The Daily Audio Bible
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31 O generation, you see the word of Yahweh.
Have I been a desert[a] to Israel? Or a land of great darkness?
Why do my people say, ‘We roam about freely,
we will not come again to you’?
32 Can a young woman forget her ornaments?[b] Or a bride her sashes?
Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
33 How well you do on your way to seek love!
Therefore[c] even to the wicked woman you can teach your ways.
34 Also on your skirts is found
the blood of the life of the innocent, the poor.
You did not find them in the act of breaking into a house.
But in spite of all these things,
35 yet you say, ‘But I am innocent,
surely his anger has turned away from me.’
Look, I am entering into judgment with you
because of your saying, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 How you go about so much changing your way!
Also by Egypt you will be put to shame,
just as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37 Also from there you will come out
with your hands on your head,
for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust,[d]
and you will not prosper through them.
3 A saying:[e] ‘Look, if a man divorces his wife,
and she goes from him and she becomes another man’s wife,[f]
will he return to her again?’
Will not that land be greatly defiled?
And you have prostituted yourself with many lovers,
would you now return to me?” declares[g] Yahweh.
2 “Lift up your eyes at the barren heights,
and see where you have not been ravished.
Beside the roads you sat for them like an Arab in the desert,[h]
and you have defiled the land
with your fornication
and with your wickedness.
3 Therefore rain showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come.
Yet you have[i] the forehead of a woman prostitute,
you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just now called to me,
‘My father, you are the close friend of my youth?
5 Will he be angry forever?[j]
Will he maintain it always’?[k]
Look, you have spoken,
but you have done all the evil that you could.”[l]
Yahweh Gives Israel a Letter of Divorce
6 Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah, the king, “Have you seen what apostate[m] Israel has done? She has gone on every high hill and under every leafy tree and she has prostituted herself there. 7 And I thought, ‘After her doing all these things to me she will return,’ but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.[n] 8 And I saw that for this very reason, that[o] on account of apostate[p] Israel committing adultery I divorced her and gave the letter of divorce to her. Yet her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid and she went and prostituted herself also. 9 And it was because of the frivolity of her fornication that she defiled the land and committed adultery with the stone and with the tree. 10 Yet even in all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only[q] in pretense,”[r] declares[s] Yahweh.
A Call for Repentance
11 Then Yahweh said to me, “Apostate[t] Israel has proved herself more upright[u] than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,
‘Return, apostate[v] Israel,’ declares[w] Yahweh.
‘I will not cause my anger[x] to fall on you.
For I am loyal,’ declares[y] Yahweh.
‘I will not be angry forever.[z]
13 Only acknowledge your guilt,
that against Yahweh your God you have rebelled,
and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every leafy tree,
and you have not obeyed my voice,’ declares[aa] Yahweh.”
14 “Return, apostate[ab] children,” declares[ac] Yahweh. “For I am your master,[ad] and I will take you one from a city and two from a clan,[ae] and I will bring you to Zion. 15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart and they will feed you knowledge and insight. 16 And it will be when you have multiplied and become fruitful in the land in those days,” declares[af] Yahweh, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh.’ And it will not come to mind,[ag] nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it,[ah] nor will it be made again. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of Yahweh,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem, and they will no longer go after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk along with the house of Israel and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave as an inheritance to your ancestors.[ai]
19 Then I thought, ‘How I would set you among the children,
and I would give you a land of desire,
an inheritance of the glory of the hosts of nations.’
And I thought, ‘You would call me, “My father,”
and you would not turn back from behind[aj] me.’
20 However, as a wife departs treacherously from her lover,
so you have dealt treacherously with me,
O house of Israel,” declares[ak] Yahweh.
21 “A voice is heard on the barren heights,
the weeping of the pleas for mercy of the children of Israel,
because they have perverted their way,
they have forgotten Yahweh their God.
22 Return, O apostate[al] children,
I will heal your backsliding.
‘Look, we come to you,
for you are Yahweh our God.
23 Surely, an illusion comes from the hills,
the turmoil on the mountains.
Surely, in Yahweh our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24 But the shameful thing has devoured
the labor of our ancestors[am] from our youth,
their flocks, and their cattle,
their sons and their daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame,
and let our disgrace cover us.
For against Yahweh our God we have sinned,
we and our ancestors,[an]
from our youth and until this day.
and we have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.’
4 If you return, O Israel,” declares[ao] Yahweh,
“you return to me.
And if you remove your abominations from my presence,[ap]
and you do not wander,
2 and you swear, ‘As Yahweh lives,’[aq]
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then nations will be blessed by him,
and in him they will boast.”
3 For thus says Yahweh
to the men[ar] of Judah and to Jerusalem,
“Break up for yourselves prepared virgin soil,
and you must not sow among thornbushes.
4 Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh,
and remove the foreskins of your hearts,[as]
men[at] of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
lest my wrath goes forth like the fire and burns,
and there is no one who extinguishes it,[au]
because of the evil of your deeds.”
An Invasion from the North
5 Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say,
“Blow a horn through the land,
call with a loud voice[av] and say,
‘Be gathered and let us go into the fortified cities.’
6 Lift up a signal toward Zion,
bring yourselves to safety; you must not remain standing,
for I am bringing evil from the north,
and a great destruction.
7 A lion has gone up from his thicket,
and a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has gone out from his place to make your land as a horror,
your cities will go to ruin without[aw] inhabitant.
8 Because of this gird yourselves with sackcloth,[ax] lament and wail,
for the burning anger[ay] of Yahweh has not turned back from us.
9 And then on that day,” declares[az] Yahweh,
“the heart of the king and the heart of the officials will be destroyed,
and the priests will be appalled,
and the prophets will be astonished.”
10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh, surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It will be peace for you,’ while the sword reaches up to the throat.”
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem,
“A hot wind from the barren heights[ba] in the desert,[bb]
in the direction of[bc] the daughter of my people,
not to winnow and not to cleanse,
12 a wind too strong for[bd] these will come for me,
now also I speak judgments against them.”
13 Look, he comes up like the clouds,
and his chariots are like the whirlwind,
his horses are swifter than eagles,
woe to us, for we are devastated.
14 Cleanse your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem,
so that you may be saved.
How long[be] will your thoughts of mischief
dwell in your inner part?
15 For a voice is declaring from Dan,
and is proclaiming disaster from the mountain of Ephraim.
16 “Report to the nations, ‘Here they are!’
Proclaim against Jerusalem,
‘Besiegers are coming from a distant land,[bf]
and they raise their voice against the cities of Judah.’
17 Like watchers of a field they were against her from all around,
because she has rebelled against me,” declares[bg] Yahweh.
18 “You obtained this for yourself
because of your way and your deeds.
This is your doom, for it is bitter,
yes, it has reached up to your heart.”
Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ in Colossae. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
Thanksgiving for the Colossian Believers
3 We give thanks always to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we[a] pray for you, 4 since we[b] heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope reserved for you in heaven, which you have heard about beforehand in the word of truth, the gospel, 6 that has come to you, just as also in all the world it is bearing fruit and increasing, just as also among you from the day you heard about and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it[c] from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,[d] 8 who also made clear to us your love in the Spirit.
Prayer for Maturity Based on Christ’s Preeminence
9 Because of this also we, from the day we heard about it,[e] did not cease praying for you, and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual insight, 10 so that you may live in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects[f], bearing fruit in every good deed and increasing in the knowledge of God, 11 enabled with all power, according to his glorious might, for all steadfastness and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you for a share of the inheritance of the saints in light, 13 who has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us[g] to the kingdom of the Son he loves[h], 14 in whom we have the redemption, the forgiveness of sins, 15 who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all[i] creation, 16 because all things in the heavens and on the earth were created by him, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers, all things were created through him and for him, 17 and he himself is before all things, and in him all things are held together,
Praise to God for His Rescue of Israel
For the music director, with stringed instruments.
A psalm of Asaph. A song.[a]
76 God is known in Judah.
His name is great in Israel.
2 His den[b] has been in Salem,
his lair[c] in Zion.
3 There he broke the flames of the bow,
the shield and sword and battle. Selah
4 Radiant[d] you are, majestic,
from[e] the mountains of prey.
5 The stouthearted are plundered;
they sleep their sleep,
and all the able men cannot use[f] their hands.
6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both rider[g] and horse slumber.
7 You, indeed, are to be feared,[h]
and who can stand before you
when you are angry? [i]
8 From heaven you proclaimed judgment.
The earth feared and was still
9 when God rose for justice,
to save all the afflicted of the land. Selah
10 For the anger of humankind will praise you.
You will put on the remnant of anger.[j]
11 Make vows and fulfill them to Yahweh, your God;
let all surrounding him
bring tribute to the one to be feared.[k]
12 He cuts off the spirit of leaders.
He is to be feared by the kings of the earth.
21 Fear Yahweh, my son, and the king;
with those who change, do not associate.
22 For suddenly their disaster will come,
and the ruin of both of them,[a] who knows?
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