The Daily Audio Bible
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4 Hear the word of Adonai,
people of Isra’el!
For Adonai has a grievance
against the inhabitants of the land:
there is no truth, no faithful love
or knowledge of God in the land;
2 only swearing and lying, killing and stealing
and committing adultery!
They break all bounds, with one blood crime
following another.
3 Therefore the land mourns,
and everyone living there languishes,
wild animals too, and the birds in the air;
even the fish in the sea are removed.
4 But no one should quarrel or rebuke,
because your people are having to quarrel with the cohen.
5 Therefore you will stumble by day,
and the prophet will stumble with you at night.
“I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for want of knowledge.
Because you rejected knowledge,
I will also reject you as cohen for me.
Because you forgot the Torah of your God,
I will also forget your children.
7 The more they increased in number,
the more they sinned against me.
I will change their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people
and are greedy for their crimes.
9 But the cohen will fare
no better than the people;
I will punish him for his ways
and pay him back for his deeds.
10 They will eat but not have enough
and consort with whores but have no children,
because they stopped listening to Adonai.
11 Whoring and wine, both old and new,
take away my people’s wits.
12 My people consult their piece of wood,
their diviner’s wand speaks to them;
for the spirit of whoring makes them err,
they go off whoring, deserting their God.
13 They sacrifice on the mountain peaks
and offer incense on the hills
under oaks, poplars and pistachio trees;
because they give good shade.
Therefore your daughters behave like whores,
And your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
14 I won’t punish your daughters when they act like whores,
or your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery;
because the men are themselves going off with whores
and sacrificing with prostitutes.
Yes, a people without understanding
will come to ruin.”
15 If you, Isra’el, prostitute yourself,
still Y’hudah has no need to incur such guilt.
Don’t go to Gilgal or up to Beit-Aven,
and don’t swear, “As Adonai lives.”
16 For Isra’el is stubborn as a stubborn cow;
will Adonai now feed them like a lamb in a big pasture?
17 Efrayim is joined to idols;
let him alone!
18 When they finish carousing, they start their whoring;
their rulers deeply love dishonor.
19 The wind will carry them off in its wings
and their sacrifices bring them nothing but shame.
5 “Hear this, cohanim!
Pay attention, house of Isra’el!
Listen, house of the king!
For judgment is coming to you.
You have become a snare for Mitzpah
and a net spread on Tavor.
2 The rebels have deepened their slaughter,
and I am rejected by all of them.
3 “I know Efrayim;
Isra’el is not hidden from me;
for now, Efrayim, you are a whore;
Isra’el is defiled.”
4 Their deeds will not allow them
to return to their God,
for the spirit of whoring is in them,
and they don’t know Adonai.
5 Isra’el’s arrogance will testify in his face;
Isra’el and Efrayim will stumble in their crimes;
Y’hudah too will stumble with them.
6 With their flocks and herds
they will go in search of Adonai.
But they won’t find him;
he has withdrawn from them.
7 They have betrayed Adonai,
by fathering foreign children.
Now within the month the invaders
will devour their lands.
8 “Blow the shofar in Giv‘ah,
a trumpet at Ramah;
sound an alarm at Beit-Aven:
‘Behind you, Binyamin!’
9 Efrayim will be laid waste
when the day for punishment comes;
I am announcing to the tribes of Isra’el
what will surely happen.
10 The leaders of Y’hudah are like men
who move boundary stones;
I will pour my fury out
upon them like water.
11 Efrayim is oppressed, crushed by the judgment,
because he deliberately sought out futility.
12 Therefore I am like a moth to Efrayim
and like rottenness to the house of Y’hudah.
13 When Efrayim saw his sickness
and Y’hudah his wound,
Efrayim went to Ashur
and sent envoys to a warring king;
but he can’t heal you
or cure your wound.
14 For to Efrayim I will be like a lion,
and like a young lion to the house of Y’hudah —
I will tear them up and go away;
I will carry them off, and no one will rescue.
15 I will go and return to my place,
till they admit their guilt and search for me,
seeking me eagerly in their distress.”
1 From: The Elder
To: The chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth — and not only I but also all who have come to know the truth — 2 because of the Truth which remains united with us and will be with us forever:
3 Grace, mercy and shalom will be with us from God the Father and from Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
4 I was very happy when I found some of your children living in truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5 And now, dear lady, I am requesting that we love one another — not as if this were a new command I am writing you, for it is the one which we have had from the beginning. 6 Moreover, love is this: that we should live according to his commands. This is the command, as you people have heard from the beginning; live by it!
7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, people who do not acknowledge Yeshua the Messiah’s coming as a human being. Such a person is a deceiver and an anti-Messiah. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you won’t lose what you have worked for, but will receive your full reward. 9 Everyone who goes ahead and does not remain true to what the Messiah has taught does not have God. Those who remain true to his teaching have both the Father and the Son. 10 If someone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, don’t welcome him into your home. Don’t even say, “Shalom!” to him; 11 for the person who says, “Shalom!” to him shares in his evil deeds.
12 Although I have much to write you people, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come and see you and to talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
13 The children of your chosen sister send you their greetings.
125 (0) A song of ascents:
(1) Those who trust in Adonai
are like Mount Tziyon,
which cannot be moved
but remains forever.
2 Yerushalayim!
Mountains all around it!
Thus Adonai is around his people
henceforth and forever.
3 For the scepter of wickedness
will not rule the inheritance of the righteous,
so that the righteous will not themselves
turn their hands to evil.
4 Do good, Adonai, to the good,
to those upright in their hearts.
5 But as for those who turn aside
to their own crooked ways,
may Adonai turn them away,
along with those who do evil.
Shalom on Isra’el!
9 When a wise man argues with a foolish one,
he meets anger and ridicule without relief.
10 Men of blood hate those who are pure
and seek the life of the upright.
11 A fool gives vent to all his feelings,
but the wise, thinking of afterwards, stills them.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.