Old/New Testament
Israel and Judah Will Be Judged
The Lord said:
5 Listen, you priests!
Pay attention, Israel![a]
Listen, you members
of the royal family.
Justice was your duty.
But[b] at Mizpah and Mount Tabor
you trapped the people.
2 At the place of worship
you were a treacherous pit,[c]
and I will punish you.
3 Israel, I know all about you,
and because of your unfaithfulness,
I find you unacceptable.
4 Your evil deeds are the reason
you won't return to me,
your Lord God.
And your constant craving for sex
keeps you from knowing me.
5 Israel, your pride
testifies to your guilt;
it makes you stumble,
and Judah stumbles too.
6 You offer sheep and cattle
as sacrifices to me,
but I have turned away
and refuse to be found.
7 You have been unfaithful
to me, your Lord;
you have had children
by prostitutes.[d]
So at the New Moon Festival,
you and your crops
will be destroyed.[e]
The Lord Warns Israel and Judah
8 Give a warning on the trumpet!
Let it be heard in Gibeah,
Ramah, and sinful Bethel.[f]
Benjamin, watch out![g]
9 I, the Lord, will punish
and wipe out Israel.
This is my solemn promise
to every tribe of Israel.
10 Judah's leaders are like crooks
who move boundary markers;
that's why I will flood them
with my anger.
11 Israel was brutally crushed.
They got what they deserved
for worshiping useless idols.[h]
12 Now I, the Lord,
will fill Israel with maggots
and make Judah rot.
13 When Israel and Judah saw
their sickness and wounds,
Israel asked help from Assyria
and its mighty king.[i]
But the king cannot cure them
or heal their wounds.
14 So I'll become a fierce lion
attacking Israel and Judah.
I'll snatch and carry off
what I want,
and no one can stop me.
15 Then I'll return to my temple
until they confess their guilt
and worship me,
until they are desperate
and beg for my help.
The Lord's People Speak
6 Let's return to the Lord.
He has torn us to shreds,
but he will bandage our wounds
and make us well.
2 In two or three days
he will heal us
and restore our strength
that we may live with him.
3 Let's do our best
to know the Lord.
His coming is as certain
as the morning sun;
he will refresh us like rain
renewing the earth
in the springtime.
The Lord Speaks to Israel and Judah
4 People of Israel and Judah,
what can I do with you?
Your love for me disappears
more quickly than mist
or dew at sunrise.
5 That's why I slaughtered you
with the words
of my prophets.
That's why my judgments blazed
like the dawning sun.[j]
6 (A) I'd rather for you to be faithful
and to know me
than to offer sacrifices.
7 At a place named Adam,
you[k] betrayed me
by breaking our agreement.
8 Everyone in Gilead is evil;
your hands are stained
with the blood of victims.[l]
9 You priests are like a gang
of robbers in ambush.[m]
On the road to Shechem[n]
you murder and commit
other horrible crimes.
10 I have seen a terrible thing
in Israel—
you are unfaithful
and unfit to worship me.
11 People of Judah,
your time is coming too.
The Lord Wants To Help Israel
I, the Lord, would like to make
my nation prosper again
7 and to heal its wounds.
But then I see the crimes
in Israel[o] and Samaria.
Everyone is deceitful;
robbers roam the streets.
2 No one realizes
that I have seen their sins
surround them like a flood.
3 The king and his officials
take great pleasure
in their sin and deceit.
4 Everyone burns with desire—
they are like coals in an oven,
ready to burst into flames.
5 On the day their king
was crowned,
his officials got him drunk,
and he joined
in their foolishness.[p]
6 Their anger is a fire
that smolders all night,
then flares up at dawn.
7 They are flames
destroying their leaders.
And their kings are powerless;
none of them trust me.
8 The people of Israel[q]
have mixed with foreigners;
they are a thin piece of bread
scorched on one side.
9 They don't seem to realize
how weak and feeble they are;
their hair has turned gray,
while foreigners rule.
10 I am the Lord, their God,
but in all of their troubles
their pride keeps them
from returning to me.
No Help from Foreign Nations
The Lord said:
11 Israel[r] is a senseless bird,
fluttering back and forth
between Egypt and Assyria.
12 But I will catch them in a net
as hunters trap birds;
I threatened to punish them,
and indeed I will.[s]
13 Trouble and destruction
will be their reward
for rejecting me.
I would have rescued them,
but they told me lies.
14 They don't really pray to me;
they just howl in their beds.
They have rejected me for Baal
and slashed themselves,[t]
in the hope that Baal
will bless their crops.
15 I taught them what they know,
and I made them strong.
Now they plot against me
16 and refuse to obey.[u]
They are more useless
than a crooked arrow.
Their leaders will die in war
for saying foolish things.
Egyptians will laugh at them.
Israel Rejects the Lord
The Lord said:
8 Sound a warning!
Israel, you broke our agreement
and ignored my teaching.
Now an eagle[v] is swooping down
to attack my land.
2 Israel, you say, “We claim you,
the Lord, as our God.”
3 But your enemies
will chase you for rejecting
our good agreement.[w]
4 You chose kings and leaders
without consulting me;
you made silver and gold idols
that led to your downfall.
5 City of Samaria, I'm angry
because of your idol
in the shape of a calf.
When will you ever
be innocent again?
6 Someone from Israel built
that idol for you,
but only I am God.
And so it will be smashed
to pieces.[x]
7 If you scatter wind
instead of wheat,
you will harvest a whirlwind
and have no wheat.
Even if you harvest grain,
enemies will steal it all.
8 Israel, you are ruined,
and now the nations
consider you worthless.
9 You are like a wild donkey
that goes its own way.
You've run off to Assyria
and hired them as allies.
10 You can bargain with nations,
but I'll catch you anyway.
Soon you will suffer abuse
by kings and rulers.
11 Israel, you have built
many altars where you offer
sacrifices for sin.
But these altars have become
places for sin.
12 My instructions for sacrifices
were written in detail,
but you ignored them.
13 You sacrifice your best animals
and eat the sacrificial meals,[y]
but I, the Lord,
refuse your offerings.
I will remember your sins
and punish you.
Then you will return to Egypt.[z]
14 Israel, I created you,
but you forgot me.
You and Judah built palaces
and many strong cities.[aa]
Now I will send fire to destroy
your towns and fortresses.
The Letter to Ephesus
2 This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Ephesus:
I am the one who holds the seven stars in my right hand, and I walk among the seven gold lampstands. Listen to what I say.
2 I know everything you have done, including your hard work and how you have endured. I know you won't put up with anyone who is evil. When some people pretended to be apostles, you tested them and found out they were liars. 3 You have endured and gone through hard times because of me, yet you have not given up.
4 But I do have something against you! And it is this: You don't have as much love as you used to. 5 Think about where you have fallen from, and then turn back and do as you did at first. If you don't turn back, I will come and take away your lampstand. 6 But there is one thing you are doing right. You hate what the Nicolaitans[a] are doing, and so do I.
7 (A) If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will let everyone who wins the victory eat from the life-giving tree in God's wonderful garden.
The Letter to Smyrna
8 (B) This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Smyrna:
I am the first and the last. I died, but now I am alive! Listen to what I say.
9 I know how much you suffer and how poor you are, but you are rich. I also know the cruel things being said about you by people who claim to be God's people. But they are not really God's people. They are a group that belongs to Satan.
10 Don't worry about what you will suffer. The devil will throw some of you into jail, and you will be tested and made to suffer for ten days. But if you are faithful until you die, I will reward you with a glorious life.[b]
11 (C) If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. Whoever wins the victory will not be hurt by the second death.[c]
The Letter to Pergamum
12 This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Pergamum:
I am the one who has the sharp double-edged sword! Listen to what I say.
13 I know you live where Satan has his throne.[d] But you have kept true to my name. Right there where Satan lives, my faithful witness Antipas[e] was taken from you and put to death. Even then you did not give up your faith in me.
14 (D) I do have a few things against you. Some of you are following the teaching of Balaam.[f] Long ago he told Balak to teach the people of Israel to eat food that had been offered to idols and to be immoral. 15 Now some of you are following the teaching of the Nicolaitans.[g] 16 Turn back! If you don't, I will come quickly and fight against these people. And my words will cut like a sword.
17 (E) If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To everyone who wins the victory, I will give some of the hidden food.[h] I will also give each one a white stone[i] with a new name[j] written on it. No one will know that name except the one who is given the stone.
The Letter to Thyatira
18 This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Thyatira:
I am the Son of God! My eyes are like flames of fire, and my feet are like bronze. Listen to what I say.
19 I know everything about you, including your love, your faith, your service, and how you have endured. I know you are doing more now than you have ever done before. 20 (F) But I still have something against you because of that woman Jezebel.[k] She calls herself a prophet, and you let her teach and mislead my servants to do immoral things and to eat food offered to idols. 21 I gave her a chance to turn from her sins, but she did not want to stop doing these immoral things.
22 I am going to strike down Jezebel. Everyone who does these immoral things with her will also be punished, if they don't stop. 23 (G) I will even kill her followers.[l] Then all the churches will see that I know everyone's thoughts and feelings. I will treat each of you as you deserve.
24 Some of you in Thyatira don't follow Jezebel's teaching. You don't know anything about what her followers call the “deep secrets of Satan.” So I won't burden you down with any other commands. 25 But until I come, you must hold firmly to the teaching you have.
26 (H) I will give power over the nations to everyone who wins the victory and keeps on obeying me until the end. 27-28 I will give each of them the same power my Father has given me. They will rule the nations with an iron rod and smash those nations to pieces like clay pots. I will also give them the morning star.[m]
29 If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
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