Old/New Testament
3 “They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, shall he return again to her? Shall not this land be polluted?’ But you have played the harlot, with many lovers, yet turn again to me,” says the LORD.
2 “Lift up your eyes to the high places, and behold where you have not played the harlot. You have sat, waiting for them on the way, as the Arabian in the wilderness. And you have polluted the land with your whoredoms, and with your malice.
3 “Therefore the showers have been restrained, and the latter rain came not, and you had a whore’s forehead. You would not be ashamed.
4 “Did you not still cry to Me, ‘You are My Father, the guide of my youth?
5 ‘Will He keep His anger forever? Will He reserve it to the end?’ Thus have you spoken, but you still do evil, more and more.”
6 The LORD also said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what this rebel Israel has done? She has gone up upon every high mountain, and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.
7 “And I said, when she had done all this, ‘Turn to Me.’ But she did not return, as her rebellious sister Judah saw.
8 “Then I saw how that for all the occasions rebellious Israel had played the harlot, and I had cast her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet her rebellious sister, Judah, was not afraid. And she also went and played the harlot.
9 “So that because of the lightness of her whoredom, she has even defiled the land. For she has committed fornication with stones and trees.
10 “Nevertheless, for all this, her rebellious sister Judah has not returned to Me with her whole heart, but deceptively,” says the LORD.
11 And the LORD said to me, “The rebellious Israel has justified herself more than the rebellious Judah.
12 “Go and cry these Words toward the North, and say, ‘You disobedient Israel, return,’ says the LORD, ‘and I will not let My wrath fall upon you.’ For I am merciful,” says the LORD, “and I will not always keep My anger.
13 “But know your iniquity. For you have rebelled against the LORD your God, and have scattered your ways to the strange gods under every green tree. But you would not obey My Voice,” says the LORD.
14 “O you disobedient children, turn again,” says the LORD, “for I am your LORD. And I will take you, one from a city, and two from a tribe, and will bring you to Zion.
15 “And I will give you pastors according to My Heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16 “Moreover, when you are increased and multiplied in the land, in those days,” says the LORD, “they shall say no more: ‘The Ark of the Covenant of the LORD.’ For it shall not come to mind anymore, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it. For that shall not be done anymore.
17 “At that time, they shall call Jerusalem, ‘The Throne of the LORD.’ And all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the Name of the LORD in Jerusalem. And henceforth they shall not follow the hardness of their wicked heart anymore.
18 “In those days, the House of Judah shall walk with the House of Israel. And they shall come together out of the land of the North, into the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers.
19 “But I said, ‘How did I take you for children, and give you a pleasant land, the glorious heritage of the armies of the heathen?’ And I said, ‘You shall call Me, “My Father”, and shall not turn from Me.’
20 “But as a woman rebels against her husband, so have you rebelled against Me, O House of Israel,” says the LORD.
21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel. For they have perverted their way, forgotten the LORD their God.
22 “O you disobedient children! Return and I will heal your rebellions.” “Behold, we come to You! For You are the LORD our God.
23 “Truly the hope of the hills is but vain, and the multitude of mountains. But in the LORD our God is the health of Israel.
24 “For confusion has devoured our father’s labor from our youth, their sheep and their bullocks, their sons and their daughters.
25 “We lie down in our confusion, and our shame covers us. For we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers from our youth, even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”
4 “O Israel, if you return, return to Me,” says the LORD, “and if you put away your abominations out of My sight, then you shall not waver.
2 “And you shall swear, ‘The LORD lives in truth, in judgment and in righteousness. And the nations shall be blessed in Him and shall glory in Him.’”
3 For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah, and to Jerusalem:
4 “Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among the thorns. Be circumcised to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My wrath come forth like fire, and burn, so that no one can quench it, because of the wickedness of your inventions.
5 “Declare in Judah, and show forth in Jerusalem, and say, ‘Blow the trumpet in the land!’ Cry and gather together, and say, ‘Assemble yourselves, and let us go into strong cities!’
6 “Set up the standard in Zion. Prepare to flee. Do not stay. For I will bring a plague from the North, and a great destruction.”
7 The lion has come up from his den, and the destroyer of the Gentiles has departed, gone forth from his place to lay your land waste. Your cities shall be destroyed, without an inhabitant.
8 Therefore, gird yourself with sackcloth. Lament and howl. For the fierce wrath of the LORD has not turned back from us.
9 “And on that day,” says the LORD, “the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes and the priests shall be astonished, and the Prophets shall wonder.”
10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Surely You have deceived this people, and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall have peace,’ and the sword pierces to the heart.”
11 At that time, it shall be said to this people, and to Jerusalem, “A dry wind in the high places of the wilderness comes toward the daughter of My people, neither to fan nor to cleanse.
12 “A mighty wind shall come to Me from those places. And now I will also give sentence upon them.”
13 “Behold, he shall come up as the clouds, and his chariots as a tempest. His horses are lighter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are destroyed!”
14 O, Jerusalem! Wash your heart from wickedness, so that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts remain within you?
15 For a voice declares from Dan and publishes affliction from Mount Ephraim.
16 “Make mention of the heathen. Publish in Jerusalem. Behold, the scouts come from a far country and cry out against the cities of Judah.
17 “They have surrounded her as the watchmen of the field, because she has provoked Me to wrath,” says the LORD.
18 “Your ways and your inventions have procured these things for yourself. Such is your wickedness. Therefore, it shall be bitter. Therefore, it shall pierce to your heart.”
19 My belly! My belly! I am pained, even at the very heart! My heart is troubled within me. I cannot be still! For my soul has heard the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of the battle.
20 Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is wasted. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, and my curtains, in a moment.
21 How long shall I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “For my people are foolish. They have not known Me. They are foolish children and have no understanding. They are wise in doing evil, but in doing well they have no knowledge.”
23 I have looked upon the Earth. And lo, it was without form and void. And the heavens had no light.
24 I beheld the mountains. And lo, they trembled. And all the hills shook.
25 I beheld, and lo, there was no man. And all the birds of the heaven had departed.
26 I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness. And all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by His fierce wrath.
27 For thus has the LORD said: “The whole land shall be desolate. Yet I will not make a full end.
28 “Therefore, the Earth shall mourn. And the heavens above shall be darkened because I have pronounced it. I have thought it, and will not relent, nor will I turn back from it.
29 “The whole city shall flee because of the noise of the horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into thickets and climb up upon the rocks. Every city shall be forsaken, no one dwelling in them.
30 “And when you shall be destroyed, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, though you paint your face with colors, yet shall you trim yourself in vain. Your lovers will abhor you and seek your life.
31 “For I have heard a noise as of a woman in labor, or as one bringing forth her first child, the voice of the daughter Zion that sighs and stretches out her hands, saying, ‘Woe is me now! For my soul faints because of the murderers!’”
5 “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem. And behold now, and know, and inquire in its open places, if you can find a man, if there are any who execute judgment, and seek the truth. And I will spare it.
2 “For though they say, ‘The LORD lives,’ they still swear falsely.”
3 O LORD, are not Your eyes upon the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not anguished. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a stone and have refused to return.
4 Therefore I said, “Surely they are poor, they are foolish. For they do not know the way of the LORD, the judgment of their God.
5 “I will go to the great men, and will speak to them. For they have known the way of the LORD, the judgment of their God.” But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.
6 Therefore, a lion out of the forest shall slay them. And a wolf of the wilderness shall destroy them. A leopard shall watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces, because their trespasses are many and their rebellions are increased.
7 “How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me, and sworn by those who are not gods. Though I fed them to the full, they still committed adultery, and assembled themselves by companies in the harlot’s houses.
8 “They rose up in the morning like fed horses, every man neighing after his neighbor’s wife.
9 “Shall I not reckon for these things,” says the LORD? Shall not My Soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 “Climb up upon their walls and destroy them. But do not make a full end. Take away their battlements, for they are not the LORD’s.
11 “For the House of Israel, and the House of Judah have grievously trespassed against Me,” says the LORD.
12 They have denied the LORD, and said, “It is not Him, nor shall the plague come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.
13 “And the Prophets shall be as wind. And the Word is not in them. Thus shall it come to them.”
14 Therefore, thus says the LORD God of Hosts: “Because you speak such words, behold, I will put My Words into your mouth, like a fire. And this people shall be as wood. And it shall devour them.
15 “Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from afar, O House of Israel,” says the LORD, “which is a mighty nation, and an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know. Nor do you understand what they say.
16 “Their quiver is as an open sepulcher. They are all very strong.
17 “And they shall eat your harvest and your bread. They shall devour your sons and your daughters. They shall eat up your sheep and your bullocks. They shall eat your vines and your fig trees. They shall destroy your fenced cities with the sword, in which you trusted.
18 “Nevertheless, in those days,” says the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you.
19 “And when they shall say, ‘Why does the LORD our God do these things to us?’ Then You shall answer them, “Just as you have forsaken Me and served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
20 “Declare this in the House of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 ‘Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding, which has eyes and does not see, which has ears and does not hear.
22 ‘Do you not fear Me,’ says the LORD? ‘Or will you not be afraid in My presence? Who has placed the sand for the bounds of the sea by the perpetual decree, so that it cannot pass it? And though its waves rage, they still cannot prevail? Though they roar, they cannot pass over it?
23 “But this people has an unfaithful and rebellious heart. They have departed and gone.
24 “For they do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the LORD our God, Who gives rain both early and late in due season, Who reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’
25 “Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have hindered good things from you.
26 “For among My people are found wicked persons, who lay in wait, as he who sets snares. They have made a pit to catch men.
27 “As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit, by which they have become great and grown rich.
28 “They have grown fat and smooth. They surpass the deeds of the wicked. They execute no judgment, no not the judgment of the fatherless. Yet they prosper, though they execute no judgment for the poor.
29 “Shall I not reckon for these things,” says the LORD? “Or shall not My Soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 “A horrible and filthy thing has been committed in the land.
31 “The prophets prophesy lies, and the priests receive gifts in their hands, and My people delight in them. But what will you do when it ends?
4 Now the Spirit clearly says that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith and shall consider spirits of error and doctrines of demons.
2 They speak lies through hypocrisy and have their consciences burned with a hot iron,
3 forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good. And nothing ought to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving.
5 For it is sanctified by the Word of God, and prayer.
6 If you put the brothers in remembrance of these things, you shall be a good minister of Jesus Christ, who has been nourished in the words of faith and good doctrine which you have continually followed.
7 But, reject worldly and old wives’ fables. And train yourself towards godliness.
8 For bodily exercise profits a little. But godliness is profitable towards all things, having the promise of this life and of that which is to come.
9 This is a true saying, and by all means worthy to be received.
10 For this we labor and are rebuked: because we trust in the living God, Who is the Savior of all mankind, especially those who believe.
11 Command and teach these things.
12 Let no one despise your youth. But be an example to those who believe - in word, in conversation, in love, in spirit, in faith and in pureness.
13 Until I come, pay attention to reading, to encouragement, and to doctrine.
14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.
15 Attend to these things. Give yourself to them. So that your progress may be seen among all.
16 Pay attention to yourself, and to learning. Persist in it. For in so doing, you shall both save yourself and those who hear you.
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