Old/New Testament
Israel’s Punishment
9 Israel, do not rejoice.
Don’t celebrate as the other nations do.
You have been unfaithful to your God.
You love the grain on your threshing floors.
So you worship the gods who supposedly gave it.
2 But there won’t be enough grain to feed the people.
And there won’t be enough wine to go around.
3 The Israelites will not stay in the Lord’s land.
Israel will return to being captives as they were in Egypt.
In Assyria they will eat food that they are not allowed to eat.
4 The Israelites will not give offerings of wine to the Lord.
Their sacrifices will not please him.
Their sacrifices will be like food that is eaten at a funeral.
It is unclean, and everyone who eats it becomes unclean.
Their food will only satisfy their hunger.
They cannot sacrifice it in the Temple.
5 What will you do then on the day of feasts
and on the festival days of the Lord?
6 Even if the people are not destroyed,
Egypt will take them as captives.
They will be buried in Memphis.[a]
Weeds will grow over their silver treasures.
Thorns will grow over their houses.
7 Let Israel know this.
The time of punishment has come.
The time to pay for your sins has come.
You have sinned very much,
and your hatred is great.
You think the prophet is a fool.
You say the spiritual man is crazy.
8 The prophet is God’s watchman
to warn Israel of danger.
But everywhere he goes you set traps for him.
You treat him as an enemy in God’s own land.
9 The men of Israel have become as sinful
as the men of Gibeah[b] were.
The Lord will remember the evil things they have done.
He will punish them for their sins.
10 “When I found Israel,
it was like finding grapes in the desert.
Your ancestors were like
finding the first figs on the tree.
But when they came to Baal Peor,
they began worshiping an idol.
They became as disgusting as the thing they worshiped.
11 Israel’s glory will fly away like a bird.
There will be no more pregnancies, no more births, no more babies.
12 But even if the Israelites bring up children,
I will take them all away.
How terrible it will be for them
when I turn away from them!
13 I have seen Israel, like Tyre,
given a pleasant place.
But the people of Israel will soon bring out
their children to be killed.”
14 Lord, give them what they should have.
What will you give them?
Make their women unable to have children.
Give them breasts that cannot feed their babies.
15 “The Israelites were wicked in Gilgal,
so I began to hate them there.
Because of the sinful things they have done,
I will force them to leave my land.
I will no longer love them.
Their leaders have turned against me.
16 Israel is like a sick plant.
Its root is dying, and it has no fruit.
So the people will have no more children.
And if they did, I would kill the children they love.”
17 God will reject them,
because they have not obeyed him.
They will wander among the nations.
Israel Will Pay for Sin
10 Israel is like a vine
that produced plenty of fruit.
As the people became richer,
they built more altars for idols.
As their land became better,
they put up better stone pillars to honor false gods.
2 Their heart was false.
Now they must pay for their guilt.
The Lord will break down their altars.
He will destroy their holy stone pillars.
3 Then the Israelites will say, “We have no king,
because we didn’t honor the Lord.
But even if we had one,
he couldn’t do anything for us.”
4 They make many false promises.
They make agreements they don’t keep.
So people sue each other in court.
They are like poisonous weeds growing in a plowed field.
5 The people from Israel are worried about
the calf-shaped idol at Beth Aven.
The people and the priests will cry
because their glorious idol is gone.
6 It will be carried off as a payment that was demanded
to the great king of Assyria.
Israel will be disgraced.
The people will be ashamed of trusting that idol.
7 The king of Israel will be carried off
like a chip of wood floating on the water.
8 The places of worship at Beth Aven will be destroyed.
They are where Israel sins.
Thorns and weeds will grow up
and cover their altars.
Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
And they will say to the hills, “Fall on us!”
9 “Israel, you have sinned since the time of Gibeah.[c]
The people there have continued sinning.
But war will surely overwhelm them,
because of the evil they have done there.
10 When I am ready,
I will come to punish them.
Armies will come together against them.
They will be punished for their many sins.
11 Israel is like a well-trained young cow
that likes to thresh grain.
But I will put a yoke on her neck.
I will make Israel work hard in the field.
Judah will plow.
Israel will break up the ground.
12 I said, ‘Break new ground.
Plant what is right.
Then you will harvest good things
from your loyalty to me.
It is time for you to turn back to me, the Lord.
Do it until I come and pour out my goodness on you.’
13 But you have planted evil.
So you have harvested trouble.
You have trusted in your own power
and your many soldiers.
Now you must live with the result of your lies.
14 So your armies will hear the noise of battle.
And all your strong, walled cities will be destroyed.
It will be like the time King Shalman
destroyed Beth Arbel in battle.
Mothers and children were crushed to the ground together.
15 The same will happen to you, people of Bethel,
because you did so much evil.
When that time comes,
the king of Israel will die.
God’s Love for Israel
11 “When Israel was a child, I loved him.
And I called my son out of Egypt.
2 But the more I called to the people of Israel,
the further they went from me.
They offered sacrifices to the Baals.
They burned incense to the idols.
3 But it was I who taught Israel to walk.
I took them by the arms.
But they did not understand
that I had healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with ties of love.
I lifted the yoke from their neck.
I bent down and fed them.
5 “The Israelites will become captives again, as they were in Egypt.
The king of Assyria will become their king.
This is because they refuse to turn to God.
6 War will sweep through their cities.
It will destroy them,
because of their wicked plans.
7 My people have made up their minds
to turn away from me.
The prophets call them to turn to me.
But none of them honors me at all.
8 “Israel, I don’t want to give you up.
I don’t want to go away and leave you.
I don’t want to make you like Admah.
I don’t want to treat you like Zeboiim.[d]
My heart beats for you.
My love for you stirs up my pity.
9 I won’t punish you in my anger.
I won’t destroy Israel again.
I am God and not man.
I am the Holy One, and I am among you.
I will not come against you in anger.
10 I will call for my people like
a lion calling for its young.
My children will come and follow me.
They will hurry to me from the west.
11 They will come swiftly
like birds from a captivity like Egypt was,
and like doves from Assyria.
I will settle them again in their homes,”
says the Lord.
The Lord Is Against Israel
12 Israel has surrounded me with lies.
The people of Israel have made their secret plans.
And Judah turns against God,
the faithful Holy One.
To the Church in Sardis
3 “Write this to the angel of the church in Sardis:
“The One who has the seven spirits and the seven stars says this to you. I know what you do. People say that you are alive, but really you are dead. 2 Wake up! Make yourselves stronger while you still have something left and before it dies completely. I have found that what you are doing is not good enough for my God. 3 So do not forget what you have received and heard. Obey it. Change your hearts and lives! You must wake up, or I will come to you and surprise you like a thief. And you will not know when I will come. 4 But you have a few there in Sardis who have kept themselves clean. They will walk with me. They will wear white clothes, because they are worthy. 5 He who wins the victory will be dressed in white clothes like them. I will not take away his name from the book of life. I will say that he belongs to me before my Father and before his angels. 6 Everyone who has ears should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
To the Church in Philadelphia
7 “Write this to the angel of the church in Philadelphia:
“The One who is holy and true says this to you. He holds the key of David. When he opens something, it cannot be closed. And when he closes something, it cannot be opened. 8 I know what you do. I have put an open door before you, and no one can close it. I know that you have a little strength. But you have followed my teaching. And you were not afraid to speak my name. 9 Listen! There is a synagogue that belongs to Satan. Those in this synagogue say they are Jews, but they are liars. They are not true Jews. I will make them come before you and bow at your feet. They will know that I have loved you. 10 You have followed my teaching about not giving up. So I will keep you from the time of trouble that will come to the whole world. This trouble will test those who live on earth.
11 “I am coming soon. Continue the way you are now. Then no one will take away your crown. 12 I will make the one who wins the victory a pillar in the temple of my God. He will never have to leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God. This city is the new Jerusalem.[a] It comes down out of heaven from my God. I will also write on him my new name. 13 Every person who has ears should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
To the Church in Laodicea
14 “Write this to the angel of the church in Laodicea:
“The Amen[b] is the One who is the faithful and true witness. He is the ruler of all that God has made. He says this to you: 15 I know what you do. You are not hot or cold. I wish that you were hot or cold! 16 But you are only warm—not hot, not cold. So I am ready to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say you are rich. You think you have become wealthy and do not need anything. But you do not know that you are really miserable, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I advise you to buy gold from me—gold made pure in fire. Then you can be truly rich. Buy from me clothes that are white. Then you can cover your shameful nakedness. Buy from me medicine to put on your eyes. Then you can truly see.
19 “I correct and punish those whom I love. So be eager to do right. Change your hearts and lives. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him. And he will eat with me.
21 “He who wins the victory will sit with me on my throne. It was the same with me. I won the victory and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Everyone who has ears should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.