Old/New Testament
Chapter 3
1 If a man divorces his wife(A)
and she leaves him
and then becomes the wife of another,
Can she return to the first?[a]
Would not this land be wholly defiled?
But you have played the prostitute with many lovers,
and yet you would return to me!—oracle of the Lord.
2 Raise your eyes to the heights, and look,
where have men not lain with you?
Along the roadways you waited for them
like an Arabian[b] in the wilderness.
You defiled the land
by your wicked prostitution.(B)
3 Therefore the showers were withheld,
the spring rain did not fall.
But because you have a prostitute’s brow,
you refused to be ashamed.(C)
4 Even now do you not call me, “My father,
you are the bridegroom of my youth?
5 Will he keep his wrath forever,
will he hold his grudge to the end?”
This is what you say; yet you do
all the evil you can.
Judah and Israel. 6 The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: Do you see what rebellious Israel has done? She has gone up every high mountain, and under every green tree she has played the prostitute.(D) 7 And I thought: After she has done all this, she will return to me. But she did not return. Then, even though that traitor her sister Judah, saw 8 that, in response to all the adulteries rebel Israel had committed, I sent her away and gave her a bill of divorce, nevertheless Judah, the traitor, her sister, was not frightened; she too went off and played the prostitute.(E) 9 With her casual prostitution, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and wood.(F) 10 In spite of all this, Judah, the traitor, her sister, did not return to me wholeheartedly, but insincerely—oracle of the Lord.
Restoration of Israel. 11 Then the Lord said to me: Rebel Israel is more just than traitor Judah.(G) 12 Go, proclaim these words toward the north, and say:
Return, rebel Israel—oracle of the Lord—
I will not remain angry with you;
For I am merciful, oracle of the Lord,
I will not keep my anger forever.(H)
13 Only admit your guilt:
how you have rebelled against the Lord, your God,
How you ran here and there to strangers
under every green tree
and would not listen to my voice—oracle of the Lord.(I)
14 Return, rebellious children—oracle of the Lord—[c]
for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city, two from a clan,
and bring you to Zion.(J)
15 I will appoint for you shepherds after my own heart,
who will shepherd you wisely and prudently.(K)
16 When you increase in number and are fruitful in the land—
oracle of the Lord—
They will in those days no longer say,
“The ark of the covenant of the Lord!”
They will no longer think of it, or remember it,
or miss it, or make another one.
17 At that time they will call Jerusalem “the Lord’s throne.” All nations will gather together there to honor the name of the Lord at Jerusalem, and they will no longer stubbornly follow their wicked heart.(L) 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk alongside the house of Israel; together they will come from the land of the north to the land which I gave your ancestors as a heritage.(M)
Conditions for Forgiveness
19 I thought:
How I would like to make you my children!
So I gave you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful heritage among the nations!
You would call me, “My Father,” I thought,
and you would never turn away from me.(N)
20 But like a woman faithless to her lover,
thus have you been faithless to me,
house of Israel—oracle of the Lord.(O)
21 A cry is heard on the heights!
the plaintive weeping of Israel’s children,
Because they have perverted their way,
they have forgotten the Lord, their God.
22 Return, rebellious children!
I will heal your rebellions.
“Here we are! We belong to you,
for you are the Lord, our God.(P)
23 Deceptive indeed are the hills,
the mountains, clamorous;
Only in the Lord our God
is Israel’s salvation.(Q)
24 The shameful thing[d] has devoured
our ancestors’ worth from our youth,
Their sheep and cattle,
their sons and daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame,
let our disgrace cover us,
for we have sinned against the Lord, our God,
We and our ancestors, from our youth to this day;
we did not listen to the voice of the Lord, our God.”(R)
Chapter 4
1 If you return, Israel—oracle of the Lord—
return to me.
If you put your detestable things out of my sight,
and do not stray,(S)
2 And swear, “As the Lord lives,”[e]
in truth, in judgment, and in justice,
Then the nations shall bless themselves in him
and in him glory.(T)
3 For to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, thus says the Lord:
Till your untilled ground,
and do not sow among thorns.(U)
4 Be circumcised for the Lord,[f]
remove the foreskins of your hearts,
people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
Or else my anger will break out like fire,
and burn so that no one can quench it,
because of your evil deeds.(V)
The Invasion from the North
5 Proclaim it in Judah,
in Jerusalem announce it;
Blow the trumpet throughout the land,
call out, “Fill the ranks!”
Say, “Assemble, let us march
to the fortified cities.”
6 Raise the signal—to Zion!
Seek refuge! Don’t stand there!
Disaster I bring from the north,
and great destruction.
7 Up comes the lion from its lair,
the destroyer of nations has set out,
has left its place,
To turn your land into a desolation,
your cities into an uninhabited waste.(W)
8 So put on sackcloth,
mourn and wail:
“The blazing anger of the Lord
has not turned away from us.”(X)
9 In that day—oracle of the Lord—
The king will lose heart, and the princes;
the priests will be horrified,
and the prophets stunned.
10 “Ah! Lord God,” they will say,
“You really did deceive[g] us
When you said: You shall have peace,
while the sword was at our very throats.”(Y)
11 At that time it will be said
to this people and to Jerusalem,
A scorching wind from the bare heights comes
through the wilderness toward my daughter, the people.[h]
Not to winnow, not to cleanse,
12 a strong wind from there comes at my bidding.
Now I too pronounce
sentence upon them.(Z)
13 See! like storm clouds he advances,
like a whirlwind, his chariots;
Swifter than eagles, his horses:
“Woe to us! we are ruined.”
14 Cleanse your heart of evil, Jerusalem,
that you may be saved.
How long will you entertain
wicked schemes?
15 A voice proclaims it from Dan,
announces wickedness from Mount Ephraim:
16 “Make this known to the nations,
announce it against Jerusalem:
Besiegers are coming from the distant land,
shouting their war cry against the cities of Judah.”(AA)
17 Like watchers in the fields they surround her,
for she has rebelled against me—oracle of the Lord.(AB)
18 Your conduct, your deeds, have done this to you;
how bitter is this evil of yours,
how it reaches to your very heart!(AC)
19 My body! my body! how I writhe![i]
The walls of my heart!
My heart beats wildly,
I cannot be still;
For I myself have heard the blast of the horn,
the battle cry.
20 Ruin upon ruin is reported;
the whole land is laid waste.
In an instant my tents are ravaged;
in a flash, my shelters.(AD)
21 How long must I see the signal,
hear the blast of the horn!
22 My people are fools,
they do not know me;
They are senseless children,
without understanding;
They are wise at evil,
but they do not know how to do good.(AE)
23 I looked at the earth—it was waste and void;
at the heavens—their light had gone out!(AF)
24 I looked at the mountains—they were quaking!
All the hills were crumbling!
25 I looked—there was no one;
even the birds of the air had flown away!
26 I looked—the garden land was a wilderness,
with all its cities destroyed
before the Lord, before his blazing anger.(AG)
27 For thus says the Lord:
The whole earth shall be waste,
but I will not wholly destroy it.(AH)
28 Because of this the earth shall mourn,
the heavens above shall darken;
I have spoken, I will not change my mind,
I have decided, I will not turn back.(AI)
29 At the shout of rider and archer
each city takes to flight;
They shrink into the thickets,
they scale the rocks:
All the cities are abandoned,
no one lives in them.
30 You now who are doomed, what are you doing
dressing in purple,
bedecking yourself with gold,
Enlarging your eyes with kohl?
You beautify yourself in vain!
Your lovers reject you,
they seek your life.
31 Yes, I hear the cry, like that of a woman in labor,
like the anguish of a mother bearing her first child—
The cry of daughter Zion gasping,
as she stretches out her hands:
“Ah, woe is me! I sink exhausted
before my killers!”(AJ)
Chapter 5
Universal Corruption
1 Roam the streets of Jerusalem,
look about and observe,
Search through her squares,
to find even one
Who acts justly
and seeks honesty,
and I will pardon her!
2 They say, “As the Lord lives,”
but in fact they swear falsely.
3 Lord, do your eyes not search for honesty?
You struck them, but they did not flinch;
you laid them low, but they refused correction;
They set their faces harder than stone,
and refused to return.(AK)
4 I thought: These are only the lowly,
they behave foolishly;
For they do not know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.(AL)
5 Let me go to the leaders
and speak with them;
For they must know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.
But, one and all, they have broken the yoke,
torn off the harness.(AM)
6 Therefore, lions from the forest slay them,
wolves of the desert ravage them,
Leopards keep watch round their cities:
all who come out are torn to pieces,
For their crimes are many,
their rebellions numerous.
7 Why should I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me,
they swear by gods that are no gods.
I fed them, but they commit adultery;
to the prostitute’s house they throng.
8 They are lustful stallions,
each neighs after the other’s wife.(AN)
9 Should I not punish them for this?—oracle of the Lord;
on a nation like this should I not take vengeance?
10 Climb her terraces, and ravage them,
destroy them completely.
Tear away her tendrils,
they do not belong to the Lord.(AO)
11 For they have openly rebelled against me,
both the house of Israel and the house of Judah—
oracle of the Lord.(AP)
12 They denied the Lord,[j]
saying, “He is nothing,
No evil shall come to us,
neither sword nor famine shall we see.(AQ)
13 The prophets are wind,
and the word is not with them.
Let it be done to them!”
14 Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts,
because you have said this—
See! I make my words
a fire in your mouth,
And this people the wood
that it shall devour!—
15 Beware! I will bring against you
a nation from far away,
O House of Israel—oracle of the Lord;
A long-lived nation, an ancient nation,
a people whose language you do not know,
whose speech you cannot understand.(AR)
16 Their quivers are like open graves;
all of them are warriors.
17 They will devour your harvest and your bread,
devour your sons and your daughters,
Devour your sheep and cattle,
devour your vines and fig trees;
With their swords they will beat down
the fortified cities in which you trust.(AS)
18 Yet even in those days—oracle of the Lord—I will not completely destroy you.(AT) 19 And when they ask, “Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?” say to them, “As you have abandoned me to serve foreign gods in your own land, so shall you serve foreigners in a land not your own.”
20 Announce this to the house of Jacob,
proclaim it in Judah:
21 Pay attention to this,
you foolish and senseless people,
Who have eyes and do not see,
who have ears and do not hear.(AU)
22 Should you not fear me—oracle of the Lord—
should you not tremble before me?
I made the sandy shore the sea’s limit,
which by eternal decree it may not overstep.
Toss though it may, it is to no avail;
though its billows roar, they cannot overstep.(AV)
23 But this people’s heart is stubborn and rebellious;
they turn and go away,
24 And do not say in their hearts,
“Let us fear the Lord, our God,
Who gives us rain
early and late,[k] in its time;
Who watches for us
over the appointed weeks of harvest.”(AW)
25 Your crimes have prevented these things,
your sins have turned these blessings away from you.(AX)
26 For criminals lurk among my people;
like fowlers they set traps,
but it is human beings they catch.(AY)
27 Their houses are as full of treachery
as a bird-cage is of birds;
Therefore they grow powerful and rich,
28 fat and sleek.
They pass over wicked deeds;
justice they do not defend
By advancing the claim of the orphan
or judging the cause of the poor.(AZ)
29 Shall I not punish these things?—oracle of the Lord;
on a nation such as this shall I not take vengeance?
30 Something shocking and horrible
has happened in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests teach on their own authority;
Yet my people like it this way;
what will you do when the end comes?(BA)
Chapter 4
False Asceticism.[a] 1 Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the last times some will turn away from the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and demonic instructions(A) 2 through the hypocrisy of liars with branded consciences. 3 They forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.(B) 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected when received with thanksgiving,(C) 5 for it is made holy by the invocation of God in prayer.[b]
Counsel to Timothy. 6 [c]If you will give these instructions to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound teaching you have followed. 7 Avoid profane and silly myths. Train yourself for devotion,(D) 8 for, while physical training is of limited value, devotion is valuable in every respect, since it holds a promise of life both for the present and for the future.(E) 9 This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance.(F) 10 For this we toil and struggle,[d] because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the savior of all, especially of those who believe.(G)
11 [e]Command and teach these things. 12 Let no one have contempt for your youth,[f] but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.(H) 13 Until I arrive, attend to the reading,[g] exhortation, and teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was conferred on you through the prophetic word[h] with the imposition of hands of the presbyterate.(I) 15 Be diligent in these matters, be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be evident to everyone. 16 Attend to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in both tasks, for by doing so you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.