The Daily Audio Bible
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31 And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
or a land of thick darkness?
Why then do my people say, ‘We are free,
we will come no more to you’?
32 (A)Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
Yet (B)my people have forgotten me
days without number.
33 “How well you direct your course
to seek love!
So that even to wicked women
you have taught your ways.
34 Also on your skirts is found
(C)the lifeblood of the guiltless poor;
you did not find them (D)breaking in.
Yet in spite of all these things
35 you say, ‘I am innocent;
surely his anger has turned from me.’
(E)Behold, I will bring you to judgment
for (F)saying, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 (G)How much you go about,
changing your way!
You shall be (H)put to shame by Egypt
as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37 From it too you will come away
with (I)your hands on your head,
for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,
and you will not prosper by them.
3 (J)“If[a] a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man's wife,
will he return to her?
(K)Would not that land be greatly polluted?
(L)You have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?
declares the Lord.
2 Lift up your eyes to (M)the bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been ravished?
(N)By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
like an Arab in the wilderness.
(O)You have polluted the land
with your vile whoredom.
3 (P)Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have (Q)the forehead of a whore;
you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just now (R)called to me,
‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
5 (S)will 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 (T)King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, (U)how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there (V)played 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 (W)sister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, (X)I had sent her away with (Y)a decree of divorce. (Z)Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went (AA)and played the whore. 9 Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with (AB)stone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me (AC)with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”
11 And the Lord said to me, (AD)“Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward (AE)the north, and say,
(AF)“‘Return, faithless Israel,
declares the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
for (AG)I am merciful,
declares the Lord;
(AH)I will not be angry forever.
13 (AI)Only acknowledge your guilt,
that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under (AJ)every green tree,
and that you have not obeyed my voice,
declares the Lord.
14 (AK)Return, O faithless children,
declares the Lord;
(AL)for 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 (AM)I will give you shepherds after my own heart, (AN)who 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, (AO)and all nations shall gather to it, (AP)to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. 18 (AQ)In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land (AR)of the north to (AS)the 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 (AT)call me, My Father,
and would not turn from following me.
20 (AU)Surely, 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 (AV)bare heights is heard,
(AW)the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons
because they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 (AX)“Return, O faithless sons;
(AY)I will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to you,
for you are the Lord our God.
23 Truly (AZ)the hills are a delusion,
the orgies[b] on the mountains.
(BA)Truly 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 (BB)Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For (BC)we 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.”
4 “If you return, O Israel,
declares the Lord,
(BD)to me you should return.
If you remove your detestable things from my presence,
(BE)and do not waver,
2 (BF)and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then (BG)nations shall bless themselves in him,
(BH)and in him shall they glory.”
3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:
(BI)“Break up your fallow ground,
and (BJ)sow not among thorns.
4 (BK)Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
(BL)lest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
(BM)because of the evil of your deeds.”
Disaster from the North
5 Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
(BN)“Blow the trumpet through the land;
cry aloud and say,
(BO)‘Assemble, and let us go
into the fortified cities!’
6 (BP)Raise a standard toward Zion,
flee for safety, stay not,
for I bring disaster from (BQ)the north,
(BR)and great destruction.
7 (BS)A 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
(BT)without inhabitant.
8 For this (BU)put on sackcloth,
lament and wail,
for (BV)the fierce anger of the Lord
has not turned back from us.”
9 “In that day, declares the Lord, (BW)courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.” 10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, (BX)surely 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 (BY)the 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 (BZ)speak in judgment upon them.”
13 Behold, he comes up like clouds;
(CA)his chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are (CB)swifter than eagles—
woe to us, (CC)for we are ruined!
14 O Jerusalem, (CD)wash your heart from evil,
that you may be saved.
How long shall your wicked thoughts
lodge within you?
15 For a voice (CE)declares from Dan
and proclaims trouble from (CF)Mount Ephraim.
16 Warn the nations that he is coming;
announce to Jerusalem,
“Besiegers come (CG)from a distant land;
they shout against the cities of Judah.
17 Like keepers of a field (CH)are 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 (CI)it is bitter;
it has reached your very heart.”
Greeting
1 Paul, (A)an apostle of Christ Jesus (B)by the will of God, and Timothy (C)our brother,
2 To the (D)saints and faithful brothers[a] in Christ at Colossae:
(E)Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 (F)We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of (G)your faith in Christ Jesus and of (H)the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of (I)the hope (J)laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in (K)the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed (L)in the whole world it is (M)bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you (N)heard it and understood (O)the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from (P)Epaphras our beloved (Q)fellow servant.[b] He is (R)a faithful minister of Christ on your[c] behalf 8 and has made known to us your (S)love in the Spirit.
9 And so, (T)from the day we heard, (U)we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that (V)you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all (W)spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as (X)to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, (Y)fully pleasing to him: (Z)bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 (AA)being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for (AB)all endurance and patience (AC)with joy; 12 (AD)giving thanks[d] to the Father, who has qualified you[e] to share in (AE)the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He (AF)has delivered us from (AG)the domain of darkness and transferred us to (AH)the kingdom of (AI)his beloved Son, 14 (AJ)in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Preeminence of Christ
15 (AK)He is the image of (AL)the invisible God, (AM)the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by[f] him all things were created, (AN)in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether (AO)thrones or (AP)dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created (AQ)through him and for him. 17 And (AR)he is before all things, and in him all things (AS)hold together.
Who Can Stand Before You?
To the choirmaster: with (A)stringed instruments. A Psalm of (B)Asaph. A Song.
76 In Judah God is (C)known;
his name is great in Israel.
2 His (D)abode has been established in (E)Salem,
his (F)dwelling place in Zion.
3 There he (G)broke the flashing arrows,
the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah
4 Glorious are you, more majestic
(H)than the mountains full of (I)prey.
5 (J)The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil;
(K)they sank into sleep;
all the men of war
were unable to use their hands.
6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both (L)rider and horse lay stunned.
7 (M)But you, you are to be feared!
Who can (N)stand before you
when once your anger is roused?
8 From the heavens you uttered judgment;
(O)the earth feared and was still,
9 when God (P)arose to establish judgment,
to save all the humble of the earth. Selah
10 Surely (Q)the wrath of man shall praise you;
the remnant[a] of wrath you will put on like a belt.
11 (R)Make your vows to the Lord your God and perform them;
let all around him (S)bring gifts
to him who (T)is to be feared,
12 who (U)cuts off the spirit of princes,
who (V)is to be feared by the kings of the earth.
21 My son, (A)fear the Lord and the king,
and do not join with those who do otherwise,
22 for disaster will arise suddenly from them,
and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.