Day 276 of 365

¹The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²"Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the Lord, "I remember you, the devotion of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

³Israel was holiness to the Lord, the first fruits of his increase. All who devour him shall be held guilty. Evil shall come on them,"' says the Lord."

⁴Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel!

⁵Thus says the Lord, "What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

⁶Neither did they say, 'Where is the Lord who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man lived?'

⁷I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.

⁸The priests did not say, 'Where is the Lord?' And those who handle the law did not know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

⁹"Therefore I will yet contend with you," says the Lord, "and I will contend with your children's children.

¹⁰For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing.

¹¹Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

¹²"Be astonished, you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate," says the Lord.

¹³"For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

¹⁴Is Israel a servant? Is he a native-born slave? Why has he become a prey?

¹⁵The young lions have roared at him, and yelled. They have made his land waste. His cities are burned up, without inhabitant.

¹⁶The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.

¹⁷"Haven't you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the Lord your God, when he led you by the way?

¹⁸Now what have you to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or what have you to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?

¹⁹"Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that you have forsaken the Lord your God, and that my fear is not in you," says the Lord, God of Hosts.

²⁰"For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bonds; and you said, 'I will not serve;' for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute.

²¹Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?

²²For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me," says the Lord God.

²³"How can you say, 'I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals'? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways;

²⁴a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in her desire. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her.

²⁵"Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.'

²⁶As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets;

²⁷who tell wood, 'You are my father;' and a stone, 'You have brought me out:' for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, 'Arise, and save us.'

²⁸"But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah.

²⁹"Why will you contend with me? You all have transgressed against me," says the Lord.

³⁰"I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.

³¹Generation, consider the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, 'We have broken loose. We will come to you no more?'

³²"Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number.

³³How well you prepare your way to seek love! Therefore you have taught even the wicked women your ways.

³⁴Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts. You did not find them breaking in; but it is because of all these things.

³⁵"Yet you said, 'I am innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.' "Behold, I will judge you, because you say, 'I have not sinned.'

³⁶Why do you go about so much to change your way? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria.

³⁷From there also you shall go forth, with your hands on your head; for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust, and you shall not prosper with them.

¹"They say, 'If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and become another man's, will he return to her again?' Wouldn't that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me," says the Lord.

²"Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat for them by the ways, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.

³Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute's forehead, you refused to be ashamed.

⁴Will you not from this time cry to me, 'My Father, you are the guide of my youth?'

⁵"'Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end?' Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way."

⁶Moreover, the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, "Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the prostitute.

⁷I said after she had done all these things, 'She will return to me;' but she did not return; and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

⁸I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, did not fear; but she also went and played the prostitute.

⁹It happened through the lightness of her prostitution, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

¹⁰Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense," says the Lord.

¹¹The Lord said to me, "Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

¹²Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, 'Return, you backsliding Israel,' says the Lord; 'I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful,' says the Lord. 'I will not keep anger forever.

¹³Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,'" says the Lord.

¹⁴"Return, backsliding children," says the Lord; "for I am a husband to you. I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

¹⁵I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

¹⁶It shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days," says the Lord, "they shall say no more, 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord!' neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more.

¹⁷At that time they shall call Jerusalem 'The throne of the Lord;' and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. Neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

¹⁸In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.

¹⁹"But I said, 'How I would put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!' and I said, 'You shall call me "My Father," and shall not turn away from following me.'

²⁰"Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel," says the Lord.

²¹A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the Lord their God.

²²"Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding." "Behold, we have come to you; for you are the Lord our God.

²³Truly in vain is help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains. Truly the salvation of Israel is in the Lord our God.

²⁴But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

²⁵Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God."

¹"If you will return, Israel," says the Lord, "if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you shall not be removed;

²and you shall swear, 'As the Lord lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory."

³For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, "Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.

⁴Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

⁵Declare in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, 'Blow the trumpet in the land!' Cry aloud and say, 'Assemble yourselves! Let us go into the fortified cities!'

⁶Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety! Do not wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction."

⁷A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.

⁸For this clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of the Lord hasn't turned back from us.

⁹"It shall happen at that day," says the Lord, "that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder."

¹⁰Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'You shall have peace;' whereas the sword reaches to the heart."

¹¹At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse;

¹²a full wind from these shall come for me. Now I will also utter judgments against them."

¹³Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined.

¹⁴Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?

¹⁵For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim:

¹⁶"Tell the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, 'Watchers come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Judah.

¹⁷As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,'" says the Lord.

¹⁸"Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart."

¹⁹My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I can't hold my peace; because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

²⁰Destruction on destruction is proclaimed; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment.

²¹How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

²²"For my people are foolish, they do not know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but to do good they have no knowledge."

²³I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

²⁴I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.

²⁵I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled.

²⁶I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the Lord, before his fierce anger.

²⁷For thus says the Lord, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.

²⁸For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not relented, neither will I turn back from it."

²⁹Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers; they go into the thickets, and climb up on the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells therein.

³⁰You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you dress yourselves with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; your lovers despise you, they seek your life.

³¹For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, "Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers."

¹When the Lord brought back those who returned to Zion, we were like those who dream.

²Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them."

³The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad.

⁴Restore our fortunes again, Lord, like the streams in the Negev.

⁵Those who sow in tears will reap in joy.

⁶He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, will certainly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves.

¹The wicked flee when no one pursues; but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

²In rebellion, a land has many rulers, but order is maintained by a man of understanding and knowledge.

³A needy man who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain which leaves no crops.

⁴Those who forsake the Law praise the wicked; but those who keep the Law contend with them.

⁵Evil men do not understand justice; but those who seek the Lord understand it fully.

⁶Better is the poor who walks in his integrity, than he who is perverse in his ways, and he is rich.

⁷Whoever keeps the Law is a wise son; but he who is a companion of gluttons shames his father.

⁸He who increases his wealth by excessive interest gathers it for one who has pity on the poor.

⁹He who turns away his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer is an abomination.

¹⁰Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way, he will fall into his own trap; but the blameless will inherit good.

¹¹The rich man is wise in his own eyes; but the poor who has understanding sees through him.

¹²When the righteous triumph, there is great glory; but when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.

¹³He who conceals his sins doesn't prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

¹⁴Blessed is the man who always fears; but one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.

¹⁵As a roaring lion or a charging bear, so is a wicked ruler over helpless people.

¹⁶A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment. One who hates ill-gotten gain will have long days.

¹⁷A man who is tormented by life blood will be a fugitive until death; no one will support him.

¹⁸Whoever walks blamelessly is kept safe; but one with perverse ways will fall suddenly.

¹⁹One who works his land will have an abundance of food; but one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.

²⁰A faithful man is rich with blessings; but one who is eager to be rich will not go unpunished.

²¹To show partiality is not good; yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.

²²A stingy man hurries after riches, and doesn't know that poverty waits for him.

²³One who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than one who flatters with the tongue.

²⁴Whoever robs his father or his mother, and says, "It's not wrong." He is a partner with a destroyer.

²⁵One who is greedy stirs up strife; but one who trusts in the Lord will prosper.

²⁶One who trusts in himself is a fool; but one who walks in wisdom is kept safe.

²⁷One who gives to the poor has no lack; but one who closes his eyes will have many curses.

²⁸When the wicked rise, men hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous thrive.