The Daily Audio Bible
10 Israel, once a vibrant vine that bore adequate fruit, is now barren.
The more fruit he bore, the more altars he made;
the more his fertile soil produced, the more he made the sacred pillars.
2 But they aren’t loyal to God in their hearts, and now they’ll pay the penalty:
the Eternal will break apart their altars and smash their sacred pillars.
3 Then they’ll say, “We don’t have our own king anymore
because we didn’t fear the Eternal One.
But even if we still had a king, what could he do for us?”
A nation without a functioning king is no nation at all.
4 They speak a lot of sensible words,
but their oaths are insincere, and their covenant promises are empty.
This is why the king’s judgment sprouts up like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.
5 The people of Samaria are afraid of what will happen to the calf-idol of Beth-aven;
the people will mourn for it, and its pagan priests will join in lament.
They’ll wail when its glory departs.
6 The wretched idol will be taken to Assyria and given to the great king.
Ephraim will be disgraced;
Israel will be ashamed because of this king’s counsel.
7 Samaria and her king will be cut off,
carried away like a twig on the swirling waters.
8 The wicked high places where Israel’s people sinned will be destroyed;
thorns and thistles will cover their once-proud altars.
People will beg the mountains, “Surround us!”
They’ll plead with the hills, “Cover us!”[a]
9 Eternal One: From the days of Gibeah you, Israel, have sinned![b]
And they’re still the same today. Nothing has changed.
Will war overtake these people of wickedness in Gibeah?
10 At the time I choose, I’ll punish them:
nations will gather against them
because they have compounded their own guilt.
11 Ephraim was a trained heifer who loved to tread on the threshing floor.
Now I have lashed a yoke to her fair neck.
Judah will plow, and Jacob will break up the hard, compacted soil.
12 Plant a crop of righteousness for yourselves,
harvest the fruit of unfailing love,
And break up your hard soil,
because it’s time to seek the Eternal
until He comes and waters your fields with justice.
13 You’ve plowed wickedness and reaped injustice;
you’ve eaten the fruit of deception.
Because you’ve trusted in your own might,
in the size and skill of your army,
14 So the nations will line up against you in battle
and all of your fortifications will be destroyed,
Just as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel when he fought against it
and dashed its mothers to pieces with their children!
15 The same thing will happen to you, O Bethel, because you’re so wicked.
When that day breaks, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.
11 Eternal One: When Israel was a child, I loved him;
and out of Egypt I called My son.[c]
2 But the more I called to Israel,
the more they walked away from Me.[d]
They kept on sacrificing to other divine masters[e]
and burning incense to idols!
3 But I was the one who taught Ephraim to walk, holding him up by his arms,
but his people didn’t know I was the One who took care of them.
4 I led them along with leather cords;
with ropes of love I showed them the way.
As I dealt with them, I lifted the yoke from their neck;
I bent down to give them their food.
5 The people of Israel will return to bondage
like they knew in the land of Egypt,
And this time Assyria will be their king
because they refuse to return to Me.
6 The sword will be turned loose in their cities.
It will destroy their defenses and put an end to them because of their schemes.
7 My people are determined to turn away from Me.
Even when they call out to the Most High, He won’t rescue them.
8 Eternal One: But how can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I turn you over to your enemies, Israel?
How can I give you away as I did Admah or treat you like Zeboiim?
The four cities of the plain—Admah, Zeboiim, Sodom, and Gomorrah—were all destroyed (Genesis 14).
My heart is changed within Me,
and all at once My compassion is stirred up.
9 I will not carry out My burning anger;
I will not destroy Ephraim completely.
For I am God, not a human being; I am the Holy One in your midst;
I won’t unleash My anger for an attack.
10 They’ll turn back to Me.
He’ll roar like a lion, and when He roars,
His children will scurry in from the west.
11 They’ll scatter like birds from Egypt
or like doves from the land of Assyria,
And I’ll restore them to their homes.
The Eternal declares that He’ll do this.
12 Eternal One: Ephraim has surrounded Me with lies.
The people of Israel surround Me with their weapons of deceit.
But Judah continues to roam with God,
even with the faithful Holy One.[f]
12 Eternal One: Ephraim feeds on the wind.
He chases the hot east wind all day long.
He’s becoming more and more deceitful and violent.
They’ve abandoned their covenant to make an alliance with Assyria,
trading oil for favor from Egypt.
As Israel pursues what she cannot obtain, she becomes entangled in affairs of other nations.
2 The Eternal has charges to bring against Judah;
He’ll punish the nation of Jacob for the way he’s acting
and pay him back for the things he’s done.
3 Even from the womb, he fought with his brother by grabbing his heel;[g]
when he grew to be an adult, he struggled against God.
4-5 He wrestled with a heavenly messenger and won;[h]
he wept and begged for his help.
It was the Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies, who met him at Bethel;
the Eternal Himself spoke with him there; the Eternal One is His memorial name.
6 So you must return to your God, maintain loyalty and justice,
and wait patiently for your God.
7 Like Canaan, Israel is a merchant who uses dishonest scales—
he loves to cheat people!
8 Ephraim gloats, “I’ve gotten rich! I’ve made a fortune for myself!
And in all my dealings no one can charge me with iniquity and dishonesty.”
9 Eternal One: I’m the Eternal One; I’ve been your True God ever since you left Egypt.
I’m going to make you live in tents again,
As you do in remembrance during the Feast of Tabernacles.
Every year, the Israelites live in tents for one week as part of the Feast of Tabernacles. This festival reminds the people of God’s constant protection of their ancestors as they wandered for a generation in the Sinai desert. However, the Israelites won’t enjoy their coming time in tents. Living in tents will mean they’ve lost all the wealth and security they built up in their solid houses and cities; they’ll be nomads wandering the earth, but this time without God’s constant protection. In a reversal of the Exodus story, these wanderings will be a prelude to bondage in a foreign nation, where they will be slaves without the ear of God, as their ancestors were in Egypt.
10 Eternal One: I’ve spoken to the prophets; I’ve given them many visions,
and I’ve told you parables through them.
11 Because Gilead is so wicked, it is worthless.[i]
They sacrifice bulls at the cultic center of Gilgal,
But their altars will be heaps of stone next to a plowed field.
12 Jacob fled to the fields of Aram;[j]
Israel worked for Laban in exchange for a wife;
to pay the bride-price, he shepherded Laban’s flocks.
13 But the Eternal One led Israel out of Egypt by a prophet;
Moses, God’s own prophet, kept the people safe.
14 But now Ephraim has made his Lord furious, and this is His judgment:
God will punish him for the blood he’s shed
and pay him back for his defiance.
13 When Ephraim spoke, people trembled
because he was powerful in Israel.
But he was guilty of worshiping another divine master[k]
and was sentenced to death.
2 Even now they keep on sinning; they cast metal idols for themselves,
shaping silver to fashion wretched images.
These idols are all skillfully crafted by humans.
People say, “Offer your human sacrifices to them, and kiss these calf-idols.”
3 God will destroy them for this, and they’ll be like fog in the morning,
like dew evaporating at sunrise, like the chaff blown from the threshing floor,
Like the smoke that drifts out of a window.
4 Eternal One: I’m the Eternal One.
I’ve been your God ever since you left Egypt.
You are supposed to be exclusively loyal to Me.
No other god can be your liberator.
5 It was I who established the relationship with you in the wilderness,
I who looked after you in that parched and weary land.
6 When I fed them, they were satisfied,
but when satisfied, they filled with pride and then forgot Me.
7 So I’ll be like a lion to them,
like a panther stalking the roadside.
8 I’ll meet them like a bear who’s lost her cubs;
I’ll rip open their chests.
I’ll devour them as if I’m a lion,
and I’ll tear them apart as if I’m a wild animal.
9 This is why you’re going to be destroyed, Israel:
you’re against Me, against the One who’s helping you!
10 Where is your king now?
Let’s see if he comes to save you and all your cities.
Where are your leaders, the ones of whom you demanded,
“Give me a king and princes!”?
11 I gave you a king, even though you made Me angry by asking for one,
and in My rage, I decided to take him away!
12 Ephraim’s guilt has been wrapped up;
his sin has been hidden.
13 The labor pains of his mother are coming for him, but he is unwise;
he does not move from the birth canal.
14 Should I deliver them from the power of the grave?
Should I rescue them from death’s cold grip?
Hey, Death! Where is your big win?
Hey, Grave! What happened to your sting?[l]
I’ll look the other way and not show them any pity.
15 Though Israel, among his brothers, is like a plant that flourishes in the wetlands,
an east wind will come—a dry desert wind sent by Me—
And the waters will dry up. His spring will run dry.
All the treasures in his storehouse will be plundered.
16 Because of her guilt and her rebellion against her God,
Samaria will be punished: her people will be cut down by the sword;
Her children will be dashed to pieces; her pregnant women will be torn open.
14 Return, Israel, to the Eternal, your True God.
You’ve stumbled because of your wickedness.
2 Think about what to say, and come back to the Eternal One.
Say to Him, “Forgive all our sins, and take us back again.
Bring us into Your good grace so we can offer You praise and sacrifice,
the fruit of our lips.
3 We admit that Assyria can’t save us, nor can riding horses and chariots into battle.
We’ll never again say to idols made with our own hands, ‘You’re our gods!’
We know You’re merciful because You take care of orphans.”
4 Eternal One: I’ll heal their apostate hearts so they won’t turn away from Me again;
I’ll love them freely because I won’t be angry with them anymore.
5 I’ll be like dew that waters Israel. She’ll blossom like the lily.
She’ll put down roots like the stable cedars of Lebanon;
6 She’ll send out shoots until her beauty is like the olive tree
and her fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.
7 The people will return from exile and sit in My shade once again;
they’ll flourish like grain; they’ll send out shoots like the vine.
And their fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim, what do I have in common with deaf and blind idols?
I’m the One who responds to your pleas and cares for you.
I’m like a flourishing juniper tree; I provide life year-round.
9 The wise will understand these things;
the perceptive will know them.
For everything the Eternal One does is right,
and the righteous follow His ways.
But those who turn against Him will stumble along His path.
1 Jude, a slave of Jesus the Anointed and a brother of James, to you, the ones whom God our Father loves and has called and whom Jesus, the Anointed One, has kept. 2 Kindness, peace, love—may they never stop blooming in you and from you.
3 Friends, I have been trying to write you about our common salvation. But these days my heart is troubled, and I am compelled to write to you and encourage you to continue struggling for the faith that was entrusted to the saints once and for all. 4 Vile men have slithered in among us. Depraved souls who stand condemned have made a mockery of the grace given to us, using it as a pretext for a life of excess, lived without any thought of God. These poor fools have denied Jesus the Anointed, our one Lord and Master.
5 You have heard the stories many times, and the Spirit has enlightened you about their meaning, but you still need to be reminded. Remember when the Lord saved our ancestors from the land in Egypt? He breathed life into their earthen lungs and took back the life from those who did not believe. 6 And God has kept the rebellious heavenly messengers bound and chained in utter darkness—shadowy gloom—until the time when His judgment arrives, because they failed to keep their rightful positions and abandoned their appointed realms. 7 Sodom and Gomorrah and all their neighbors were defeated by their own sexual perversions as they pursued the strange and unnatural impulses of the flesh. Let these who went their own way and are experiencing the eternal heat of God’s vengeance—a punishment by fire—be a warning to you.
8 These stories are examples to help you understand the fate of those dreamers who have slipped in and defiled your community, rejected those in charge, and insulted the glorious majesty of the heavenly messengers. 9 Even their chief, Michael, when disputing with the devil over Moses’ body, did not offer his own taunting judgment against him. Michael simply said, “May the Lord’s rebuke fall on you.”[a]
10 The deceivers among you despise what they do not understand; they live without reason like animals, reacting only with primal instincts; and their ways are corrupting them. 11 Woe to these deceivers! They are doomed! They have followed in the footsteps of their father Cain, sold their souls for profit into Balaam’s deceit, and suffered the devastation of Korah’s rebellion.
12 These men are cold stones on the warm hearth of your love feasts as they glut themselves without fear, thinking only of their own benefit. They are waterless clouds, carried away by the wind; autumn’s lonely and barren trees, twice dead, uprooted; 13 violent waves of the sea breaking over the bow, foaming with shame; lost and wandering stars destined to live forever in gloomy darkness.
14 During the seventh generation after Adam, the prophet Enoch said, “Look! The Lord came, and with Him tens of thousands of His holy messengers 15 to judge wicked men and convict the impious and ungodly for all they have said and all the hard things they have done against the Holy One.” 16 These men are complainers who look long and hard to find the faults of other men. They are led by their own lustful desires like fools down the path of destruction. They are arrogant liars who want only to get ahead of others.
17 But you, friends, remember the words of the emissaries[b] of our Lord Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King: 18 “At the end of time, some will ridicule the faithful and follow their lusts to the grave.” 19 These are the men among you—those who divide friends, those concerned ultimately with this world, those without the Spirit. 20-21 You, however, should stand firm in the love of God, constructing a life within the holy faith, praying the Spirit’s prayer, as you wait eagerly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus the Anointed, which leads to eternal life.
22 Keep being kind to those who waver in this faith. 23 Pursue those who are singed by the flames of God’s wrath, and bring them safely to Him. Show mercy to others with fear, despising every garment soiled by the weakness of human flesh.
24 Now to the One who can keep you upright and plant you firmly in His presence—clean, unmarked, and joyful in the light of His glory— 25 to the one and only God, our Savior, through Jesus the Anointed our Lord, be glory and greatness and might and authority; just as it has been since before He created time, may it continue now and into eternity. Amen.
Psalm 127
A song of Solomon for those journeying to worship.
Psalm 127 is attributed to Solomon, underscoring the futility of human endeavor apart from God. It is similar in tone and theme to other wisdom literature.
1 Unless the Eternal builds the house,
those who labor to raise it will have worked for nothing.
Unless the Eternal stands watch over the city,
those who guard it have wasted their time.
2 God provides for His own.
It is pointless to get up early,
work hard, and go to bed late
Anxiously laboring for food to eat;
for God provides for those He loves, even while they are sleeping.
3 Know this: children are a gift from the Eternal;
the fruit of the womb is His reward.
4 Your sons born in your youth are a protection,
like arrows in the hand of a warrior.
5 Happy is the man who has
his quiver full, for they will help and protect him when he is old.
He will not be humiliated when he is accused at the gate,
for his sons will stand with him against his enemies.
15 Corporal punishment and correction produce wisdom,
but a child left to follow his own willful way shames his mother.
16 When evil people are free to flourish, sin is on the rise,
but the just will surely see their destruction.
17 If you discipline your children, they will make your life easier
and refresh your soul.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.