The Daily Audio Bible
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31 O people of this day, listen to the Word of the Lord. Have I been a desert to Israel, or a land of much darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are free to go, and we will come to You no more’? 32 Can a young woman forget the beautiful objects she wears? Can a bride forget her clothing? Yet My people have forgotten Me too many days to number. 33 How you dress yourself and go after lovers! You have taught your ways even to the sinful women. 34 On your clothing is found the blood of the poor who could not be blamed. You did not find them breaking in. But even with all these things, 35 you say, ‘I am not guilty. For sure He has turned His anger away from me.’ See, I will punish you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ 36 Why do you go around so much changing your way? You will be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria. 37 From Egypt also you will go out with your hands on your head. For the Lord has turned against those in whom you trust, and as you are with them, it will not go well for you.”
Israel Is Not Faithful
3 God says, “If a husband divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be made unclean? But you are like a sinful woman with many lovers, yet would you return to Me?” says the Lord. 2 “Lift up your eyes to the open hill-tops and see. Is there any place you have not lain with your lovers? You have sat by the roads waiting for them like an Arab in the desert. And you have made the land unclean with your sinful ways and your wrong-doing. 3 So the rains have been held back. There has been no spring rain. You look like a woman who sells the use of her body, and would not be ashamed. 4 Have you not just now called to Me? You said, ‘My Father, You have been my friend since I was young. 5 Will You be angry forever? Will You be angry to the end?’ See, this is how you talk, but you do all the sinful things you can.”
Israel and Judah Must Turn Away from Their Sins
6 The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah, “Have you seen what Israel did, and what little faith she has? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, like one who sells the use of her body. 7 And I thought, ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to Me.’ But she did not return, and her sister Judah, who has not been faithful, saw it. 8 She saw that for all of Israel’s sins and how she had not been faithful, I had sent her away and given her a paper of divorce. Yet her sister Judah had no fear, but she went and sold the use of her body also. 9 And because this sin was so easy for her, she sinned by worshiping stones and trees. 10 Even with all this, her sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but in a false way,” says the Lord.
11 And the Lord said to me, “Israel, who has not been faithful, has shown herself more right and good than Judah who could not be trusted. 12 Go and make these words known to the north, saying, ‘Return, Israel, who has not been faithful,’ says the Lord. ‘I will not look on you in anger. For I show loving-kindness,’ says the Lord. ‘I will not be angry forever. 13 Only know and tell of your guilt, that you have sinned against the Lord your God and have given your favors to the strangers under every green tree. Know that you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord. 14 ‘Return, O sons who are not faithful,’ says the Lord. ‘For you belong to Me. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.’ 15 Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with much learning and understanding. 16 And in those days when you have become many in the land,” says the Lord, “they will no more say, ‘The special box with the Law of the Lord.’ It will not come to mind, and they will not remember it. They will not miss it, and it will not be made again. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The throne of the Lord.’ And all the nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord. They will not follow the strong-will of their sinful heart any more. 18 In those days the people of Judah will walk with the people of Israel. They will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as a gift.
God’s People Worship False Gods
19 “Then I said, ‘How I would like to make you My sons and give you a pleasing land, the most beautiful land of the nations!’ And I said, ‘You will call Me, “My Father,” and not turn away from following Me.’ 20 For sure, as a woman is not faithful and leaves her husband, so you have not been faithful to Me, O people of Israel,” says the Lord.
21 A voice is heard on the open hill-tops, the cries and prayers of the sons of Israel, because they have made their way sinful. They have forgotten the Lord their God. 22 “Return, O sons who are not faithful. I will heal you and make you faithful.” “See, we come to You, for You are the Lord our God. 23 For sure the hills are a false hope, a noise on the mountains. In truth, the saving of Israel is in the Lord our God. 24 But false gods have brought us shame and have destroyed what our fathers worked for since we were young, their flocks and cattle, their sons and their daughters. 25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our shame cover us. For we and our fathers have sinned against the Lord our God ever since we were young. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”
God Asks Israel to Turn from Its Sins
4 “If you will return, O Israel,” says the Lord, “return to Me. If you will put away your false gods from Me and be faithful to Me, 2 and promise, ‘As the Lord lives,’ by what is true and right and good, then the nations will be happy in Him. And in Him they will have honor.”
3 For the Lord says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, “Break up your ground which has not been planted, and do not plant seeds among thorns. 4 Set yourselves apart to the Lord, and put away the flesh from your heart, men of Judah and people of Jerusalem. Or My anger will go out like fire and burn with no one to stop it, because of the sinful things you do.”
Armies from the North Are Coming
5 Make it known in Judah and Jerusalem, and say, “Sound the horns in the land.” Cry out and say, “Gather together, and let us go into the strong cities made ready for battle.” 6 Lift up a flag toward Zion! Run to a safe place, do not stand still. For I am bringing much trouble from the north that will destroy much. 7 A lion has gone up from his secret place. A destroyer of nations has begun to move. He has gone out from his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will be destroyed and no people will live in them. 8 Cover yourselves with cloth made from hair because of this. Cry out in sorrow. For the burning anger of the Lord has not turned away from us. 9 “In that day,” says the Lord, “the heart of the king and the hearts of the rulers will become weak. The religious leaders will be filled with fear. And the men of God will be troubled and filled with wonder.”
10 Then I said, “O Lord God, for sure You have fooled these people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace,’ when in truth a sword brings danger to their lives.”
11 At that time it will be said to these people and Jerusalem, “A hot wind from the open hill-tops in the desert will come toward My people, but not to blow away what is of no worth, and not to make clean. 12 A wind too strong for this will come at My word. Now I will bring punishment against them.”
Armies Are All Around Judah
13 See, he comes up like clouds. His war-wagons come like the strong-wind. His horses are faster than eagles. It is bad for us, for we are destroyed!
14 Wash your heart from sin, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved. How long will your sinful thoughts stay within you? 15 For a voice calls out from Dan, and tells of sin from Mount Ephraim. 16 “Tell it to the nations now! Make it known over all Jerusalem, saying, ‘An army is coming from a far country, and they lift up their voices against the cities of Judah. 17 They are against her all around, like watchmen of a field, because she has turned against Me,’ says the Lord. 18 “Your ways and what you do have brought these things to you. This is your sin. How bitter it is! It has touched your very heart!”
Paul Gives Thanks for the Christians in Colossae
1 This letter is from Paul, a missionary for Jesus Christ. God wanted me to work for Him. This letter is from brother Timothy also. 2 I am writing to you who belong to Christ in the city of Colossae. May all the Christian brothers there have loving-favor and peace from God our Father.
3 We always pray and give thanks to God for you. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 We give thanks to God for you because we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus. We thank God for your love for all those who belong to Christ. 5 We thank God for the hope that is being kept for you in heaven. You first heard about this hope through the Good News which is the Word of Truth. 6 The Good News came to you the same as it is now going out to all the world. Lives are being changed, just as your life was changed the day you heard the Good News. You understood the truth about God’s loving-kindness. 7 You heard the Good News through our much-loved brother Epaphras who is taking my place. He is a faithful servant of Christ. 8 He told us that the Holy Spirit had given you much love.
9 This is why I have never stopped praying for you since I heard about you. I ask God that you may know what He wants you to do. I ask God to fill you with the wisdom and understanding the Holy Spirit gives. 10 Then your lives will please the Lord. You will do every kind of good work, and you will know more about God. 11 I pray that God’s great power will make you strong, and that you will have joy as you wait and do not give up. 12 I pray that you will be giving thanks to the Father. He has made it so you could share the good things given to those who belong to Christ who are in the light. 13 God took us out of a life of darkness. He has put us in the holy nation of His much-loved Son. 14 We have been bought by His blood and made free. Our sins are forgiven through Him.
15 Christ is as God is. God cannot be seen. Christ lived before anything was made. 16 Christ made everything in the heavens and on the earth. He made everything that is seen and things that are not seen. He made all the powers of heaven. Everything was made by Him and for Him. 17 Christ was before all things. All things are held together by Him.
The Power That Wins
76 God is known in Judah. His name is great in Israel. 2 His holy tent of worship is in Salem. He lives in Zion. 3 There He broke the burning arrows, the iron covering and the sword, and all the things used for fighting in war.
4 You are shining with greatness, more beautiful than the mountains with many animals. 5 Strong men have been robbed. They sleep their last sleep. Not one of the soldiers can lift his hands. 6 O God of Jacob, both soldier and horse were put in a dead sleep because of Your sharp words. 7 You alone are to be feared. Who may stand before You when You are angry?
8 You said from heaven who is guilty or not. The earth was afraid and quiet 9 when God stood up to say who is guilty or not, and to save all the people of the earth who are not proud. 10 For the anger of man will praise You. And You will keep what is left of anger around You.
11 Make promises to the Lord your God and keep them. Let all who are around Him bring gifts to Him, Who is to be feared. 12 He will cut off the spirit of princes. He is feared by the kings of the earth.
21 My son, fear the Lord and the king. Have nothing to do with those who are given to change. 22 For their trouble will rise up all at once, and who knows how much both of them will destroy?
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