121 The deceit of Ephraim and the false words of Israel are about me on every side. ... 2 Ephraim's food is the wind, and he goes after the east wind: deceit and destruction are increasing day by day; they make an agreement with Assyria, and take oil into Egypt. 3 The Lord has a cause against Judah, and will give punishment to Jacob for his ways; he will give him the reward of his acts. 4 In the body of his mother he took his brother by the foot, and in his strength he was fighting with God; 5 He had a fight with the angel and overcame him; he made request for grace to him with weeping; he came face to face with him in Beth-el and there his words came to him; 6 Even the Lord, the God of armies; the Lord is his name.
7 So then, come back to your God; keep mercy and right, and be waiting at all times on your God. 8 As for Canaan, the scales of deceit are in his hands; he takes pleasure in twisted ways. 9 And Ephraim said, Now I have got wealth and much property; in all my works no sin may be seen in me. 10 But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; I will give you tents for your living-places again as in the days of the holy meeting. 11 My word came to the ears of the prophets and I gave them visions in great number, and by the mouths of the prophets I made use of comparisons. 12 In Gilead there is evil. They are quite without value; in Gilgal they make offerings of oxen; truly their altars are like masses of stones in the hollows of a ploughed field. 13 And Jacob went in flight into the field of Aram, and Israel became a servant for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep. 14 And by a prophet the Lord made Israel come up out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was kept safe. 15 I have been bitterly moved to wrath by Ephraim; so that his blood will be on him, and the Lord will make his shame come back on him.
131 When the words of my law came from Ephraim, he was lifted up in Israel; but when he did evil through the Baal, death overtook him. 2 And now their sins are increased; they have made themselves a metal image, false gods from their silver, after their designs, all of them the work of the metal-workers; they say of them, Let them give offerings, let men give kisses to the oxen. 3 So they will be like the morning cloud, like the dew which goes early away, like the dust of the grain which the wind is driving out of the crushing-floor, like smoke going up from the fireplace. 4 But I am the Lord your God, from the land of Egypt; you have knowledge of no other God and there is no saviour but me.
5 I had knowledge of you in the waste land where no water was. 6 When I gave them food they were full, and their hearts were full of pride, and they did not keep me in mind. 7 So I will be like a lion to them; as a cruel beast I will keep watch by the road; 8 I will come face to face with them like a bear whose young ones have been taken from her, and their inmost hearts will be broken; there the dogs will make a meal of them; they will be wounded by the beasts of the field.
9 I have sent destruction on you, O Israel; who will be your helper? 10 Where is your king, that he may be your saviour? and all your rulers, that they may take up your cause? of whom you said, Give me a king and rulers. 11 I have given you a king, because I was angry, and have taken him away in my wrath. 12 The wrongdoing of Ephraim is shut up; his sin is put away in secret. 13 The pains of a woman in childbirth will come on him: he is an unwise son, for at this time it is not right for him to keep his place when children come to birth. 14 I will give the price to make them free from the power of the underworld, I will be their saviour from death: O death! where are your pains? O underworld! where is your destruction? my eyes will have no pity. 15 Though he gives fruit among his brothers, an east wind will come, the wind of the Lord coming up from the waste land, and his spring will become dry, his fountain will be without water: it will make waste the store of all the vessels of his desire.
141 Samaria will be made waste, for she has gone against her God: they will be cut down by the sword, their little children will be broken on the rocks, their women who are with child will be cut open. 2 O Israel, come back to the Lord your God; for your evil-doing has been the cause of your fall. 3 Take with you words, and come back to the Lord; say to him, Let there be forgiveness for all wrongdoing, so that we may take what is good, and give in payment the fruit of our lips.
4 Assyria will not be our salvation; we will not go on horses; we will not again say to the work of our hands, You are our gods; for in you there is mercy for the child who has no father. 5 I will put right their errors; freely will my love be given to them, for my wrath is turned away from him. 6 I will be as the dew to Israel; he will put out flowers like a lily, and send out his roots like Lebanon. 7 His branches will be stretched out, he will be beautiful as the olive-tree and sweet-smelling as Lebanon.
8 They will come back and have rest in his shade; their life will be made new like the grain, and they will put out flowers like the vine; his name will be like the wine of Lebanon. 9 As for Ephraim, what has he to do with false gods any longer? I have given an answer and I will keep watch over him; I am like a branching fir-tree, from me comes your fruit. 10 He who is wise will see these things; he who has good sense will have knowledge of them. For the ways of the Lord are straight, and the upright will go in them, but sinners will be falling in them.
41 After these things I saw a door open in heaven, and the first voice came to my ears, like the sound of a horn, saying, Come up here, and I will make clear to you the things which are to come. 2 Straight away I was in the Spirit: and I saw a high seat in heaven, and one was seated on it; 3 And to my eyes he was like a jasper and a sardius stone: and there was an arch of light round the high seat, like an emerald. 4 And round about the high seat were four and twenty seats: and on them I saw four and twenty rulers seated, clothed in white robes; and on their heads crowns of gold. 5 And out of the high seat came flames and voices and thunders. And seven lights of fire were burning before the high seat, which are the seven Spirits of God; 6 And before the high seat there was, as it seemed, a clear sea of glass; and in the middle of the high seat, and round about it, four beasts full of eyes round about. 7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second like an ox, and the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like an eagle in flight.
8 And the four beasts, having every one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and inside: and without resting day and night, they say, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, Ruler of all, who was and is and is to come. 9 And when the beasts give glory and honour to him who is seated on the high seat, to him who is living for ever and ever, 10 The four and twenty rulers go down on their faces before him who is seated on the high seat, and give worship to him who is living for ever and ever, and take off their crowns before the high seat, saying, 11 It is right, our Lord and our God, for you to have glory and honour and power: because by you were all things made, and by your desire they came into being.
