Add parallel Print Page Options

13 Your impurity is your lewdness
    and the corruption of your idolatry.
I tried to cleanse you,
    but you refused.
So now you will remain in your filth
    until my fury against you has been satisfied.

Read full chapter

24 “Son of man, give the people of Israel this message: In the day of my indignation, you will be like a polluted land, a land without rain.

Read full chapter

13 Then at last my anger will be spent, and I will be satisfied. And when my fury against them has subsided, all Israel will know that I, the Lord, have spoken to them in my jealous anger.

Read full chapter

Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.

Read full chapter

No one can tell it anything;
    it refuses all correction.
It does not trust in the Lord
    or draw near to its God.

Read full chapter

42 “Then at last my fury against you will be spent, and my jealous anger will subside. I will be calm and will not be angry with you anymore.

Read full chapter

18 Therefore, I will respond in fury. I will neither pity nor spare them. And though they cry for mercy, I will not listen.”

Read full chapter

11 Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.”

Read full chapter

But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.[a]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 2:9 Greek also for the Greek; also in 2:10.

I thought, ‘Surely they will have reverence for me now!
    Surely they will listen to my warnings.
Then I won’t need to strike again,
    destroying their homes.’
But no, they get up early
    to continue their evil deeds.

Read full chapter

Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength,
    but they don’t even know it.
Their hair is gray,
    but they don’t realize they’re old and weak.
10 Their arrogance testifies against them,
    yet they don’t return to the Lord their God
    or even try to find him.

11 “The people of Israel have become like silly, witless doves,
    first calling to Egypt, then flying to Assyria for help.
12 But as they fly about,
    I will throw my net over them
and bring them down like a bird from the sky.
    I will punish them for all the evil they do.[a]

13 “What sorrow awaits those who have deserted me!
    Let them die, for they have rebelled against me.
I wanted to redeem them,
    but they have told lies about me.
14 They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts.
    Instead, they sit on their couches and wail.
They cut themselves,[b] begging foreign gods for grain and new wine,
    and they turn away from me.
15 I trained them and made them strong,
    yet now they plot evil against me.
16 They look everywhere except to the Most High.
    They are as useless as a crooked bow.
Their leaders will be killed by their enemies
    because of their insolence toward me.
Then the people of Egypt
    will laugh at them.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 7:12 Hebrew I will punish them because of what was reported against them in the assembly.
  2. 7:14 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads They gather together.

Israel’s Love for Wickedness

“I want to heal Israel, but its[a] sins are too great.
    Samaria is filled with liars.
Thieves are on the inside
    and bandits on the outside!

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 7:1 Hebrew Ephraim’s, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; similarly in 7:8, 11.

11 Now set the empty pot on the coals.
    Heat it red hot!
    Burn away the filth and corruption.

Read full chapter

28 They are the worst kind of rebel,
    full of slander.
They are as hard as bronze and iron,
    and they lead others into corruption.
29 The bellows fiercely fan the flames
    to burn out the corruption.
But it does not purify them,
    for the wickedness remains.
30 I will label them ‘Rejected Silver,’
    for I, the Lord, am discarding them.”

Read full chapter

Finally, he said to his gardener, ‘I’ve waited three years, and there hasn’t been a single fig! Cut it down. It’s just taking up space in the garden.’

“The gardener answered, ‘Sir, give it one more chance. Leave it another year, and I’ll give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer. If we get figs next year, fine. If not, then you can cut it down.’”

Read full chapter

Jesus Grieves over Jerusalem

37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 38 And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate.[a]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 23:38 Some manuscripts do not include and desolate.

“I brought hunger to every city
    and famine to every town.
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

“I kept the rain from falling
    when your crops needed it the most.
I sent rain on one town
    but withheld it from another.
Rain fell on one field,
    while another field withered away.
People staggered from town to town looking for water,
    but there was never enough.
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

“I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew.
    Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees.
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

10 “I sent plagues on you
    like the plagues I sent on Egypt long ago.
I killed your young men in war
    and led all your horses away.[a]
    The stench of death filled the air!
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

11 “I destroyed some of your cities,
    as I destroyed[b] Sodom and Gomorrah.
Those of you who survived
    were like charred sticks pulled from a fire.
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

12 “Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced.
    Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 4:10 Or and slaughtered your captured horses.
  2. 4:11 Hebrew as when God destroyed.

The Lord’s Judgment on Both Sisters

36 The Lord said to me, “Son of man, you must accuse Oholah and Oholibah of all their detestable sins. 37 They have committed both adultery and murder—adultery by worshiping idols and murder by burning as sacrifices the children they bore to me. 38 Furthermore, they have defiled my Temple and violated my Sabbath day! 39 On the very day that they sacrificed their children to their idols, they boldly came into my Temple to worship! They came in and defiled my house.

40 “You sisters sent messengers to distant lands to get men. Then when they arrived, you bathed yourselves, painted your eyelids, and put on your finest jewels for them. 41 You sat with them on a beautifully embroidered couch and put my incense and my special oil on a table that was spread before you. 42 From your room came the sound of many men carousing. They were lustful men and drunkards[a] from the wilderness, who put bracelets on your wrists and beautiful crowns on your heads. 43 Then I said, ‘If they really want to have sex with old worn-out prostitutes like these, let them!’ 44 And that is what they did. They had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, these shameless prostitutes. 45 But righteous people will judge these sister cities for what they really are—adulterers and murderers.

46 “Now this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Bring an army against them and hand them over to be terrorized and plundered. 47 For their enemies will stone them and kill them with swords. They will butcher their sons and daughters and burn their homes. 48 In this way, I will put an end to lewdness and idolatry in the land, and my judgment will be a warning to all women not to follow your wicked example.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 23:42 Or Sabeans.

18 I have heard Israel[a] saying,
‘You disciplined me severely,
    like a calf that needs training for the yoke.
Turn me again to you and restore me,
    for you alone are the Lord my God.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 31:18 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 31:20.

“For the past twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon,[a] king of Judah, until now—the Lord has been giving me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you have not listened.

“Again and again the Lord has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention. Each time the message was this: ‘Turn from the evil road you are traveling and from the evil things you are doing. Only then will I let you live in this land that the Lord gave to you and your ancestors forever. Do not provoke my anger by worshiping idols you made with your own hands. Then I will not harm you.’

“But you would not listen to me,” says the Lord. “You made me furious by worshiping idols you made with your own hands, bringing on yourselves all the disasters you now suffer.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 25:3 The thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign was 627 B.c.

13 For after all this punishment, the people will still not repent.
    They will not seek the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
14 Therefore, in a single day the Lord will destroy both the head and the tail,
    the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.
15 The leaders of Israel are the head,
    and the lying prophets are the tail.
16 For the leaders of the people have misled them.
    They have led them down the path of destruction.
17 That is why the Lord takes no pleasure in the young men
    and shows no mercy even to the widows and orphans.
For they are all wicked hypocrites,
    and they all speak foolishness.
But even then the Lord’s anger will not be satisfied.
    His fist is still poised to strike.

Read full chapter

What more could I have done for my vineyard
    that I have not already done?
When I expected sweet grapes,
    why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?

Now let me tell you
    what I will do to my vineyard:
I will tear down its hedges
    and let it be destroyed.
I will break down its walls
    and let the animals trample it.
I will make it a wild place
    where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed,
    a place overgrown with briers and thorns.
I will command the clouds
    to drop no rain on it.

Read full chapter

14 Likewise, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful. They followed all the pagan practices of the surrounding nations, desecrating the Temple of the Lord that had been consecrated in Jerusalem.

15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, repeatedly sent his prophets to warn them, for he had compassion on his people and his Temple. 16 But the people mocked these messengers of God and despised their words. They scoffed at the prophets until the Lord’s anger could no longer be restrained and nothing could be done.

Read full chapter

Bible Gateway Recommends