Old/New Testament

Time of Trouble for Ephraim and Jerusalem

28 It is a time of trouble to the crown of pride and to the drunk men of Ephraim, whose shining beauty is a dying flower. It is at the head of the rich valley of those who have taken too much wine! ² See, the Lord has one who is strong and powerful, like a storm of hail, a destroying storm. As with a flood of powerful waters flowing over, He will bring them down to the earth with His hand. ³ The crown of pride, the drunk men of Ephraim, will be crushed under foot. ⁴ The dying flower of its shining beauty which is at the head of the rich valley will be like the first fig grown before the summer. When one sees it, he takes it in his hand and eats it. ⁵ In that day the Lord of All will be a crown of shining-greatness, a beautiful crown to those who are left of His people. ⁶ He will be a spirit of what is fair to him who judges the people. He will be a strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. ⁷ These also walk from one side to the other side because of wine and strong drink. The religious leaders and the men who tell what will happen in the future make mistakes because of strong drink. They are troubled by wine. They walk from side to side because of strong drink. They make mistakes as they have special dreams. And they make mistakes when judging between right and wrong. ⁸ All the tables are covered with what they have spit up. There is no place that is clean.

⁹ “Who is it He is trying to teach? To whom will He tell what He has to say? Children finished with their nursing and just taken from the breast? ¹⁰ For He says, ‘Law on law, law on law, rule on rule, rule on rule, a little here, a little there.’” ¹¹ The Lord will speak to these people through men from other lands and in strange languages. ¹² He Who said to them, “This is rest, give rest to the tired and weak.” And, “This is the place to rest,” but they would not listen. ¹³ So the Word of the Lord to them will be, “Law on law, law on law, rule on rule, rule on rule, a little here, a little there,” that they may go and fall back, be broken, trapped, and taken away by those who hate them.

A Stone of Great Worth in Jerusalem

¹⁴ So hear the Word of the Lord, you who laugh at the truth, who rule the people in Jerusalem! ¹⁵ You have said, “We have made an agreement with death. With the place of the dead we have made an agreement. The destroying flood will not touch us when it passes by. We have made lies our safe place. We have hidden ourselves with what is false.” ¹⁶ So the Lord God says, “See, I lay in Jerusalem a Stone of great worth to build upon, a tested Stone. Anyone who puts his trust in Him will not be afraid of what will happen. ¹⁷ And I will use what is fair to decide about the base. And I will use what is right and good to make it straight. Then hail will take away all the lies you depend on, and the waters will flow over the place where you hide. ¹⁸ Your agreement with death will come to an end. Your agreement with the place of the dead will be stopped. When a flood of trouble passes through, you will be beaten down by it. ¹⁹ As often as it passes through, it will take you. And it will pass through morning after morning, anytime during the day or night. To understand what it means will bring much fear.” ²⁰ The bed is too short to lie on in comfort. And the covering is too small to put around yourself. ²¹ For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon, to do what He needs to do, His strange act, and to do His work, His different kind of work. ²² So now do not laugh, or your chains will be made stronger. I have heard that the Lord God of All plans to destroy the whole earth.

The Wisdom of God

²³ Listen and hear my voice. Listen and hear my words. ²⁴ Does the farmer plow all the time to plant seed? Does he keep on turning and digging up the ground? ²⁵ When he gets the ground ready to plant, does he not sow dill seeds and cummin seeds and wheat in rows? Does he not put barley in its place, and rye in the right place? ²⁶ For his God tells him what to do and teaches him the right way. ²⁷ Dill is not crushed with a crushing object. And the wagon wheel is not rolled over cummin. But dill is beaten out with a stick, and cummin with a heavy stick. ²⁸ Grain for bread is crushed. He does not keep on crushing it forever. When he drives his wagon-wheel over it with his horses, it does not crush it. ²⁹ This also comes from the Lord of All, Who has given wonderful wise words and great wisdom.

Trouble for Jerusalem

29 It is bad for Ariel, Ariel the city where David once set up his tents! Add year to year. Keep your special suppers at the right times. ² I will bring trouble to Ariel. She will be a city of sorrow and crying. She will be like an altar covered with blood to me. ³ I will camp against you, all around you. And I will build battle walls against you, and towers from which to fight you. ⁴ Then you will be brought low. From the earth you will speak. Your words will come from the dust. Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground. Your quiet speaking will come from the dust.

⁵ But the many who hate you will become like fine dust. The many who show no pity will be like the part of the grain that is of no worth and blows away. It will happen all at once. ⁶ You will be visited by the Lord of All, with thunder and earth-shaking and loud noise, and with wind and storm and a destroying fire. ⁷ And the many nations that fight against Ariel, all who fight against her and her strong-place and bring trouble to her, will be like a dream. They will be like a special dream of the night. ⁸ It will be as when a hungry man dreams he is eating, but when he wakes up, he is not filled. It will be as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking, but when he wakes up, he is weak and still thirsty. This is how the many nations will be that fight against Mount Zion.

The Locked Book

⁹ Stop and wait. Blind yourselves and be blind. They are drunk, but not with wine. They walk from side to side, but not because of strong drink. ¹⁰ For the Lord has given you a deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, you who speak for God. He has covered your heads, men of God. ¹¹ And the special dream of all this will be to you like the words of a locked book. When they give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is locked.” ¹² Then they will give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this.” And he will say, “I cannot read.”

¹³ The Lord said, “These people show respect to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. Their worship of Me is worth nothing. They teach rules that men have made. ¹⁴ So see, I will once again do great things with these people, great and wonderful things. And the wisdom of their wise men will be gone. The understanding of their wise men will be hidden.”

Hope for the Future

¹⁵ It is bad for those who try to hide their plans from the Lord, and whose works are done in a dark place. They say, “Who sees us?” or, “Who knows us?” ¹⁶ You turn things up-side-down! Is the pot-maker the same as the clay? Should what is made say to its maker, “He did not make me”? Should what is made say to him who made it, “He has no understanding”?

¹⁷ Is it not yet a very little while before Lebanon will be turned into a rich good field? The rich good field will be thought of as being full of many trees. ¹⁸ In that day those who cannot hear will hear the words of a book. And the eyes of the blind will see out of the darkness. ¹⁹ Those who have suffered will be happier in the Lord. Those who are in need will have joy in the Holy One of Israel. ²⁰ For those who show no pity will come to an end. And those who laugh at the truth will be stopped. All who want to be sinful will be cut off. ²¹ Those who say something to make a man seem to be in the wrong, and who trap the one who acts as a judge at the gate, and who tell lies to cause a good man to be punished, will be cut off.

²² So this is what the Lord, Who made Abraham free, said about the family of Jacob: “Jacob will not be ashamed. No more will their faces become white with fear. ²³ But when they see their children with them, the work of My hands, they will keep My Name holy, and will give honor to the Holy One of Jacob. They will stand in wonder of the God of Israel. ²⁴ Those who do wrong in spirit will understand the truth. And those who complain will receive teaching.”

It Is Christ Only—Not the Things You Do

3 So now, my Christian brothers, be happy because you belong to Christ. It is not hard for me to write the same things to you. It is good for you. ² Watch out for false teachers. Watch out for sinful men. They want you to depend on the religious act of becoming a Jew for your hope. ³ The act of becoming a Jew has nothing to do with us becoming Christians. We worship God through His Spirit and are proud of Jesus Christ. We have no faith in what we ourselves can do. ⁴ I could have reason to trust in the flesh. If anyone could feel that the flesh could do something for him, I could. ⁵ I went through the religious act of becoming a Jew when I was eight days old. I was born a Jew and came from the family group of Benjamin. I was a Jewish son of Jewish parents. I belonged to the group of the proud religious law-keepers. ⁶ I followed my religion with all my heart and did everything I could to make it hard for the church. No one could say anything against the way I obeyed the Law.

Christ Must Be Lord of Our Lives

⁷ But I gave up those things that were so important to me for Christ. ⁸ Even more than that, I think of everything as worth nothing. It is so much better to know Christ Jesus my Lord. I have lost everything for Him. And I think of these things as worth nothing so that I can have Christ. ⁹ I want to be as one with Him. I could not be right with God by what the Law said I must do. I was made right with God by faith in Christ. ¹⁰ I want to know Him. I want to have the same power in my life that raised Jesus from the dead. I want to understand and have a share in His sufferings and be like Christ in His death. ¹¹ Then I may be raised up from among the dead.

¹² I do not say that I have received this or have already become perfect. But I keep going on to make that life my own as Christ Jesus made me His own. ¹³ No, Christian brothers, I do not have that life yet. But I do one thing. I forget everything that is behind me and look forward to that which is ahead of me. ¹⁴ My eyes are on the crown. I want to win the race and get the crown of God’s call from heaven through Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ All of us who are full-grown Christians should think this way. If you do not think this way, God will show it to you. ¹⁶ So let us keep on obeying the same truth we have already been following.

¹⁷ Christian brothers, live your lives as I have lived mine. Watch those who live as I have taught you to live. ¹⁸ There are many whose lives show they hate the cross of Christ. I have told you this before. Now I tell you again with tears in my eyes. ¹⁹ Their god is their stomach. They take pride in things they should be ashamed of. All they think about are the things of this world. In the end they will be destroyed. ²⁰ But we are citizens of heaven. Christ, the One Who saves from the punishment of sin, will be coming down from heaven again. We are waiting for Him to return. ²¹ He will change these bodies of ours of the earth and make them new. He will make them like His body of shining-greatness. He has the power to do this because He can make all things obey Him.