¹¹ I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one may rob you and deprive you of your crown.

¹² He who overcomes (is victorious), I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God; he shall never be put out of it or go out of it, and I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which descends from My God out of heaven, and My own new name.^(A)

¹³ He who can hear, let him listen to and heed what the Spirit says to the assemblies (churches).

¹⁴ And to the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the trusty and faithful and true Witness, the Origin and Beginning and Author of God’s creation:^(B)

¹⁵ I know your [record of] works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot!

¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth!

¹⁷ For you say, I am rich; I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing; and you do not realize and understand that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.^(C)

¹⁸ Therefore I counsel you to purchase from Me gold refined and tested by fire, that you may be [truly] wealthy, and white clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nudity from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, that you may see.

¹⁹ Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].^(D)

²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears and listens to and heeds My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will eat with him, and he [will eat] with Me.

²¹ He who overcomes (is victorious), I will grant him to sit beside Me on My throne, as I Myself overcame (was victorious) and sat down beside My Father on His throne.

²² He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the [Holy] Spirit says to the assemblies (churches).

11 When Israel was a child, then I loved him and called My son out of Egypt.^(A)

² The more [the prophets] called to them, the more they went from them; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to the graven images.

³ Yet I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms or taking them up in My arms, but they did not know that I healed them.

⁴ I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love, and I was to them as one who lifts up and eases the yoke over their cheeks, and I bent down to them and gently laid food before them.

⁵ They shall not [literally] return into [another bondage in] the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be their king because they refused to return to Me.

⁶ And the sword shall rage against and fall upon their cities and shall consume the bars of their gates and shall make an end [of their defenses], because of their own counsels and devices.

⁷ My people are bent on backsliding from Me; though [the prophets] call them to Him Who is on high, none at all will exalt Him or lift himself up [to come to Him].

⁸ How can I give you up, O Ephraim! How can I surrender you and cast you off, O Israel! How can I make you as Admah or how can I treat you as Zeboiim [both destroyed with Sodom]! My heart recoils within Me; My compassions are kindled together.^(B)

⁹ I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not bring back Ephraim to nothing or again destroy him. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in the midst of you, and I will not come in wrath or enter into the city.

¹⁰ They shall walk after the Lord, Who will roar like a lion; He Himself will roar and [His] sons shall come trembling and eagerly from the west.

¹¹ They shall come trembling but hurriedly like a bird out of Egypt and like a dove out of the land of Assyria, and I will cause them to dwell in their houses, says the Lord.

¹² Ephraim surrounds Me with lies and the house of Israel with deceit, and Judah is not yet steadfast with God, with the faithful Holy One.

12 Ephraim herds and feeds on the wind and pursues the [parching] east wind; every day he increases lies and violence, and a covenant is made with Assyria and oil is carried to Egypt.^(C)

² The Lord has also a controversy (a pleading contention) with Judah, and will punish Jacob by visiting upon him according to his ways; according to his doings will He recompense him.

³ He took his brother by the heel in [their mother’s] womb, and in the strength [of his manhood] he contended and had power with God.^(D)

⁴ Yes, he had power over the ^[a]Angel [of the Lord] and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor. He met Him in Bethel, and there [God] spoke with [him and through him with] us—^(E)

⁵ Even the Lord the God of hosts, the name of Him [Who spoke with Jacob] is the Lord.

⁶ Therefore return to your God! Hold fast to love and mercy, to righteousness and justice, and wait [expectantly] for your God continually!

⁷ Canaan [Israel—whose ideals have sunk to those of Canaan] is a trader; the balances of deceit are in his hand; he loves to oppress and defraud.

⁸ Ephraim has said, Ah, but I have become rich; I have gained for myself wealth. All my profits shall bring on me no iniquity that would be sin. [But all his profits will never offset nor suffice to expiate the guilt which he has incurred.]^(F)

⁹ But I [Who] am the Lord your God from [when you became a nation in] the land of Egypt will yet make you to dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed and solemn Feast [of Tabernacles].^(G)

¹⁰ I have also spoken to [you by] the prophets, and I have multiplied visions [for you] and [have appealed to you] through parables acted out by the prophets.

¹¹ If Gilead is given over to idolatry, they shall come to nought and be mere waste; if they [insult God by] sacrificing bullocks in Gilgal [on heathen altars], their altars shall be like heaps in the furrows of the fields.

¹² Jacob fled into the open country of Aram or Padan-aram, and [there] Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he herded sheep.^(H)

¹³ And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was [Israel] preserved.

¹⁴ Ephraim has provoked most bitter anger; therefore shall his blood [guilt] be left upon him, and his disgrace and reproach shall his Lord return upon him.