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Destroyed For Lack of Knowledge
4 Hear the word of Adonai, Bnei-Yisrael!
For Adonai has a dispute with the inhabitants of the land,
because there is no truth,
no covenant loyalty,
and no knowledge of God in the land.
2 Curse, deceive, murder,
steal, commit adultery!
They practice violence,
and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land will mourn,
and everyone dwelling in it will languish
along with the beasts of the field and the flying creatures of the sky—
even the fish of the sea will be removed.
4 Yet let no one dispute
and let no one argue.
Your people are like a kohen
who makes quarrels.
5 So you will stumble by day.
Also a prophet will stumble with you by night,
when I destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Since you rejected knowledge,
I will also reject you from being My kohen.
Since you forgot the Torah of your God,
just so I will forget your children.
7 The more they multiplied,
the more they sinned against Me.
I will change their glory into disgrace.
8 They feed on the sin of My people
and relish their iniquity.
9 But it will be like people, like kohen.
So I will punish them for their ways,
and repay them for their deeds.
10 They have eaten but will not be satisfied.
They have fornicated but will not increase.
For they stopped giving heed to Adonai.
11 Prostitution and wine—even new wine—
it takes away understanding.
12 My people consult their wooden idol
and their divining rod informs them.
For a spirit of prostitution
leads them astray
and they have been a prostitute—
out from under their God.
13 They sacrifice on the mountaintops
and on the high places they burn incense
under oak poplar, and terebinth—
for its shade is good.
Therefore your daughters are prostitutes
and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
14 Will I not punish your daughters for prostitution
or your daughters-in-law for adultery?
For they consort with prostitutes,
and they sacrifice with cult prostitutes.
A people without understanding
will be thrust down.
15 Though you, Israel, are a prostitute,
let Judah not become guilty.
But do not come to Gilgal
or go up to Beth-aven,[a]
and do not swear: ‘As Adonai lives!’
16 For Israel is stubborn like a stubborn cow.
Now Adonai will pasture them
like a lamb in the open field.
17 Ephraim is joined to idols;
let him alone!
18 Their liquor has come to an end.
They surely have practiced prostitution.
Her rulers have deeply loved disgrace.
19 A wind will wrap her up in its wings.
They will be ashamed of their sacrifices.
Judgment for Betrayal
5 Hear this, O priests!
Pay attention, O house of Israel!
Give ear, O house of the king!
For the judgment applies to you:
For you were a snare at Mizpah
and a net spread on Tabor.
2 Rebels were deep in slaughter,
so I am a chastisement for them all.
3 I myself have known Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from Me.
For now, Ephraim, you are a prostitute—
Israel is defiled!
4 They will not give up their evil deeds
to return to their God.
For a spirit of prostitution is in them,
and Adonai they have not known.
5 The Pride of Israel will answer to his face:
Israel and Ephraim will stagger in their iniquity,
Judah also will stumble with them.
6 With their flocks and with their herds
they will go to seek Adonai,
but they will not find Him—
He has withdrawn from them.
7 They have betrayed Adonai,
for they have begotten foreign children.
Now the New Moon will devour them,
with their portions.
8 Blow a shofar in Gibeah,
a trumpet in Ramah!
Sound an alarm at Beth-aven:
“Behind you, Benjamin!”
9 Ephraim will be become desolate
in the day of rebuke.
Among the tribes of Israel
I made known what is certain.
10 The princes of Judah were like those who move a boundary mark.
I pour out My fury on them like water.
11 Oppressed is Ephraim,
crushed by judgment,
for he willingly followed a worthless thing.
12 So, I will be like a moth to Ephraim
and like decay to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness
and Judah his wound,
Ephraim went to Assyria
and sent envoys to a warring king.
But he cannot heal you
nor will he cure your wound.
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, even I, will tear and go away.
I will carry off, and nobody will rescue.
15 I will go and return to My place
until they admit their guilt.
Then they will seek My face.
In their distress they will seek Me earnestly:
God’s Truth and Blessings Abide Forever
1 The elder.
To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth—and not I alone, but also all who have come to know the truth— 2 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:
3 Grace, mercy, and shalom be with us, from God the Father and from Messiah Yeshua, the Father’s Son, in truth and love!
Lovingly Walk in God’s Truth
4 I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we received as a commandment from the Father. 5 Now I ask you, dear lady, that we love one another. It is not as though I am writing you a new command, but the one we have had from the beginning. [a] 6 Now this is love: that we walk according to His commands. This is the commandment—just as you heard from the beginning—that you walk in love.
Protect Against Messianic Pretenders
7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world—those who do not acknowledge Yeshua as Messiah coming in human flesh. This one is a deceiver and the anti-messiah. 8 Watch yourselves, so you do not lose what we have worked for but receive a full reward. 9 Anyone who goes too far and does not remain in Messiah’s teaching does not have God. Anyone who remains in this teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not welcome him into your home or even give him a greeting. 11 For the one greeting him shares in his evil deeds.
Brotherly Fellowship Is Joyful
12 Although I have much to write to you, I don’t want to do it with paper and ink. But I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that our joy may be full.
13 The children of your chosen sister send you greetings.[b]
Like the Mountains Around Jerusalem
Psalm 125
1 A Song of Ascents.
Those who trust in Adonai are like Mount Zion—
it cannot be moved, but endures forever.
2 As the mountains are around Jerusalem,
so Adonai is all around His people,
both now and forever.
3 For a scepter of wickedness will not rest
over the land of the righteous—
lest the righteous set their hands to evil.
4 Do good, Adonai, to the good,
and to those upright in their hearts.
5 But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways,
Adonai will lead them away with evildoers.
Shalom be upon Israel.
9 If a wise man argues with a foolish man,
he rants or laughs, with no resolution.
10 Bloodthirsty people hate a man of integrity
and seek the soul of the upright.
11 A fool gives full vent to his temper,
but a wise man holds it back.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.