The Daily Audio Bible

4 ¶ Hear the word of the LORD, ye sons of Israel; for the LORD contends with the inhabitants of the land because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the earth.

² By swearing and lying and murdering and stealing and committing adultery, they prevailed, and blood touches blood.

³ Therefore the earth shall mourn, and every one that dwells therein shall be cut off, with the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven; and even the fishes of the sea shall be caught.

⁴ Certainly man does not contend with nor reprehend man; for thy people are as those that resist the priest.

⁵ Therefore thou shalt fall in the day, and the prophet shall also fall with thee by night, and I will cut off thy mother.

⁶ ¶ My people were cut off because they lacked wisdom; because thou hast rejected wisdom, I will cast thee out of the priesthood; seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy sons.

⁷ According to their greatness, so did they sin against me; therefore I will change their honour into shame.

⁸ They eat up the sin of my people, and in their iniquity they raise up their soul.

⁹ The people shall become like the priest; and I will visit his ways upon him, and they shall reward him according to his doings.

¹⁰ For they shall eat and not be satisfied; they shall commit whoredom and shall not increase because they have quit showing hospitality unto the LORD.

¹¹ Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.

¹² ¶ My people ask counsel of their wooden idol, and their stick declares unto them; for the spirit of whoredoms has caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring under their gods.

¹³ They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, that had good shade; therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your daughters-in-law shall commit adultery.

¹⁴ I will not visit upon your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor upon your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery: for they offer with whores, and they sacrifice with cult prostitutes; therefore the people without understanding shall fall.

¹⁵ Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah be guilty; and do not come unto Gilgal, neither go up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD lives,

¹⁶ for Israel has turned away as a wild heifer; shall the LORD now feed them as rams in a large place?

¹⁷ Ephraim is given over to idols; leave him.

¹⁸ Their drink has become corrupted; they have committed whoredom continually; her princes love gifts, shamefully.

¹⁹ The wind has bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

5 ¶ Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ear, O house of the king because the judgment is for you, for ye have been a snare in Mizpah and a net spread over Tabor.

² And in killing sacrifices ye have descended into the depths; therefore, I shall be the correction of them all.

³ I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me; for now, O Ephraim, thou dost commit whoredom, and Israel is defiled.

⁴ They will not think about returning unto their God; for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they do not know the LORD.

⁵ And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity; Judah shall also fall with them.

⁶ They shall go with their flocks and with their herds seeking the LORD; but they shall not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them.

⁷ They have rebelled against the LORD; for they have begotten strange sons; now a month shall devour them with their portions.

⁸ ¶ Blow ye the shofar in Gibeah and the trumpet in Ramah; sound the drum in Bethaven; after thee, O Benjamin.

⁹ Ephraim shall be made desolate in the day of chastisement; in the tribes of Israel I made known my truth.

¹⁰ The princes of Judah were like those that move the boundaries; therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.

¹¹ Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment because he wanted to walk after commandments.

¹² Therefore I will be unto Ephraim as a moth and to the house of Judah as rottenness.

¹³ And Ephraim shall see his sickness and Judah his wound; then Ephraim shall go to the Assyrian and shall send to King Jareb; yet he shall not be able to heal you, nor cure you of your wound.

¹⁴ For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion and as a young lion to the house of Judah; I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and there shall be no one left to escape.

¹⁵ I will go and return to my place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face; in their affliction they will seek me early.

¹ ¶ The elder unto the chosen lady and her sons, whom I love in the truth, and not I only, but also all those that have known the truth,

² for the truth’s sake, which abides in us and shall be with us for ever.

³ Grace be with you, mercy and peace, from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and charity.

⁴ I have rejoiced greatly, for I have found of thy sons that they walk in the truth, as we have received the commandment from the Father.

⁵ ¶ And now I beseech thee, lady, (not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning) that we love one another.

⁶ And this is charity, that we walk after his commandment. And this is the commandment, That ye walk in him, as ye have heard from the beginning.

⁷ ¶ For many deceivers are entered into the world, who do not confess Jesus Christ coming in flesh. This same is a deceiver and antichrist.

⁸ Look to yourselves, that we not lose those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a fulfilled reward.

⁹ Whosoever rebels and does not abide in the doctrine of the Christ, does not have God. He that abides in the doctrine of the Christ, the same has the Father and the Son.

¹⁰ ¶ If anyone comes unto you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house neither say unto him, Welcome:

¹¹ For he that says unto him, Welcome, is partaker of his evil deeds.

¹² ¶ Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink, but I trust to come unto you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.

¹³ The sons of thy chosen sister greet thee. Amen.

A Song of degrees.

¹ ¶ Those that trust in the LORD are as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed but abides for ever.

² As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from now on even for ever.

³ For the rod of wickedness shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous because the righteous shall not put forth their hands unto iniquity.

⁴ ¶ Do good, O LORD, unto those that are good and to those that are upright in their hearts.

⁵ As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the LORD shall take them away with the workers of iniquity; and peace shall be upon Israel.

⁹ ¶ If a wise man contends with a foolish man, whether he rages or laughs, there is no rest.

¹⁰ ¶ The bloodthirsty hate the perfect, but the just seek his soul.

¹¹ ¶ The fool gives full rein to his spirit, but the wise man in the end will bring it into rest.