The Living Bible (282 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
Israel is chasing the wind, yes, shepherding a whirlwind—a dangerous game!
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For she has given gifts to Egypt and Assyria to get their help, and in return she gets their worthless promises.
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But the Lord is bringing a lawsuit against Judah. Jacob will be justly punished for his ways.
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When he was born, he struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought with God.
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Yes, he wrestled with the Angel and prevailed. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. He met God there at Bethel face-to-face. God spoke to him—
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the Lord, the God of heaven’s armies—Jehovah is his name.
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Oh, come back to God. Live by the principles of love and justice, and always be expecting much from him, your God.
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But no, my people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales—they love to cheat.
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Ephraim boasts, “I am so rich! I have gotten it all by myself!” But riches can’t make up for sin.
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“I am the same Lord, the same God, who delivered you from slavery in Egypt, and I am the one who will consign you to living in tents again, as you do each year at the Tabernacle Feast.
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I sent my prophets to warn you with many a vision and many a parable and dream.”
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But the sins of Gilgal flourish just the same. Row on row of altars—like furrows in a field—are used for sacrifices to your idols. And Gilead, too, is full of fools
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who worship idols.
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Jacob fled to Syria and earned a wife by tending sheep.
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Then the Lord led his people out of Egypt by a prophet, who guided and protected them.
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But Ephraim has bitterly provoked the Lord. The Lord will sentence him to death as payment for his sins.
It used to be when Israel spoke, the nations shook with fear, for he was a mighty prince; but he worshiped Baal and sealed his doom.
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And now the people disobey more and more. They melt their silver to mold into idols, formed with skill by the hands of men. “Sacrifice to these!” they say—men kissing calves!
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They shall disappear like morning mist, like dew that quickly dries away, like chaff blown by the wind, like a cloud of smoke.
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“I alone am God, your Lord, and have been ever since I brought you out from Egypt. You have no God but me, for there is no other Savior.
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I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land.
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But when you had eaten and were satisfied, then you became proud and forgot me.
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So I will come upon you like a lion, or a leopard lurking along the road.
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I will rip you to pieces like a bear whose cubs have been taken away, and like a lion I will devour you.
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“O Israel, if I destroy you, who can save you?
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Where is your king? Why don’t you call on him for help? Where are all the leaders of the land? You asked for them, now let them save you!
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I gave you kings in my anger, and I took them away
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in my wrath.
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Ephraim’s sins are harvested and stored away for punishment.
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“New birth is offered him, but he is like a child resisting in the womb—how stubborn! how foolish!
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Shall I ransom him from hell? Shall I redeem him from Death? O Death, bring forth your terrors for his tasting! O Grave, demonstrate your plagues! For I will not relent!
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“He was called the most fruitful of all his brothers, but the east wind—a wind of the Lord from the desert—will blow hard upon him and dry up his land. All his flowing springs and green oases will dry away, and he will die of thirst.
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Samaria must bear her guilt, for she rebelled against her God. Her people will be killed by the invading army, her babies dashed to death against the ground, her pregnant women ripped open with a sword.”
O Israel, return to the Lord, your God, for you have been crushed by your sins.
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Bring your petition. Come to the Lord and say, “O Lord, take away our sins; be gracious to us and receive us, and we will offer you the sacrifice of praise.
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Assyria cannot save us, nor can our strength in battle; never again will we call the idols we have made ‘our gods’; for in you alone, O Lord, the fatherless find mercy.”
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“Then I will cure you of idolatry and faithlessness, and my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be forever gone!
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I will refresh Israel like the dew from heaven; she will blossom as the lily and root deeply in the soil like cedars in Lebanon.
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Her branches will spread out as beautiful as olive trees, fragrant as the forests of Lebanon.
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Her people will return from exile far away and rest beneath my shadow. They will be a watered garden and blossom like grapes; they will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon.
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“O Ephraim! Stay away from idols! I am living and strong! I look after you and care for you. I am like an evergreen tree, yielding my fruit to you throughout the year. My mercies never fail.”
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Whoever is wise, let him understand these things. Whoever is intelligent, let him listen. For the paths of the Lord are true and right, and good men walk along them. But sinners trying them will fail.
This message came from the Lord to Joel, son of Pethuel:
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Listen, you aged men of Israel! Everyone, listen! In all your lifetime, yes, in all your history, have you ever heard of such a thing as I am going to tell you?
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In years to come, tell your children about it; pass the awful story down from generation to generation.
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After the cutter-locusts finish eating your crops, the swarmer-locusts will take what’s left! After them will come the hopper-locusts! And then the stripper-locusts too!
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Wake up and weep, you drunkards, for all the grapes are ruined, and all your wine is gone!
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A vast army of locusts
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covers the land. It is a terrible army too numerous to count, with teeth as sharp as those of lions!
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They have ruined my vines and stripped the bark from the fig trees, leaving trunks and branches white and bare.
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Weep with sorrow, as a virgin weeps whose fiancé is dead.
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Gone are the offerings of grain and wine to bring to the Temple of the Lord; the priests are starving. Hear the crying of these ministers of God.
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The fields are bare of crops. Sorrow and sadness are everywhere. The grain, the grapes, the olive oil are gone.
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Well may you farmers stand so shocked and stricken; well may you vinedressers weep. Weep for the wheat and the barley, too, for they are gone.
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The grapevines are dead; the fig trees are dying; the pomegranates wither; the apples shrivel on the trees; all joy has withered with them.
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O priests, robe yourselves in sackcloth. O ministers of my God, lie all night before the altar, weeping. For there are no more offerings of grain and wine for you.
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Announce a fast; call a solemn meeting. Gather the elders and all the people into the Temple of the Lord your God, and weep before him there.
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Alas, this terrible day of punishment
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is on the way. Destruction from the Almighty is almost here!
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Our food will disappear before our eyes; all joy and gladness will be ended in the Temple of our God.
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The seed rots in the ground; the barns and granaries are empty; the grain has dried up in the fields.
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The cattle groan with hunger; the herds stand perplexed, for there is no pasture for them; the sheep bleat in misery.
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Lord, help us! For the heat has withered the pastures and burned up all the trees.
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Even the wild animals cry to you for help, for there is no water for them. The creeks are dry, and the pastures are scorched.
