1 ARST Yahweh gave me another message BSB BSB: Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2 ARST to proclaim to everyone in Jerusalem. He said that I should tell them this,“I, Yahweh, remember in your favor that you followed me and trusted in our covenant long ago. You tried to please me like a bride tries to please her husband; You loved me, and you followed me through the desert. BSB BSB: “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
3 ARST At that time you Israelites were set apart to me; you belonged to me like the first part of the harvests belong to me. I promised to punish all those who harmed you, my people, and send disasters on them. This is the way it will always be since I, Yahweh, said that it would happen.” BSB BSB: Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of His harvest. All who devoured her were found guilty; disaster came upon them,’” declares the LORD.
4 ARST Listen to what Yahweh says, descendants of Jacob, all you people of Israel. You must listen to what Yahweh says. BSB BSB: Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all you families of the house of Israel.
5 ARST He says,“What sin did I commit that caused your ancestors to turn far away from me? They worshiped worthless idols, and they themselves became worthless. BSB BSB: This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me? They followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves.
6 ARST They should have said,‘We need Yahweh. He is the one who brought us safely out of Egypt and led us through a desert plain where there were a lot of pits. We need Yahweh. He is the one who led us where there was no water and where it was very dangerous, through a land where no one lives or even travels.’ BSB BSB: They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
7 ARST But when I, Yahweh, brought you into a very fertile land, in order that you could enjoy all the fruit and other good things that you would harvest, you caused the land that I promised to give to you to be unfit for me and to become disgusting to me. BSB BSB: I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but you came and defiled My land and made My inheritance detestable.
8 ARST Your priests also did not ask if I was still with them. Those who teach God’ s laws are not faithful to me themselves! And your leaders have rebelled against me. Your prophets gave you messages from their god Baal, and they worship worthless idols. BSB BSB: The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the leaders rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.
9 ARST So I, Yahweh, will accuse you in court. In future years, I will also bring your children and your grandchildren to trial! That will happen because I, Yahweh, have said that it will happen. BSB BSB: Therefore, I will contend with you again, declares the LORD, and I will bring a case against your children’s children.
10 ARST If you go west to the island of Cyprus, or if you go east to Kedar land, and if you ask people in those places, they will tell you that no people from their countries have ever done the wicked things that you people have done! BSB BSB: Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and take a look; send to Kedar and consider carefully; see if there has ever been anything like this:
11 ARST No people of any nation have ever abandoned their gods that they thought were glorious and started to worship gods that are not really gods, but you people have abandoned me, your glorious God, and are worshiping gods that are useless. BSB BSB: Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.
12 ARST It is as though everything in the sky is dismayed about what you have done; it is as though they tremble and are very horrified. I, Yahweh, see and declare this to you. BSB BSB: Be stunned by this, O heavens; be shocked and utterly appalled,” declares the LORD.
14 ARST You Israelite people, you were certainly not slaves when you were born; so why were you captured by your enemies? BSB BSB: Is Israel a slave? Was he born into slavery? Why then has he become prey?
15 ARST Your enemies roared like lions, and they destroyed your land. Now your towns have been burned, and no one lives in them. BSB BSB: The young lions have roared at him; they have sounded their voices. They have laid waste his land; his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant.
16 ARST Soldiers from Memphis and Tahpenes, cities in Egypt, have defeated you and shaved your heads to show that you are their slaves. BSB BSB: The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have shaved the crown of your head.
17 ARST But it is because you abandoned me, Yahweh your God, that these disasters have happened to you, since I had been leading you to safety. BSB BSB: Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when He led you in the way?
18 ARST So why are you trying to make an alliance with the rulers of Egypt who live near the Shihor? Why are you trying to make an alliance with the rulers of Assyria who live near the Euphrates River? BSB BSB: Now what will you gain on your way to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? What will you gain on your way to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19 ARST It is because you have been very wicked that I will punish you. It is because you have turned away from me that I will condemn you. When I do that, you will realize that bitter and evil things will happen to you because you have forsaken me, Yahweh, your God, and you no longer have an awesome respect for me. That will certainly happen because I, the Lord, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies in heaven, have said it. BSB BSB: Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
20 ARST Long ago, you stopped obeying me and you would not allow me to lead you. You refused to worship me, even though I saved you from being slaves. Instead, you worship idols that are under trees on the top of every hill. You love and worship those idols instead of me just like an unfaithful man loves a prostitute instead of his wife. BSB BSB: “For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains, saying, ‘I will not serve!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down as a prostitute.
21 ARST It is as though you were the best grapevine that I could plant, and I planted you so you would grow from the very best seed. So how could you change yourself from the best grapevine into becoming like a vine that is disgusting and rotten? BSB BSB: I had planted you like a choice vine from the very best seed. How could you turn yourself before Me into a rotten, wild vine?
22 ARST Your guilt from your sins is like very bad stains on a cloth, and you cannot get rid of those stains even by using very strong soap. This is true because I, Yahweh, have said it. BSB BSB: Although you wash with lye and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before Me,” declares the Lord GOD.
23 ARST You say that you have not sinned. You claim to be acceptable to God and that you have not worshiped the images of Baal. But think about the disgusting things that you do very eagerly in Hinnom Valley outside Jerusalem. You are like desperate female camels running here and there to find male camels to mate with. BSB BSB: “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young she-camel galloping here and there,
24 ARST You are like wild female donkeys that live in the desert. They sniff the air to find where the male donkeys are, and there is no one who can restrain their lust. The male donkeys that want to mate with them only wear themselves out chasing after them; because at mating time they find them easily. BSB BSB: a wild donkey at home in the wilderness, sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can restrain her passion? All who seek her need not weary themselves; in mating season they will find her.
25 ARST You constantly run here and there to find idols to worship, with the result that your sandals are worn out, and your throats have become dry. I told you to stop doing that but you said that you could not stop, and you said that you loved those foreign gods and had to worship them! BSB BSB: You should have kept your feet from going bare and your throat from being thirsty. But you said, ‘It is hopeless! For I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’
26 ARST A robber is disgraced when he is caught. And all of you, including your kings and priests and prophets, are similarly disgraced. BSB BSB: As the thief is ashamed when he is caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced. They, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets
27 ARST You call a piece of wood that is carved to become a sacred idol, your‘father,’ and you call a stone that you have set up, your‘mother.’ You have rejected me but when you experience troubles, you call for me to rescue you! BSB BSB: say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet in the time of trouble, they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’
28 ARST Why do you not shout to the gods that you made? Why do you not plead with them to rescue you when you experience disasters? For you have as many gods as you have cities and towns in Judah! BSB BSB: But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up in your time of trouble and save you if they can; for your gods are as numerous as your cities, O Judah.
29 ARST You complain that it was wrong for me not to have rescued you, but you have all rebelled against me, Yahweh, the one who is speaking to you right now. BSB BSB: Why do you bring a case against Me? You have all rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD.
30 ARST I punished some of you, but you did not learn anything from my doing that. Instead you have killed many of the prophets that I sent to you, like fierce lions kill other animals. BSB BSB: “I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”
31 ARST You people of Israel, pay attention to what I say. I have certainly never abandoned you in a desert; I have never left you in a very dark land. So, why do you, my people, say that you are free from my control and that you will not return to worship me anymore? BSB BSB: You people of this generation, consider the word of the LORD: “Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of dense darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to You no more’?
32 ARST A young woman would certainly never forget to wear her jewelry, and a bride would never forget to wear her wedding dress, but you my people have forgotten me for many years. BSB BSB: Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.
33 ARST You know how to easily find gods from other countries whom you can love. You can find them more easily than a prostitute can find men to sleep with. You could teach her about infidelity! BSB BSB: How skillfully you pursue love! Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways.
34 ARST You also have the blood of poor people on your clothes; the very people you have murdered; people who were innocent! You did not catch them robbing you! BSB BSB: Moreover, your skirts are stained with the blood of the innocent poor, though you did not find them breaking in. But in spite of all these things
35 ARST Yet you say,‘I have done nothing wrong! I am sure that Yahweh will not be angry with me for much longer.’ But I will punish you severely for claiming that you have not sinned. BSB BSB: you say, ‘I am innocent. Surely His anger will turn from me.’ Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 ARST Previously you requested the army of Assyria to help you, but they were not able to help you. Now you have requested the army of Egypt to help you, but they will not be able to help you, either. BSB BSB: How impulsive you are, constantly changing your ways! You will be disappointed by Egypt just as you were by Assyria.
37 ARST They will capture you, and you will be their prisoners, very ashamed with your hands on your heads. That will happen because Yahweh has rejected those nations that you are relying on, and they will not be able to help you at all.” BSB BSB: Moreover, you will leave that place with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those you trust; you will not prosper by their help.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.