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“Yet You Have Not Returned to Me”
4 Hear this word, you [a]cows of (A)Bashan who are on the (B)mountain of Samaria,
Who (C)exploit the poor, who oppress the needy,
[b]And say to their [c]husbands, “Bring now, that we may (D)drink!”
2 The Lord [d]God has (E)sworn by His (F)holiness,
“For behold, the days are coming upon you
When [e]they will take you away with (G)meat hooks,
And the last of you with (H)fish hooks.
3 You will (I)go out through holes in the walls,
One in front of the other,
And you [f]will be hurled to Harmon,” declares the Lord.
4 “Enter Bethel and do wrong;
In Gilgal multiply wrongdoing!
(J)Bring your sacrifices every morning,
Your tithes every three days.
5 [g]Offer a (K)thanksgiving offering also from that which is leavened,
And proclaim (L)[h]voluntary offerings, make them known.
For so you (M)love to do, you sons of Israel,”
Declares the Lord God.
6 “But I gave you also (N)cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
And lack of bread in all your places;
Yet you have (O)not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
7 “Furthermore, I (P)withheld the rain from you
While there were still three months until harvest.
Then I would send rain on one city,
But on (Q)another city I would not send rain;
One part would be rained on,
While the part not rained on would dry up.
8 So the people of two or three cities would stagger to another city to drink (R)water,
But would (S)not be satisfied;
Yet you have (T)not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
9 “I (U)struck you with scorching wind and mildew;
The (V)caterpillar was devouring
Your many gardens and vineyards, fig trees and olive trees;
Yet you have (W)not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
10 “I sent a (X)plague among you [i]as in Egypt;
I (Y)killed your young men with the sword, along with your (Z)captured horses,
And I made the (AA)stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils;
Yet you have (AB)not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
11 “I overthrew you, as (AC)God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
And you were like a (AD)log snatched from a fire;
Yet you have (AE)not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
12 “Therefore so I will do to you, Israel;
Because I will do this to you,
Prepare to (AF)meet your God, Israel.”
13 For behold, He who (AG)forms mountains and (AH)creates the wind,
And (AI)declares to a person what are His thoughts,
He who (AJ)makes dawn into darkness
And (AK)treads on the high places of the earth,
(AL)The Lord God of armies is His name.
“Seek Me So That You May Live”
5 Hear this word which I am taking up for you as a (AM)song of mourning, house of Israel:
2 She has fallen, she will (AN)not rise again—
The (AO)virgin Israel.
She lies unnoticed on her land;
There is (AP)no one to raise her up.
3 For this is what the Lord [j]God says:
“The city which goes forth a thousand strong
Will have a (AQ)hundred left,
And the one which goes forth a hundred strong
Will have (AR)ten left to the house of Israel.”
4 For this is what the Lord says to the house of Israel:
“(AS)Seek Me (AT)so that you may live.
5 But do not [k]resort to (AU)Bethel
And do not come to (AV)Gilgal,
Nor cross over to (AW)Beersheba;
For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity
And Bethel will [l]come to nothing.
6 (AX)Seek the Lord so that you may live,
Or He will break through like a (AY)fire, [m]house of Joseph,
And it will consume with no one to extinguish it for Bethel,
7 For those who turn (AZ)justice into wormwood,
And [n]throw righteousness to the earth.”
8 He who made the (BA)Pleiades and Orion,
And (BB)changes deep darkness into morning,
[o]Who also (BC)darkens day into night,
Who (BD)calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the surface of the earth,
The (BE)Lord is His name.
9 It is He who (BF)makes destruction flash upon the strong,
So that (BG)destruction comes upon the fortress.
10 They hate him who (BH)rebukes in the [p]gate,
And they (BI)despise him who speaks with integrity.
11 Therefore because you impose heavy [q]rent on the poor
And take a tribute of grain from them,
Though you have built (BJ)houses of cut stone,
Yet you will not live in them;
You have planted beautiful vineyards, yet you will (BK)not drink their wine.
12 For I know your offenses are many and your sins are great,
You who are (BL)hostile to the righteous and accept bribes,
And [r]turn away the poor from justice at the [s]gate.
13 Therefore at [t]such a time the prudent person (BM)keeps quiet, because it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil, so that you may live;
And so may the Lord God of armies be with you,
(BN)Just as you have said!
15 (BO)Hate evil, love good,
And establish justice in the [u]gate!
Perhaps the Lord God of armies
(BP)Will be gracious to the (BQ)remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore this is what the Lord God of armies, the Lord says:
“There is (BR)mourning in all the public squares,
And in all the streets they say, ‘Oh no! Oh no!’
They also call the (BS)farmer to mourning
And [v](BT)professional mourners to mourning rites.
17 And in all the (BU)vineyards there is mourning,
Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the Lord.
18 Woe to you who are longing for the (BV)day of the Lord,
For what [w]purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?
It will be (BW)darkness and not light;
19 As when a man (BX)flees from a lion
And a bear confronts him,
[x]Or he goes home, leans with his hand against the wall,
And a snake bites him.
20 Will the day of the Lord not be (BY)darkness instead of light,
Even gloom with no brightness in it?
21 “I hate, I (BZ)reject your festivals,
Nor do I [y](CA)delight in your festive assemblies.
22 Even though you (CB)offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the (CC)peace offerings of your fattened oxen.
23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
24 But let (CD)justice roll out like waters,
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25 “[z](CE)Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel? 26 (CF)You also carried along [aa]Sikkuth your king and [ab]Kiyyun, your images, [ac]the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. 27 Therefore I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of armies.
“Carefree in Zion”
6 (CG)Woe to those who are carefree in Zion,
And to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria,
The (CH)dignitaries of the foremost of nations,
To whom the house of Israel comes.
2 Go over to (CI)Calneh and look,
And go from there to (CJ)Hamath the great,
Then go down to (CK)Gath of the Philistines.
Are [ad]they better than these kingdoms,
Or is their territory greater than yours?
3 Are you (CL)postponing the day of disaster,
And would you (CM)bring near the seat of violence?
4 Those who lie on beds of ivory,
And lounge around on their (CN)couches,
And (CO)eat lambs from the flock,
And calves from the midst of the fattened cattle,
5 Who improvise to the sound of the harp,
And like David have [ae]composed (CP)songs for themselves,
6 Who (CQ)drink wine from sacred bowls
While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils—
Yet they have not (CR)grieved over the collapse of Joseph.
7 Therefore, they will now (CS)go into exile at the head of the exiles,
And the revelry of those who (CT)lounge around will come to an end.
8 The Lord [af]God has (CU)sworn by Himself, the Lord God of armies has declared:
“I (CV)loathe the arrogance of Jacob,
And [ag]detest his (CW)citadels;
Therefore I will (CX)give up the city and [ah]all it contains.”
9 And it will be, if (CY)ten men are left in one house, they will die. 10 Then one’s [ai]uncle, or his (CZ)undertaker, will lift him up to carry out his bones from the house, and he will say to the one who is in the innermost part of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” And that one will say, “No one.” Then he will [aj]answer, “(DA)Keep quiet! For [ak]the name of the Lord is (DB)not to be mentioned.” 11 For behold, the Lord is going to (DC)command that the (DD)great house be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.
12 Do horses run on rocks?
Or does one [al]plow them with oxen?
Yet you have turned (DE)justice into poison,
And the fruit of righteousness into [am]wormwood,
13 You who rejoice in [an](DF)Lodebar,
[ao]And say, “Have we not (DG)by our own strength taken [ap]Karnaim for ourselves?”
14 “For behold, (DH)I am going to raise up a nation against you,
House of Israel,” declares the Lord God of armies,
“And they will torment you from the (DI)entrance of Hamath
To the (DJ)brook of the Arabah.”
Message to Thyatira
18 “And to the angel of the church in (A)Thyatira write:
(B)The Son of God, (C)who has [a]eyes like a flame of fire, and [b]feet like burnished bronze, says this:
19 ‘(D)I know your deeds, and your love and faith, and service and [c]perseverance, and that your [d]deeds of late are greater than [e]at first. 20 But (E)I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman (F)Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they (G)commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 (H)I gave her time to repent, and she (I)does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who (J)commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of [f]her deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with [g]plague, and all the churches will know that I am He who (K)searches the [h]minds and hearts; and (L)I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. 24 But I say to you, the rest who are in (M)Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the (N)deep things of Satan, as they call them—I (O)place no other burden on you. 25 Nevertheless (P)what you have, hold firmly (Q)until I come. 26 (R)The one who overcomes, and the one who keeps My deeds (S)until the end, (T)I will give him authority over the [i]nations; 27 and he shall [j](U)rule them with a rod of iron, (V)as the vessels of the potter are shattered, as I also have received authority from My Father; 28 and I will give him (W)the morning star. 29 (X)The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Message to Sardis
3 “To the angel of the church in (Y)Sardis write:
He who has [k](Z)the seven spirits of God and (AA)the seven stars, says this: ‘(AB)I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, and yet you are (AC)dead. 2 Be constantly alert, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. 3 So (AD)remember [l]what you have received and heard; and [m]keep it, and (AE)repent. Then if you are not alert, (AF)I will come (AG)like a thief, and you will not know at (AH)what hour I will come to you. 4 But you have a few [n](AI)people in (AJ)Sardis who have not (AK)soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me (AL)in white, for they are worthy. 5 (AM)The one who overcomes will be clothed the same way, in (AN)white garments; and I will not (AO)erase his name from the book of life, and (AP)I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 (AQ)The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Hope in the Lord’s Forgiving Love.
A Song of Ascents.
130 Out of the (A)depths I have cried to You, Lord.
2 Lord, (B)hear my voice!
Let (C)Your ears be attentive
To the (D)sound of my pleadings.
3 If You, [a]Lord, were to keep account of guilty deeds,
Lord, who could (E)stand?
4 But there is (F)forgiveness with You,
So that You may be [b](G)revered.
5 I wait for the Lord, my (H)soul waits,
And I [c]wait (I)for His word.
6 My soul waits in hope for the Lord
More than the watchmen (J)for the morning;
Yes, more than the watchmen for the morning.
7 Israel, (K)wait for the Lord;
For with the Lord there is (L)mercy,
And with Him is (M)abundant redemption.
8 And He will (N)redeem Israel
From all his guilty deeds.
21 One who pampers his slave from childhood
Will in the end find him to be rebellious.
22 An (A)angry person stirs up strife,
And a hot-tempered person abounds in wrongdoing.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.