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Israel’s Sin and Captivity
10 Israel is a fertile vine
that brings forth its fruit.
As his fruit multiplied,
so his altars increased;
as his land prospered,
so he[a] improved his pillars.
2 Their heart is divided;
now they must bear their guilt.
He will break down their altars
and destroy their pillars.
3 For now they will say,
“We have no king,
because we do not fear the Lord;
and a king, what could he do for us?”
4 They speak mere words,
swearing falsely
in making a covenant.
Thus judgment springs up like a poisonous plant
in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria fear
because of the calf of Beth Aven.
For its people mourn for it,
and its priests shriek for it,
because its glory has departed from it.
6 It will be carried to Assyria
as a tribute to King Jareb.[b]
Ephraim shall be put to shame,
and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.[c]
7 As for Samaria, her king will perish
like a twig on the water.
8 The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
will be destroyed.
Thorn and thistle will grow
on their altars.
They will say to the mountains, Cover us,
and to the hills, Fall on us.
9 O Israel, you have sinned since the days of Gibeah.
There they have continued.[d]
Will not the war in Gibeah against evildoers
overtake them?
10 When I desire, I will punish them.
The nations will be gathered against them
when they are disciplined[e] for their two transgressions.
11 Ephraim is a trained heifer
that loves to thresh grain,
but I harnessed her fair neck;
I will make Ephraim pull a plow.
Judah will plow;
Jacob shall furrow for himself.
12 Sow to yourselves righteousness,
reap mercy,
break up your fallow ground;
for it is time to seek the Lord,
until He comes
and rains righteousness upon you.
13 You have plowed wickedness.
You have reaped iniquity,
and you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your power
and in the numbers of your warriors,
14 therefore a tumult will arise among your people,
and all your fortresses will be destroyed
as Shalman destroyed Beth Arbel in the day of battle;
mothers were dashed to pieces upon their children.
15 So will it be done to you, O Bethel,
because of your great wickedness.
At dawn
the king of Israel will be utterly cut off.
God’s Love for Israel
11 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called My son.
2 As I[f] called them,
so they went from Me.[g]
They sacrificed to the Baals
and burned incense to idols.
3 I taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them up in My[h] arms,
but they did not know
that I healed them.
4 I drew them with cords of human kindness,[i]
with bands of love.
I was to them as those who ease the yoke on their neck,[j]
and I bent down and fed them.
5 He will return[k] to the land of Egypt,
and Assyria will be his king,
because they refused to return to Me.
6 The sword slashes in their cities,
consumes their oracle-priests,
and devours because of their own counsels.
7 My people are bent on backsliding from Me.
Though they called to the Most High,
none at all exalt Him.
8 How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboyim?
My heart churns within Me;
My compassion is stirred.
9 I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim.
For I am God, and not man,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.
10 They will walk after the Lord,
who roars like a lion.
When He roars,
His children will come trembling from the west.
11 They will come trembling
like a bird out of Egypt
and like a dove from the land of Assyria.
And I will let them dwell in their houses,
says the Lord.
God’s Charge Against Ephraim
12 Ephraim has surrounded Me with lies,
and the house of Israel with deceit.
But Judah still walks with God,
and is faithful to the Holy One.[l]
12 Ephraim feeds on the wind
and chases after the east wind all day long.
He multiplies lies and devastation.
They make a covenant with Assyria,
and oil is carried to Egypt.
A History of Rebellion
2 The Lord has a dispute with Judah,
and will punish Jacob according to his ways,
and repay him according to his doings.
3 In the womb, he took his brother by the heel,
and by his strength he strove with God.
4 He struggled with the angel, and prevailed;
he wept, and sought favor from Him.
He found Him in Bethel,
and there He spoke with us.
5 As for the Lord the God of Hosts,
the Lord is the name by which He is invoked!
6 But as for you, return to your God,
hold fast to mercy and justice,
and wait on your God continually.
7 A merchant, in whose hands are deceitful balances,
he loves to oppress.
8 Ephraim said,
“Yet I am rich, I have found wealth for myself.
In all my labors, they shall find no offense in me
that would be sin.”
9 I am the Lord your God
from the land of Egypt.
I will again make you to dwell in tents,
as in the days of the appointed feast.
10 I have spoken by the prophets,
and I have multiplied visions,
and through the prophets I will bring destruction.[m]
11 In Gilead there is iniquity;
surely they will come to nothing.
In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,
so their altars will be like stone heaps
in the furrows of the fields.
12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram,
and Israel served for a wife,
and for a wife he kept sheep.
13 By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt,
and by a prophet he was preserved.
14 Ephraim provoked Him to anger most bitterly,
so his Lord shall leave his bloodguilt on him
and repay him for his reproach.
God’s Unrelenting Judgment on Israel
13 When Ephraim spoke, trembling,
he was exalted in Israel.
But he incurred guilt through Baal worship and he died.
2 And now they continue sinning
and have made a cast image for themselves,
idols of their silver, according to their understanding;
all of them the work of craftsmen.
They say of them,
“Those who sacrifice[n]
are kissing calves!”
3 Therefore they will be like the morning cloud,
or like the early dew that passes away,
like chaff blown off the threshing floor,
or like the smoke from a chimney.
4 Yet I am the Lord your God
ever since the land of Egypt.
You know no God but Me,
and there is no savior besides Me.
5 I knew[o] you in the wilderness,
in the land of great drought.
6 When they had pasture, they were satisfied.
They were satisfied, and their heart was exalted;
therefore they forgot Me.
7 So I will be like a lion to them,
like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
8 I will attack them like a bear bereaved of her cubs,
and will tear open their rib cage.
There I will devour them like a lion,
as the wild beast would tear them to pieces.
9 O Israel, you are destroyed,[p]
but in Me is your help.
10 Where now is your king
that he may save you in all your cities?
And where are your judges of whom you said,
“Give me a king and princes”?
11 I gave you a king in My anger,
and took him away in My wrath.
12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
his sin is stored up.
13 The pains of childbirth come for him.
He is an unwise son,
for he does not present himself
at the opening of the womb.
14 I will ransom them from the power of Sheol.
I will redeem them from Death.
O Death, where are your plagues?
O Sheol, where is your sting?
Compassion is hidden from My eyes.
15 Though he be fruitful among his brothers,
the east wind will come, a wind of the Lord,
rising from the wilderness.
And his spring shall become dry,
his fountain shall be dried up.
It shall plunder his treasury
of every desirable thing.
16 Samaria will be held guilty,
for she has rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword,
their infants will be dashed to pieces,
and their pregnant women will be ripped open.
A Plea for Repentance
14 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take words with you
and return to the Lord.
Say to Him,
“Take away all iniquity,
and accept that which is good;
and we will offer the fruit[q] of our lips!
3 Assyria will not save us,
we will not ride on horses.
We will no longer say, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
In You the orphan finds mercy.”
4 I will heal their backsliding;
I will love them freely,
for My anger has turned away from him.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall grow like the lily
and shall strike his roots
like Lebanon.
6 His branches will spread out,
and his beauty shall be like the olive tree,
and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.
7 Those that dwell under his shadow will return,
they will flourish like the grain
and grow as a vine.
Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after him.
I am like a green fir tree;
your fruit is found in Me.
9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever prudent, let him know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
and the just will walk in them;
but the transgressors stumble in them.
Salutation
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,
To those who are sanctified and called by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Judgment on False Teachers(A)
3 Beloved, while I diligently tried to write to you of the salvation we have in common, I found it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. 4 For there are some men who secretly crept in, who were marked long ago for this condemnation. They are ungodly men, who pervert the grace of our God into immorality and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
5 Now I want to remind you, though you already know, that the Lord saved the people out of the land of Egypt and afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 Likewise, the angels who did not keep to their first domain, but forsook their own dwelling, He has kept in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. 7 Just as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the surrounding cities in like manner, gave themselves to immorality and went after different flesh, they serve as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
8 Likewise, these ungodly dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and slander celestial beings. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil in a dispute about the body of Moses, did not dare to pronounce upon him a railing judgment. But he said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these men slander those things that they do not understand. But they destroy themselves in those things that, like unreasoning animals, they know by instinct.
11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily after the error of Balaam for a reward, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
12 These are the ones who are stains on your love feasts as they feast with you irreverently and care only for themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted; 13 raging waves of the sea, which are foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness has been kept forever.
14 Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, also prophesied of these men, saying, “Look! The Lord is coming with ten thousand of His holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on everyone, and to convict all who are godless of all their wicked deeds that they have committed, and of all the terrible words that godless sinners have spoken against Him.” 16 These men are grumblers, complainers, who walk after their own lusts. Their mouths speak arrogant words, and they flatter others to gain profit.
Warnings and Exhortations
17 But, beloved, remember the words that were previously spoken by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They said to you, “In the last days there will be scoffers who will walk after their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the men who cause divisions, sensual, devoid of the Spirit.
20 But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith. Pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God while you are waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, which leads to eternal life.
22 On some have compassion, using discernment. 23 And others save with fear while pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
Benediction
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with rejoicing, 25 to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.
Psalm 127
A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
1 Except the Lord build the house,
those who build labor in vain;
except the Lord guards the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is in vain for you to rise up early,
to stay up late,
and to eat the bread of hard toil,
for He gives sleep to His beloved.
3 Look, children are a gift of the Lord,
and the fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 As arrows in the hand of a mighty warrior,
so are the children of one’s youth.
5 Happy is the man
who has his quiver full of them;
he shall not be ashamed
when he speaks with the enemies at the gate.
15 The rod and reproof give wisdom,
but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame.
16 When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increases;
but the righteous will see their fall.
17 Correct your son, and he will give you rest;
yes, he will give delight to your soul.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.