31 You generation, look to the word of the Lord.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
Or a land of thick darkness?
Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam;
We will no longer come to You’?
32 Can a virgin forget her jewelry,
Or a bride her attire?
Yet My people have forgotten Me
For days without number.
33 How well you prepare your way
To seek love!
Therefore even to the wicked women
You have taught your ways.
34 Also on your skirts is found
The lifeblood of the innocent poor;
You did not find them breaking in.
But in spite of all these things,
35 You said, ‘I am innocent;
Surely His anger is turned away from me.’
Behold, I will enter into judgment with you
Because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 Why do you go around so much
Changing your way?
Also, you will be put to shame by Egypt,
Just as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37 From this place as well you will go out
With your hands on your head;
For the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,
And you will not prosper with them.”
1 God says, “If a husband divorces his wife
And she leaves him
And becomes another man’s wife,
Will he return to her again?
Would that land not be completely defiled?
But you are a prostitute with many lovers;
Yet you turn to Me,” declares the Lord.
2 “Raise your eyes to the bare heights and see;
Where have you not been violated?
You have sat for them by the roads
Like an Arab in the desert,
And you have defiled a land
With your prostitution and your wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
And there has been no spring rain.
Yet you had a prostitute’s forehead;
You refused to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just now called to Me,
‘My Father, You are the friend of my youth?
5 Will He be angry forever,
Or keep His anger to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken
And have done evil things,
And you have had your own way.”
6 Then the Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every leafy tree, and she prostituted herself there. 7 Yet I thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and prostituted herself also. 9 And because of the thoughtlessness of her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. 10 Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception,” declares the Lord.
11 And the Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel has proved herself to be more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say,
‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord;
‘I will not look at you in anger.
For I am gracious,’ declares the Lord;
‘I will not be angry forever.
13 Only acknowledge your wrongdoing,
That you have revolted against the Lord your God,
And have scattered your favors to the strangers under every leafy tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the Lord.
14 ‘Return, you faithless sons,’ declares the Lord;
‘For I am a master to you,
And I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
And bring you to Zion.’
15 “Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you knowledge and understanding. 16 And it shall be in those days when you become numerous and are fruitful in the land,” declares the Lord, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor miss it, nor will it be made again. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the Lord,’ and all the nations will assemble at it, at Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord; and they will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.
19 “Then I said,
‘How I would set you among My sons
And give you a pleasant land,
The most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’
And I said, ‘You shall call Me, My Father,
And not turn away from following Me.’
20 However, as a woman treacherously leaves her lover,
So you have dealt treacherously with Me,
House of Israel,” declares the Lord.
21 A voice is heard on the bare heights,
The weeping, the pleading of the sons of Israel.
Because they have perverted their way,
They have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 “Return, you faithless sons,
I will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to You;
For You are the Lord our God.
23 Certainly the hills are a deception,
Commotion on the mountains.
Certainly in the Lord our God
Is the salvation of Israel.
24 “But the shame has consumed the product of our fathers’ labor since our youth—their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”
1 “If you will return, Israel,” declares the Lord,
“Then you should return to Me.
And if you will put away your detestable things from My presence,
And will not waver,
2 And if you will swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’
In truth, in justice, and in righteousness;
Then the nations will bless themselves in Him,
And in Him they will boast.”
3 For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem:
“Break up your uncultivated ground,
And do not sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord
And remove the foreskins of your hearts,
Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Or else My wrath will spread like fire
And burn with no one to quench it,
Because of the evil of your deeds.”
5 Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
“Blow the trumpet in the land;
Cry aloud and say,
‘Assemble, and let’s go
Into the fortified cities.’
6 Raise a flag toward Zion!
Take refuge, do not stand still,
For I am bringing evil from the north,
And great destruction.
7 A lion has gone up from his thicket,
And a destroyer of nations has set out;
He has gone out from his place
To make your land a waste.
Your cities will be ruins,
Without an inhabitant.
8 For this, put on sackcloth,
Mourn and wail;
For the fierce anger of the Lord
Has not turned away from us.”
9 “And it shall come about on that day,” declares the Lord, “that the heart of the king and the hearts of the leaders will fail; and the priests will tremble, and the prophets will be astonished.”
10 Then I said, “Oh, Lord God! Surely You have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace’; yet a sword touches the throat.”
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness, in the direction of the daughter of My people—not to winnow and not to cleanse, 12 a wind too strong for this—will come at My command; now I will also pronounce judgments against them.”
13 “Behold, he goes up like clouds,
And his chariots like the whirlwind;
His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us, for we are ruined!”
14 Wash your heart from evil, Jerusalem,
So that you may be saved.
How long will your wicked thoughts
Lodge within you?
15 For a voice declares from Dan,
And proclaims wickedness from Mount Ephraim.
16 “Report it to the nations, now!
Proclaim to Jerusalem,
‘Enemies are coming from a remote country,
And they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.
17 Like watchmen of a field they are against her all around,
Because she has rebelled against Me,’ declares the Lord.
18 Your ways and your deeds
Have brought these things upon you.
This is your evil. How bitter!
How it has touched your heart!”
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; 5 because of the hope reserved for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel 6 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth; 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8 and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard about it, have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all perseverance and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: 16 for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
1 God is known in Judah;
His name is great in Israel.
2 His tabernacle is in Salem;
His dwelling place also is in Zion.
3 There He broke the flaming arrows,
The shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah
4 You are resplendent,
More majestic than the mountains of prey.
5 The stouthearted were plundered,
They sank into sleep;
And none of the warriors could use his hands.
6 At Your rebuke, God of Jacob,
Both rider and horse were cast into a dead sleep.
7 You, You indeed are to be feared,
And who may stand in Your presence, once You are angry?
8 You caused judgment to be heard from heaven;
The earth feared and was still
9 When God arose to judgment,
To save all the humble of the earth. Selah
10 For the wrath of mankind shall praise You;
You will encircle Yourself with a remnant of wrath.
11 Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them;
All who are around Him are to bring gifts to Him who is to be feared.
12 He will cut off the spirit of princes;
He is feared by the kings of the earth.
21 My son, fear the Lord and the king;
Do not get involved with those of high rank,
22 For their disaster will rise suddenly,
And who knows the ruin that can come from both of them?
