Old/New Testament
The Lord will punish Israel
9 People of Israel, do not shout with joy,
as the people of other nations do at their festivals.
You have not been faithful to me, your God.
Like a prostitute, you sell yourselves to foreign gods
that you worship on the threshing floors.
2 But the threshing floors will not provide enough grain to feed the people.
The winepresses will not give them enough new wine.
3 The Israelites will not remain in the Lord's land.
They will have to return to Egypt.
In Assyria, they will have to eat food that is unclean.
4 They will not pour out wine as an offering to the Lord.
Their sacrifices will not please him.
Instead, their offerings will be like food that people eat at a funeral.
Anyone who eats it becomes unclean.
They may eat the food to feed themselves,
but they cannot offer it to the Lord in his temple.
5 So what will you do on your festival days?
You will no longer be able to worship the Lord properly.
6 Listen! Perhaps some Israelites will escape when Assyria's army attacks.
But then Egypt's army will take hold of them.
They will die in Memphis and people will bury them there.[a]
Weeds will grow all over their valuable silver things.
Thorn bushes will grow in their homes.
7 The time for Israel's punishment has arrived!
The Lord must now pay them back for their sins.
The Israelites will soon know about it!
You do many sins and you hate the Lord.
Because of that, you say that his prophets are fools.
You think that his messengers are crazy.
8 God has sent his prophet to warn the people of Ephraim.[b]
But wherever he goes, people try to stop him.
They speak angry words against him, even in the temple of his God.
9 The Israelites do very wicked things,
like the terrible sins that they did at Gibeah.[c]
God will not forget the wicked things that they have done.
He will surely punish them for their sins.
The Lord warns his people
10 The Lord says,
‘When I first found Israel, they gave me pleasure.
It was as if I had found grapes in the wilderness.
Your ancestors made me happy,
like the first fruit on a young fig tree.[d]
But then they came to the god, Baal-Peor.[e]
They began to worship that disgusting idol.
They became as disgusting as the idol that they loved so much.
11 The great things that Israel enjoys will soon disappear.
They will be like birds that fly away!
The women of Israel will no longer give birth to children.
They will not even become pregnant.
12 But even if they do have children,
I will cause them all to die so that none are still alive.
It will be a terrible time for the Israelites,
because I will turn away from them.
13 At one time, I saw that Ephraim's land was a beautiful place, like Tyre.
But now Ephraim's people must bring out their children
for an enemy to kill them.’
14 Lord, what should I ask you to give to these people?
Make it impossible for their women to give birth!
Stop the milk from their breasts to feed their babies!
15 The Lord says,
‘They started to do evil things at Gilgal.[f]
It was there that I began to hate them.
Because they do evil things, I will chase them out of my land.
I will not love them any more.
Their leaders have all turned against me.
16 Ephraim's people are very sick.
They are like a plant that has dry roots
and it gives no fruit.
Even if they give birth to children that they love very much,
I will kill those children.’
17 My God will not accept them as his people,
because they have not obeyed him.
They will have no home of their own.
They will have to live among different nations.
The Lord says that Israel is guilty
10 Israel was like a healthy vine that had lots of grapes.
But as the Israelites became more and more rich,
they built more and more altars.
As their land gave more crops,
they made the pillars that they worshipped more beautiful.
2 They do not truly trust God.
They are guilty and they must receive their punishment.
The Lord will break their altars.
He will destroy their special pillars.
3 Soon these people will say, ‘We did not respect the Lord's authority.
Because of that we have no king.
But even if we had a king now, he could not do anything to help us.’
4 They promise to do many things,
but they never do what they promise.
They make useless agreements.
So people accuse each other in the courts.
They are like weeds that grow in a farmer's field.
5 The people who live in Samaria will be afraid.
They will worry about their image of a calf at Beth Aven.[g]
They will weep because it will go away from them.
The priests who serve the idol will cry too.
They know that an enemy will take away their great and beautiful idol.
6 Assyria's army will carry the idol away.[h]
It will be a gift to give honour to Assyria's great king.
Ephraim's people will feel ashamed.
They will be sorry that they trusted in their wooden idol.
7 The people of Samaria and their king will come to an end.[i]
They will be like a small stick that water carries away.
8 The wicked altars on the hills will break into pieces.[j]
These are places where Israel's people have done bad things.
Thorn bushes and weeds will grow all over their altars.
Then the people will say to the mountains, ‘Hide us!’
They will say to the hills, ‘Fall on us!’
The Lord promises to punish Israel
9 The Lord says,
‘People of Israel, you have continued to do bad things,
since the time that you were at Gibeah.[k]
When the people did evil things at Gibeah,
war destroyed them as a result.
10 When I decide that the time is right,
I will punish the Israelites.
Because of their many sins,
I will bring other nations to attack them.
Their enemies will tie them up with chains.
11 Ephraim was like a cow that I had taught to stamp on grain.[l]
She loved to work for me.
But now I will make her do hard work!
I will put a heavy yoke on her beautiful neck.
Judah will also have to plough the ground.
Jacob's descendants must work to dig up the hard ground.[m]
12 Be like a farmer who plants good seed.
Plant things that are good and right.
Then your harvest will be faithful love.
Plough the hard ground and prepare it for the Lord to bless you.
It is time for you to turn back to the Lord.
Then he will bless you with good things,
like rain that falls on the ground!
13 But instead, you have planted evil things.
So your harvest is terrible trouble.
The food that you eat comes from your lies.
You trusted in your own strength to save you.
You thought that your strong army would keep you safe.
14 So you will soon hear the noise of war.
Enemies will destroy all your strong buildings.
It will be like the time that King Shalman's army destroyed Beth Arbel.[n]
In that battle, cruel soldiers killed mothers together with their children.
15 The same thing will happen to you, people of Bethel,
because of the wicked things that you have done.[o]
When the day of your punishment arrives,
the king of Israel will surely die.’
The Lord still loves his people
11 The Lord says,
‘When Israel was a child, I loved him as my son.
I called my son to come out of Egypt.[p]
2 But the more I spoke to Israel's people,
the more they turned away from me.
They offered sacrifices to the images of Baal.
They burned incense to give honour to their idols.
3 I was the one who taught this child, Ephraim, to walk![q]
I held their hand and I led them.
I took care of them,
but they did not understand this.
4 I loved them and I was kind to them.
I led them as their guide.
I gave them rest from their hard work.
I bent down to feed them.
5 But they refuse to turn back to me.
So they must return to Egypt.
Assyria will rule over them.
6 War will come to their cities.
Enemies will break down the strong city gates.
War will destroy my people and all their wicked ideas.
7 My people have decided to turn away from me.
That is all that they can think about.
They call up to a God who rules above,
but he will not help them.
8 Israel, I cannot leave you alone.
I cannot let you belong to someone else.
I cannot destroy you, as I did to Admah and Zeboiim.[r]
I now realize that I love you too much.
I could never destroy you completely.
9 I am very angry with you,
but I will not punish you so much.
I will never destroy my people, Ephraim.
This is because I am God. I am not a human.
I am the Holy God who is with you.
I will not come to destroy you in my anger.
10 I will roar loudly like a lion,
so that my children come to follow me.
When I roar, my children will shake with fear,
as they come from the west.
11 They will return to me, like birds that fly from Egypt.
They will come like doves that fly from Assyria.
They will be afraid, as they return.
I will bring them back to live in their homes again.’
That is what the Lord says.
The Lord accuses Israel
12 The Lord says,
‘Ephraim's people are always speaking lies to me.
Yes, Israel's descendants try to deceive me.
But Judah's people have stayed with God as their guide.
They continue to be faithful to the Holy God.’[s]
Jesus' message to the believers at Sardis
3 ‘Write this to the angel of the church at Sardis:
“This is the message to you from the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
I know everything that you do. I know that people praise you. They think that you are alive. But that is not true, because really you are dead in your spirits. 2 Wake up! You must become strong again. Do not let the little bit of life that you have completely disappear! I know that there are still more things for you to do to please my Father God. 3 So remember God's message that you have heard. Obey what God has said. Turn away from the wrong things that you do. Change the way that you live. If you do not wake up, I will come to punish you. I will come secretly, like someone who robs people. So you will not know what time I will come to you.
4 But you have a few people among you in Sardis who have not done these bad things. They are like people who have kept their clothes clean. They will walk with me and they will wear white clothes. They are good people and it is right for them to wear these white clothes. 5 Everyone who wins against Satan will wear white clothes like they do. I will never remove their names from God's book of life.[a] I will say clearly to my Father and his angels that those people belong to me. 6 God's Spirit is speaking to you in the churches. You should understand what the Spirit is saying to you. You have ears, so listen carefully!” ’
Jesus' message to the believers at Philadelphia
7 ‘Write this to the angel of the church at Philadelphia:
“This is my message to you. I am the one who is completely good, the true God. I have King David's key in my hand.[b] When I open a door, nobody can shut it. And when I shut a door, nobody can open it.
8 I know everything that you do. Look! I have opened a door that is in front of you. Nobody can shut that door. I know that you are not very strong. But you have obeyed what I told you. You have continued to believe in me. 9 Some people there say that they are Jews. But that is not true. They are telling lies. Instead, they belong to a group of Satan's people. I will cause those people to bend down low in front of you to give you honour. Then they will understand that I love you. 10 I have told you to be patient in this difficult time. You have obeyed what I told you. Because of that, I will keep you safe from the time of great trouble that will come. This trouble will come to everyone who lives in the world. It will show me what each person is really like.
11 I will come soon.[c] Continue to obey my message that you already know. Then nobody can take away your crown which is God's gift to you.[d]
12 Everyone who wins against Satan will be safe in God's house. I will make them like a strong pillar in the temple of my God. They will never leave that place again. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of his city. The name of that city is the new Jerusalem.[e] It will come down from heaven. My God will send it down to the earth. I will also write my new name on those people. 13 God's Spirit is speaking to you in the churches. You should understand what the Spirit is saying to you. You have ears, so listen carefully!” ’
Jesus' message to the believers at Laodicea
14 ‘Write this to the angel of the church at Laodicea:
“This is my message to you. I am the one whose name is ‘Amen’.[f] I faithfully tell people God's true message. Everything that God has created starts with me.
15 I know everything that you do. I know that you are neither cold nor hot. It would be better if you were either cold or hot. 16 But you are only warm. Because you are neither cold nor hot, I am ready to throw you away completely.[g]
17 You say, ‘I am rich. God has helped me to have many things. I do not need anything more.’ But you do not know how very poor you are really! You are like people who cannot see. You are like people who are without clothes. Really, other people should feel very sorry for you. 18 So I tell you that you should buy gold from me. With my gold, you would be really rich. My gold is the best, because it has been through fire. You should also buy white clothes from me to dress yourselves. Then you will not be ashamed because you have no clothes. You should also buy medicine from me to put on your eyes. Then you will be able to see well.[h]
19 I help everyone that I love. When they have done wrong things, I tell them, ‘You have done a wrong thing.’ I show them the right thing that they should do. So be serious about how you live. Stop doing wrong things and turn to me. 20 Look! I am standing at the door of your house. I am knocking on your door. When you hear my voice, you should open the door. Then I will come in. We will eat a meal together as friends.
21 Everyone who wins against Satan will come to sit with me on my throne where I rule. I won against my enemies. Then I sat down with my Father on his throne. I will give you the same authority. 22 God's Spirit is speaking to you in the churches. You should understand what the Spirit is saying to you. You have ears, so listen carefully!” ’
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