Daily Reading

1 Hear the word of Jehovah, / O children of Israel; / For Jehovah has a controversy / With the inhabitants of the land. / For there is no faithfulness or kindness / And no knowledge of God in the land.

2 Rather there are swearing and deceiving and murder / And stealing and adultery; / They are violent, / And bloodshed follows bloodshed.

3 Because of this the land mourns, / And all the inhabitants languish within it, / With the beasts of the field / And with the birds of heaven; / Indeed, even the fish of the sea will be taken away.

4 Yet let no man contend, / And let no man reprove; / For your people are like those who contend with the priest.

5 And you will stumble in the day, / And the prophet also will stumble / With you in the night; / And I will destroy your mother.

6 My people are destroyed / Because of a lack of that knowledge. / For you have rejected that knowledge, / And I will reject you, so that you will not be a priest to Me; / Since you have forgotten the law of your God, / I also will forget your children.

7 The more they were multiplied, the more they sinned against Me; / I will change their glory into shame.

8 They feed on the sin of My people, / And their soul desires their iniquity.

9 And it will be that as it is with the people, so it will be with the priest; / Thus I will visit their ways upon them, / And I will recompense their doings to them.

10 And they will eat but will not be filled; / And they will commit fornication but will not increase; / For they have ceased giving heed to Jehovah.

11 Fornication and wine / And new wine take away their heart.

12 My people inquire at their wooden post, / And their rod informs them of things; / For a spirit of harlotries makes them err, / And they have gone about as harlots away from their God.

13 Upon the tops of the mountains they offer sacrifices, / And upon the hills they burn incense, / Under oak, poplar, and terebinth, / Because its shade is good. / Therefore your daughters go about as harlots, / And your brides commit adultery.

14 I will not punish your daughters when they go about as harlots / Nor your brides when they commit adultery; / For the men themselves go off with harlots, / And they offer sacrifices with the prostitutes; / And the people who have no understanding will be cast down.

15 Though you, Israel, go about as a harlot, / Let not Judah trespass; / And do not come to Gilgal, / Nor go up to Beth-aven, / Nor swear, As Jehovah lives.

16 For Israel is stubborn, / Like a stubborn heifer; / Will Jehovah now pasture them / Like a lamb in a spacious place?

17 Ephraim is joined to idols; / Leave him alone.

18 Their liquor has ended; / They have given themselves up to harlotry; / Her rulers dearly love shame.

19 The wind has wrapped her up in its wings, / And they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

1 Hear this, O priests; / And listen, O house of Israel; / And, O house of the king, give ear. / For to you belongs the judgment, / For you have been a snare at Mizpah / And a net spread over Tabor.

2 And the revolters have gone deep into slaughtering, / Though I am a chastisement to them all.

3 I know Ephraim, / And Israel is not hidden from Me; / For now, Ephraim, you have gone about as a harlot; / Israel is defiled.

4 Their doings do not permit them / To turn to their God; / For a spirit of harlotries is within them, / And they do not know Jehovah.

5 And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, / And Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity; / Judah also will stumble with them.

6 With their flocks and with their herds they will go / To seek Jehovah, / But they will not find Him; / He has withdrawn Himself from them.

7 They have acted treacherously against Jehovah, / For they have begotten strange children. / Now the new moon will devour them / With their apportionments.

8 Blow the horn in Gibeah, / The trumpet in Ramah; / Sound an alarm at Beth-aven: / Behind you, O Benjamin!

9 Ephraim will be a desolation / In the day of correction; / Among the tribes of Israel / I have made known what is sure.

10 The princes of Judah have become / Like those who move a boundary mark. / I will pour out upon them / My overflowing wrath like water.

11 Ephraim is oppressed, / Crushed by judgment, / For he was determined to walk / After man’s command.

12 Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim / And like rottenness to the house of Judah.

13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, / And Judah his wound, / Ephraim went to Assyria / And sent word to the warrior king; / But he cannot heal you, / And the wound will not depart from you.

14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim / And like a young lion to the house of Judah. / I, I will tear them and go away; / I will carry them off, and there will be no one to deliver them.

15 I will go away, I will return to My place, / Until they acknowledge their offense / And seek My face; / In their affliction they will seek Me earnestly.

1 Come and let us return to Jehovah; / For He has torn us, but He will heal us, / And He has stricken us, but He will bind us up.

2 He will enliven us after two days; / On the third day He will raise us up, / And we will live in His presence.

3 Therefore let us know, let us pursue knowing Jehovah: / His going forth is as sure as the dawn, / And He will come to us as the rain, / As the late rain which waters the earth.

4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? / What shall I do with you, O Judah? / For your lovingkindness is like a morning cloud / And like dew that departs early.

5 Therefore I hewed them to pieces by the prophets; / I slew them by the words of My mouth, / And My judgments went forth as light.

6 For I delight in lovingkindness and not sacrifice, / And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

7 But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant; / There they have acted treacherously against Me.

8 Gilead is a city of those who commit iniquity; / It is tracked with blood.

9 And like bands of robbers lying in wait for a man, / The company of priests murder on the way to Shechem; / Indeed they commit wickedness.

10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrid thing: / The harlotry of Ephraim is there; / Israel has defiled itself.

11 Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, / When I will turn the captivity of My people.

1 When I would heal Israel, / Then the iniquity of Ephraim is discovered / As well as the evil deeds of Samaria; / For they practice falsehood. / And the thief comes inside; / The band of robbers makes raids outside.

2 And they do not say in their hearts / That I remember all their evil. / Now their doings are all around them; / They are before My face.

3 They make the king glad with their evil, / And the princes, with their lies.

4 All of them practice adultery; / They are like an oven heated by the baker: / He ceases from stirring the fire, / After kneading the dough, until it is leavened.

5 On the feast day of our king / The princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine; / He stretched out his hand with scorners.

6 For they have made their heart ready / Like an oven while they lie in wait: / All night long / Their baker sleeps, / But in the morning the oven burns / Like a flaming fire.

7 All of them are hot like an oven, / And they devour their judges; / All their kings fall; / There is no one among them who calls on Me.

8 Ephraim — among the peoples / He mixes himself; / Ephraim is a cake / Not turned.

9 Strangers have devoured his strength, / And he himself does not know it; / Indeed gray hairs are all over him, / And he himself does not know it.

10 And the pride of Israel testifies to his face; / Yet they have not returned to Jehovah their God, / And they have not sought Him, because of all this.

11 And Ephraim has become like a silly dove / Without understanding: / They call to Egypt; / They go to Assyria.

12 When they go, / I will spread My net over them; / I will bring them down like the birds of heaven; / I will chasten them according to the report given to their assembly.

13 Woe to them! For they have wandered from Me. / Devastation to them! For they have transgressed against Me. / And I would have redeemed them, / But they have spoken lies against Me.

14 And they did not cry unto Me in their heart / When they howled in their beds. / For grain and new wine they assemble themselves; / They rebel against Me.

15 Though I trained them and strengthened their arms, / They devise evil against Me.

16 They return, but not to Him who is on high; / They are like a deceitful bow. / Their princes will fall by the sword / Because of the rage of their tongue. / This will be their derision / In the land of Egypt.

1 To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write: These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, He who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:

2 I know your works and your labor and your endurance and that you cannot bear evil men; and you have tried those who call themselves apostles and are not, and have found them to be false;

3 And you have endurance and have borne all things because of My name and have not grown weary.

4 But I have one thing against you, that you have left your first love.

5 Remember therefore where you have fallen from and repent and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent.

6 But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.

8 And to the messenger of the church in Smyrna write: These things says the First and the Last, who became dead and lived again:

9 I know your tribulation and poverty (but you are rich) and the slander from those who call themselves Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

10 Do not fear the things that you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison that you may be tried, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall by no means be hurt of the second death.

12 And to the messenger of the church in Pergamos write: These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword:

13 I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast My name and have not denied My faith, even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

14 But I have a few things against you, that you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat idol sacrifices and to commit fornication.

15 In the same way you also have some who hold in like manner the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

16 Repent therefore; but if not, I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war with them with the sword of My mouth.

17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and to him I will give a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it.

18 And to the messenger of the church in Thyatira write: These things says the Son of God, He who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like shining bronze:

19 I know your works and love and faith and service and your endurance and that your last works are more than the first.

20 But I have something against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, she who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and leads My slaves astray to commit fornication and to eat idol sacrifices.

21 And I gave her time that she might repent, and she is not willing to repent of her fornication.

22 Behold, I cast her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her, into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works;

23 And her children I will kill with death; and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the inward parts and the hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your works.

24 But I say to you — the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they say — I put no other burden upon you;

25 Nevertheless what you have hold fast until I come.

26 And he who overcomes and he who keeps My works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations;

27 And he will shepherd them with an iron rod, as vessels of pottery are broken in pieces, as I also have received from My Father;

28 And to him I will give the morning star.

29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.