Old/New Testament
9 O Israel, rejoice no more as others do, for you have deserted your God and sacrificed to other gods on every threshing floor.
2 Therefore your harvests will be small; your grapes will blight upon the vine.
3 You may no longer stay here in this land of God; you will be carried off to Egypt and Assyria and live there on scraps of food. 4 There, far from home, you are not allowed to pour out wine for sacrifice to God. For no sacrifice that is offered there can please him; it is polluted, just as food of mourners is; all who eat such sacrifices are defiled. They may eat this food to feed themselves, but may not offer it to God. 5 What then will you do on holy days, on days of feasting to the Lord, 6 when you are carried off to Assyria as slaves? Who will inherit your possessions left behind? Egypt will! She will gather your dead; Memphis will bury them. And thorns and thistles will grow up among the ruins.
7 The time of Israel’s punishment has come; the day of recompense is almost here, and soon Israel will know it all too well. “The prophets are crazy”; “The inspired men are mad.” Yes, so they mock, for the nation is weighted with sin and shows only hatred for those who love God.
8 “I appointed the prophets to guard my people, but the people have blocked them at every turn and publicly declared their hatred, even in the Temple of the Lord. 9 The things my people do are as depraved as what they did in Gibeah[a] long ago. The Lord does not forget. He will surely punish them.
10 “O Israel, how well I remember those first delightful days when I led you through the wilderness! How refreshing was your love! How satisfying, like the early figs of summer in their first season! But then you deserted me for Baal-peor,[b] to give yourselves to other gods, and soon you were as foul as they. 11 The glory of Israel flies away like a bird, for your children will die at birth, or perish in the womb, or never even be conceived. 12 And if your children grow, I will take them from you; all are doomed. Yes, it will be a sad day when I turn away and leave you alone.”
13 In my vision I have seen the sons of Israel doomed. The fathers are forced to lead their sons to slaughter. 14 O Lord, what shall I ask for your people? I will ask for wombs that don’t give birth, for breasts that cannot nourish.
15 “All their wickedness began at Gilgal;[c] there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their idolatry. I will love them no more, for all their leaders are rebels. 16 Ephraim is doomed. The roots of Israel are dried up; she shall bear no more fruit. And if she gives birth, I will slay even her beloved child.”
17 My God will destroy the people of Israel because they will not listen or obey. They will be wandering Jews, homeless among the nations.
10 “How prosperous Israel is—a luxuriant vine all filled with fruit! But the more wealth I give her, the more she pours it on the altars of her heathen gods; the richer the harvests I give her, the more beautiful the statues and idols she erects. 2 The hearts of her people are false toward God. They are guilty and must be punished. God will break down their heathen altars and smash their idols.”
3 Then they will say, “We deserted the Lord and he took away our king. But what’s the difference? We don’t need one anyway!”
4 They make promises they don’t intend to keep. Therefore punishment will spring up among them like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field. 5 The people of Samaria tremble lest their calf idol at Beth-aven should be hurt; the priests and people, too, mourn over the departed honor of their shattered gods. 6 This idol—this calf-god thing—will be carted with them when they go as slaves to Assyria, a present to the great king there. Ephraim will be laughed at for trusting in this idol; Israel will be put to shame. 7 As for Samaria, her king shall disappear like a chip of wood upon an ocean wave. 8 And the idol altars of Aven at Bethel where Israel sinned will crumble. Thorns and thistles will grow up to surround them. And the people will cry to the mountains and hills to fall upon them and crush them.
9 “O Israel, ever since that awful night in Gibeah,[d] there has been only sin, sin, sin! You have made no progress whatever. Was it not right that the men of Gibeah were wiped out? 10 I will come against you for your disobedience; I will gather the armies of the nations against you to punish you for your heaped-up sins.
11 “Ephraim is accustomed to treading out the grain—an easy job she loves. I have never put her under a heavy yoke before; I have spared her tender neck. But now I will harness her to the plow and harrow. Her days of ease are gone.
12 “Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will reap a crop of my love; plow the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower salvation upon you.
13 “But you have cultivated wickedness and raised a thriving crop of sins. You have earned the full reward of trusting in a lie—believing that military might and great armies can make a nation safe!
14 “Therefore, the terrors of war shall rise among your people, and all your forts will fall, just as at Beth-arbel, which Shalman[e] destroyed; even mothers and children were dashed to death there. 15 That will be your fate, too, you people of Israel, because of your great wickedness. In one morning the king of Israel shall be destroyed.
11 “When Israel was a child, I loved him as a son and brought him out of Egypt. 2 But the more I called to him, the more he rebelled, sacrificing to Baal and burning incense to idols. 3 I trained him from infancy, I taught him to walk, I held him in my arms. But he doesn’t know or even care that it was I who raised him.
4 “As a man would lead his favorite ox,[f] so I led Israel with my ropes of love. I loosened his muzzle so he could eat. I myself have stooped and fed him. 5 But my people shall return to Egypt and Assyria because they won’t return to me.
6 “War will swirl through their cities; their enemies will crash through their gates and trap them in their own fortresses. 7 For my people are determined to desert me. And so I have sentenced them to slavery, and no one shall set them free.
8 “Oh, how can I give you up, my Ephraim? How can I let you go? How can I forsake you like Admah and Zeboiim?[g] My heart cries out within me; how I long to help you! 9 No, I will not punish you as much as my fierce anger tells me to. This is the last time I will destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man; I am the Holy One living among you, and I did not come to destroy.
10 “For the people shall walk after the Lord. I shall roar as a lion at their enemies and my people shall return trembling from the west. 11 Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt—like doves flying from Assyria. And I will bring them home again; it is a promise from the Lord.”
12 Israel surrounds me with lies and deceit, but Judah still trusts in God and is faithful to the Holy One.
3
“This message is sent to you by the one who has the sevenfold Spirit[a] of God and the seven stars.
“I know your reputation as a live and active church, but you are dead. 2 Now wake up! Strengthen what little remains—for even what is left is at the point of death. Your deeds are far from right in the sight of God. 3 Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly and turn to me again. Unless you do, I will come suddenly upon you, unexpected as a thief, and punish you.
4 “Yet even there in Sardis some haven’t soiled their garments with the world’s filth; they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5 Everyone who conquers will be clothed in white, and I will not erase his name from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that he is mine.
6 “Let all who can hear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
7
“This message is sent to you by the one who is holy and true and has the key of David to open what no one can shut and to shut what no one can open.
8 “I know you well; you aren’t strong, but you have tried to obey[b] and have not denied my Name. Therefore I have opened a door to you that no one can shut.
9 “Note this: I will force those supporting the causes of Satan while claiming to be mine[c] (but they aren’t—they are lying) to fall at your feet and acknowledge that you are the ones I love.
10 “Because you have patiently obeyed me despite the persecution, therefore I will protect you from the time of Great Tribulation and temptation,[d] which will come upon the world to test everyone alive. 11 Look, I am coming soon![e] Hold tightly to the little strength you have—so that no one will take away your crown.
12 “As for the one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; he will be secure and will go out no more; and I will write my God’s Name on him, and he will be a citizen in the city of my God—the New Jerusalem, coming down from heaven from my God; and he will have my new Name inscribed upon him.
13 “Let all who can hear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
14
“This message is from the one who stands firm,[f] the faithful and true Witness of all that is or was or evermore shall be, the primeval source of God’s creation:
15 “I know you well—you are neither hot nor cold; I wish you were one or the other! 16 But since you are merely lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth!
17 “You say, ‘I am rich, with everything I want; I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that spiritually you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
18 “My advice to you is to buy pure gold from me, gold purified by fire—only then will you truly be rich. And to purchase from me white garments, clean and pure, so you won’t be naked and ashamed; and to get medicine from me to heal your eyes and give you back your sight. 19 I continually discipline and punish everyone I love; so I must punish you unless you turn from your indifference and become enthusiastic about the things of God.
20 “Look! I have been standing at the door, and I am constantly knocking. If anyone hears me calling him and opens the door, I will come in and fellowship with him and he with me. 21 I will let everyone who conquers sit beside me on my throne, just as I took my place with my Father on his throne when I had conquered. 22 Let those who can hear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.