1 g“If1 a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her?
hWould not that land be greatly polluted?
iYou have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?
declares the Lord.
2 Lift up your eyes to jthe bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been ravished?
kBy the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
like an Arab in the wilderness.
hYou have polluted the land
with your vile whoredom.
3 lTherefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have mthe forehead of a whore;
you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just now ncalled to me,
‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
5 owill he be angry forever,
will he be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken,
but you have done all the evil that you could.”
Faithless Israel Called to Repentance
6 The Lord said to me in the days of pKing Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, qhow she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there iplayed the whore? 7 And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous rsister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, sI had sent her away with ta decree of divorce. uYet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went iand played the whore. 9 Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with vstone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me wwith her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”
11 And the Lord said to me, x“Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward ythe north, and say,
z“‘Return, faithless Israel,
declares the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
for aI am merciful,
declares the Lord;
bI will not be angry forever.
13 cOnly acknowledge your guilt,
that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under devery green tree,
and that you have not obeyed my voice,
declares the Lord.
14 eReturn, O faithless children,
declares the Lord;
ffor I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.
15 “‘And gI will give you shepherds after my own heart, hwho will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. 17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, iand all nations shall gather to it, jto the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. 18 kIn those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land lof the north to mthe land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.
19 “‘I said,
How I would set you among my sons,
and give you a pleasant land,
a heritage most beautiful of all nations.
And I thought you would ncall me, My Father,
and would not turn from following me.
20 oSurely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,
so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.’”
21 A voice on the pbare heights is heard,
qthe weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons
because they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 r“Return, O faithless sons;
sI will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to you,
for you are the Lord our God.
23 Truly tthe hills are a delusion,
the orgies2 on the mountains.
uTruly in the Lord our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24 “But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 vLet us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For wwe 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 return, O Israel,
declares the Lord,
xto me you should return.
If you remove your detestable things from my presence,
yand do not waver,
2 zand if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then anations shall bless themselves in him,
band in him shall they glory.”
3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:
c“Break up your fallow ground,
and dsow not among thorns.
4 eCircumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
flest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
gbecause of the evil of your deeds.”
Disaster from the North
5 Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
h“Blow the trumpet through the land;
cry aloud and say,
i‘Assemble, and let us go
into the fortified cities!’
6 jRaise a standard toward Zion,
flee for safety, stay not,
for I bring disaster from kthe north,
land great destruction.
7 mA lion has gone up from his thicket,
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
nwithout inhabitant.
8 For this oput on sackcloth,
lament and wail,
for pthe fierce anger of the Lord
has not turned back from us.”
9 “In that day, declares the Lord, qcourage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.” 10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, rsurely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It shall be well with you,’ whereas the sword has reached their very life.”
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from sthe bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse, 12 a wind too full for this comes for me. Now it is I who tspeak in judgment upon them.”
13 Behold, he comes up like clouds;
uhis chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are vswifter than eagles—
woe to us, wfor we are ruined!
14 O Jerusalem, xwash your heart from evil,
that you may be saved.
How long shall your wicked thoughts
lodge within you?
15 For a voice ydeclares from Dan
and proclaims trouble from zMount Ephraim.
16 Warn the nations that he is coming;
announce to Jerusalem,
“Besiegers come afrom a distant land;
they shout against the cities of Judah.
17 Like keepers of a field bare they against her all around,
because she has rebelled against me,
declares the Lord.
18 Your ways and your deeds
have brought this upon you.
This is your doom, and cit is bitter;
it has reached your very heart.”
Anguish over Judah’s Desolation
19 dMy anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
Oh the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
I cannot keep silent,
for I hear the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war.
20 eCrash follows hard on crash;
the whole land is laid waste.
fSuddenly my tents are laid waste,
my curtains in a moment.
21 How long must I see the standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “For gmy people are foolish;
they know me not;
they are stupid children;
they have no understanding.
hThey are ‘wise’—in doing evil!
But how to do good they know not.”
23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was iwithout form and void;
jand to the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I looked on kthe mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
and all the hills moved to and fro.
25 lI looked, and behold, there was no man,
and all the birds of the air had fled.
26 I looked, and behold, the mfruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the Lord, before nhis fierce anger.
27 For thus says the Lord, “The whole land shall be a desolation; oyet I will not make a full end.
28 p“For this the earth shall mourn,
qand the heavens above be dark;
for I have spoken; I have purposed;
rI have not relented, nor will I turn back.”
29 At the noise of horseman and archer
every city takes to flight;
they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;
all the cities are forsaken,
and sno man dwells in them.
30 And you, O desolate one,
what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,
tthat you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,
uthat you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself.
vYour lovers despise you;
they seek your life.
31 For I heard wa cry as of a woman in labor,
anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,
the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
xstretching out her hands,
“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”
Jerusalem Refused to Repent
1 yRun to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
look and take note!
Search her squares to see
zif you can find a man,
one who does justice
and seeks truth,
athat I may pardon her.
2 bThough they say, “As the Lord lives,”
cyet they swear falsely.
3 O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
dYou have struck them down,
but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
but they refused to take correction.
eThey have made their faces harder than rock;
they have refused to repent.
4 Then I said, “These are only the poor;
they have no sense;
ffor they do not know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.
5 I will go to the great
and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.”
gBut they all alike had broken the yoke;
they had burst the bonds.
6 Therefore ha lion from the forest shall strike them down;
a iwolf from the desert shall devastate them.
jA leopard is watching their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
their kapostasies are great.
7 l“How can I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me
mand have sworn by those who are no gods.
nWhen I fed them to the full,
othey committed adultery
pand trooped to the houses of whores.
8 They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
qeach neighing rfor his neighbor’s wife.
9 sShall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord;
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?
10 t“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
ubut make not a full end;
strip away her branches,
for they are not the Lord’s.
11 vFor the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been utterly treacherous to me,
declares the Lord.
12 They have spoken falsely of the Lord
and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
wno disaster will come upon us,
xnor shall we see sword or famine.
13 The prophets will become wind;
the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!’”
The Lord Proclaims Judgment
14 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts:
“Because you have spoken this word,
behold, yI am making my words in your mouth za fire,
and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.
15 aBehold, I am bringing against you
a nation from afar, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.
It is an enduring nation;
it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
bnor can you understand what they say.
16 cTheir quiver is like dan open tomb;
they are all mighty warriors.
17 eThey shall eat up your harvest and your food;
they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;
they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;
they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;
your ffortified cities in which you trust
they shall beat down with the sword.”
18 “But even in those days, declares the Lord, uI will not make a full end of you. 19 And when your people say, g‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, hso you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob;
proclaim it in Judah:
21 “Hear this, iO foolish and senseless people,
jwho have eyes, but see not,
who have ears, but hear not.
22 kDo you not fear me? declares the Lord.
Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand las the boundary for the sea,
a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
though mthey roar, they cannot pass over it.
23 nBut this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away.
24 They do not say in their hearts,
‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
owho gives the rain in its season,
the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
pthe weeks appointed for the harvest.’
25 qYour iniquities have turned these away,
and your sins have kept good from you.
26 For wicked men are found among my people;
rthey lurk like fowlers lying in wait.3
sThey set a trap;
they catch men.
27 Like a cage full of birds,
their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
28 tthey have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
uthey judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
29 vShall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord,
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?”
30 An appalling and whorrible thing
has happened in the land:
31 xthe prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule at their direction;
ymy people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes?
Paul Sails for Rome
1 And when it was decided athat bwe should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cCohort named Julius. 2 And embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by dAristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. 3 The next day we put in at Sidon. And eJulius ftreated Paul kindly and ggave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for. 4 And putting out to sea from there we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. 5 And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia. 6 There the centurion found ha ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board. 7 We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. 8 Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.
9 Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous because even ithe Fast1 was already over, Paul advised them, 10 saying, “Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with jinjury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” 11 But the centurion paid more attention to kthe pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. 12 And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.
The Storm at Sea
13 Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore. 14 But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, lstruck down from the land. 15 And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. 16 Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda,2 we managed with difficulty to secure the ship’s boat. 17 After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship. Then, fearing that they would mrun aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the gear,3 and thus they were driven along. 18 Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day nto jettison the cargo. 19 And on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.
21 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, oyou should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this oinjury and loss. 22 Yet now I urge you to ptake heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For this very night qthere rstood before me san angel of the God tto whom I belong and uwhom I worship, 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; vyou must stand before Caesar. And behold, wGod has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 25 So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. 26 But xwe must yrun aground on some island.”
