Old/New Testament
Unfaithful Judah and Unfaithful Israel
3 “If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him to be with another man,
will he return to her again?
Would not such a land be totally polluted?
You are a prostitute with many lovers.
Now are you returning to Me?”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
2 “Lift your eyes to the barren hills and see!
Where have you not been violated?
By the wayside you sat waiting for them
like a nomad in the desert.
You have polluted the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.
3 Therefore showers have been withheld
and there has been no spring rain.
You have a harlot’s brazen look;
you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Did you not just now call to Me:
‘Avi! You are a friend of my youth.
5 Would He keep a grudge forever?
Would He keep it to the end?’
So you said—
yet you have done
all the evil things you could.”
6 Then Adonai said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel did? She went up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there she committed adultery. 7 Yet I thought that after she had done all this she would return to Me. But she did not return. Even her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. 8 I noted that when backsliding Israel committed adultery I sent her away and gave her a certificate of divorce. Yet, unfaithful Judah, her sister, did not fear. Instead she also went and committed adultery. 9 It happened that through her frivolous prostitution, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and with wood. 10 Yet after all this her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with her whole heart, but only insincerely,”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
11 Then Adonai said to me, “Backsliding Israel has proved herself more righteous than unfaithful Judah. 12 Go! Proclaim these words toward the north, saying:
“Return backsliding Israel,” says Adonai.
“I will no longer frown on you,
for I am merciful,” says Adonai.
“I will not keep a grudge forever.
13 Only acknowledge your iniquity.
For you sinned against Adonai your God
and scattered your favors to foreign gods
under every green tree.
You have not obeyed My voice.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
Call to Backsliding Children
14 “Return, O backsliding children,” declares Adonai.
“For I am your Husband.
I will choose you—
one from a city and two from a clan—
and will bring you to Zion.
15 I will give you shepherds after My own heart
who will feed you knowledge and understanding.
16 It will be in those days when you multiply
and become fruitful in the land.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
“They will no longer talk about the ark of the covenant of Adonai, nor will it come to mind or be remembered. Neither will it be missed or another one made again. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of Adonai and all the nations will gather into it, to Jerusalem, in the Name of Adonai. No longer will they walk according to the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel. They will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.”
19 “Then I Myself said:
‘How gladly would I make you sons
and give you a pleasant land—
the most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’
I thought you would call Me—Avi!—
and would not turn from following Me.
20 Yet as a woman betrays her lover,
so have you betrayed Me, O house of Israel.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
21 A voice is heard on the barren hills
—the weeping and supplication of the children of Israel—
because they perverted their way
and forgot Adonai their God.
22 “Return, backsliding children!
I will heal your backsliding.”
“Yes, we will come to You
for You are Adonai Eloheinu.
23 Surely help from the hills is a delusion—
the commotion of the mountains!
Surely in Adonai Eloheinu
is the salvation of Israel.
24 But the shame has consumed
the labor of our fathers since our youth—
their flocks and their herds,
their sons and their daughters.
25 Let’s lie down with our shame
and let our disgrace cover us!
For we have sinned against Adonai Eloheinu
—both we and our fathers—
from our youth even to this day.
We have not paid attention to
the voice of Adonai Eloheinu.”
4 “If you will return, O Israel,
return to Me,” declares Adonai.
“If you will put your detestable things out of My sight.
Then you will not waver.
2 You will swear, ‘As Adonai lives!’
in truth, in justice and in righteousness.
The nations will bless themselves in Him
and in Him they will glory.”
3 Thus says Adonai to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem:
“Break up your unplowed ground
and do not sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to Adonai
and remove the foreskins of your heart,
men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Else My wrath will break out like fire and blaze,
with no one to quench it,
because of your evil deeds!”
Imminent Invasion from the North
5 Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, saying:
“Blow the shofar in the land!”
Cry aloud and say,
“Assemble yourselves!
Let us go into the fortified cities.”
6 “Raise a banner toward Zion!
Take refuge! Do not delay!
For I bring calamity from the north,
even terrible destruction.
7 A lion has come up from his thicket—
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his place
to make your land a wasteland.
Your cities will lie in ruins,
without inhabitant.
8 Therefore, put on sackcloth—
lament and wail!
For the fierce anger of Adonai
has not turned away from us.”
9 “It will happen in that day”
—it is a declaration of Adonai—
“that the king’s heart will fail,
as will the heart of the princes.
The kohanim will be appalled,
and the prophets will be stunned.”
10 Then I said, “Alas, Adonai Elohim! How completely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem saying, ‘You will have shalom,’ until the sword touches the soul!”
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the barren hills in the wilderness blows toward My people, but not to winnow or to sift— 12 a wind too strong for these things will come from Me. Now even I will pronounce judgments against them.”
13 See, he comes up like clouds,
and his chariots like whirlwinds.
His horses are swifter than eagles—
“Oy! We are ruined!”
14 O Jerusalem, purify your heart from wickedness, so that you may be saved.
How long will your wicked thoughts lodge within you?
15 A voice announces from Dan
and proclaims calamity from the hills of Ephraim,
16 “Remind the nations,
proclaim over Jerusalem!
Besiegers are soon coming from a far country,
raising their voice against the cities of Judah.
17 Like keepers of a field they surround her,
because she has been rebellious against Me.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
18 Your conduct and your deeds
have brought these things on you.
This is your calamity!
How bitter it is!
How it smites your heart!
19 My stomach, my stomach!
I writhe in anguish!
The pain of my heart!
My heart is pounding within me!
I cannot keep silent
because I have heard, O my soul,
the sound of the shofar,
the battle-cry of war.
20 Disaster on disaster is reported.
So the whole land is ruined.
My tents are suddenly ravaged,
my curtains in an instant.
21 How long must I see the battle standard
and hear the sound of the shofar?
22 “For My people are foolish.
They do not know Me.
They are senseless children,
and they have no understanding.
They are wise to do evil,
but to do good they do not know.”
23 I looked at the earth and behold,
it was deserted and desolate,
and at the heavens
and they had no light.
24 I looked at the mountains—
behold, they were shaking
and all the hills swaying to and fro.
25 I looked and behold, no people!
All the birds of the sky had fled.
26 I looked and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness
and all of its cities were in ruins
before Adonai, before His fierce anger.
27 For thus says Adonai,
“The whole land will be wasteland,
yet I will not totally destroy it.
28 Therefore, the earth will mourn
and the heavens above grow black.
For I have spoken, I have purposed,
nor will I relent, nor turn from it.
29 At the sound of horsemen and archers
the whole city flees.
They go into the thickets
and climb up on the rocks.
The whole city is deserted—
no one dwells in it.
30 And you, O desolate one, what will you do?
Though you dress in scarlet,
though you adorn yourself with gold ornaments
though you enlarge your eyes with paint—
in vain
you make yourself beautiful—
your lovers despise you,
they seek your life.
31 For I heard a cry like one in labor,
the anguish of one giving birth to her first child—
the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands saying,
“Oy, now to me!
For my soul faints
before murderers.”
God’s Just Judgment
5 Roam the streets of Jerusalem,
look around and consider,
search through her squares!
If you can find a person,
if there is one who does justice,
who seeks truth,
then I will pardon the city.
2 Though they say, “As Adonai lives!”
surely they swear falsely.
3 Adonai, do Your eyes not look for faithfulness?
You struck them, but they did not grieve.
You disciplined them, but they refused correction.
They made their faces harder than stone.
They refused to return.
4 Then I said:
These are only the poor.
They are foolish.
For they do not know the way of Adonai,
the ordinance of their God.
5 I will go to the distinguished
and speak to them.
Surely they know the way of Adonai,
the ordinance of their God.
But they too had broken the yoke
and torn off the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion from the forest will kill them.
A desert wolf will ravage them.
A leopard watches over their cities.
Everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces,
For their rebellion is great,
their backslidings frequent.
7 “Why therefore should I forgive you?
Your children have forsaken Me
and sworn by those who are not gods.
Even though I fed them well,
they committed adultery
and thronged to the prostitute houses.
8 They are well-fed, lustful stallions,
each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.
9 For such, should I not punish them?”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
“On such a nation as this
should I not avenge Myself?
10 Go up into her vines and ravage them,
but do not completely destroy them.
Strip away her branches
for they are not Adonai’s.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been utterly unfaithful to Me.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
12 They have lied about Adonai saying:
“Not He! No harm will come to us.
Nor will we see sword or famine.
13 The prophets are but wind
and the word is not in them.
Let what they say be done to them!”
14 Therefore thus says Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot:
“Because you speak this word, behold,
I will make My words in your mouth fire
and this people wood—
and it will devour them.
15 See, I am bringing a nation against you
from afar, O house of Israel.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
“It is an enduring nation,
an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you neither know
nor understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is an open grave.
They are all mighty warriors.
17 They will devour your harvest and your food.
They will devour your sons and your daughters.
They will devour your flocks and your herds.
They will devour your vines and your fig trees.
They will demolish your fortified cities
—the ones in which you trust—
with the sword.
18 “Yet even in those days,” declares Adonai, “I will not completely destroy you. 19 So it will come to pass that when you ask, ‘Why has Adonai Eloheinu done all these things to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’
20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob
and proclaim it in Judah, saying:
21 ‘Hear this you foolish people
who have no understanding,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear.
22 Do you not fear Me?’ says Adonai.
‘Do you not tremble in My presence?’
For I made the sand a boundary of the sea,
an everlasting decree that cannot be broken.
Though the waves roll, they cannot prevail.
Though they roar, they cannot cross it.
23 But this people have a stubborn and rebellious heart.
They have turned aside and gone away.
24 They do not say in their heart,
‘Let us now fear Adonai Eloheinu,
who gives rain in its season
—fall rain and spring rain—
who reserves for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’
25 Your iniquities have turned these away,
your sins have deprived you of bounty.
26 For among My people are wicked men,
watching like bait-layers lying in wait.
They set a trap—they catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds,
so are their houses full of deceit.
That is why they grew great and rich.
28 They grew fat and sleek.
They also overlooked evil deeds.
They do not uphold a cause
—the cause of an orphan to prosper—
nor do they defend the right of the poor.
29 Should I not punish them?” says Adonai.
“On such a nation
should I not avenge Myself?
30 An appalling and horrible thing
has happened in the land.
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
the kohanim rule by their own authority,
and My people love it this way!
But what will you do in the end?”
Advice to a Young Leader
4 Now the Ruach clearly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, following deceitful spirits and teachings of demons 2 through the hypocrisy of false speakers—whose own conscience has been seared. 3 They forbid people to marry; they command people to abstain from foods that God created for the faithful to share with thanksgiving, having come to know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.
6 In pointing out these things to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Messiah Yeshua, nourished in the words of the faith and the sound teaching that you have been following. 7 But avoid godless myths and old wives’ tales; instead, train yourself in godliness. 8 For physical exercise has some benefit; but godliness is beneficial for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the one to come. 9 Trustworthy is the saying and deserving of complete acceptance 10 (for to this end we work hard and strive): “We have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially those who trust.” 11 Insist on these things and teach them.
12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but become an example of the faithful—in speech, in conduct, in love, in faithfulness, and in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to encouragement, and to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift[a] within you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands of the elders. 15 Practice these things—be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be clear to all. 16 Give attention to yourself and your teaching. Persevere in these things, for in doing so you will save yourself[b] and those who hear you.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.