The Punishment for Israel's Apostasy

51 Give ear to this, O priests; give attention, O Israel, and you, family of the king; for you are to be judged; you have been a deceit at Mizpah and a net stretched out on Tabor. 2 They have gone deep in the evil ways of Shittim, but I am the judge of all. 3 I have knowledge of Ephraim, and Israel is not secret from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have been false to me, Israel has become unclean. 4 Their works will not let them come back to their God, for a false spirit is in them and they have no knowledge of the Lord. 5 And the pride of Israel gives an answer to his face; and Ephraim will have a fall through his sins, and the fall of Judah will be the same as theirs. 6 They will go, with their flocks and their herds, in search of the Lord, but they will not see him; he has taken himself out of their view. 7 They have been false to the Lord; they have given birth to strange children; now the new moon will make them waste with their fields.

8 Let the horn be sounded in Gibeah and in Ramah; give a loud cry in Beth-aven, They are after you, O Benjamin. 9 Ephraim will become a waste in the day of punishment; I have given knowledge among the tribes of Israel of what is certain. 10 The rulers of Judah are like those who take away a landmark; I will let loose my wrath on them like flowing water. 11 Ephraim is troubled; he is crushed by his judges, because he took pleasure in walking after deceit. 12 And so to Ephraim I am like a wasting insect, and a destruction to the children of Judah. 13 When Ephraim saw his disease and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to the great king; but he is not able to make you well or give you help for your wound. 14 For I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the children of Judah; I, even I, will give him wounds and go away; I will take him away, and there will be no helper.

The Insincerity of Israel's Repentance

15 I will go back to my place till they are made waste; in their trouble they will go after me early and will make search for me.

61 Come, let us go back to the Lord; for he has given us wounds and he will make us well; he has given blows and he will give help. 2 After two days he will give us life, and on the third day he will make us get up, and we will be living before him. 3 And let us have knowledge, let us go after the knowledge of the Lord; his going out is certain as the dawn, his decisions go out like the light; he will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.

4 O Ephraim, what am I to do to you? O Judah, what am I to do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew which goes early away. 5 So I have had it cut in stones; I gave them teaching by the words of my mouth; 6 Because my desire is for mercy and not offerings; for the knowledge of God more than for burned offerings. 7 But like a man, they have gone against the agreement; there they were false to me. 8 Gilead is a town of evil-doers, marked with blood. 9 And like a band of thieves waiting for a man, so are the priests watching secretly the way of those going quickly to Shechem, for they are working with an evil design. 10 In Israel I have seen a very evil thing; there false ways are seen in Ephraim, Israel is unclean; 11 And Judah has put up disgusting images for himself.

Israel's Iniquity and Rebellion

71 When my desire was for the fate of my people to be changed and to make Israel well, then the sin of Ephraim was made clear, and the evil-doing of Samaria; for their ways are false, and the thief comes into the house, while the band of outlaws takes property by force in the streets. 2 And they do not say to themselves that I keep in mind all their sin; now their evil acts come round them on every side; they are before my face. 3 In their sin they make a king for themselves, and rulers in their deceit. 4 They are all untrue; they are like a burning oven; the bread-maker does not make up the fire from the time when the paste is mixed till it is leavened. 5 On the day of our king, the rulers made him ill with the heat of wine; his hand was stretched out with the men of pride. 6 For they have made their hearts ready like an oven, while they are waiting secretly; their wrath is sleeping all night; in the morning it is burning like a flaming fire. 7 They are all heated like an oven, and they put an end to their judges; all their kings have been made low; not one among them makes prayer to me.

8 Ephraim is mixed with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned. 9 Men from other lands have made waste his strength, and he is not conscious of it; grey hairs have come on him here and there, and he has no knowledge of it. 10 And the pride of Israel gives an answer to his face; but for all this, they have not gone back to the Lord their God, or made search for him. 11 And Ephraim is like a foolish dove, without wisdom; they send out their cry to Egypt, they go to Assyria. 12 When they go, my net will be stretched out over them; I will take them like the birds of heaven, I will give them punishment, I will take them away in the net for their sin. 13 May trouble be theirs! for they have gone far away from me; and destruction, for they have been sinning against me; I was ready to be their saviour, but they said false words against me. 14 And they have not made prayer to me in their hearts, but they make loud cries on their beds; they are cutting themselves for food and wine, they are turned against me. 15 Though I have given training and strength to their arms, they have evil designs against me. 16 They have gone to what is of no value; they are like a false bow; their captains will come to destruction by the sword, and their ruler by my wrath; for this, the land of Egypt will make sport of them.

The Rebuke of Israel's Idolatry

81 Put the horn to your mouth. He comes like an eagle against the house of the Lord; because they have gone against my agreement, they have not kept my law. 2 They will send up to me a cry for help: We, Israel, have knowledge of you, O God of Israel. 3 Israel has given up what is good; his haters will go after him. 4 They have put up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, but I had no knowledge of it; they have made images of silver and gold, so that they may be cut off. 5 I will have nothing to do with your young ox, O Samaria; my wrath is burning against them; how long will it be before the children of Israel make themselves clean? 6 The workman made it, it is no god; the ox of Samaria will be broken into bits. 7 For they have been planting the wind, and their fruit will be the storm; his grain has no stem, it will give no meal, and if it does, a strange nation will take it.

8 Israel has come to destruction; now they are among the nations like a cup in which there is no pleasure. 9 For they have gone up to Assyria like an ass going by himself; Ephraim has given money to get lovers. 10 But though they give money to the nations for help, still I will send them in all directions; and in a short time they will be without a king and rulers. 11 Because Ephraim has been increasing altars for sin, altars have become a cause of sin to him. 12 Though I put my law in writing for him in ten thousand rules, they are to him as a strange thing. 13 He gives the offerings of his lovers, and takes the flesh for food; but the Lord has no pleasure in them; now he will keep in mind their evil-doing and give them the punishment of their sins; they will go back to Egypt. 14 For Israel has no memory of his Maker, and has put up the houses of kings; and Judah has made great the number of his walled towns. But I will send a fire on his towns and put an end to his great houses.

The Message to Ephesus

21 To the angel of the church in Ephesus say: These things says he who has the seven stars in his right hand, who is walking in the middle of the seven gold lights: 2 I have knowledge of your doings, and of your hard work and long waiting, and that you will not put up with evil men, and have put to the test those who say they are Apostles and are not, and have seen that they are false; 3 And you have the power of waiting, and have undergone trouble because of my name, without weariness. 4 But I have this against you, that you are turned away from your first love. 5 So keep in mind where you were at first, and be changed in heart and do the first works; or I will come to you, and will take away your light from its place, if your hearts are not changed. 6 But at least you have the credit of hating the works of the Nicolaitans, as I do. 7 He who has ears, let him give ear to what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give of the fruit of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.

The Message to Smyrna

8 And to the angel of the church in Smyrna say: These things says the first and the last, who was dead and is living: 9 I have knowledge of your troubles and how poor you are (but you have true wealth), and the evil words of those who say they are Jews, and are not, but are a Synagogue of Satan. 10 Have no fear of the things which you will have to undergo: see, the Evil One will send some of you into prison, so that you may be put to the test; and you will have great trouble for ten days. Be true till death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has ears, let him give ear to what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not come under the power of the second death.

The Message to Pergamos

12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos say: These things says he who has the sharp two-edged sword: 13 I have knowledge that your living-place is where Satan has his seat: and you are true to my name, and were not turned away from your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my true witness, who was put to death among you, where Satan has his place. 14 But I have some things against you, because you have with you those who keep the teaching of Balaam, by whose suggestion Balak made the children of Israel go out of the right way, taking food which was offered to false gods, and going after the desires of the flesh. 15 And you have those who keep the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 See, then, that you have a change of heart; or I will come to you quickly, and will make war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 He who has ears, let him give ear to what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give of the secret manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name, of which no one has knowledge but he to whom it is given.

The Message to Thyatira

18 And to the angel of the church in Thyatira say: These things says the Son of God, whose eyes are like a flame of fire, and his feet like polished brass: 19 I have knowledge of your works, and your love and faith and help and strength in trouble, and that your last works are more than the first. 20 But I have this against you, that you let the woman Jezebel say she is a prophet and give false teaching, making my servants go after the desires of the flesh and take food offered to false gods. 21 And I gave her time for a change of heart, but she has no mind to give up her unclean ways. 22 See, I will put her into a bed, and those who make themselves unclean with her, into great trouble, if they go on with her works. 23 And I will put her children to death; and all the churches will see that I am he who makes search into the secret thoughts and hearts of men: and I will give to every one of you the reward of your works. 24 But to you I say, to the rest in Thyatira, even to those who have not this teaching, and have no knowledge of the secrets of Satan, as they say; I put on you no other weight. 25 But what you have, keep safe till I come. 26 He who overcomes, and keeps my works to the end, to him I will give rule over the nations, 27 And he will be ruling them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of the potter they will be broken, even as I have power from my Father: 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has ears, let him give ear to what the Spirit says to the churches.