Old/New Testament
3 If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him and marries another man,
can he return to her again?[a]
Wouldn’t acting like that completely defile the land?
But you have lived like a prostitute with many lovers.
And now you want to return to me?
declares the Lord.
2 Look up to the bare hills and see.
Is there any place where you have not engaged in sex?[b]
You sat by the roadsides waiting for lovers,
like a nomad[c] in the desert.
You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.
3 That is why the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rains have not come.
Yet you have the shameless look of a prostitute.
You refuse to be ashamed.
4 Did you not just call to me, “My father!
You are my close friend from my youth!”?
5 You say, “Will he be angry for so long?
Will he keep up his wrath forever?”
Yes, that is what you say,
but you do whatever evil you can.
Unfaithful Israel, Treacherous Judah
6 In the days of King Josiah, the Lord asked me:
Have you seen what unfaithful Israel did? She has gone up onto every high hill and under every green tree and acted like a prostitute there. 7 I told myself that after she did all this, she would return to me, but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 Unfaithful Israel committed adultery, so I sent her away. I gave her a certificate of divorce, yet I saw that in spite of this, her treacherous sister Judah had no fear. She also went and acted like a prostitute. 9 Since Israel regarded her sexual sins so lightly, she defiled the land by committing adultery with stones and trees. 10 In spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah did not turn back to me with all her heart, but only pretended, declares the Lord.
11 Then the Lord said to me:
Unfaithful Israel is more righteous than treacherous Judah.
12 Go, proclaim these words to the north.
Return, unfaithful Israel, declares the Lord.
I will no longer frown on you,
because I am merciful, declares the Lord.
I will not be angry forever.
13 At least acknowledge your guilt.
Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God.
You have distributed your favors to strangers under every green tree,
and you have not listened to me, declares the Lord.
14 Return, unfaithful people, declares the Lord, because I am your husband. I will take you—one from a city, two from a family—and bring you to Zion. 15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 In those days, when you have been fruitful and increased in number in the land, declares the Lord, men will no longer say, “The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.” It will not enter their minds. It will not be remembered. It will not be missed, nor will another one be made. 17 Then they will call Jerusalem “The Throne of the Lord.” All nations will gather there in Jerusalem for the sake of the name of the Lord. No longer will they stubbornly follow their own evil hearts.
18 In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel, and together they will come from a land in the north to the land I gave your fathers as an inheritance.
A Dialogue Between the Lord and Israel About True Repentance
The Lord
19 I myself said that I would like to treat you like sons
and give you a desirable land,
the most splendid inheritance among the entire army of nations.
I thought you would call me Father
and would no longer turn away from me.
20 But you, O house of Israel, have been unfaithful to me,
like a wife who is unfaithful to her husband, declares the Lord.
21 A cry is heard on the bare hills,
the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel,
because they have perverted their way.
They have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 Return, unfaithful people.
I will cure you of your unfaithfulness.
The People
Yes, we will come to you,
for you are the Lord our God!
23 Yes, there has been deception from the hills,
and commotion in the mountains,
but there is salvation for Israel in the Lord our God.
24 Since our younger days,
shameful gods have consumed the results of our fathers’ hard work,
their sheep and cattle,
and their sons and daughters.
25 We will lie down in that shame.
Our disgrace covers us.
We have sinned against the Lord our God,
both we and our fathers.
From our younger days until today,
we have not obeyed the Lord our God.
The Lord
4 Israel, if you will return, declares the Lord,
return to me.
If you remove your disgusting idols from my sight,
and do not go astray,
2 and if you swear, “As surely as the Lord lives,”
in truth, justice, and righteousness,
then the nations will be blessed by him,
and they will take pride in him.
3 For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem:
Break up your unplowed ground
and do not sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord.
Circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah,
you who live in Jerusalem.
Otherwise my rage will burn like fire,
fire that cannot be put out,
because of the evil that you have done.
The Lord Brings Judgment From the North
5 Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem.
Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land.
Shout loudly and say, “Gather together!
We must flee into the fortified cities!”
6 Raise a signal flag to flee to Zion!
Flee for safety!
Do not stay behind!
I am bringing disaster from the north.
I am bringing terrible destruction.
7 A lion has come out of his den.
A destroyer of nations has set out.
He has come out of his lair to lay waste to the land.
Your cities will lie in ruins with no one living in them.
8 So put on sackcloth, mourn and wail,
because the burning anger of the Lord has not turned away from us.
9 When that day comes, declares the Lord,
the heart of the king will fail,
and the hearts of the officials as well.
The priests will be stunned.
The prophets will be dumbfounded.
Jeremiah’s Grief
10 Then I said:
Oh no, Lord God!
You have completely deceived these people
and Jerusalem as well.
You said, “You will have peace,”
but the sword is at our throats!
Further Warning From the Lord
11 At that time it will be said to these people and to Jerusalem: “A hot wind from the bare hills in the wilderness blows toward my dear people, but not to winnow or purify. 12 A wind too strong for that is being sent by me. Now I am passing judgment on them.”
13 Look! He rises up like clouds.
His chariots are like a whirlwind.
His horses are faster than eagles!
“We are doomed! We are ruined!”
14 Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart
so that you will be saved.
How long will your wicked thoughts live inside you?
15 A voice declares from Dan,[d]
and a report of disaster comes from the hills of Ephraim.
16 Announce this to the nations.
Make Jerusalem hear it.
A besieging army is coming from a distant land,
raising a war cry against the cities of Judah.
17 They have surrounded her like men watching a field,
because she has rebelled against me, declares the Lord.
18 The way you live and the things you did have brought this on you.
This is your punishment.
It is bitter!
It strikes your heart!
Jeremiah’s Grief
19 My agony! My agony![e]
I am writhing in pain.
Oh my heart!
The walls of my heart are quivering!
I cannot keep silent,
because I hear the sound of the ram’s horn.
It is the signal for war!
20 One disaster after another is announced.
All the land is ruined.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed.
My tent curtains are torn apart in an instant.
21 How long must I see the battle flag
and hear the sound of the ram’s horn?
The Lord’s Grief
22 My people are fools.
They do not know me.
They are ignorant children.
They do not understand.
They are experts at doing evil,
and they do not know how to do good.
23 I looked at the earth.
It was undeveloped and empty.[f]
I looked at the heavens,
but there were no lights.
24 I looked at the mountains,
and they were quaking.
All the hills were shaking.
25 I looked and there was no one there.
Every bird in the sky had flown away.
26 I looked and saw that the fertile land was a wilderness.
All the cities were torn down,
because of the Lord and his burning anger.
27 This is what the Lord says.
The land will be laid waste,
but I will not destroy it completely.
28 Because of this, the earth will mourn,
and the sky above will grow dark.
I have spoken. I have made plans.
I will show no pity,
and I will not turn back from this.
29 At the sound of riders and archers,
the people of every city will flee.
They will go off into the brush.
They will climb up into the rocks.
Every city will be abandoned.
There will not be anyone to live in them.
30 You are destroyed!
What are you doing?
Why do you dress in scarlet
and put on gold jewelry?
Why do you put makeup on your eyes?
You are making yourself look beautiful for nothing.
Your lovers reject you.
They seek your life.
31 Listen, I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor,
a cry of pain like that of a woman giving birth to her first child,
the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands and saying,
“Oh no, it is hopeless!
My life is slipping away in the presence of murderers.”
A Dialogue About Jerusalem’s Sin
The Lord[g]
5 Hurry here and there through the streets of Jerusalem.
Look and take note.
Search her public squares.
See if you can find just one person who deals justly
and who seeks to be faithful.
If you can, I will forgive her.
2 Though they say, “As surely as the Lord lives,”
they are still swearing falsely.
The Prophet
3 Lord, don’t your eyes look for faithfulness?
You struck them,
but they felt no pain.
You crushed them,
but they refused discipline.
They made their faces harder than rock
and refused to repent.
4 Then I said:
These are only the poor.
They are foolish,
because they do not know the way of the Lord
and the just verdict of their God.
5 I will go to the great men and speak to them.
Certainly they know the way of the Lord,
the just verdict of their God.
But all of them together have broken the yoke
and have torn off their chains.
6 That is why a lion from the forest will strike them.
A wolf from the desert will attack them,
and a leopard is watching their cities.
Everyone who comes out of them will be torn to pieces
because their rebellions are so many,
and their unfaithfulness is so great.
The Lord
7 Why should I forgive you?
Your children have abandoned me
and sworn by gods that are not gods.
I satisfied their needs,
yet they committed adultery
and crowded into prostitutes’ houses.
8 They are well-fed, lusty[h] stallions,
each one neighing for his neighbor’s wife.
9 Should I not punish them for this? declares the Lord.
Should I not avenge myself on a nation like this one?
10 Go through her vineyards and destroy them,
but do not destroy them completely.
Cut away the branches,
because they do not belong to the Lord.
11 The house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been completely unfaithful to me, declares the Lord.
12 They have lied about the Lord.
They say, “He is nothing.
No disaster will come upon us.
We will not see sword or famine.
13 The prophets are only wind.
The word is not in them,
so let what they say come upon them.”[i]
14 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Armies, says.
Because they have said this,
I will make my words in your mouth a fire.
These people are the wood, and it will burn them up.
15 Now, O house of Israel, I am bringing against you
a nation from far away, declares the Lord.
I am bringing an enduring nation, an ancient nation.
They are a nation whose language you do not know,
nor can you understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is like an open grave.
They are all strong warriors.
17 They will consume your harvest and your bread.
They will consume your sons and daughters.
They will consume your flocks and herds,
and they will consume your vines and fig trees.
With their swords they will beat down your fortified cities,
the places in which you trust.
18 Yet even in those days, declares the Lord, I will not destroy you completely. 19 When the people ask, “Why has the Lord our God done this to us?” answer them, “Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.”
20 Declare this to the house of Jacob!
Proclaim it in Judah!
21 Hear this, you foolish, senseless people!
You have eyes but you cannot see.
You have ears but you cannot hear.
22 Do you not fear me? declares the Lord.
Do you not tremble before me?
I made sand as the boundary for the sea,
a permanent barrier that it cannot cross.
The waves toss back and forth,
but they cannot get past it.
The towering waves crash,
but they cannot pass over it.
23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart.
They have turned aside and wandered away.
24 They do not say to themselves,
“We should fear the Lord our God,
who sends autumn rains and spring rains at the right time,
who reserves for us enough weeks for the harvest.”
25 But your guilty actions have kept these things at a distance.
Your sins have kept these good things away from you.
26 Wicked men are found among my people.
Like men who trap birds, they lie in wait for my people
to set traps and catch people.[j]
27 Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit.
That is how they became powerful and rich.
28 They have become fat and sleek.
They have gone beyond evil words.[k]
They do not argue a case for the fatherless to help them win,
and they do not seek justice for the poor.
29 Should I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord.
Should I not avenge myself on a nation like this one?
30 A terrible thing has taken place.
A horrible thing has happened in the land.
31 Prophets prophesy lies,
priests rule by their own authority,
and my people love this.
But what will you do in the end?
Some Will Fall Away
4 The Spirit clearly says that, in later times, some will fall away from the faith, because they devote themselves to deceitful spirits and the doctrines of demons, 2 in connection with the hypocrisy of liars, whose own consciences have been seared. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 In fact, everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
A Good Servant of Christ Jesus
6 If you point out these things to the brothers,[a] you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and the good doctrine, which you have followed faithfully. 7 Pay no attention to worldly and absurd myths, but train yourself for godliness. 8 For bodily training is beneficial to an extent, but godliness is beneficial in all things, because it holds promise both for life now and for the life to come. 9 This saying is trustworthy and worthy of all acceptance. 10 Indeed, it is for this reason that we work hard and are insulted:[b] because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
11 Insist on these things and continue teaching them. 12 Let no one look down on your youth. Instead, be an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the reading[c] of Scripture, to encouraging, and to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy when the elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things. Constantly be involved in them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Pay close attention to yourself and to the doctrine. Persevere in them, because by doing this you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.