Old/New Testament
Days of Desolation Are Coming
9 Do not rejoice, O Israel,
do not celebrate like the peoples—
for so you have gone whoring away from your God.
You have loved a prostitute’s pay,
on every grain-threshing-floor.
2 Threshing-floor and wine-press will not sustain them,
and new wine will fail her.
3 They will not dwell in Adonai’s land.
Instead Ephraim will return to Egypt,
and eat unclean food in Assyria.
4 They will pour no wine-offerings to Adonai—
they would not be pleasing to Him.
Their sacrifices will be like
the bread of mourners for them.
All that eat it will be defiled,
for their bread is for their appetite,
not coming into the House of Adonai.
5 What will you do for a moed
or for the day of Adonai’s feast?
6 Look, even if they escape the desolation,
Egypt will gather them up;
Memphis will bury them.
And their precious silver treasures?
Weeds will possess them.
Thorns will be in their tents.
7 The days of punishment have come;
the days of retribution have come.
Let Israel know! The prophet is a fool;
the man of the spirit is mad!
For great is your iniquity
and great the hostility.
8 Ephraim is a watchman with my God,
a prophet.
A bird catcher’s trap is on all his paths.
Hostility is in the House of his God.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah.
He will remember their iniquity,
He will punish their sin.
10 “Like grapes in the wilderness
I found Israel.
Like early fruit on a fig tree in its first season
I saw your fathers.
They came to Baal-peor
and devoted themselves to shame.
So they became as detestable
as the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim’s glory flies away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
12 For if they should raise their children,
I would make them childless to the last man.
Yes, woe to them
when I depart from them!
13 Ephraim, as I have seen,
is like Tyre, planted in a meadow,
but Ephraim will bring his children out to the slayer.”
14 Give them, Adonai, what will You give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
and dried up breasts.
15 “All their wickedness is at Gilgal,
for there I despised them.
Because of their wicked practices,
I will drive them out of My House.
I will love them no more.
All their princes are rebellious.
16 Ephraim is blighted;
their root is withered;
they bear no fruit.
Even if they bring forth children,
I will slay the cherished ones in their wombs.”
17 My God will cast them off,
since they did not listen to Him.
So they will become wanderers among the nations.
Israel to be Shamed in Captivity
10 A luxuriant vine is Israel,
who produces fruit for himself.
Like the abundance of his fruit
he has multiplied his altars.
Like the goodness of his land,
they made beautiful sacred pillars.
2 Their heart became smooth[a].
Now they will bear their guilt.
He will break down their altars.
He will destroy their sacred pillars.
3 Surely now they will say: “We have no king,
for we have not feared Adonai.
The king—what can he do for us?”
4 They spoke words—
empty oaths to make a covenant.
But judgment springs up as hemlock
in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria will quarrel
over the calves of Beth-aven.
Indeed its people will mourn over it,
but its priests will tremble over it.
For its glory will surely depart from it.
6 It also will be carried to Assyria
as tribute to a warring king.
Ephraim will receive shame
and Israel will be put to shame by its own counsel.
7 Samaria is being cut off.
Her king is like a splinter on the surface of the water.
8 The high places of Aven,
the sin of Israel will be destroyed.
Thorns and thistles will come up on their altars.
And they will say to the mountains: “Cover us!”
And to the hills: “Fall on us!”[b]
9 “From the days of Gibeah,
you have sinned, O Israel.
There they took their stand.
Will not war over sons of iniquity
overtake them in Gibeah?
10 When I desire,
I will chasten them,
and peoples will gather against them
when they are yoked to their two sins.
11 Though Ephraim is a trained heifer
that loves to thresh,
I put a yoke
over her fair neck.
I will make Ephraim pull;
Judah will plow;
Jacob will drag a harrow by himself.”
Plow Up Your Ground
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness.[c]
Reap in accord with covenant love.
Break up your unplowed ground.
For it is time to seek Adonai,
until He comes
and showers righteousness on you.
13 You have plowed up wickedness,
you have reaped iniquity.
You have eaten the fruit of delusion,
for you have trusted in your own way,
in the multitude of your mighty men.
14 A tumult will arise among your people.
All your strongholds will be demolished,
as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel in the day of battle,
when a mother was dashed in pieces with her children.
15 Just so has Bethel done to you
because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel
will be utterly cut off.
My Son Called Out
11 “When Israel was a youth I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called My son.[d]
2 They called out to them
but they departed from their presence.
They kept sacrificing to the Baalim
and burning incense up to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk.
I took them on My arms.
But they never acknowledged
that I had healed them.
4 With human cords I was drawing them,
with bonds of love,
and I became to them as One lifting a yoke from their jaws.
I bent down to them and fed them.
5 He will not return to the land of Egypt,
but the Assyrian will be his king—
because they refused to return.
6 So a sword will fall on his cities,
and destroy and devour his gate bars
because of their own counsels.
7 So My people are bent on turning from Me.
Although they are being called upwards,
none will rise up.
8 “How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I surrender you, Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I set you as Zeboim?
My heart is turning over within Me.
My compassions are kindled.
9 I will not vent My fierce anger.
I will not again destroy Ephraim.
For I am God—not a man—
the Holy One in the midst of you,
and I will not come in fury.”
10 They will walk after Adonai.
He will roar like a lion.
Indeed, He will roar
and the children will come trembling from the west.
11 “They will come trembling
like a bird out of Egypt,
like a dove out of the land of Assyria,
and I will settle them in their houses.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
Sardis: Coming Like a Thief
3 To the angel of Messiah’s community in Sardis write: “Thus says the One having the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your deeds—you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains that was about to die. For I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God. 3 So remember what you have received and heard—keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.
4 “But still, you have a few people in Sardis who have not stained their clothes. They will walk with Me in white, because they are worthy. 5 The one who overcomes thus will be dressed in white clothes; I will never blot his name out of the Book of Life,[a] and will confess his name before My Father and His angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Ruach is saying to Messiah’s communities.
Philadelphia: I Have Loved You
7 To the angel of Messiah’s community in Philadelphia write: “Thus says the Holy One, the True One, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens: [b] 8 I know your deeds. Behold, I have set before you an open door that no one is able to shut—because you have little power, but you have kept My word and have not denied My name. 9 Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of satan—who say they are Jewish and are not, but lie—behold, I will cause them to come and bow down before your feet,[c] so that they acknowledge that I have loved you!
10 “Because you have kept My word about patient endurance, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is coming upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 I am coming soon—hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. 12 The one who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the Temple of My God,[d] and he will never leave it. And on him I will write the name of My God and the name of the city of My God—the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God—and My own new Name. 13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Ruach is saying to Messiah’s communities.”
Laodicea: Standing at the Door
14 To the angel of Messiah’s community in Laodicea write: “Thus says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Originator of God’s creation: [e] 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. Oh, that you were either cold or hot! 16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spew you out of My mouth. 17 For you say, ‘I am rich, I have made myself wealthy, and I need nothing.’[f] But you do not know that you are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked. 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white clothes so that you may dress yourself and so the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed, and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore, be zealous and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To the one who overcomes I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I myself overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Ruach is saying to Messiah’s communities.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.