Old/New Testament
Judgment on Israel’s Priests and Kings
5 Hear this, you priests!
Pay attention, house of Israel!
Listen, O house of the king!
For this judgment applies to you,
because you were a trap at Mizpah
and a net spread out on Mount Tabor.
2 The rebels sink deeper into slaughter,
but I will discipline all of them.
3 I know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from me.
Now, Ephraim, you still practice sexual immorality.
Israel is defiled.
4 Their deeds do not allow them to return to their God.
For a spirit of prostitution lies within them,
and they do not know the Lord.
5 The arrogance of Israel testifies against them.
Israel and Ephraim will stumble over their guilt.
Judah also will stumble with them.
6 They will go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord,
but they will not find him.
He has withdrawn from them.
7 They acted treacherously against the Lord.
They even gave birth to illegitimate children.
Now the new moon will devour them along with their allotted land.
8 Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah
and the trumpet in Ramah!
Raise a battle cry at Beth Aven: “Lead the way, Benjamin!”
9 Ephraim will become desolate ruins on the day it is punished.[a]
What I have made known among the tribes of Israel will certainly happen.
10 The officials of Judah are like people who move a boundary stone.
I will pour out my wrath on them like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed,
crushed in judgment,
because he was determined to pursue worthless idols.[b]
12 I am like a moth to Ephraim,
and like decay to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
and Judah saw his wound,
Ephraim went to Assyria
and sent to the Great King for help,
but he is not able to heal you,
and he will not cure your wound,
14 because I will be like a lion to Ephraim
and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
Yes, I will tear him to pieces and go away.
I will carry them off, and there will be no one who can rescue them.
15 I will go. I will return to my place
until they admit their guilt and seek my face.
In their distress they will earnestly seek me.
Israel’s Need to Return to the Lord
6 Come, let us return to the Lord.
For he has torn us to pieces,
but he will heal us.
He has struck us,
but he will bandage our wounds.
2 After two days he will revive us.
On the third day he will raise us up,
so that we may live in his presence.
3 Let us acknowledge the Lord.
Let us pursue knowledge of the Lord.
As surely as the sun rises,
the Lord will appear.
He will come to us like a heavy rain,
like the spring rain that waters the earth.
God’s Grief Over Israel’s Impenitence
4 What am I going to do with you, Ephraim?
What am I going to do with you, Judah?
For your faithfulness[c] is like a morning mist,
like early dew that disappears.
5 That is why I cut them to pieces by means of the prophets.
I killed them with the words of my mouth.
The judgments against you go forth like the light.
6 For I desire mercy,[d] and not sacrifice,
and the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.
7 Like Adam,[e] they have broken the covenant.
They acted treacherously against me there.
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,
stained with bloody footprints.
9 As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man,
so do bands of priests.
They commit murder on the road to Shechem.
They have committed shameful crimes.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing.
Ephraim practices sexual immorality there.
Israel defiles itself.
11 Judah, also for you, a harvest has been appointed,
when I restore the fortunes of my people.[f]
Israel’s Corruption
7 Whenever I want to heal Israel,
the guilt of Ephraim is uncovered,
and the evil deeds of Samaria are exposed,
because they deal dishonestly.
Thieves come inside,
and bandits raid outside.
2 In their hearts Ephraim does not realize that I remember all their wickedness.
Now their deeds are all around them.
They are in front of my face.
3 The people of Ephraim make the king glad with their wickedness.
They make their officials happy with their lies.
4 They are all adulterers,
burning like an oven.
The baker does not need to stoke the fire
from the time the dough is kneaded until it is leavened.
5 On the day[g] of our[h] king, the officials became sick from the intoxicating wine.
He reaches out his hand to the blasphemers.
6 Indeed, their hearts are like an oven.
They approach him, while plotting against him.
Their anger sleeps all night,
but in the morning it burns like a blazing fire.
7 They are all hot as an oven.
They devour their rulers.
All their kings have fallen.
Not one of them calls on me.
8 Ephraim mixes itself with the nations.
Ephraim is a flatbread not turned over.
9 Strangers have devoured his strength,
but he does not realize it.
There are gray hairs on his head,
but he does not realize it.
10 The arrogance of Israel testifies against him,
yet they have not returned to the Lord their God,
and they have not sought him, despite all this.
Israel’s Instability
11 Ephraim is like a gullible dove, without sense.
They call to Egypt.
Then they appeal to Assyria.
12 When they go out, I will spread my net over them.
I will bring them down like birds from the sky.
I will discipline them, on the basis of the report about their assembly.[i]
13 Woe to them,
because they have strayed from me!
Destruction comes upon them,
because they have rebelled against me!
I want to redeem them,
but they speak lies against me.
14 They do not cry out to me with their hearts,
but they howl on their beds.
They gather together[j] for grain and new wine.
They turn away from me.
15 Though I trained and strengthened their arms,
they plot evil against me.
16 They return, but not upward.[k]
They are like an unreliable bow.
Their officials will fall by the sword because of their angry tongues.
Because of this, they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt.
The Lord’s Anger Burns Against Israel
8 Raise a ram’s horn to your lips!
A vulture is circling over[l] the Lord’s house,
because they have broken my covenant
and rebelled against my law.
2 Israel cries out to me,
“My God, we acknowledge[m] you!”
3 But, in fact, Israel has rejected what is good.
An enemy will pursue him.
4 They set up kings, but not with my approval.
They installed officials, but I did not choose[n] them.
From their silver and their gold they made idols for themselves,
so they will be cut off.
5 I reject[o] your calf idol, Samaria!
My anger burns against these people!
How long will they be incapable of innocence?
6 That thing sitting there is from Israel!
A craftsman made it, so it is not God.
Certainly that calf of Samaria will be smashed to pieces!
7 Because they sow the wind,
they will reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain forms no heads,
so it will yield no flour.
Even if it would yield flour, foreigners would swallow it up.
8 Israel is swallowed up.
Now among the nations they are like a pot no one wants.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey all by itself.
Ephraim has hired lovers.
10 Even though they hire lovers among the nations,
I will now gather them together.
They will begin to suffer in a little while,
because of oppression by a king with many officials.
11 Ephraim has multiplied his altars for sin offerings,
but for him they became altars for sinning.
12 Though I wrote many teachings from my law for them,
they regarded them as strange.
13 They offer sacrifices to me just to get the meat.[p]
They sacrifice flesh and eat it,
but the Lord is not pleased with them.
Now he will remember their guilt
and punish their sins.
They will return to Egypt.
14 Israel has forgotten its Maker and built palaces.[q]
Judah has multiplied its fortified cities,
but I will send fire on its cities,
which will devour its citadels.
Letter to the Church in Ephesus
2 To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write:
The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven gold lampstands, says this:
2 I know your works, your[a] labor, and your patient endurance, and that you are not able to tolerate evil people. You have tested those who say they are apostles, but are not, and have found them to be liars. 3 Indeed, you do have patient endurance. You have endured hardships on account of my name and have not become weary.
4 But I have this against you: You have forsaken your first love.[b] 5 Remember, therefore, the state from which you have fallen! Repent and do the works you did at first. Otherwise I will come to you[c] and remove your lampstand from its place, if you do not repent.
6 But you do have this: You hate the actions of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious I will give the privilege to eat from the tree of life, which is in[d] the paradise of God.
Letter to the Church in Smyrna
8 To the messenger of the church in Smyrna write:
The First and the Last, who was dead and came to life again, says this:
9 I know[e] your suffering and your poverty—but you are rich. And I know the blasphemy that comes from those who say they are Jews but are not; rather, they are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear anything that[f] you are about to suffer. Look, the Devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you will be tested, and you will suffer for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
11 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.
Letter to the Church in Pergamum
12 To the messenger of the church in Pergamum write:
The one who has the sharp, two-edged sword says this:
13 I know[g] where you live—where the throne of Satan is. And I know that you hold fast to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me even in the days when Antipas, my faithful witness,[h] was put to death near you, the place where Satan lives.
14 But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block in front of the children of Israel so that they would eat things offered to idols and commit sexual immorality. 15 Likewise, you also have some people who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore,[i] repent! If not, I will come to you soon, and I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious I will give some of the hidden manna.[j] I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, which no one will know except the one who receives it.
Letter to the Church in Thyatira
18 To the messenger of the church in Thyatira write:
The Son of God, whose eyes are like fiery flames and whose feet are like polished bronze, says this:
19 I know your works and love and faith and service, as well as your patient endurance, and that you are doing more now than you did at first.
20 But I have this against you: You allow that woman Jezebel, the one who calls herself a prophetess, to deceive my servants and to teach them to commit sexual immorality and eat things offered to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Look, I am going to throw her onto a bed and throw those who commit adultery with her into great suffering, if they do not repent of her[k] works. 23 And I will put her children to death. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches hearts and minds, and that I will give to each of you according to your works.
24 To the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold to this teaching, who do not know Satan’s “deep things,” as they call them, I say that I will not lay any other burden on you. 25 Only hold fast to what you have until I come.
26 To the one who is victorious and continues to do my works until the end, I will give him authority over the nations, 27 and he will rule them with an iron staff and shatter them like clay pots, 28 just as I myself have received authority from my Father. I will also give him the morning star.
29 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.