Old/New Testament
Word for Worldly Women
4 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on Samaria’s hill,
who oppress the poor,
who crush the needy,
who say to their masters: “Bring, so we may drink.”
2 My Lord Adonai has sworn by His holiness:
“Behold, days are coming upon you
when he will drag you away with meat-hooks,
the last of you with fishhooks.
3 You will go out through breaches—
each woman straight ahead,
and you will be cast to Harmon.”[a]
It is the declaration of Adonai.
4 “Come to Bethel and transgress,
in Gilgal multiply transgression.
Every morning bring your sacrifices
and your tithes every three days.
5 Offer up hametz as a thank offering,
call out about freewill offerings—
boast about it!
For so you love to do, Bnei-Yisrael.”
It is the declaration of my Lord Adonai.
Yet You Have Not Returned
6 “So also, I myself have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities
and lack of bread in all your places—
yet you have not returned to Me,”
declares Adonai.
7 “Also I myself have withheld from you
the rain—when three months remain to the harvest,
I caused it to rain on one city,
while on another city I sent no rain;
one piece of ground would get rain,
while the portion not rained on would wither.
8 So two or three cities go staggering to one city to drink water,
but would not be satisfied—
yet you have not returned to Me,”
declares Adonai.
9 “I struck you with blight and mildew.
Your many gardens and vineyards,
your fig-trees and olive trees the locust has devoured—
yet you have not returned to Me,”
declares Adonai.
10 “I sent among you a plague in the manner of Egypt.
I slew your young men by the sword,
with your chariot-horses in captivity.
I made the stench of your camp rise up even to your own nostrils—
yet you have not returned to Me,”
declares Adonai.
11 I overthrew some of you as God
overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah[b].
You became like a firebrand snatched from a blaze—
yet you have not returned to Me,”
declares Adonai.
Prepare to Meet Your God
12 “Therefore here is what I will do to you, Israel.
Because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, Israel!”
13 For behold! He who forms mountains
who creates the wind,
who declares His thoughts to man,
who makes dawn out of darkness,
who walks above the heights of the earth—
His Name is Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot!
Seek Adonai and Live
5 Hear this word that I take up as a lament over you, O house of Israel:
2 She has fallen, never rising again—virgin Israel—
She is forsaken on her land,
with nobody to lift her up.
3 For thus says Adonai Elohim:
“The city that sends out a thousand
will have a hundred left,
and one that sends out a hundred
will have ten left for the house of Israel.”
4 For thus says Adonai to the house of Israel:
“Seek Me, and live!
5 But do not seek Bethel,
do not go to Gilgal,
do not cross over to Beersheba.
For Gilgal will surely go into exile,
and Bethel will come to trouble.
6 Seek Adonai, and live—
lest He rush like fire through the house of Joseph.
Yes, it will devour Bethel,
with no one to quench it.[c]
Sins of Injustice
7 You who turn justice to wormwood
threw righteousness to the ground.
8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion
and changes deep darkness to morning.
Who darkens the day into night.
Who summons the water of the sea
and pours it out on the face of the earth
—Adonai is His Name.
9 He flashes destruction on the mighty,
so destruction will come against a fortress.
10 They despise one who reproves at the gate,
so they detest one who speaks with integrity.
11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor,
exacting from him a burden of grain,
you built houses of hewn stone,
but will not dwell in them,
you planted pleasant vineyards,
but will not drink their wine.
12 For I know your crimes are many
and your sins countless—
afflicting the righteous, taking bribes,
and turning the needy aside at the gate.
13 Therefore the prudent keep silent at such a time
—for it is a distressful time.
14 Seek good and not evil,
so you may live,
and so Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot may be with you
—just as you said!
15 Hate evil, love good,
maintain justice at the gate.
Maybe Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot will
extend grace to Joseph’s remnant.[d]
16 Therefore thus said Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot, my Lord:
“There will be wailing in all plazas and in all streets.
They will say: ‘Alas! Alas!’
The farmer will be called to mourning
along with those who know the lamentation song.
17 In all vineyards will be wailing,
for I will pass through your midst”
—Adonai has spoken.
Dreadful Day of Adonai
18 Oy to you—longing for the Day of Adonai![e]
What would it be for you?
The Day of Adonai will be darkness and not light.[f]
19 It will be as when a man is fleeing from a lion—
and meets a bear!
Or he comes home,
leans his hand on the wall,
and a snake bites him!
20 Will not the Day of Adonai be darkness, not light?
Gloom, not brightness?
Justice Better Than Sacrifices
21 “I hate, I despise your festivals!
I take no delight in your sacred assemblies.
22 Even if you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
nor will I look
at peace offerings of your fattened animals.
23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice roll like water
and righteousness like an ever-flowing torrent.
25 Did you bring sacrifices and offerings to Me in the wilderness
for forty years, O house of Israel?
26 But you lifted up your images
—Siccuth your ‘king’, and Chiun,[g] your star gods—
which you made for yourselves,[h]
27 So I will send you into exile,
beyond Damascus.”
Adonai has spoken,
Elohei-Tzva’ot is His Name.
At Ease in Zion
6 Oy! You who are at ease in Zion,
trusting in Samaria’s hill!
Distinguished ones of the foremost of nations—
to whom the house of Israel comes
2 Go over to Calneh and look.
From there go to great Hamath,
go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory larger than yours?
3 Dismissing the day of calamity,
you bring near the throne of violence.
4 Reclining on beds of ivory,
sprawling on their couches,
dining on lambs from the flock
and calves from amid the stall,
5 chanting to the sound of harp like David,
inventing their own instruments of song,
6 drinking wine from bowls,
anointing with choice ointments—
yet they are not sickened over the breakdown of Joseph.
7 Therefore now they will go into exile at the head of the exiles.
Sprawling revelry will cease.
8 My Lord Adonai has sworn by Himself
—declares Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot—
“I loathe the arrogance of Jacob,
I despise his palaces,
so I will shut down the city and everything in it.”
9 If ten people remain in one house, they will die. 10 One’s beloved—the one burning incense for him—will lift him up to carry the bones out of the house, and he will say to one in the innermost recess of the house: “Is anyone else still with you?” And he will say: “No one.” Then he will say, “Hush! For we must not mention the Name of Adonai.”
11 For behold, Adonai will command,
He will smash the big house to fragments
and the little house to splinters.
12 Will horses run on the cliff?
Will one plow there with oxen?
Yet you turned justice into venom,
the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.
13 You are rejoicing for no reason, saying:
“Haven’t we taken two horns for ourselves by our own strength?”
14 “For behold, I am raising up against you,
O house of Israel, a nation,
and they will afflict you
from Lebo-Hamath[i] to the Valley of the Arabah.”
declares Adonai, the God of Hosts.
144,000 Marked with a Seal
7 After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth[a] so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or against any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east,[b] having the seal of the living God. He cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who were permitted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “Do no harm to the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”[c]
4 Now I heard the number of those marked with the seal:
144,000 from every tribe of Bnei-Yisrael—
5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah;
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben;
12,000 from the tribe of Gad;
6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher;
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali;
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh;
7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon;
12,000 from the tribe of Levi;
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar;
8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun;
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph;
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin.
Countless Worshipers Before the Throne
9 After these things I looked, and behold, a vast multitude that no one could count—from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues—was standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes, with palm branches[d] in their hands 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying,
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb!”
11 And all the angels were standing around the throne, along with the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying,
“Amen, blessing and glory
and wisdom and thanksgiving
and honor and power and might
belong to our God forever and ever. Amen!”
13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these dressed in white robes, and where have they come from?”
I said to him, “Sir, you know.”
14 Then he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.[e] They have washed their robes and made them white[f] in the blood of the Lamb. 15 For this reason, they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His Temple. The One seated on the throne will shelter them. [g] 16 They shall never again go hungry, nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. [h] 17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them and guide them to springs of living water, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.”[i]
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.