, or your daughters-in-law* when they commit adultery; because they go aside with whores, and they sacrifice with temple prostitutes, a people that does not understand comes to ruin. ¹⁵ Even though you, O Israel, are playing the whore, do not let Judah become guilty; do not enter Gilgal, or go up to Beth-aven; and do not swear, "_⌊As Yahweh lives_⌋!"*

⁹ For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey alone to itself; Ephraim has sold itself for lovers.

¹⁰ Like the grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like early ripened fruit on the fig tree in the first season,* I saw your ancestors.* They themselves came to Baal Peor, and they consecrated themselves to shame. And they became detestable things, like _⌊the thing they love_⌋.*

²⁰ But I have against you that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, the one who calls herself a prophetess, and teaches and deceives my slaves to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. ²¹ And I have given her time in order to repent, and she did not want to repent from her sexual immorality. ²² Behold, I am throwing her into a sickbed and those who committed adultery with her into great affliction, unless they repent from her deeds. ²³ And I will kill her children with deadly disease, and all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

¹ And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, ² with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality, and those who live on the earth became drunk with the wine of her sexual immorality." ³ And he carried me away into the wilderness in the Spirit,* and I saw a woman seated on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. ⁴ And the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, holding a golden cup in her hand full of detestable things and the unclean things of her sexual immorality. ⁵ And on her forehead a name was written, a mystery: "Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth."

²³ Why does he* give light to a man whose way is hidden, and God has fenced him in all around?

⁸ He has walled up my way so that* I cannot pass; and he has set darkness upon my paths.

⁷ He has built a wall around me, I cannot go out; he has made my bronze fetters heavy. ⁸ Though I cry out for help, he shuts out my prayers. ⁹ He has blocked my ways with dressed stones; he has made my paths crooked.

¹⁴ And after* he had spent everything, there was a severe famine throughout that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ And he went and* hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to tend pigs. ¹⁶ And he was longing to fill his stomach with* the carob pods that the pigs were eating, and no one was giving anything* to him.

⁴³ For days will come upon you and your enemies will put up an embankment* against you, and will surround you and press you hard from all directions.

¹⁰ "And then it will happen that when Yahweh your God will bring you to the land that he swore to your ancestors,* to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to you large and fine cities that you did not build, ¹¹ and houses full of all sorts of good things* that you did not fill, and hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant, and _⌊you have eaten your fill_⌋,* ¹² then take care for yourself, so that you do not forget Yahweh, who brought you out from the land of Egypt from the house of slavery.

¹⁷ And you may think* in your heart, 'My strength and the might of my hand _⌊acquired this wealth for_⌋* me.' ¹⁸ But you must remember Yahweh your God, for he is the one giving you strength to acquire wealth in order to confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors* _⌊as it is today_⌋.*

¹³ And he set him on the high places of the land, and he fed him the crops* of the field, and he nursed him with honey from crags,* and with oil from flinty rock, ¹⁴ With curds* from the herd, and with milk from the flock, with the fat of young rams, and rams, the offspring of Bashan, and with goats along with the finest kernels of wheat, and from the blood of grapes* you drank fermented wine.* ¹⁵ And Jeshurun grew fat, and he kicked; you grew fat, you bloated, and you became obstinate; and he abandoned God, his maker, and he scoffed at the rock of his salvation.

²⁰ Then Tiglath-Pileser* the king of Assyria came against him and brought trouble for him, _⌊instead of helping him_⌋,* ²¹ for Ahaz took a portion from the house of Yahweh and the house of the king and the princes, and he gave it to the king of Assyria, but it was no help to him. ²² And in the time of his distress, King Ahaz continued to act unfaithfully against Yahweh.

²⁵ And they captured fortified cities and a fertile land and took possession of houses filled with every good thing: hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves, and many fruit trees. They ate and became full, and they became fat and took delight in your great goodness. ²⁶ "But they rebelled and were rebellious against you and cast your law* behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them to turn back to you, and they did great blasphemies.

⁷ Return, O my soul, to your repose, for Yahweh has dealt bountifully with you.

² Who go to go down to Egypt, but* they do not ask of my mouth, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt. ³ And the protection of Pharaoh shall be shame to you, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, humiliation.

¹⁶ and you said,
"No! For we will flee on horses!"* Therefore you shall flee! And, "We will ride on swift horses!"* Therefore your pursuers shall be swift!

¹ Ah! Those who go down to Egypt for help!
They rely on horses
and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very numerous, and they do not look to the holy one of Israel, and they do not consult Yahweh. ² And indeed, he is wise, and he brings disaster, and he does not remove his words, and he will rise against the house of evildoers and against the help of workers of iniquity. ³ And the Egyptians are human and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit. And Yahweh stretches out his hand, and the helper will stumble, and the one being helped will fall, and together all of them will come to an end.*

²⁸ But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise if they can save you in the time of your trouble. For according to the number of your towns are your gods, O Judah.

³⁶ How you go about so much changing your way! Also by Egypt you will be put to shame, just as you were put to shame by Assyria.

²² Return, O apostate* children, I will heal your backsliding. 'Look, we come to you, for you are Yahweh our God. ²³ Surely, an illusion comes from the hills, the turmoil on the mountains. Surely, in Yahweh our God is the salvation of Israel. ²⁴ But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our ancestors* from our youth, their flocks, and their cattle, their sons and their daughters. ²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. For against Yahweh our God we have sinned, we and our ancestors,* from our youth and until this day. and we have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.'

²² Are there any among the idols of the nation who cause rain to pour? Or can the heavens give showers? Is it not you, O Yahweh our God? Therefore, we hope in you, for you do all these things.

¹² For thus says Yahweh,
'Your injury is incurable, your wound is overcome by sickness. ¹³ There is no one who pleads your cause, for your boil there is no healing for you. ¹⁴ All your lovers have forgotten you, they do not care for you. I have struck you with the blow of an enemy, the punishment of the cruel, because of the greatness of your guilt, your sins are numerous. ¹⁵ Why do you cry because of your wound? Your pain is incurable. Because of the greatness of your guilt—your sins are vast— I have done these things to you.

¹⁸ Indeed I heard Ephraim pitying themselves, 'You disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like a calf that is not trained. Bring me back and let me return, for you are Yahweh my God.

³² not like the covenant that I _⌊made_⌋* with their ancestors* on the day of my grasping them* by their hand, bringing them out from the land of Egypt, my covenant that they themselves broke, though I myself was a master over them," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

⁴ In those days and in that time,'" _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "the people* of Israel will come, they and the people* of Judah together. _⌊Weeping as they go_⌋,* they will go, and Yahweh their God they will seek. ⁵ They will ask the way to Zion, turning their faces there. They will come and join themselves to Yahweh by _⌊an everlasting covenant_⌋* that will not be forgotten.

⁴⁰ Let us test and examine our ways; let us return to Yahweh. ⁴¹ Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens. ⁴² We ourselves have transgressed and rebelled, you have not forgiven.

⁸ " 'And I passed by you, and I saw you, and look, _⌊your time of lovemaking had come_⌋,* and so I spread out my hem over you, and I covered your nakedness, and I swore to you, and I entered into* a covenant with you,' _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh, 'and _⌊you became mine_⌋.*

¹⁸ And you took the clothes of your beautiful finished cloth, and you covered them and my oil and my incense you set _⌊before them_⌋.*

³² And _⌊what you are planning_⌋,* surely it will not be—that you are saying, 'Let us be like the nations, like the clans* of the lands, _⌊serving wood and stone_⌋!'*

⁴ Now as for their names, the older was Oholah, and Oholibah was her sister. And _⌊they became mine_⌋,* and they bore sons and daughters, and their names* are Samaria for Oholah, and Jerusalem for Oholibah.

²² "Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Look! I am stirring up your lovers against you concerning whom you turned away, and I will bring them against you from all around:

¹⁷ The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the decision by the command of the holy ones, _⌊in order that_⌋* the living will know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdom of humankind, and _⌊to whomever_⌋* he wills he gives it, and he even sets the humblest of men over it."

²⁵ you will be driven away _⌊from human society_⌋* and _⌊you will dwell_⌋* with the animals* of the field, and you will be caused to graze grass like the oxen _⌊yourself_⌋,* and you will be watered with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time will pass over you until that you have acknowledged that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdom of humankind, and _⌊to whom he wills_⌋* he gives it.

³² and you will be driven away from _⌊human society_⌋* and your dwelling will be with the animals* of the field and they will cause you to graze the grass like oxen, and seven times will pass over you, until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdom of humankind and that he gives it to whom he wills.'

²¹ And he was driven away _⌊from human society_⌋* and his mind was made like the animals* and his dwelling was with the wild asses; and _⌊he was given_⌋* grass like oxen to eat, and with* the dew of heaven his body was bathed, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdom of humankind, and _⌊whoever_⌋* he wants he sets over it.

¹³ And when Ephraim saw his illness, and Judah his wound, Ephraim went to Assyria, he sent to the great king.* But he was unable to cure you and heal your wound.

¹⁵ _⌊I will return again_⌋* to my place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face; in their distress they will search* me.

⁶ When I fed them,* they were satisfied; they were satisfied and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.

¹ Return to Yahweh your God, O Israel, for you have stumbled because of your sin.

¹⁷ "But when he* came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired workers have an abundance _⌊of food_⌋,* and I am dying here from hunger! ¹⁸ I will set out and* go to my father and will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and _⌊in your sight_⌋!* ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son! Make me like one of your hired workers.' ²⁰ And he set out and* came to his own father. But while* he was still a long way away, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran _⌊and embraced him_⌋* and kissed him.

² And Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring it to me." ³ And all the people took off the rings of gold that were on their ears and brought it to Aaron. ⁴ And he took from their hand, and he shaped it with a tool, and he made it a cast-image bull calf, and they said, "These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."

²⁷ They went out into the field and harvested their vineyards and trod them, and they _⌊held a festival_⌋.* And they went into the temple* of their god, and they ate and drank and cursed Abimelech.

¹ There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim; his name was Micah. ² And he said to his mother, "The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, and about which you also pronounced a curse _⌊in my hearing_⌋,* are with me; I took it." And his mother said, "Blessed be my son by Yahweh." ³ He returned the eleven hundred pieces* of silver to his mother, and his mother thought, "I will certainly consecrate to Yahweh the pieces* of silver from my hand for my son to make an idol of cast metal; now then, I will return them* to you." ⁴ When he returned the pieces* of silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces* of silver, and she gave it to the smith, and he made it into an idol of cast metal; and it was in the house of Micah. ⁵ The man Micah had for himself _⌊a shrine_⌋,* and he made an ephod and teraphim, and _⌊he appointed one of his sons_⌋* who became a priest for him.

³ An ox knows its owner and a donkey the manger of its master. Israel does not know; my people do not understand.

⁷ The new wine dries up; the vine languishes. All the merry of heart sigh; ⁸ the joy of the tambourine has stopped. The noise of the jubilant has ceased; the joy of the lyre has stopped. ⁹ They do not drink wine with song; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

⁶ Those who lavish gold from the purse and weigh out silver in the balance scales; hire _⌊a goldsmith_⌋* and he makes him a god; they bow down, indeed they bow in worship.

¹⁸ The children are gathering wood, and the fathers are kindling the fire, and the women are kneading dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven, and they pour out libations to other gods for the sake of provoking me to anger.

¹⁶ And you took from your clothes and you made for yourself colorful* shrines, and you prostituted on them; _⌊this had not happened before_⌋,* and it _⌊will not continue to happen_⌋.* ¹⁷ And you took _⌊your beautiful jewelry_⌋* made from my gold and from my silver that I had given to you, and you made for yourself _⌊male images_⌋,* and you prostituted with them. ¹⁸ And you took the clothes of your beautiful finished cloth, and you covered them and my oil and my incense you set _⌊before them_⌋.* ¹⁹ And my bread that I gave to you, finely milled flour and oil and honey with which I fed you, then you set it _⌊before them_⌋* as a _⌊pleasing odor_⌋,* and so it was,' _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

³ Then they brought in the vessels of gold that they took from the temple, the house of God that was in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords,* his wives and his concubines drank from them. ⁴ They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.*

²³ And now you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven, and the vessels of his temple you have brought in before you, and you and your lords,* your wives and your concubines, have been drinking wine from* them, and you have praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone* that do not see and do not hear and do not know, but the God _⌊who holds your life in his hand_⌋* and all of your ways _⌊come from him_⌋,* you have not honored.

¹¹ whoredom_⌋.* Wine and new wine _⌊take away the understanding_⌋.*

⁴ They appointed kings, but not through me; they made officials, but without my knowledge. With their silver and gold they made idols for themselves for their* own _⌊destruction_⌋.*

¹ Israel is a luxuriant vine;* he yields fruit for himself. The more his fruit increased, the more he made numerous altars. The more his land prospered, the more he* improved* his stone pillars.

² And now they sin again, and they make for themselves a molten idol, idols from their silver metal according to their understanding, all of them the work of skilled craftsmen. To these they say, "Sacrifice!" People are kissing bull calves.

¹⁶ Therefore he sacrifices to his fishnet and makes offerings to his dragnet, for by them _⌊he makes a good living_⌋* and his food is rich.

¹³ And after not many days, the younger son gathered everything and* went on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth by* living wastefully.

¹ And he also said to the disciples, "A certain man was rich, who had a manager. And charges were brought to him that this person was squandering his possessions. ² And he summoned him and* said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give the account of your management, because you can no longer manage.'

²³ For as I* was passing through and observing carefully your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, 'To an unknown God.' Therefore what you worship without knowing it,* this I proclaim to you— ²⁴ the God who made the world and all the things in it. This one, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands, ²⁵ nor is he served by human hands as if he* needed anything, because* he himself gives to everyone life and breath and everything.

²⁸ And just as they did not see fit _⌊to recognize God_⌋*, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do the things that are not proper,

¹⁸ In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets and the headbands and the crescent necklaces, ¹⁹ the pendants and the bracelets and the veils, ²⁰ the headdresses and the armlets and the sashes, and the _⌊perfume boxes_⌋* and the amulets, ²¹ the signet rings and the nose rings, ²² the festal robes and the mantles, and the cloaks and the handbags, ²³ and the mirrors and the linen garments, and the turbans and the wraps. ²⁴ And this shall happen: There will be a stench instead of perfume, and a rope instead of a sash, and baldness instead of a well-set hairdo, and a clothing wrap of sackcloth instead of a rich robe, branding instead of beauty. ²⁵ Your men shall fall by the sword, and your warriors in battle. ²⁶ And her* gates shall lament and mourn, and she shall be banished; she shall sit upon the ground.

¹⁰ For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and you have not remembered the rock of your refuge; therefore you plant plants of pleasantness, and you _⌊plant_⌋* a vine of a foreigner. ¹¹ On your planting day you make them grow, and in the morning of your sowing you bring them into bloom, yet the harvest will flee* in a day of sickness and incurable pain.

²⁷ And look! I stretched out my hand against you, and I reduced your portion, and I gave you into* the desire of your haters, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed because of your lewd _⌊conduct_⌋.*

³⁹ And I will give you into their hand, and they will demolish your mound, and they will break down your high places, and they will strip you of your clothes, and they will take _⌊your beautiful jewelry_⌋,* and they will leave you naked and bare.

²⁶ And they will strip you of your clothes, and they will take _⌊your splendid jewelry_⌋.*

¹³ And the king of the north will again raise a multitude, greater than the former, and _⌊at the end of some years_⌋* he will surely come with a great army and with great supplies.*

³ Lest I strip her naked and expose her like the day when she was born; I will make her like the desert and turn her into parched land; I will kill her with thirst.

⁷ Because they sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind. The standing grain does not have heads;* it will not yield flour. And if it would yield, strangers would devour it.

² Threshing floor and wine vat will not feed them, and new wine will fail her.*

¹⁴ Who knows whether he will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, an offering and a libation, for Yahweh your God?

¹³ Then their wealth shall be as plunder, and their homes as desolation. And they shall build their houses and not inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and not drink their wine."

⁶ You have sown much but have harvested little. You have eaten without being satisfied; _⌊you have drunk without being satiated_⌋;* you have worn clothes without being warm; the one who earns wages puts it in _⌊a pouch with holes_⌋.'* ⁷ Thus says Yahweh of hosts: '_⌊Consider your ways_⌋!* ⁸ Go up the mountain and bring wood and build the house* so that I may be pleased with it and honored,' says Yahweh. ⁹ 'You have looked for much, and look! It came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh of hosts. 'Because my house is desolate and you are running each to your own house! ¹⁰ Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld the dew and the earth has withheld its produce. ¹¹ I have called for a drought on the land and the hills,* on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil, on what the soil produces, on human beings and wild animals,* and on _⌊all their labor_⌋.'"*

¹⁶ _⌊from that time when_⌋* one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten, and when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty measures,* there were only twenty. ¹⁷ I struck you with blight, and with plant mildew, and hail, all the work of your hands. But _⌊you did not come back to me_⌋,'* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

⁴ If Edom says, "We are shattered, but we will return and rebuild the ruins," Yahweh of hosts says this: "They may build, but I will tear down; and they will be called a territory of wickedness, and the people with whom Yahweh is angry forever."

¹⁸ You will return and see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him.

²² Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there will be none to deliver.

²¹ _⌊Rest assured_⌋,* the wicked will not go unpunished, but the offspring* of the righteous will escape.

¹⁷ the Lord will make the heads* of the daughters of Zion scabby, and Yahweh will lay their foreheads bare."

³⁶ Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because of the pouring out of your shame and because your nakedness was revealed in your whoring with your lovers, and on account of all of the idols of your detestable things, and according to the blood of your children whom you gave to them, ³⁷ therefore, look! I am gathering all of your lovers _⌊whom you were pleased about_⌋,* and all of whom you loved in addition to all of whom you hated, and I will gather them against you from _⌊everywhere_⌋,* and I will uncover your nakedness to them, and they will see all of your nakedness.

²⁹ And they will deal with you in hatred, and they will take all of your acquisitions, and they will leave you naked and in bareness; and the nakedness of your fornication and your obscene conduct and your whorings will be exposed.

¹³ And when Ephraim saw his illness, and Judah his wound, Ephraim went to Assyria, he sent to the great king.* But he was unable to cure you and heal your wound. ¹⁴ Because I will be like a lion to Ephraim and like a fierce strong lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear and I will go; I will carry off, and there is no one who delivers.

⁷ And I will be like a lion to them; I lie in wait beside the way, like a leopard. ⁸ I will attack them like a bear robbed of her offspring, and I will tear open the covering of their heart; there I will devour them like a lion, like an animal of the field would mutilate them.

⁸ And the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the wild animals of the forest, like a young lion among the herds of sheep which, when it passes through and treads down and tears in pieces, there is none who can deliver.

² But nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, and secret that will not be made known. ³ Therefore everything that you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what _⌊you have whispered_⌋* in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

⁵ Therefore do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord should come, who will both enlighten the hidden things of darkness and will reveal the counsels of hearts, and then praise will come to each one from God.

³² Jeroboam also inaugurated a religious feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the religious feast which was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. Thus he did in Bethel, by sacrificing to the calves that he had made; and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.

¹³ You must not _⌊continue_⌋* to bring offerings* of futility, incense—it is an abomination to me; new moon and Sabbath, the calling of a convocation— I cannot endure iniquity with solemn assembly. ¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become to me like a burden, I am not able to bear them.

⁷ The new wine dries up; the vine languishes. All the merry of heart sigh; ⁸ the joy of the tambourine has stopped. The noise of the jubilant has ceased; the joy of the lyre has stopped. ⁹ They do not drink wine with song; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. ¹⁰ The city of emptiness is broken; every house is shut _⌊so that no one can enter_⌋;* ¹¹ there is an outcry over the wine in the streets. All joy turns into _⌊darkness_⌋;* the joy of the earth disappears.

³⁴ And I will cause to disappear from the towns of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, for the land will become a site of ruins.

⁹ For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Look, I am about to cause to disappear from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of jubilation, and the voice of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰ And I will exterminate from them the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.

¹³ And, I will put an end to the noise of your songs, and the sound of your lyres will not be heard any longer.

⁴ The children of Israel will remain for many days without a king and prince, without sacrifice and stone pillar, ephod and teraphim.

¹ Do not rejoice, O Israel, do not exult like the nations! For you played the whore, departing from your God; you loved a harlot's wage on all the threshing floors of grain. ² Threshing floor and wine vat will not feed them, and new wine will fail her.* ³ They will not remain in the land of Yahweh. But Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat unclean food. ⁴ They will not pour drink offerings of wine to Yahweh, and their sacrifices will not please him. They are like mourners' bread for them; all those who eat it will be defiled. For their bread will be _⌊for their hunger_⌋;* it will not come to the house of Yahweh. ⁵ What will you do on the day of the appointed time, and on the day of the festival of Yahweh?

²¹ "I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your assemblies.

³ "And the songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day," _⌊declares_⌋* my Lord Yahweh. "The corpses are numerous; he throws them in every place. Be quiet!"

⁵ saying, "When will the new moon be over, so that we can sell grain? And the Sabbath, so that we can open the grain bins, that we can make the ephah small and make the shekel large, and can practice deceit with a set of scales of deceit?

⁹ And then in that day," _⌊declares_⌋* my Lord Yahweh, "I* will make the sun go down at noon and I will darken the land on a day of light. ¹⁰ And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all of your songs into lament, and I will put sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head. And I will make it like the mourning for an only child, and its end like a bitter day.

¹⁰ For like entangled thorns, and like their drink which is drunk, they will be consumed like fully dry chaff.

²² And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute players and trumpeters will never be heard in you again! And every craftsman of every trade will never be found in you again! And the sound of a mill will never be heard in you again! ²³ And the light of a lamp will never shine in you again! And the sound of a bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again! For your merchants were the most important people of the earth, because with your sorcery they deceived all the nations.

¹² Why have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass on the road pluck fruit from it?

⁵ And now let me tell you what I myself am about to do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge, and it shall become a devastation. I will break down its wall, and it shall become a trampling.

²³ And this shall happen on that day: Every place where there are a thousand vines* for a thousand silver pieces will become briers,* and it will be thornbushes.*

¹⁷ _⌊In a very little while_⌋* shall not Lebanon change into a fruitful land, and the fruitful land be regarded as a forest?

¹³ over the soil of my people. It goes up in thorns* and briers,* indeed over all of the houses of joy in the jubilant city. ¹⁴ For the palace will be forsaken, the _⌊crowded city_⌋* deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become* a cave forever, the joy of wild asses, a pasture _⌊for_⌋* flocks. ¹⁵ Until a spirit is poured out on us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is reckoned as the forest.

¹³ "_⌊I will take away their harvest_⌋,"* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. "There are no grapes on the vine, and there are no figs on the fig tree, and the leaves wither, and what I gave to them passed over them." '"

¹⁸ "Micah the Morashtite was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and he said to all the people of Judah, _⌊saying_⌋:*
'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "Zion will be plowed, and Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the _⌊temple_⌋* as high places of wood." '

¹ Do not rejoice, O Israel, do not exult like the nations! For you played the whore, departing from your God; you loved a harlot's wage on all the threshing floors of grain.

⁸ I will attack them like a bear robbed of her offspring, and I will tear open the covering of their heart; there I will devour them like a lion, like an animal of the field would mutilate them.

¹² Therefore on account of you Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will be a heap of rubble, and _⌊the temple mount_⌋* as a high place in a forest.

³⁴ And now go, lead the people to where I spoke to you. Look, my angel will go before you, and on the day when I punish I will punish them for their sin."

¹² then take care for yourself, so that you do not forget Yahweh, who brought you out from the land of Egypt from the house of slavery.

¹¹ "Take care for yourself so that you not forget Yahweh your God by not keeping his commandments and his regulations and his statutes that I am commanding you _⌊today_⌋,* ¹² lest when you have eaten and you are satisfied and you have built good houses and you live in them, ¹³ and your herds and your flocks have multiplied, and _⌊you have accumulated silver and gold_⌋,* and all that _⌊you have_⌋* has multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart _⌊becomes proud_⌋* and you forget Yahweh your God, _⌊the one who brought you out_⌋* from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery,

¹⁸ The rock who* bore you, you neglected, and you forgot God, the one giving you birth.

¹¹ The _⌊Israelites_⌋* did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and _⌊they served_⌋* the Baals. ¹² They abandoned Yahweh the God of their ancestors,* who brought them out from the land of Egypt. They _⌊followed_⌋* other gods from the gods of the people who were around them; and they bowed down to them, and they provoked the anger of Yahweh. ¹³ They abandoned Yahweh, and they served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

⁷ The _⌊Israelites_⌋* did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. They forgot Yahweh their God, and they served the Baals and the Asheroth.*

⁶ And again, the _⌊Israelites_⌋* did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. They served the Baals, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, and the gods of the _⌊Ammonites_⌋* and Philistines; they abandoned Yahweh and did not serve him.

⁹ But they forgot Yahweh their God, so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the hosts of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

³¹ _⌊If it wasn't enough that he went_⌋* after the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he also took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal the king of the Sidonians. He went and served Baal and bowed down to him. ³² And he built an altar to Baal in the house of Baal which he had built in Samaria.

¹⁸ He said, "I did not throw Israel into confusion; rather you and the house of your father have by forsaking the commands of Yahweh when you went after the Baals! ¹⁹ So then, send word and assemble all of Israel to me on Mount Carmel, with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at the table of Jezebel." ²⁰ So Ahab sent word among the _⌊Israelites_⌋,* and he assembled the prophets to Mount Carmel. ²¹ Elijah approached to all the people and said, "How long will you go limping over two opinions? If Yahweh is God, go after him; but if Baal, go after him." But the people did not answer him a word. ²² Then Elijah said to the people, "I alone am left a prophet of Yahweh, but the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men. ²³ Let them give us two bulls, and let them choose for themselves one bull, cut him in pieces, and put it on the wood, but don't let them start a fire on it. I will prepare the other bull and set it on the wood, but I will put no fire on it. ²⁴ Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Yahweh, and it shall be that the god who answers by fire, he is God."* Then all the people answered and said, "The word is good!" ²⁵ Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are the majority, and call on the name of your god, but don't set fire under it." ²⁶ So they took the bull that he allowed to them, prepared it, and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, "O Baal, answer us!" But there was no voice and there was no answer, so they limped* about the altar which they had made. ²⁷ It happened at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, "Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god! Perhaps he is meditating, or _⌊is using the bathroom_⌋,* or is on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep and must wake up!" ²⁸ So they called out with a loud voice, and they cut themselves with swords and with spears as was their custom, until the blood poured out over them. ²⁹ It happened as noon passed, they raged until the time of the evening offering, but there was no voice, there was no answer, and no one paid attention. ³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me," so all the people came closer to him. He repaired the altar of Yahweh that had been destroyed. ³¹ Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of God came, saying, "Israel shall be your name." ³² With them, he built an altar in the name of Yahweh, and he made a trench _⌊which would have held_⌋* about two seahs of seed, all around the altar. ³³ And he arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces, and placed it on the wood.* Then he said, "Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood." ³⁴ He said, "Do it again!" They did it again. He said, "Do it a third time!" So they did it a third time. ³⁵ The water went all around the altar, and the trench also was filled with water. ³⁶ It happened at the offering of the evening oblation, Elijah the prophet went near, and he said, "O Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and that I have done all of these things by your words. ³⁷ Answer me, O Yahweh, answer me; that this people may know that you, O Yahweh, are God and that you have turned their hearts back again." ³⁸ Then the fire of Yahweh fell, and it consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust; and the water which was in the trench it licked up! ³⁹ When all the people saw, they fell on their faces and said, "Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!" ⁴⁰ Then Elijah said to them, "Seize the prophets of Baal; don't let any man of them escape!" So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the wadi* of Kishon and killed them there.

² Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice in his upper room, which was in Samaria, and he was injured. So he sent messengers, and he said to them, "Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury."

²⁸ So Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel.

³ He returned and rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. He erected altars for Baal and made a pole of Asherah worship just as Ahab king of Israel had made, and he bowed down to all of the host of heaven and served them.

¹³ So are the paths of all who forget God; and the hope of the godless will perish,

¹¹ They also forgot his deeds, and his wonders that he had shown them.

¹³ They quickly forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel.

²¹ They forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,

¹⁰ For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and you have not remembered the rock of your refuge; therefore you plant plants of pleasantness, and you _⌊plant_⌋* a vine of a foreigner.

²³ "How can you say, 'I have not defiled myself, I have not gone after the Baals?' Look at your way in the valley, know what you have done. You are a young she-camel, interweaving her ways. ²⁴ A wild ass accustomed to the desert,* in the desire of her soul. She gasps for wind in her rutting time. Who can quell* her lust? All those who seek her will not grow weary, in her month they will find her. ²⁵ Restrain your foot from being barefoot, and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'It is hopeless. No! For I have loved strangers, and after them I will go.'*

³² Can a young woman forget her ornaments?* Or a bride her sashes? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

⁹ Will you steal? Will you murder? And will you commit adultery? And will you swear _⌊falsely_⌋?* And will you make a smoke offering to the Baal? And will you go after other gods whom you have not known?

¹⁵ But my people have forgotten me. They make smoke offerings to the idols,* and they caused them to stumble in their ways, the ancient ways, to go into _⌊bypaths_⌋,* not one that is built up.

² _⌊Therefore_⌋* thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people, "You yourselves have scattered my flock, and you have driven them away, and you do not attend to them. Look, I will punish you for the evil of your deeds," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

¹⁷ And you took _⌊your beautiful jewelry_⌋* made from my gold and from my silver that I had given to you, and you made for yourself _⌊male images_⌋,* and you prostituted with them.

¹² They take a bribe among* you in order to shed blood; and you take usury, and you make gain from your neighbors by extortion, and so you have forgotten me, _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

³⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Because you have forgotten me, and you threw me behind your back, now in turn* you bear your obscene conduct and your whorings."

⁴⁰ _⌊What is worse_⌋,* they sent for men _⌊who come_⌋* from a distant place, to whom a messenger was sent to them, and look! They came! Men for whom you bathed and painted your eyes, and you adorned yourself with an ornament. ⁴¹ And you sat on a magnificent couch and a table prepared _⌊before her_⌋,* and my incense and my olive oil you put on her.* ⁴² And a sound of a carefree crowd was with it,* and in addition to these men, _⌊a crowd of drunken men* was brought in_⌋* from the desert,* and they put bracelets on their arms and a crown of splendor on their heads.

⁷ Then she will pursue _⌊her lovers_⌋,* but she will not overtake them; she will seek them and not find them; and she will say, "I will go and return to my first husband because it was better for me then than now."

⁶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from acting as a priest for me.* And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.*

¹³ On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice, and on the hills they make offerings, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their* shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the whore, and all your daughters-in-law* commit adultery.

¹⁴ Israel has forgotten his maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send fire on his cities and it will devour her strongholds.

⁷ The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have come; Israel knows! The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is acting like a madman. Because of the greatness of your sin, your hostility is great.

⁹ _⌊They deeply corrupted themselves_⌋* as in the days of Gibeah; he will remember their sin, he will punish their sins. ¹⁰ Like the grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like early ripened fruit on the fig tree in the first season,* I saw your ancestors.* They themselves came to Baal Peor, and they consecrated themselves to shame. And they became detestable things, like _⌊the thing they love_⌋.*

² When I called* them, they went from my face.* They sacrificed to the Baals, and they sacrificed to idols.

¹ When Ephraim spoke,* there was terror; he was exalted in Israel, but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.

³ And his soul clung to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke _⌊tenderly_⌋* to the girl.

³ So her husband set out, and he went after her to speak _⌊tenderly to her_⌋,* to bring her back. He took with him his servant and a pair of donkeys. And she brought him to her father's house, and the father of the young woman saw him and was glad to meet him.

⁴ Draw me after you, let us run! May the king bring me into his chambers!* Let us be joyful and let us rejoice in you; let us extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you!

¹⁸ Therefore Yahweh waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he will rise up to show you mercy, for Yahweh is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

³ Strengthen the weak hands and make the staggering knees firm. ⁴ Say to those who are hasty of heart,
"Be strong; you must not fear! Look! your God will come with vengeance, with _⌊divine retribution_⌋.* He _⌊is the one who_⌋* will come and save you."

¹ "Comfort; comfort my people," says your God. ² "Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her,
that her compulsory labor is fulfilled, that her sin is paid for, that she has _⌊received_⌋* from the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins."

¹³ Sing for joy, heavens, and rejoice, earth! Mountains must break forth in rejoicing! For Yahweh has comforted his people, and he will take pity on his afflicted ones. ¹⁴ But* Zion said, "Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me!" ¹⁵ Can a woman forget her suckling, refrain from having compassion on the child of her womb? Indeed, these may forget, but* I, I will not forget you! ¹⁶ Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. ¹⁷ Your children hasten; your destroyers and those who laid you waste depart* from you. ¹⁸ Lift your eyes up all around and see; all of them gather; they come to you. _⌊As surely as I live_⌋,* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, surely you shall put on all of them like an ornament, and you shall bind them on like a bride. ¹⁹ Surely your sites of ruins and desolate places and land of ruins,*
surely now you will be _⌊too cramped for your_⌋* inhabitants,* and those who engulfed you will be far away. ²⁰ Yet the children _⌊born when you were bereaved_⌋* will say in your _⌊hearing_⌋,*
"The place is too cramped for me; _⌊make room_⌋* for me so that I can dwell." ²¹ Then* you will say in your heart,
"Who has borne me these?" And, "I was bereaved and barren, exiled and thrust away; so* who raised these? Look at me! I was left alone; _⌊where have these come from_⌋?"* ²² Thus says the Lord Yahweh:
"Look! I will lift my hand up to the nations, and I will raise my signal to the peoples, and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.* ²³ And kings shall be your _⌊guardians_⌋,* and their queens your nurses. They shall bow down, _⌊faces_⌋* to the ground, to you, and they will lick up the dust of your feet. Then* you will know that I am Yahweh; those who await me shall not be ashamed. ²⁴ Can war-booty be taken from the mighty? or can a captive of a righteous* person be rescued? ²⁵ But thus says Yahweh:
"Indeed a captive of the mighty shall be taken, and the war-booty of the tyrant shall be rescued, for* I myself will dispute with your opponent, and I myself will save your children. ²⁶ And I will feed your oppressors their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their blood as with wine. Then* all flesh shall know that I am Yahweh, your savior and redeemer, the strong one of Jacob."

³ For Yahweh will comfort Zion; he will comfort all its sites of ruins. And he will _⌊make_⌋* its wilderness like Eden, and its desert like the garden of Yahweh. Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the _⌊sound_⌋* of song. ⁴ "Listen attentively to me, my people, and my nation, listen to me! For a teaching will go out from me, and I will cause my justice to rest for a light to the peoples. ⁵ My righteousness is near; my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples. The coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they wait. ⁶ Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look to the earth beneath, for the heavens will be torn to pieces like smoke, and the earth will be worn out like a garment, and those who inhabit her will die like gnats. But* my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be broken to pieces. ⁷ Listen to me, you who know righteousness, people who have my teaching in their heart; you must not fear the reproach of men, or be terrified because of their abuse. ⁸ For a moth will eat them like garments; a moth will devour* them like wool, but* my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation for _⌊generation after generation_⌋.*" ⁹ Awake! Awake; put on strength, O arm of Yahweh! Awake as in days of long ago, the generations of a long time back! Are you not the one who cut Rahab in pieces, the one who pierced the sea-dragon? ¹⁰ Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, the one who _⌊made_⌋* the depths of the sea a way for those who are redeemed to cross over? ¹¹ So* the redeemed ones of Yahweh shall return, and they shall come to Zion with singing, and everlasting joy shall be on their heads.* Joy and gladness shall _⌊appear_⌋;* sorrow and sighing shall flee away! ¹² "I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that* you are afraid of man? He dies! And of the son of humankind? He is _⌊sacrificed_⌋* as grass! ¹³ And you have forgotten Yahweh, your maker, who stretched out the heavens, and founded the earth. And you tremble continually, all day, because of the wrath of the oppressor when he _⌊takes aim_⌋* to destroy. But* where is the wrath of the oppressor? ¹⁴ The fettered one shall make haste to be freed. And he shall not die in* the pit, and he shall not lack his bread. ¹⁵ For* I am Yahweh, your God, who stirs up* the sea, _⌊so that_⌋* its waves roar; Yahweh of hosts is his name. ¹⁶ And I have put my words in your mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand, to plant the heavens and to found the earth, saying to Zion, 'You are my people.'" ¹⁷ Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Stand up, Jerusalem, who have drunk from the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath; you have drunk the goblet, the cup of staggering; you have drained it out. ¹⁸ There is no one who guides her among* all the children she has borne, and there is no one who grasps her by the hand among* all the children she raised. ¹⁹ Two things here have happened to you—who will _⌊show sympathy_⌋* for you?— devastation and destruction, famine and sword—who will comfort you? ²⁰ Your children have fainted; they lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in* a snare, those who are full of the wrath of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God. ²¹ Therefore hear now this afflicted one and drunken one but* not from wine. ²² Thus says your Lord, Yahweh, and your God pleads the cause of his people: "Look! I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering. You shall not _⌊continue_⌋* to drink the goblet, the cup of my wrath, any longer. ²³ And I will put it in the hand of your tormenters, who have said to _⌊you_⌋,* 'Bow down that* we may _⌊pass_⌋* over you!' And you have _⌊made_⌋* your back like the ground, and like the street for those who _⌊pass_⌋* over you."

¹² Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,
'Return, apostate* Israel,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. 'I will not cause my _⌊anger_⌋* to fall on you. For I am loyal,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. 'I will not be angry _⌊forever_⌋.* ¹³ Only acknowledge your guilt, that against Yahweh your God you have rebelled, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every leafy tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh." ¹⁴ "Return, apostate* children," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. "For _⌊I am your master_⌋,* and I will take you one from a city and two from a clan,* and I will bring you to Zion. ¹⁵ Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart and they will feed you knowledge and insight. ¹⁶ And it will be when you have multiplied and become fruitful in the land in those days," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "they will no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of Yahweh.' And _⌊it will not come to mind_⌋,* nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it,* nor will it be made again. ¹⁷ At that time they will call Jerusalem 'The Throne of Yahweh,' and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem, and they will no longer go after the stubbornness of their evil heart. ¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah will walk along with the house of Israel and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave as an inheritance to your ancestors.* ¹⁹ Then I thought, 'How I would set you among the children, and I would give you a land of desire, an inheritance of the glory of the hosts of nations.' And I thought, 'You would call me, "My father," and you would not turn back from _⌊behind_⌋* me.' ²⁰ However, as a wife departs treacherously from her lover, so you have dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ²¹ "A voice is heard on the barren heights, the weeping of the pleas for mercy of the children of Israel, because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God. ²² Return, O apostate* children, I will heal your backsliding. 'Look, we come to you, for you are Yahweh our God. ²³ Surely, an illusion comes from the hills, the turmoil on the mountains. Surely, in Yahweh our God is the salvation of Israel. ²⁴ But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our ancestors* from our youth, their flocks, and their cattle, their sons and their daughters.

¹⁴ _⌊Therefore_⌋* look, days are coming,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, 'and it will no longer be said, "_⌊As Yahweh lives_⌋,* who led up the _⌊Israelites_⌋* from the land of Egypt,"

¹⁸ Thus says Yahweh:
'Look, I will restore the fortunes* of the tents of Jacob, and I will have compassion on his dwellings, and the city will be rebuilt upon its mound, and the citadel fortress will stand on its rightful site. ¹⁹ And thanksgiving and the sound of merrymakers will come out from them, and I will make them numerous, and they will not be few. And I will make them honored, and they will not be lowly. ²⁰ And their children will be as of old, and their community will be established _⌊before me_⌋.* And I will punish all their oppressors. ²¹ And their noble will be from them, and their ruler will come out from their midst. And I will bring him near and he will approach me. For who is he that would pledge his heart to approach me?' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ²² 'And you will be to me a people, and I will be to you God.'"

¹ "At that time," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh,
"I will be the God of all the clans* of Israel, and they will be to me a people." ² Thus says Yahweh:
"The people of the survivors of the sword found grace in the desert;* Israel going to find their rest." ³ From afar Yahweh appeared to me, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love. _⌊Therefore_⌋* I have drawn you with loyal love. ⁴ I will again build you, and you will be built, O virgin Israel. You will again adorn yourself with your tambourines, and you will go forth in the dancing in a ring of the merrymakers. ⁵ You will again plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. The planters will plant, and they will enjoy it.* ⁶ For there will be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim, 'Stand up, and let us go up to Zion, to Yahweh our God.'" ⁷ For thus says Yahweh,
"Sing for joy for Jacob with gladness, and shout out for the head of the nations. Proclaim, praise, and say, 'Save, O Yahweh, your people, the remnant of Israel.' ⁸ Look, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and I will gather them from the remotest part of the earth. Among them the blind, and the lame, those who are pregnant, and those who give birth, together, a great assembly, they will return here. ⁹ With weeping they will come, and with pleas for mercy I will bring them; I will let them walk by streams of water in a straight path. They will not stumble in it, for I have become to Israel a father, and Ephraim, he is my firstborn." ¹⁰ Hear the word of Yahweh, O nations, and declare in the coastlands from afar, and say, "The scatterer of Israel will gather him, and he will keep him as a shepherd his flock. ¹¹ For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob, and he has redeemed him from the hand of the person _⌊stronger_⌋* than he. ¹² And they will come, and they will sing for joy on the height of Zion, and they will be radiant over the goodness of Yahweh, over the grain, and over the wine, and over the olive oil, and over the young ones of the flock, and over the cattle. And their life will become like a well-watered garden, and they will never languish again." ¹³ "Then the young woman will rejoice in the dancing in a ring, and the young men and the old men together. And I will turn their mourning to jubilation, and I will comfort them, and I will gladden them from their sorrow. ¹⁴ And I will saturate the appetite of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ¹⁵ Thus says Yahweh, "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, the weeping of bitterness. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted because of her children, for they are no more." ¹⁶ Thus says Yahweh:
"Restrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and they will return from the land of the enemy. ¹⁷ And there is hope for your future," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and your children will return to their territory. ¹⁸ Indeed I heard Ephraim pitying themselves, 'You disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like a calf that is not trained. Bring me back and let me return, for you are Yahweh my God. ¹⁹ For after my turning back I repented, and after coming to understand I struck my thigh. I was ashamed and also humiliated, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.' ²⁰ Is Ephraim my dear son, or the child of my delight? For _⌊as often as_⌋* I have earnestly spoken against him, I still remember him. _⌊Therefore_⌋* my bowels are turbulent for him, surely I will have compassion on him," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ²¹ "Set up for yourself road markers, make for yourself signposts, set your _⌊mind_⌋* to the main road, the road by which you went. Return, O virgin of Israel, return to these your cities. ²² _⌊How long_⌋* will you waver, O unfaithful daughter? For Yahweh has created a new thing on the earth, a woman, she shelters a man." ²³ Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "They will again say these words* in the land of Judah and in its towns at my restoring their fortunes,*
'Yahweh bless you, O settlement of righteousness, O hill of holiness.' ²⁴ And Judah and all of its towns together will live in it, farmers and those who travel with the flocks.* ²⁵ For I will saturate the thirst of the weary, and every person who languishes I will replenish." ²⁶ At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me. ²⁷ "Look, the days are coming," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humankind, and with the seed of animals.* ²⁸ _⌊And then_⌋* as I have watched over them to pull up, and to tear down, and to annihilate, and to destroy, and to do evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ²⁹ "In those days they will say no longer, '_⌊Parents_⌋* have eaten unripe fruit, and the teeth of the children _⌊are set on edge_⌋*.' ³⁰ _⌊But_⌋* each will die because of his iniquity, _⌊everyone_⌋* who eats the unripe fruit, their teeth will _⌊be set on edge_⌋.* ³¹ Look, the days are coming," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and I will _⌊make_⌋* a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, ³² not like the covenant that I _⌊made_⌋* with their ancestors* on the day of my grasping them* by their hand, bringing them out from the land of Egypt, my covenant that they themselves broke, though I myself was a master over them," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ³³ "But this is the covenant that I will _⌊make_⌋* with the house of Israel after those days," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh: "I will put my law in their inward parts and on their hearts* I will write it, and I will be to them God, and they themselves will be to me people. ³⁴ And they will no longer teach each one his neighbor, or each one his brother, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'Know Yahweh,' for all of them will know me, from their _⌊smallest_⌋* and up to their _⌊greatest_⌋,"* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will no longer remember." ³⁵ Thus says Yahweh, who gives the sun for light by day, the regulations of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar—Yahweh of hosts is his name. ³⁶ "If these rules would cease from _⌊before me_⌋,"* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "also the offspring of Israel would cease from being a nation _⌊before me_⌋* _⌊forever_⌋."* ³⁷ Thus says Yahweh, "If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, also I will reject all the offspring of Israel because of all that they have done," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

³⁶ "So now _⌊therefore_⌋,* thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning this city, of which you are saying, 'It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague': ³⁷ Look, I am going to gather them from all the lands to which I driven them in my anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath, and I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell _⌊in safety_⌋.* ³⁸ And they will be for me a people, and I will be for them God. ³⁹ And I will give to them one heart and one way, to revere me _⌊forever_⌋,* for good to them, and to their children after them. ⁴⁰ And I will _⌊make_⌋* with them _⌊an everlasting covenant_⌋* that I will not turn away from them, my doing good to them, and my reverence I will put in their hearts* so that they will not turn aside from me. ⁴¹ And I will rejoice over them to do good to them, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness with all my heart, and with all my inner self."*

⁶ Look, I am going to bring healing and health to it, and I will heal them, and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and reliability. ⁷ And I will restore the fortunes* of Judah and the fortunes* of Israel, and I will rebuild them as in the beginning. ⁸ And I will cleanse them from all their guilt that they sinned against me, and I will forgive all their iniquities that they sinned against me, and that they rebelled against me. ⁹ And it will be to me a name of jubilation, a praise, and a glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear all the good that I will do for them, and they will fear,* and they will tremble because of all the good, and because of all the prosperity that I will provide for it.' ¹⁰ "Thus says Yahweh: 'Again will be heard in this place, of which you are saying, "It is a waste, _⌊without_⌋* people and _⌊without_⌋* animals,"* in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, _⌊without_⌋* people and _⌊without_⌋* inhabitants* and _⌊without_⌋* animals,* ¹¹ the voice of jubilation, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voices* of those who say, "Praise Yahweh of hosts, for Yahweh is good, for his loyal love is _⌊forever_⌋,"* the voices of those who bring thank offerings* to the house of Yahweh, for I will restore the fortunes* of the land as in the beginning,' says Yahweh. ¹² Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'Again there will be in this waste place, _⌊without_⌋* people and animals,* and in all its towns, pasture for shepherds allowing their flock to lie down. ¹³ In the towns of the hill country, in the towns of the Shephelah, and in the towns of the Negev, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the surroundings of Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hands of the counter,' says Yahweh. ¹⁴ 'Look, days are coming,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, 'and I will fulfill the good promise* that I promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. ¹⁵ In those days and in that time I will make a branch of righteousness sprout for David, and he will execute justice and righteousness in the land. ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell _⌊safely_⌋,* and this is what they shall call it: "Yahweh is our righteousness." ' ¹⁷ For thus says Yahweh: 'A man who sits on the throne of the house of Israel will not be cut off for David. ¹⁸ And for the priests, a man from the Levites who offers burnt offerings* and who burns grain offerings* and who brings sacrifices* will not be cut off _⌊before me_⌋* _⌊forever_⌋.'"* ¹⁹ And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, _⌊saying_⌋,* ²⁰ "Thus says Yahweh: 'If you could break my covenant with the day, and my covenant with the night, so that day and night would not come at their time, ²¹ then my covenant could be broken with David my servant, from _⌊having_⌋* a son who could rule on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, my ministers. ²² As the host of heaven cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will make numerous the offspring of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.'" ²³ And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, _⌊saying_⌋,* ²⁴ "Have you not seen how these people speak, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'The two clans* whom Yahweh chose, he has also rejected them'? Thus they spurn my people from being a nation _⌊before them_⌋* any longer. ²⁵ Thus says Yahweh: 'If my covenant with day and with night, the regulations of heaven and earth, I had not established, ²⁶ then the offspring of Jacob and David my servant I would reject, from choosing rulers from his offspring over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will restore their fortunes* and I will have compassion on them.'"

¹⁰ And I brought them out from the land of Egypt, and I brought them to the desert,

²² And so I will save my flock, and _⌊they will no longer be_⌋* for plunder, and I will judge between _⌊one sheep and another_⌋.* ²³ And I will set up over them one shepherd, and he will feed them; that is, my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be for them as* a shepherd. ²⁴ And I, Yahweh, I will be for them _⌊as God_⌋,* and my servant David will be a leader in the midst of them. I, Yahweh, I have spoken. ²⁵ And I will make them a covenant of peace, and I will put an end to wild animals* from the land, and they will dwell in the desert _⌊safely_⌋,* and they will sleep in the forest. ²⁶ And I will make them and the area all around my hill a blessing, and I will let the rain go down _⌊at its appointed time_⌋;* they will be rains of blessing. ²⁷ And the tree* of the field will give its fruit, and the land will give its produce, and they will be on their land _⌊safely_⌋,* and they will know that I am Yahweh when I break their yoke, and I will deliver them from the hand of the ones enslaving them. ²⁸ And they will not be any longer plunder to the nations, and the animals of the land will not eat them, and they will dwell _⌊in safety_⌋,* and there will not be anyone frightening them. ²⁹ And I will raise for them a garden plot* of renown, and they will _⌊no longer_⌋* be victims of famine in the land, and they will not bear any more the insult of the nations. ³⁰ And they will know that I, Yahweh their God, am with them and they are my people, the house of Israel," _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh, ³¹ "and you are my flock, the flock of my pasture. You are _⌊my people_⌋;* I am your God," _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.'"

⁸ " '"But you, mountains of Israel, your branch you will shoot, and your fruit you will carry* for my people Israel, for they are soon to come. ⁹ For look! I am for you, and I will turn you, and you will be tilled, and you will be planted. ¹⁰ And I will cause _⌊your population_⌋* to increase for you, all of the house of Israel, all of it, and the towns will be inhabited, and the ruins will be built. ¹¹ And I will cause _⌊your population_⌋* to increase for you, and domestic animals, even they will be numerous, and they will be fruitful, and I will cause you to be inhabited like your _⌊ancient times_⌋,* and I will do good things more than in your former times, and you will know that I am Yahweh. ¹² And I will send over you my people Israel, and they will take possession of you, and you will be for them as an inheritance, and _⌊you will no longer bereave them of their children_⌋."* ¹³ " 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh, because they are saying to you, "You are an eater of humans,* and you are _⌊one who makes childless_⌋* your people."* ¹⁴ Therefore humans* you will not eat any longer, and your nation you will not make childless* any longer," _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁵ "And I will not let you hear any longer the insult of the nations, and the disgrace of the peoples you will not bear any longer; you yourself will not cause your nation to stumble," _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.'"

¹¹ And he said to me, "Son of man,* these bones are all of the house of Israel; look! they are saying, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is destroyed; _⌊we are cut off as far as we are concerned_⌋.'* ¹² Therefore prophesy, and you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I am opening your graves, and I will bring you up from your graves, my people, and I will bring you to the land of Israel! ¹³ And you will know that I am Yahweh when I open your graves when I bring you up from your graves, my people! ¹⁴ And I will put my breath into you so that you may live, and I will cause you to rest on your soil, and you will know that I, Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will act!" ' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh." ¹⁵ And the word of Yahweh _⌊came_⌋* to me, _⌊saying_⌋,* ¹⁶ "And you, son of man,* take for yourself _⌊a piece of wood_⌋,* and write on it, 'For Judah and for the _⌊Israelites_⌋* his associates,' and take another piece of wood, and write on it, 'For Joseph, the piece of wood of* Ephraim and all of the house of Israel his associates.' ¹⁷ And join them one to the other with respect to you as one piece of wood, so that they may become one in your hand. ¹⁸ _⌊When_⌋* _⌊your people_⌋* say to you, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'Will you not inform us as to what these actions mean for you?' ¹⁹ Then speak to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I am taking the piece of wood for Joseph that is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel its associates, and I will put them on it, the piece of wood of Judah, and I will make them into one piece of wood, so that they be one in my hand.'" ²⁰ And the pieces of wood on which you wrote will be in your hand before their eyes. ²¹ And speak to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I am taking the _⌊Israelites_⌋* from among _⌊the nations to which they went_⌋,* and I will gather them from _⌊everywhere_⌋,* and I will bring them to their own soil. ²² And I will make them into one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and _⌊they will all have one king as their king_⌋,* and they* will not again be two nations and will not again divide into two kingdoms again. ²³ And they will not defile themselves again with their idols and with vile idols and with all of their transgressions, and I will save them from all of their apostasy _⌊by which they sinned_⌋,* and I will cleanse them and they will be for me as a people and I, I will be for them as God. ²⁴ " '"And my servant David will be king over them, and one shepherd will be for all of them, and in my regulations they will go, and my statutes they will observe, and they will do them. ²⁵ And they will dwell on the land that I gave to my servant, to Jacob, _⌊in which your ancestors dwelled_⌋,* and they will dwell on it, they and their children and the children of their children _⌊forever_⌋,* and my servant David will be a leader for them _⌊forever_⌋.* ²⁶ And I will make with them a covenant of peace; _⌊an everlasting covenant_⌋* it will be with them. And I will establish them, and I will cause them to increase, and I will put my sanctuary in the midst of them _⌊forever_⌋.* ²⁷ And my tabernacle will be with them, and I will be for them as God, and they will be to me as a nation. ²⁸ And the nations will know that I, Yahweh, am consecrating Israel when my sanctuary is in the midst of them _⌊forever_⌋." '"*

²⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and I will have compassion on all of the house of Israel, and I will be jealous* for _⌊my holy name_⌋.* ²⁶ And they will forget their disgrace and all of their infidelity that they displayed against me when they dwelt on their soil _⌊in safety_⌋* _⌊with nobody making them afraid_⌋.* ²⁷ When I restore them from the nations and I gather them from the countries of their enemies, then I will show myself holy through them before the eyes of many nations. ²⁸ And they will know that I am Yahweh their God, because of when I deported them into the nations, and I reassembled them to their soil, and _⌊I will not let any of them remain there any longer_⌋.* ²⁹ And I will not hide my face again from them when I pour out my Spirit over* the house of Israel," _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

¹¹ On that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen, and I will repair its breaches and will raise up its ruins and will build it like the days of old. ¹² Thus they may take possession of the remnant of Edom and all the nations _⌊who are called by my name_⌋,"* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, who does this. ¹³ "Look, days are coming," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "when the one who plows will overtake the one who reaps, the one who treads grapes will catch up with the one who sows the seed. And the mountains will drip sweet wine and all of the hills will flow with it. ¹⁴ And I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they will rebuild the desolated cities and will inhabit them. And they will plant vineyards and will drink their wine, and they will make gardens and will eat their fruit. ¹⁵ And I will plant them on their land and they will not be uprooted again from their land that I have given to them," says Yahweh your God.

¹⁴ Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, those dwelling alone in a forest in the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. ¹⁵ As in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt I will show him wondrous things. ¹⁶ The nations will see and be ashamed because of all their might. They will lay the hand on the mouth; their ears will be deaf. ¹⁷ They will lick the dust like the serpent, like the crawling things of the earth. They will come trembling from their strongholds to Yahweh our God. Let them fear and be afraid of you. ¹⁸ Who is a God like you, forgiving sin and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, for he delights in loyal love. ¹⁹ _⌊He will again have compassion_⌋* on us; he will trample our iniquities. And you will hurl all their sins in the depths of the sea. ²⁰ You will show faithfulness to Jacob, and loyal love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors* from the days of old.

⁹ Because then I will _⌊make the speech of the nations pure_⌋;* that all of them might call on the name of Yahweh, to serve him _⌊in unison_⌋.* ¹⁰ From beyond the rivers of Cush my worshipers and the daughter of my scattered ones shall bring my offering. ¹¹ On that day you shall not be humiliated on account of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against me. For then I shall remove from your midst those exulting in your pride, and you shall no longer be haughty in _⌊my holy mountain_⌋.* ¹² And I will leave in your midst a people afflicted and poor, and they shall take refuge in the name of Yahweh. ¹³ The remnant of Israel shall not do wickedness; they shall not speak deception, nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth. For they shall graze and lie down, and none shall frighten them." ¹⁴ Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Cry aloud, O Israel! Rejoice and be jubilant with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! ¹⁵ Yahweh has annulled your judgments; he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, Yahweh, is in your midst; you shall no longer fear misfortune. ¹⁶ On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, "Fear not, O Zion; your hands shall not hang limp. ¹⁷ Yahweh your God is in your midst; a mighty warrior who saves. He shall rejoice over you with joy; he renews* you in his love; he will exult over you with singing. ¹⁸ I will gather those of you grieving on account of the feast; they were raising against her a reproach. ¹⁹ Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors; I will save the lame and gather the outcast. I will change* them from shame to glory and _⌊renown_⌋* throughout the whole world. ²⁰ At that time I will bring you in; at the time of my gathering you together. For I will make you _⌊renowned_⌋* and praised among all the nations of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your eyes," says Yahweh.

¹² The angel of Yahweh answered and said, "O Yahweh of hosts, _⌊how long_⌋* will you have no compassion on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you showed fury these seventy years?"* ¹³ With gracious* and comforting words Yahweh answered the angel who was talking with me. ¹⁴ And the angel who was talking with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "_⌊I am very jealous_⌋* for Jerusalem and for Zion! ¹⁵ And _⌊I am extremely angry_⌋* with the nations that are at ease, for while I was a little angry, they _⌊furthered disaster_⌋."* ¹⁶ Therefore, thus says Yahweh: "I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion. My temple* will be built in it," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh of hosts, "and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem." ' ¹⁷ Proclaim again, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "My cities shall again overflow from prosperity, and Yahweh will comfort Zion again, and he will choose Jerusalem again." '"

¹⁹ "Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'The fast of the fourth month, the fifth month, the seventh month, and the tenth month will be for the house of Judah jubilation and joy and merry festivals; therefore love truth and peace.' ²⁰ Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'It will happen again that nations and the inhabitants of many cities will come. ²¹ And the inhabitants of one city will go to another city, saying, "Let us go immediately to entreat _⌊the favor of_⌋* Yahweh, to seek Yahweh of hosts—I also will go!" ²² And many peoples and powerful* nations will come to seek Yahweh of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat _⌊the favor of_⌋* Yahweh.' ²³ Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'In those days ten men from _⌊all the nations of every language_⌋* will take hold of the hem of a Judean man,* saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you!" '"

⁴⁴ No one is able to come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

³² And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."

²⁶ and so all Israel will be saved, just as it is written,
"The deliverer will come out of Zion; he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. ²⁷ And this is the covenant from me with them* when I take away their sins."*

⁶ And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared there by God, so that they could feed her there for one thousand two hundred sixty days.

¹⁴ And the two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman, in order that she could fly into the wilderness, to her place where she is fed there for a time, and times, and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

¹ Then Moses and the _⌊Israelites_⌋* sang this song to Yahweh, _⌊and they said_⌋,*
"Let me sing to Yahweh because he is highly exalted; the horse and its rider he hurled into the sea. ² Yah* is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation;* this is my God, and I will praise him—the God of my father—and I will exalt him. ³ Yahweh is a man of war; Yahweh is his name. ⁴ The chariots of Pharaoh and his army he cast into the sea, and his choice adjutants were sunk in the _⌊Red Sea_⌋.* ⁵ The deep waters covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. ⁶ Yahweh, your right hand is glorious in power; Yahweh, your right hand destroyed the enemy. ⁷ And in the greatness of your majesty you overthrew those standing up to you; you released your fierce anger, and it consumed them like stubble. ⁸ And by the breath of your nostrils waters were piled up; waves stood like a heap; deep waters in the middle of the sea congealed. ⁹ The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide plunder, my desire will be full of them, I will draw my sword, my hand will destroy them.' ¹⁰ You blew with your breath; the sea covered them; they dropped like lead in the mighty waters. ¹¹ Who is like you among the gods, Yahweh? Who is like you—glorious in holiness, awesome in praiseworthy actions, doing wonders?* ¹² You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. ¹³ In your loyal love you led the people whom you redeemed; in your strength you guided them to the abode of your holiness.* ¹⁴ Peoples heard; they trembled; anguish seized the inhabitants of Philistia. ¹⁵ Then the chiefs of Edom were horrified; great distress seized the leaders of Moab; all of the inhabitants of Canaan melted away. ¹⁶ Terror and dread fell on them; at the greatness of your arm they became silent like the stone, until your people passed by, Yahweh, until the people whom you bought passed by. ¹⁷ You brought them and planted them on the mountain of your inheritance, a place you made for yourself to inhabit, Yahweh, a sanctuary, Lord, that your hands established. ¹⁸ Yahweh will reign as king forever and ever." ¹⁹ When the horses* of Pharaoh came into the sea with his chariots* and with his charioteers, Yahweh brought back upon them the waters of the sea, and the _⌊Israelites_⌋* traveled on dry ground through the middle of the sea. ²⁰ And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took her* tambourine in her hand, and all of the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances. ²¹ And Miriam answered,* "Sing to Yahweh because he is highly exalted; the horse and its rider he hurled into the sea."

⁴⁰ " 'But* when they confess their guilt and the guilt of their ancestors* in their infidelity that they displayed against me, and moreover that they went against me in hostility— ⁴¹ I myself* also* went against them in hostility, and I brought them into the land of their enemies—or if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and then they pay for their guilt, ⁴² I will remember* my covenant with Jacob; and I will remember also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. ⁴³ And the land shall be deserted by them, and it shall enjoy its Sabbaths in its being desolate from them, and they themselves* must pay for their guilt, _⌊simply because_⌋* they rejected my regulations, and their inner self* abhorred my statutes. ⁴⁴ And _⌊in spite of_⌋* this, _⌊when they are_⌋* in the land of their enemies I will not reject them, and I will not abhor them to destroy them, to break my covenant with them, because I am Yahweh their God. ⁴⁵ And I will remember the first covenant for them*—whom I brought out from the land of Egypt _⌊in the sight of_⌋* the nations _⌊to be their God_⌋.* I am Yahweh.'"

¹⁷ Then Israel sang this song, "Arise, well water! Sing to it!

³ and Yahweh your God will restore your fortunes, and he will have compassion upon you, and _⌊he will again gather you together_⌋* from all the peoples where Yahweh your God scattered you there. ⁴ "Even if _⌊you are outcasts_⌋* at the end of the heavens, even from there Yahweh your God shall gather you, and from there _⌊he shall bring you back_⌋.* ⁵ And Yahweh your God will bring you to the land that your ancestors* had taken possession of,* and he will make you successful, and he will make you more numerous than your ancestors.*

²⁶ Then _⌊they placed_⌋* on top of him a great pile of stones that remains to this day. And Yahweh _⌊turned from his burning anger_⌋,* and thus the name of that place to this day is called the valley of Achor.*

⁸ Please, remember the word that you have commanded to your servant Moses, saying, 'If you act unfaithfully I will scatter you all among the nations. ⁹ But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, even though all of your outcasts are at the furthest parts of heaven, I will gather them and bring them to the place which I have chosen to make my name dwell.'

¹² Then they believed his words; they sang his praise.

¹⁰ And Sharon shall become a pasture for* flocks,* and the valley of Achor a resting place for* herds* for my people who have sought me.

²¹ And they shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

¹⁵ For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land." '

²¹ This _⌊I have reminded myself_⌋,* therefore I will hope.

⁶⁰ And I, I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you _⌊an everlasting covenant_⌋.*

²⁶ And they will live on it in safety, and they will build houses, and they will plant vineyards, and they will live in safety when I execute my judgments on all _⌊those who despise them from all around them_⌋,* and then they will know that I am Yahweh their God."

¹¹ And he said to me, "Son of man,* these bones are all of the house of Israel; look! they are saying, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is destroyed; _⌊we are cut off as far as we are concerned_⌋.'* ¹² Therefore prophesy, and you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I am opening your graves, and I will bring you up from your graves, my people, and I will bring you to the land of Israel! ¹³ And you will know that I am Yahweh when I open your graves when I bring you up from your graves, my people! ¹⁴ And I will put my breath into you so that you may live, and I will cause you to rest on your soil, and you will know that I, Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will act!" ' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh."

¹² and I will lay waste to her vines* and her fig trees,* of which she said, "They are my payment for prostitution, which my lovers gave to me." I will make them a forest, and the wild animals* of the field will devour them.

¹ When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

⁹ But I am Yahweh your God since* the land of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, like the days of the appointed festival.

¹⁴ And I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they will rebuild the desolated cities and will inhabit them. And they will plant vineyards and will drink their wine, and they will make gardens and will eat their fruit.

¹² Return to the fortress, O prisoners of hope; today I am declaring that I will repay you double.

⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and will go out and will find pasture.

²⁷ And when they* arrived and called the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles.*

⁵ For your husband* is your maker,* his name is Yahweh of hosts; and your redeemer is the holy one of Israel, he is called the God of all of the earth.

¹⁴ "Return, apostate* children," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. "For _⌊I am your master_⌋,* and I will take you one from a city and two from a clan,* and I will bring you to Zion.

²⁹ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices _⌊greatly_⌋* because of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine is complete.

² For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for her; ²⁶ in order that he might sanctify her by cleansing her* with the washing of water by the word; ²⁷ in order that he might present to himself the church glorious, not having a spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she may be holy and blameless.

⁷ Let us rejoice and be glad and give him the glory, because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself.

¹³ " 'And you will be attentive to all that I have said to you, and you will not _⌊profess_⌋* the name of other gods; it will not be heard in your mouth.

⁷ so as not to go among these remaining nations with you; _⌊do not profess_⌋* the name of their gods, and do not swear by them, serve them, or _⌊bow down to them_⌋.*

⁴ Those who hurry after* another god increase their sorrows. I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, nor take up their names on my lips.

¹¹ "_⌊Thus_⌋* you shall say to them,
'Gods who did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.

² _⌊And then_⌋,* on that day,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh of hosts, 'I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and also the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness I will banish from the land.

⁵ And for you the threshing season shall overtake the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall overtake the sowing, and you shall eat your food _⌊to your fill_⌋* and you shall live _⌊securely_⌋* in your land. ⁶ And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and there shall not be _⌊anybody who makes you afraid_⌋,* and I will remove harmful animals from the land, and _⌊no sword shall pass through your land_⌋.*

²³ For your covenant will be with the stones of the field, and the wild animals* of the field will be at peace with you.

² In grassy pastures he makes me lie down; by quiet waters he leads me.

⁹ He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and cuts off the spear. The wagons of war he burns with fire.

¹ One who lives in the secret place* of the Most High will lodge in the shadow of Shaddai.* ² I will say to Yahweh, "You are my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust." ³ For he will deliver* you from the snare of the fowler, from the plague of destruction. ⁴ With his feathers he will cover you, and under his wings you can take refuge. His faithfulness will be a shield and a buckler.* ⁵ You need not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day, ⁶ or the plague that spreads in the darkness, or the destruction that devastates at noon. ⁷ A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. ⁸ You will only look with your eyes, and see the punishment of the wicked. ⁹ For you, O Yahweh, are my refuge. You have made the Most High your dwelling place.* ¹⁰ No harm will befall you, and no plague will come near your tent. ¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you, to watch over you in all your ways. ¹² In their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. ¹³ You will tread on lion and viper; you will trample young lion and serpent.

⁴ He shall judge between the nations and he shall arbitrate for many peoples. They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. A nation shall not lift up a sword against a nation, and they shall not learn war again.

¹¹ The _⌊haughty eyes_⌋* of humanity will* be brought low, and the pride of everyone will be humbled, and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.

¹⁷ And the haughtiness of the people shall be humbled, and the pride of everyone shall be brought low, and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.

⁶ And a wolf shall _⌊stay_⌋* with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie down with a kid, and a calf and a lion and a fatling together _⌊as a small boy leads_⌋* them. ⁷ And a cow and a bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together. And a lion shall eat straw like the cattle. ⁸ And _⌊an infant_⌋* shall play over a serpent's hole, and _⌊a toddler_⌋* shall put his hand on a viper's hole. ⁹ They will not injure and they will not destroy on all of my _⌊holy mountain_⌋,* for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.

¹ On that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
"_⌊We have a strong city_⌋;* he sets up victory like walls and ramparts!*

²⁵ The wolf and the lamb shall feed like one, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, but* dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall do no evil, and they shall not destroy on all _⌊my holy mountain_⌋,"* says Yahweh.

⁶ In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell _⌊in safety_⌋,* and this is his name by which he will be called: 'Yahweh is our righteousness.'

¹⁰ But you must not fear, my servant Jacob,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, 'and you must not be dismayed, Israel, for look, I am going to save you from far, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. And Jacob will return, and he will be at rest, and he will be at ease, and there will be no one who makes him* afraid.

¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell _⌊safely_⌋,* and this is what they shall call it: "Yahweh is our righteousness." '

²⁵ And I will make them a covenant of peace, and I will put an end to wild animals* from the land, and they will dwell in the desert _⌊safely_⌋,* and they will sleep in the forest.

⁹ "ʻ"And the inhabitants of the towns* of Israel will go out, and they will set ablaze, and they will kindle a fire with a weapon* and a small shield and a shield,* with a bow and with arrows, and with _⌊hand clubs_⌋* and with spears,* and so they will light a fire with them, _⌊a fire lasting seven years_⌋.* ¹⁰ And they will not carry trees from the field, and they will not chop wood from the forests, for with the weapons* they will light a fire; and they will plunder those plundering them, and they will plunder those plundering them," ' _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

³ And he will judge between many peoples and will arbitrate for strong nations far away; and they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up a sword against a nation, and they will no longer learn war. ⁴ But they will sit, each under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken.

¹¹ "Many nations will join themselves to Yahweh on that day, and they will be my people, and I will dwell in your midst. And you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you.

¹⁰ On that day,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh of hosts, 'you will invite _⌊one another_⌋* under the vine and under the fig tree.'"

¹⁰ And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow will be cut down, and he will announce peace to the nations. His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River* to the ends of the earth.

⁴ On that day his feet will stand on _⌊the Mount of Olives_⌋,* which faces Jerusalem on the east; and _⌊the Mount of Olives_⌋* will be split _⌊in half_⌋,* from east to west, by a very great valley; and half of the mountain will withdraw toward the north, and the other half toward the south.

⁹ And Yahweh will be king over all the earth; on that day Yahweh will be one and his name one.

¹⁰ Loyal love and faithfulness* will meet one another; righteousness and peace will kiss.

²⁷ Zion will be redeemed by justice, and those of her who repent, by righteousness.

²³ I have sworn by myself; a word that* shall not return has gone forth from my mouth in righteousness: 'Every knee shall kneel down to me; every tongue shall swear.' ²⁴ 'Only in Yahweh,' one shall say to me, 'are righteousness and strength.' He shall come to him, and all those who were angry with him shall be ashamed. ²⁵ In Yahweh all the offspring of Israel shall be in the right, and they shall boast."

⁸ I hid my face from you for a moment, in the flowing of anger, but* I will have compassion on you with everlasting faithfulness" says your redeemer, Yahweh. ⁹ "For this is like the waters of Noah to me, when I swore _⌊that the waters of Noah would never again pass_⌋* over the earth, so I swore _⌊that I would not be_⌋* angry at you and rebuke you. ¹⁰ For the mountains may depart, and the hills may sway, but* my faithfulness shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not sway," says Yahweh, who has compassion on you,

¹⁴ In righteousness you shall be established.
Be far from oppression, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

³ And you shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of Yahweh, and a headband of royalty in the hand of your God. ⁴ It shall no longer be said of you, "Forsaken," and it shall no longer be said of your land, "Desolation!" but _⌊you will_⌋* be called "My Delight Is In Her," and your land, "Married," for Yahweh delights in you, and your land shall be married. ⁵ For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you, and as is the joy of the bridegroom over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

¹⁴ "Return, apostate* children," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. "For _⌊I am your master_⌋,* and I will take you one from a city and two from a clan,* and I will bring you to Zion. ¹⁵ Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart and they will feed you knowledge and insight.

² and you swear, '_⌊As Yahweh lives_⌋,'* in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations will be blessed by him, and in him they will boast."

³¹ Look, the days are coming," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and I will _⌊make_⌋* a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, ³² not like the covenant that I _⌊made_⌋* with their ancestors* on the day of my grasping them* by their hand, bringing them out from the land of Egypt, my covenant that they themselves broke, though I myself was a master over them," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ³³ "But this is the covenant that I will _⌊make_⌋* with the house of Israel after those days," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh: "I will put my law in their inward parts and on their hearts* I will write it, and I will be to them God, and they themselves will be to me people. ³⁴ And they will no longer teach each one his neighbor, or each one his brother, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'Know Yahweh,' for all of them will know me, from their _⌊smallest_⌋* and up to their _⌊greatest_⌋,"* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will no longer remember." ³⁵ Thus says Yahweh, who gives the sun for light by day, the regulations of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar—Yahweh of hosts is his name. ³⁶ "If these rules would cease from _⌊before me_⌋,"* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "also the offspring of Israel would cease from being a nation _⌊before me_⌋* _⌊forever_⌋."*

²⁹ And I will not hide my face again from them when I pour out my Spirit over* the house of Israel," _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

²⁰ But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem _⌊for all generations_⌋.*

²⁵ whom God made publicly available as the mercy seat* through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness, because of the passing over of previously committed sins, ²⁶ in the forbearance of God, for the demonstration of his righteousness in the present time, so that he should be just and the one who justifies the person by faith* in Jesus.

⁴ So then, my brothers, you also were brought to death with respect to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

⁷ in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ that he caused to abound to us in all wisdom and insight,

²³ because the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church (he himself being the Savior of the body). ²⁴ But as the church is subject to Christ, thus also wives should be subject* to their husbands in everything.

⁷ Let us rejoice and be glad and give him the glory, because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself. ⁸ And it has been granted to her that she be dressed in bright, clean fine linen (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints). ⁹ And he said to me, "Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet of the wedding celebration of the Lamb!" And he said to me, "These are the true words of God."

² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

⁹ And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." ¹⁰ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and lofty mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

²⁴ _⌊But only_⌋* in this must the one who boasts boast, that he has insight, and that he knows me, that I am Yahweh, showing loyal love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for in these things I delight," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

⁷ And I will give to them a heart to know me, that I am Yahweh, and _⌊they will be my people_⌋,* and _⌊I will be their God_⌋,* for they will return to me with the whole of their heart.

³³ "But this is the covenant that I will _⌊make_⌋* with the house of Israel after those days," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh: "I will put my law in their inward parts and on their hearts* I will write it, and I will be to them God, and they themselves will be to me people. ³⁴ And they will no longer teach each one his neighbor, or each one his brother, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'Know Yahweh,' for all of them will know me, from their _⌊smallest_⌋* and up to their _⌊greatest_⌋,"* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will no longer remember."

²³ And so I will exalt myself, and I will show myself holy, and I will make myself known before the eyes of many nations, and they will know that I am Yahweh.'"

¹⁹ And I will take you as my wife forever; I will take you as a wife for myself in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.

⁶ Because I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

⁴ I am Yahweh your God since* the land of Egypt; you know no god except me, and no one saves besides me.

²⁷ All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and _⌊anyone to whom_⌋* the Son wants to reveal him.*

²² All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wants to reveal him."*

⁵⁵ And you have not known him, but I know him. And if I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you! But I know him and I keep his word.

³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

⁶ For God who said, "Light will shine out of darkness,"* is the one who has shined in our hearts for the enlightenment of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.*

⁸ _⌊More than that_⌋*, I even consider all things to be loss because of the surpassing greatness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for the sake of whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and consider them* dung, in order that I may gain Christ

¹⁰ so that you may live in a manner worthy of the Lord, _⌊to please him in all respects_⌋*, bearing fruit in every good deed and increasing in the knowledge of God,

¹² for which reason also I suffer these things. But I am not ashamed, because I know in whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted until that day.

¹¹ And they will not teach each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

⁶ We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, in order that we may know the one who is true, and we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life.

¹⁰ For just as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and they do not return there except they have watered the earth thoroughly and cause it to bring forth and sprout, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

²⁴ And this will happen: before they call, I myself will answer; while still they are speaking, I myself will hear.

¹² 'For there will be a sowing of peace; the vine will give its fruit, and the soil will give its produce, and the heavens will give their dew. And I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.

³³ But seek first his kingdom and righteousness,* and all these things will be added to you.

³² Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, together with him, freely give us all things?

²¹ So then, let no one boast in people. For all things are yours, ²² whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come, all things are yours, ²³ and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

¹² And they will come, and they will sing for joy on the height of Zion, and they will be radiant over the goodness of Yahweh, over the grain, and over the wine, and over the olive oil, and over the young ones of the flock, and over the cattle. And their life will become like a well-watered garden, and they will never languish again."

⁴ And Yahweh said to him, "_⌊Name him_⌋* Jezreel;* because in a little while _⌊I will punish_⌋* the house of Jehu* for the blood* of Jezreel,* and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.*

¹¹ Then the children of Judah and Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint for themselves one head; and _⌊they will take possession of_⌋* the land, for great is the day of Jezreel.*

¹⁹ And Yahweh answered and said to his people, "Look at me, I am sending to you grain, new wine, and olive oil, and you will be satisfied by it. I will not give you over any more as a disgrace among the nations.

¹⁷ Yahweh you have declared _⌊today_⌋* to be for you as your God, and to go* in his ways and to observe his rules and his commandments and his regulations and to listen to his voice. ¹⁸ And Yahweh has declared you _⌊today_⌋* to be for him as a people, a treasured possession, as he _⌊promised_⌋* to you, and that you are to observe all his commandments, ¹⁹ _⌊and that he then will set you_⌋* high above all the nations that he has made for his praise and _⌊for fame_⌋* and for honor and _⌊for you to be a holy people_⌋* to Yahweh your God, as he _⌊promised_⌋."*

²⁷ All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to Yahweh. All the families of the nations will worship before you.

³¹ Ambassadors* will come from Egypt; Cush will quickly stretch out her hands to God.

¹⁶ May there be an abundance of grain in the land even on the top of the mountains. May his crop* sway like the trees of Lebanon, and may those from the city blossom like the grass of the earth.

²⁸ You are my God, and I will give thanks to you. You are my God; I will exalt you.

¹⁶ _⌊My beloved belongs to me and I belong to him_⌋;* he pastures his flock among the lilies.

⁵ This one will say, 'I belong to Yahweh!' And that one will be called by the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand 'Yahweh's' and _⌊take the name_⌋* of Israel."

¹⁹ O Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth, and they will say, "Our ancestors* have inherited only lies,* vanity, and there is no profit in them.

²⁷ "Look, the days are coming," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humankind, and with the seed of animals.*

⁹ And he* said, "_⌊Name him_⌋* Lo-ammi,* for you are not my people and I am not your God.* ¹⁰ * The number of the children of Israel will be like the sand of the sea that cannot be measured or counted; and in the place where it is said to them, "You are not my people," it will be said to them, "Children of the living God."

² They cry out to me, "My God! We, Israel, know you!"

⁹ Though I sow* them among the nations, in the distant places they will remember me, and they will stay alive with their children, and they will return.

¹⁶ _⌊And then_⌋* every survivor from all those nations coming against Jerusalem will go up year after year* to worship the king, Yahweh of hosts, and celebrate the Feast of Booths.*

¹¹ From the rising of the sun to its setting, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is being presented to my name, and a pure offering. For my name is great among the nations," says Yahweh of hosts.

¹ And Saul was agreeing with his murder. Now there happened on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. ² And devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. ³ But Saul was attempting to destroy the church. Entering _⌊house after house_⌋,* he dragged off both men and women and* delivered them* to prison. ⁴ Now those who had been scattered went about proclaiming the good news of the word.

²⁹ Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, also of the Gentiles,

²⁵ As he also says in Hosea,
"I will call those who were not my people, 'My people,' and those who were not loved, 'Loved.'* ²⁶ And it will be in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"*

³⁰ For just as you formerly were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of the disobedience of these, ³¹ so also these have now been disobedient for your mercy, in order that they also may now be shown mercy. ³² For God confined them all in disobedience, in order that he could have mercy on them all.

⁹ and that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, just as it is written,
"Because of this, I will praise you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praise to your name."* ¹⁰ And again it says,
"Rejoice, Gentiles, with his people."* ¹¹ And again,
"Praise the Lord, all the Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him."*

⁹ For they themselves report about us, what sort of welcome we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, ¹⁰ and to await his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, the one who delivers us from the coming wrath.

¹ James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion. Greetings!

¹ Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen* who are residing temporarily in the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ² according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and for sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

⁹ But you are a chosen race,* a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's possession, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, ¹⁰ who once were not a people, but now are the people of God, the ones who were not shown mercy, but now are shown mercy.*

³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"Behold, the dwelling of God is with humanity, and he will take up residence with them, and they will be his people and God himself will be with them.* ⁴ And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any longer, and* mourning or wailing or pain will not exist any longer. The former things* have passed away."