Hosea Cross References - ISV

¹ The Word of the LORD to HoseaA message from the LORD came to Beeri’s son Hosea during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Joash’s son Jeroboam, who was king of Israel.
² Hosea’s Wife and FamilyWhen a message from the LORD came to Hosea, the LORD told him, “Go marry a prostitute and have children with her, because the land is prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.” ³ So he went out and married Diblaim’s daughter Gomer. She conceived with him and gave birth to a son.
⁴ Naming the ChildrenThe LORD told Hosea, “Name the child ‘Jezreel,’ because in a little while I’ll avenge the blood that was shed by Jehu’s dynasty at Jezreel. I’ll put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. ⁵ At that time I’ll shatter the military strength of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
⁶ Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter, so the LORD told Hosea, “Name her ‘Lo-ruhamah,’ because I will no longer be showing mercy to the house of Israel, nor will I forgive them. ⁷ But I’ll have mercy on the house of Judah, and I’ll save them by the LORD their God—I will not save them by the bow, by the sword, by battle, by horses, or by cavalry.”
⁸ After Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived again and gave birth to a son, ⁹ so the LORD told Hosea, “Name him ‘Lo-ammi,’ because you are not my people, and I will not be your God. ¹⁰ Despite this, the number of the people of Israel will be like ocean sand, which can neither be measured nor counted. And the time will come when instead of it being said, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’ ¹¹ And the people of Judah and the people of Israel will be united as one. They will appoint for themselves a single leader and will take dominion over the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.

¹³ So Joash died, as did his ancestors, and Jeroboam assumed his throne after Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

¹⁶ Jehoash died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in Samaria alongside the kings of Israel. His son Jeroboam reigned in his place.

³² Jotham’s Reign over JudahUzziah’s son Jotham became king over Judah during the second year of the reign of Remaliah’s son Pekah, king of Israel.

¹ Ahaz Becomes King of JudahDuring the seventeenth year of the reign of Remaliah’s son Pekah, Jotham’s son Ahaz became king of Judah. ² Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. He did not practice what the LORD considered to be right, as had his ancestor David. ³ Instead, he behaved like the kings of Israel did by making his son pass through fire, the very same abomination that the heathen practiced, whom the LORD evicted from the land right in front of the Israelis. ⁴ Furthermore, Ahaz sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on top of hills, and under every green tree.
⁵ Ahaz Seeks Help from Assyria
Later, King Rezin of Aram and Remaliah’s son Pekah, king of Israel, approached Jerusalem to attack it. They besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. ⁶ But at that time, King Rezin of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, completely removing the Judeans from Elath. Then the Arameans returned to Elath and have remained there to this day. ⁷ So Ahaz sent envoys to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, to tell him, “I am your servant and son. Save me from the king of Aram and the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” ⁸ Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that was in the LORD’s Temple and in the palace treasuries and sent them as a gift to the king of Assyria, ⁹ so the king of Assyria listened to Ahaz. He attacked Damascus, captured it, sent its people away into exile to Kir, and executed Rezin.
¹⁰ King Ahaz Constructs a Pagan Altar
King Ahaz traveled to Damascus and met with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, where he observed the altar at Damascus. So King Ahaz sent a set of construction patterns of this altar to Uriah the priest. ¹¹ Uriah the priest built an altar, following the plans that King Ahaz had sent him from Damascus and finishing the altar before King Ahaz returned from Damascus. ¹² When the king returned from Damascus, as soon as he saw the altar, he approached it and offered sacrifices on it. ¹³ He presented a burnt offering, a meat offering, poured out a drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of a peace offering on his altar. ¹⁴ Then he took the bronze altar that stood in the LORD’s presence from in front of the Temple, moved it to the north side of his altar, ¹⁵ and issued these orders to Uriah the priest: “Burn the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, the whole burnt offering, the grain offering, and the drink offering on behalf of all the people of the land on the large altar. And sprinkle all the blood from the burnt offering and from the sacrifice. But I will use the bronze altar to ask God questions.”
¹⁶ So Uriah the priest did precisely what King Ahaz ordered. ¹⁷ Later, King Ahaz ordered the side panels removed from the bases, along with the washing bowls that had stood on top of the bases. He also removed the large bowl that was called the Sea from on top of the bronze bulls that supported it, and put it on a stone base. ¹⁸ Then Ahaz removed the covered walkway for use on the Sabbath that they had built in the Temple. Because of the king of Assyria, he also removed the outside entrance from the LORD’s Temple that had been built exclusively for the king.
¹⁹ Now the rest of Ahaz’s activities are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not? ²⁰ Later, Ahaz died, as did his ancestors, and was buried alongside his ancestors in the City of David. His son Hezekiah reigned in his place.

¹ Hezekiah Becomes King of Judah
Now it happened that during the third year of the reign of Elah’s son Hoshea, king of Israel, that Ahaz’ son Hezekiah became king. ² He was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother was Zechariah’s daughter Abi. ³ He did what the LORD considered to be right, according to everything that his ancestor David had done.
⁴ Hezekiah’s Reforms
He removed the high places, demolished the sacred pillars, and tore down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had crafted, because the Israelis had been burning incense to it right up until that time. Hezekiah called it a piece of brass. ⁵ He trusted the LORD God of Israel, and after him there were none like him among all the kings of Judah, ⁶ because he depended on the LORD, not abandoning pursuit of him, and keeping the LORD’s commands that he had commanded Moses. ⁷ So the LORD was with him, and Hezekiah prospered wherever he went, even when he rebelled against the king of Assyria, refusing to serve him. ⁸ He attacked the Philistines, invading Gaza and its borders from watchtower to fortified garrison.
⁹ Shalmaneser Attacks SamariaIn the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign (that is, during the seventh year of Elah’s son Hoshea’s reign as king of Israel), King Shalmaneser from Assyria invaded Samaria and besieged it. ¹⁰ Three years later, they captured Samaria during the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign as king of Israel. ¹¹ After this, the king of Assyria carried Israel off into exile in Assyria, settling them in Halah, on the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities controlled by the Medes, ¹² because they would not obey the voice of the LORD their God. Instead, they transgressed his covenant, including everything that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded, by neither listening nor putting what he had commanded into practice.
¹³ During the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria approached all of the walled cities of Judah and seized them. ¹⁴ So Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have offended you. Withdraw from me, and I’ll accept whatever tribute you impose.” So the king of Assyria required Hezekiah to pay him 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. ¹⁵ Hezekiah gave him all the silver that could be removed from the LORD’s Temple and from the treasuries in the king’s palace. ¹⁶ At that time, Hezekiah removed the doors to the LORD’s Temple and the doorposts that he had overlaid with gold, and gave the gold to the king of Assyria.
¹⁷ Assyria’s King Taunts Hezekiah
Sometime later, the king of Assyria sent Tartan, Rab-saris, and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, accompanied with a large army. ¹⁸ When they called for the king, Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who managed the household, Shebnah the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder went out to them. ¹⁹ Rab-shakeh told them, “Tell Hezekiah right now, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: ‘“Why are you so confident? ²⁰ You’re saying—but they’re only empty words—‘I have enough advice and resources to conduct warfare!’‘“Now who are you relying on, that you have rebelled against me? ²¹ Look, you’re trusting on Egypt to lean on like a staff, but it’s a crushed reed, and if you lean on it, it will collapse and pierce your hand. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just like that to everyone who relies on him! ²² ‘“Of course, you might tell me, “We rely on the LORD our God!” But isn’t it he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has demolished, all the while telling Jerusalem, “You’re to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem?”’ ²³ ‘“Come now, and make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria, and I’ll give you 2,000 horses, if you can furnish them with riders. ²⁴ How can you refuse even one official from the least of my master’s servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ²⁵ “Now then, haven’t I come up—apart from the LORD—to attack and destroy this place? The LORD told me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it!’”’”
²⁶ At this, Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah asked Rab-shakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it, but don’t speak the language of Judah to us within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
²⁷ But Rab-shakeh spoke to them, “Has my master sent me to talk about this just to your master and to you, and not also to the men who are sitting on the wall, who will soon be eating their own feces and drinking their own urine—along with you?” ²⁸ Then Rab-shakeh stood up and cried out loud, “Listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria has to say. ²⁹ This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, because he will prove to be unable to deliver you from my control. ³⁰ And don’t let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by telling you, “The LORD will certainly deliver us and this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” ³¹ Don’t listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: “Make peace with me and come out to me! Each of you will eat from his own vine. Each will eat from his own fig tree. And each of you will drink water from his own cistern ³² until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, one overflowing with grain and new wine, a land filled with bread and vineyards, with olive trees and honey, so you may live and not die.” ‘But don’t listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us!” ³³ Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land from control by the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my control? ³⁵ Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered their land from my control, so that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from me?’”
³⁶ But the people remained silent and did not answer with even so much as a word, because the king’s order was, “Don’t answer him.”
³⁷ But Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who managed the household, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came back to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him what Rab-shakeh had said.

¹ Uzziah Succeeds Amaziah
All the people of Judah made Uzziah king in place of his father Amaziah. Uzziah was sixteen years old at the time. ² He rebuilt Eloth and restored it to Judah after King Amaziah had been laid to rest with his ancestors. ³ Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned for 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah. She was from Jerusalem. ⁴ He practiced what the LORD considered to be right, following the example set by his father Amaziah’s accomplishments. ⁵ Uzziah kept on seeking God during the lifetime of Zechariah, who taught him how to fear God, and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosperous.
⁶ Uzziah’s Initial SuccessesOne time Uzziah went out and battled the Philistines. He tore down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod, and built cities in the Ashdod area among the Philistines. ⁷ God helped Uzziah defeat the Philistines, the Arabians who lived in Gur-baal, and the Meunites. ⁸ The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his reputation extended as far as the border with Egypt as he became stronger and stronger. ⁹ Uzziah also built towers in Jerusalem, at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the Angle and fortified them. ¹⁰ He also built watchtowers in the wilderness and had many cisterns hewed out, since he also possessed large herds, both in the Shephelah and in the midland plains. He had many farmers and vinedressers throughout the hills and fertile lands because he loved farming.
¹¹ Uzziah kept a standing army, equipped for battle, garrisoned in divisions according to an organizational structure devised by his royal secretary Jeiel and his officer Maaseiah, who reported to Hananiah, one of the king’s commanders. ¹² The number of senior leaders of the ancestral houses of his elite forces numbered 2,600. ¹³ Uzziah commanded an army of 307,500 who could fight formidably on behalf of the king against any enemy. ¹⁴ In addition, Uzziah equipped the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows, and stones for use in slings. ¹⁵ He also had various siege engines built by skilled designers and placed them on the towers and on the corner ramparts that could fire arrows and very large stones. His reputation spread far and wide, and he was marvelously assisted until he grew very strong.
¹⁶ Uzziah’s Arrogance and Apostasy
But after he had become strong, in his arrogance he acted corruptly and became unfaithful to the LORD his God, and he dared to enter the LORD’s Temple to burn incense on the incense altar. ¹⁷ Azariah the priest ran after him, along with 80 of the LORD’s valiant priests, ¹⁸ and they opposed King Uzziah. “Uzziah, it’s not for you to burn incense to the LORD,” they told him, “but for the priests to do, Aaron’s descendants who are consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary now, because you have been unfaithful and won’t receive any honor from the LORD God.”
¹⁹ Uzziah flew into a rage while he held in his hand a censer to burn incense. As he got angry at the priests, leprosy broke out all over his forehead right in front of the priests beside the incense altar in the LORD’s Temple. ²⁰ So Azariah the chief priest and all the priests stared at Uzziah, who was infected with leprosy in his forehead! They all rushed at him and hurried him out of the Temple. Uzziah was in a hurry to get out anyway, because the LORD had struck him.
²¹ King Uzziah remained a leper until the day he died. Because he was a leper, he lived in a separate residence and remained disqualified to enter the LORD’s Temple. His son Jotham served in the royal palace, judging the people of the land. ²² Now the rest of Uzziah’s accomplishments, from first to last, have been recorded by Amoz’s son Isaiah the prophet. ²³ Uzziah died, as had his ancestors, and they buried him alongside his ancestors in a grave in a field that belonged to the kings, because they said, “He was a leper.” Uzziah’s son Jotham became king to replace him.

¹ The Vision of IsaiahThis is the vision that Amoz’s son Isaiah had about Judah and Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
² This message from the LORD came to him during the thirteenth year of the reign of Ammon’s son Josiah, the king of Judah,

⁴ Jeremiah’s Call as a ProphetThis message from the LORD came to me:

³ a message from the LORD came directly to Buzi’s son Ezekiel, the priest, by the Chebar River in the land of the Chaldeans. The hand of the LORD rested upon him there.

¹ The Coming InvasionThis message from the LORD came to Pethuel’s son Joel.

¹ Amos is Called to ProphesyThe words of Amos, who was among the sheep breeders of Tekoa, which he spoke concerning Israel during the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah and during the reign of Joash’s son Jeroboam, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

¹ Jonah is Called to Go to NinevehNow this message from the LORD came to Amittai’s son Jonah:

¹ God’s Coming JudgmentThis message from the LORD came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of the Judean kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah concerning the vision he saw about Samaria and Jerusalem:

¹ A Call to ReturnIn the eighth month of the second year of the reign of Darius, this message from the LORD came to Berechiah’s son Zechariah, the grandson of Iddo the prophet:

³⁵ If he called those to whom a message from God came ‘gods’ (and the Scripture cannot be disregarded),

²⁵ As the Scripture says in Hosea, “Those who are not my people I will call my people, and the one who was not loved I will call my loved one.

²¹ because no prophecy ever originated through a human decision. Instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁵ Otherwise, you may make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and when they prostitute themselves with their gods and offer sacrifices to their gods, someone may invite you and then you may eat some of their sacrifices.
¹⁶ “You are not to take any of their daughters for your sons. Otherwise, when their daughters prostitute themselves with their gods, they may cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods.

¹⁶ Then the LORD told Moses, “Look! You are about to join your ancestors. Afterwards, this people will rebel and commit prostitution with the foreign gods of the land that they are about to enter to possess. They will abandon me and break my covenant that I made with them.

¹³ Instead, you have lived like the kings of Israel by causing Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit cultic sexual immorality—just like Ahab’s dynasty did! And you’ve killed your brothers who were better than you—your own father’s dynasty!

²⁷ Those far from you will perish; you will destroy those who are unfaithful to you.

³⁹ Therefore, they became unclean because of what they did; they have acted like whores by their evil deeds.

² at that time the LORD spoke through Amoz’s son Isaiah: “Go loosen the sackcloth that’s around your waist, and take your sandals off your feet.” So that’s what he did: he went around naked and barefoot.
³ Then the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has walked around naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a warning for Egypt and Ethiopia,

¹³ “Indeed, my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

¹ God Contemplates Divorcing Israel “When a man divorces his wife, she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife, will the first husband return to her again? The land would be deeply polluted, would it not? Since you have committed fornication with many lovers, would you now return to me?” declares the LORD. ² “Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? You have sat beside the road, waiting for them like a nomad in the desert. And you have polluted the land with your fornication and your wickedness. ³ This is why the rain has been withheld and there are no spring showers. Yet you have a harlot’s look and you refuse to be ashamed. ⁴ Have you not just called out to me, ‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—

⁹ She took her fornication so lightly that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

¹ Jeremiah’s Linen BeltThis is what the LORD told me: “Go and buy a linen belt for yourself, and put it around your waist. But don’t let it get wet.” ² So I bought the belt according to the LORD’s instruction, and put it around my waist.
³ Then this message from the LORD came to me a second time: ⁴ Take the belt that you bought and that is around your waist. Get up and go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a crevice in the rock.” ⁵ So I went and hid it at the Euphrates, just as the LORD had commanded me.
⁶ After a long time, the LORD told me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and get the belt that I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷ I went to the Euphrates and dug it up. I got the belt from the place where I had hidden it. The belt was ruined! It was not good for anything.
⁸ Then this message from the LORD came to me: ⁹ “This is what the LORD says: ‘In the same way I’ll ruin the pride of Judah and the pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ This evil people that refuses to listen to my words, that stubbornly pursues their own desires, and that follows other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt that is not good for anything. ¹¹ For just as the belt clings tightly to a person’s waist, so I’ve made all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah cling tightly to me,’ declares the LORD. ‘I did this so that they would be my people, name, praise, and glory. But they wouldn’t listen.’

¹ The Vision of the Brick“And now Son of Man, you are to take a brick, set it in front of you, and inscribe on it the outline of the city—that is, Jerusalem. ² You are to lay siege against it, build a rampart around it, set a bulwark against it, encircle it with a berm, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it. ³ Then you are to take a flat, iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city.
“Next, you are to turn toward it, oppose it, and place it under siege, because you are to lay siege to it. All of this will serve as a sign to the house of Israel.
⁴ “Now as for you, you are to sleep on your left side, symbolically bearing the punishment of the house of Israel while you’re counting the days you’ll be sleeping on your left side to bear symbolically the punishment for their sin. ⁵ I’ve assigned you to sleep this way for 390 days, representing the years they’ve been sinning, as you bear symbolically the punishment of the house of Israel.

⁹ Your survivors will remember me among the nations where they’ll be taken captives. I’ve been crushed by their unfaithful hearts that have turned against me.

¹ A Prophecy Confronting JerusalemThis message came to me from the LORD: ² “Son of Man, make known to Israel her detestable practices. ³ You are to declare, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: “Your birth place was the territory that belonged to the Canaanites. Your father was an Ammonite and your mother was a Hittite. ⁴ Now as to your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord wasn’t cut. You weren’t washed with water to clean you, and nobody rubbed you with salt. And it’s certain that you weren’t wrapped in strips of cloth. ⁵ Nobody pitied you to do any of these things for you, and nobody showed you any compassion. You were tossed outside on the ground, because you were detested from the day you were born.
⁶ “‘“When I passed by you, I saw you kicking around, covered in your own blood. That’s when I told you, ‘Live!’—while you were wallowing in your blood. I commanded you to live, even as you lay there in your own blood. ⁷ I made you increase like sprouting grain in the field. As a result, you multiplied greatly. Eventually, you reached the age when young women start wearing jewelry. Your breasts were formed, your hair had grown, but you were still bare and naked.”’”
⁸ God’s Betrothal to Jerusalem“When I passed by you again, I looked at you, and noticed that it was your proper time for love. I spread my cloak over you to cover your nakedness. I made a solemn promise to you and entered into a covenant with you,” declares the Lord GOD. “You belong to me. ⁹ I bathed you with water, rinsed your own blood from you, and anointed you with oil. ¹⁰ Then I covered you with embroidered clothing, clothed your feet with leather sandals, wrapped you with fine linen, and dressed you in silk. ¹¹ I adorned you with jewels, placing bracelets on your hand and necklaces on your neck. ¹² I put a ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a crown encrusted with jewels on your head. ¹³ You were adorned with gold, silver, clothing of fine linen, silk, and embroidery. You ate food made from the finest flour, honey, and olive oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, attaining royal status. ¹⁴ Your fame spread throughout the nations because of your beauty. You were perfectly beautiful due to my splendor with which I endowed you,” declares the Lord GOD.
¹⁵ Jerusalem’s Arrogant Unfaithfulness“But you trusted in your beauty. You did what whores do, as a result of your fame. You passed out your sexual favors to anyone who passed by, giving yourself to anyone. ¹⁶ You took some of your clothes and made gaily-colored high places and prostituted yourself all around them—something which had never happened before nor will ever happen again.
¹⁷ “You also took your fine jewelry—including my gold and my silver that I had given you. Then you made for yourself male images and had sex with them! ¹⁸ You took your embroidered gowns and made clothes to cover them. Then you offered my olive oil and incense to them.
¹⁹ “Not only that, you took the food I gave you—my fine flour, olive oil, and honey with which I fed you, and you offered them to those gods in order to appease them. That’s exactly what happened,” says the Lord GOD. ²⁰ “Then you took your sons and daughters whom you bore for me and sacrificed them for your idols to eat. As though your prostitutions were an insignificant thing, ²¹ you also slaughtered my sons and offered them to idols, incinerating them in fire. ²² Throughout all of your detestable practices and immorality, you never did remember your earlier life when you were bare, naked, and wallowing in your own blood.”
²³ The Unfaithfulness of God’s People“How terrible! How terrible it will be for all of your wickedness!” declares the Lord GOD. ²⁴ “You built raised mounds and high places for yourself on every plaza. ²⁵ At every street corner you made your beauty abhorrent when you made yourself available for sex to anyone who was passing by. By doing this, you kept on committing more and more immorality. ²⁶ Then you committed immorality with your neighbors, the Egyptians, with perverted lust, and by doing so you fornicated even more, provoking me to anger.
²⁷ “Therefore, look out! I’ve reached out to oppose you. I withdrew your rations and delivered you to those Philistine women who hate you. Even they were embarrassed at your wicked ways! ²⁸ You committed immorality with the Assyrians, because you still weren’t satisfied. You committed immorality with them, but you still weren’t satisfied. ²⁹ You committed even more immorality with that land of the merchants, the Chaldeans. But you weren’t satisfied even with these!
³⁰ “How weak is your heart,” declares the Lord GOD, “when you committed all of these deeds, the acts of an imperious whore! ³¹ When you built your mound on every street corner and constructed your high place at every plaza, you weren’t like a common prostitute, in that you’ve insulted the wages of a prostitute ³² who commits adultery, preferring a stranger over her husband!
³³ “All prostitutes receive gifts, but you give your gifts to all your lovers, then you bribe them to come to you from everywhere to get your sexual favors! ³⁴ You’re different from other women when you commit immorality—no one can match you in that! After all, you pay fees, but no fee is given to you. You’re certainly different!”
³⁵ The Coming Punishment“Therefore listen to this message from the LORD, you whore! ³⁶ This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because your lust has been poured out and your nakedness has been uncovered by your acts of fornication with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols and the blood of your sons, whom you offered to them, ³⁷ therefore, watch out! I’m about to gather all your lovers from whom you’ve received your pleasure, everyone whom you’ve loved, and those whom you’ve hated. I’ll gather them together to oppose you from every side, and they’ll uncover your nakedness in their presence. Then they’ll see you completely naked. ³⁸ I’ll judge you with the same standards by which I issue verdicts against a woman who commits adultery and murder. I’ll avenge the blood you’ve shed with impassioned wrath.
³⁹ “I’ll also deliver you into their control, and they’ll break down your mounds, tear down your high places, strip off your clothes, remove your fine jewels, and then they’ll leave you stark naked! ⁴⁰ They’ll bring a mob against you to stone you to death and cut you into pieces with their swords. ⁴¹ Then they’ll burn your houses and carry out my sentence against you in the sight of many women.
“That’s how I’ll make you stop your prostitution so you won’t pay any prostitute’s fees anymore. ⁴² I’ll stop being angry with you, and I’ll cease being jealous. I’ll be calm and not be indignant anymore. ⁴³ Because you didn’t remember the time when you were young, but instead you provoked me to anger because of all these things, watch out! I’m going to bring your behavior back to haunt you!” declares the Lord GOD. “Didn’t you do this wicked thing, in addition to all your other detestable practices?”
⁴⁴ Like Mother, Like Daughter“Now, everyone who likes proverbs will quote this proverb about you, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ ⁴⁵ You’re the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and children. You’re the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children.
“Your mother was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite. ⁴⁶ Your elder sister was Samaria. She and her daughters lived in the north, while your younger sister who lived in the south with her daughters was Sodom. ⁴⁷ It wasn’t just that you lived like they did and committed their detestable practices, but in just a little while your behavior led you to become more corrupt than they were!”
⁴⁸ Sins of Sodom“As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “your sister Sodom and her daughters didn’t do what you and your daughters have done. ⁴⁹ Look! This was the sin of your sister Sodom and her daughters: Pride, too much food, undisturbed peace, and failure to help the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ In their arrogance, they committed detestable practices in my presence, so when I saw it, I removed them. ⁵¹ Samaria didn’t commit half of your sins—you practiced more detestable deeds than they did! You’ve caused your sister to be more righteous than you, because of the detestable practices that you’ve committed. ⁵² So now, bear your own shame as you mediate for your sisters. The sins that you’ve committed are more detestable than theirs. That makes them more righteous than you. Indeed, be ashamed and bear your reproach, because you’ve made your sisters to be more righteous than you.”
⁵³ A Change in Circumstances“I’ll bring them back from their captivity—that is, from the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, along with the captivity of Samaria and her daughters and the captivity of your captives among them. ⁵⁴ But you’ll continue to bear your own reproach and be humiliated for everything that you’ve done. You’ll be a comfort to them. ⁵⁵ Your sister Sodom and her daughters will be restored to their former status. Samaria and her daughters will be restored to their former status. Then you and your daughters will be restored to your former status.
⁵⁶ “When you were being so arrogant, you never once mentioned your sister Sodom ⁵⁷ before your wickedness was revealed. Now you’ve become an object of derision to the inhabitants of Aram and its neighbors, including the Philistines—all those around you who despise you. ⁵⁸ You are to bear the punishment of your wickedness and detestable practices,” declares the LORD, ⁵⁹ “since the Lord GOD says, ‘I’ll deal with you according to what you’ve done, when you despised your oath by breaking the covenant.
⁶⁰ “‘Meanwhile, as for me, I’ll remember my covenant with you from when you were young, because I’ll establish an eternal covenant with you. ⁶¹ Then you’ll remember your behavior and be ashamed when you greet your sisters—your elder sister and your younger sister. I’ll give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you. ⁶² I’ll establish my covenant with you, and then you’ll know that I am the LORD. ⁶³ Then you will remember, be ashamed, and you won’t open your mouth anymore due to humiliation when I will have made atonement for you for everything that you’ve done,’ declares the Lord GOD.”

¹ Introducing Oholah and OholibahThis message came to me from the LORD: ² “Son of Man, here are two sisters who are daughters from the same mother. ³ They committed sexual immorality in Egypt. They did this in their youth. There, their breasts were caressed. Their virgin breasts were fondled. ⁴ The older one was named Oholah and her sister was named Oholibah. They belonged to me and gave birth to sons and daughters. Now as to their real identities, Oholah refers to Samaria and Oholibah to Jerusalem.”
⁵ The Sins of Samaria“Oholah committed sexual immorality while she belonged to me. She lusted for Assyria’s warriors, ⁶ who were clothed in blue—including governors and commanders. All of them were desirable young men—horsemen mounted on horses. ⁷ She bestowed her sexual favors on them—all of them, the best of the Assyrians—and with whomever she lusted for.
“She defiled herself with all their idols. ⁸ She never abandoned the immorality that she practiced in Egypt during her youth, where they laid down with her and fondled her virgin breasts, lavishing her with all kinds of favors. ⁹ Therefore, I turned her over to the control of her lovers, that is, into the control of the Assyrians for whom she lusted. ¹⁰ They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters, and executed her with a sword. She became an object of ridicule among other nations when they punished her.”
¹¹ The Sins of Jerusalem“Her sister Oholibah saw this, but she was more corrupt in her lust and sexual immorality than her sister had been in her own sexual immorality. ¹² She lusted after the Assyrians—governors, commanders, warriors clothed in gorgeous attire, cavalry mounted on their horses—all of them desirable young men. ¹³ I saw that she was defiled, because the two of them both were on the same path.
¹⁴ “She became even more sexually immoral when she saw the images of the Chaldean men who had been carved in red on their walls. ¹⁵ Girded with waistbands around their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looked like chariot officers, similar to the Babylonians from Chaldea, where they had been born.
¹⁶ “She lusted after them when she saw them, so she sent messengers to summon them from Chaldea. ¹⁷ The Babylonians came to her love nest and defiled her with their sexual immorality. As a result, she was defiled by them. Even so, she turned away from them in disgust. ¹⁸ She displayed her immorality publicly and stripped herself naked, so I turned away in disgust from her, just as I had turned away in disgust from her sister.
¹⁹ “Nevertheless, she became even more sexually immoral, even reminiscing about when she was young, when she kept on practicing sexual immorality in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ She lusted after her paramours, whose genitals are like those of donkeys, and whose emissions are like those of horses. ²¹ Think about the wickedness that you practiced when you were young, when the Egyptians fondled your breasts, the breasts of your youth.”
²² God’s Rebuke to Jerusalem“Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Look! I’m about to stir up your lovers against you, the ones from whom you’ve turned away in disgust. I’m going to bring them against you from every direction— ²³ the Babylonians, all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, Koa, and all of the Assyrians with them. They’re all desirable young men, governors, commanders, chariot officers, and famous men, all of them mounted on horses.
²⁴ “‘They’ll invade you with weapons, chariots, wagons, and a vast army. They’ll set themselves in place to attack you from every direction with large shields, small shields, and helmets. I’ll turn over judgment to them, and they’ll punish you according to their own standards. ²⁵ I’ll expend my jealousy on you so they’ll deal with you in anger. They’ll cut off your noses and your ears. Your survivors will die violently. They’ll take your sons and daughters away from you, but your survivors will be incinerated. ²⁶ They’ll strip off your clothes and confiscate your jewelry. ²⁷ That’s how I’ll put an end to your obscene conduct and sexual immorality that you kept on practicing since the day you left the land of Egypt so that you won’t look in Egypt’s direction or even remember it anymore.’
²⁸ “This is what the Lord GOD says, ‘I’m about to turn you over to the control of those you hate, to the control of those from whom you turned away in disgust. ²⁹ They’ll deal with you with hatred. They’ll take away your productivity, leaving you naked and defenseless, so that the nakedness of your sexual immorality will be uncovered—your licentious sexual immorality. ³⁰ These things will happen to you because of your sexual immorality that was patterned after what the nations do. You’ve been defiled by their idols. ³¹ You took the path of your sister, so I’ll place her cup in your hand.’
³² “This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You’ll drink from your sister’s cup, which is both large and deep. You’ll become a laughing stock and an object of derision, since the cup is so full! ³³ You’ll be filled with drunkenness and grief. The cup that belongs to your sister Samaria is filled with horror and devastation, ³⁴ but you’ll drink from it and drain it completely. As for the vessel, you’ll break it to pieces and you’ll tear at your breasts, for I’ve spoken,’ declares the Lord GOD.
³⁵ “Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you abandoned me and threw me behind your back, you will bear the consequences of your obscene conduct and sexual immorality.’”
³⁶ What Israel and Samaria DidThen the LORD spoke to me. “Son of Man, speak out in judgment of both Oholah and Oholibah. Make their detestable practices widely known, ³⁷ because they’ve committed adultery, and blood covers their hands. They’ve also committed adultery with their idols, making their sons born to me to pass through the fire as an offering to them.
³⁸ “They’ve also done this to me: They defiled my sanctuary and profaned my Sabbaths, all at the same time! ³⁹ When they killed their sons as offerings to their idols, they brought them to my sanctuary and defiled it. Look what they’ve done with my Temple!
⁴⁰ “In addition, they sent messengers for men to come from afar. When they arrived, you bathed yourself for them, painted your eyes, adorned yourself with jewelry, ⁴¹ then sat down on an elegant bed. A table was arranged in front of it, on which you set out my incense and oil. ⁴² The sound of a carefree multitude accompanied her. Men from a multitude of peoples were coming—including Sabeans from the wilderness, adorned with bracelets on their hands and beautiful crowns on their heads.
⁴³ “After she had worn herself out by her adulterous behavior, I asked her, ‘Will they continue with their sexual immorality and with their prostitution?’ ⁴⁴ They’ve gone to her, like men do, to have sex with a prostitute. They had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, those licentious women. ⁴⁵ Righteous men will judge them with punishments fit for adulterers and for those who shed blood, because they’re adulterers with blood on their hands.”
⁴⁶ The Coming InvasionThis is what the Lord GOD says: “Bring an army against them and deliver them over to terror and plunder. ⁴⁷ Then the army will stone them with stones and cut them to pieces with their swords. They’ll kill their sons and daughters and incinerate their houses. ⁴⁸ I’ll cause obscene conduct to stop throughout the land, because all the women will be admonished not to practice their obscene conduct. ⁴⁹ You’ll receive the consequences for your obscene conduct and bear the punishment for your sins of idolatry. Then you’ll know that I am the Lord GOD.”

⁴ Furthermore, I’ll not show pity on her children, since they are children of prostitution. ⁵ Indeed, their mother has committed prostitution— the one who has been conceiving them has acted disgracefully— when she said, ‘I’m going after my lovers, who provide me food and water, as well as my wool, my flax, my oil, and my wine.’

¹ Hosea Reconciles with His WifeThen the LORD told me: “Go love your wife again, even though she is being loved by another and is committing adultery. Love her the same way the LORD loves the people of Israel, even though they look to other gods and love raisin cakes.”

³ I know Ephraim, and Israel cannot hide from me, since you, Ephraim, have been acting like a prostitute, defiling Israel.

¹ John the Baptist Prepares the Way for Jesus
This is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.

¹⁴ With eyes full of adultery, they cannot get enough of sin. They seduce unsteady souls and have had their hearts expertly trained in greed. They are doomed to a curse.

¹ The Vision of Babylon the GreatThen one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls came and told me, “Come, I will show you how the notorious prostitute who sits on many waters will be judged. ² The kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and those living on earth became drunk with the wine of her immorality.”

⁵ On her forehead was written a secret name:
BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND DETESTABLE THINGS OF THE EARTH

¹ Isaiah’s Son is BornThe LORD also told me, “Take a large tablet and write on it with a stylus pen, ‘For Maher-shalal-hash-baz’. ² Then I will call Uriah the priest and Jeberechiah’s son Zechariah as reliable witnesses to testify on my behalf.”
³ After this, I was intimate with the prophetess and she conceived. Later, she bore a son, and then the LORD told me, “Call him ‘Maher-shalal-hash-baz,’

²⁴ But Jehu drew his bow with all of his strength, shooting Joram between his shoulder blades. The arrow pierced his heart, and he collapsed in his chariot.
²⁵ After this, Jehu called out to Bidkar, his third in command, “Pick up Joram’s body and throw it in the field, the property that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite, because you and I remember how when we were riding together in pursuit of his father Ahab, that the LORD pronounced this oracle against him:

⁷ When the letter from Jehu arrived, the city leaders arrested the king’s sons, slaughtered all 70 of them, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.
⁸ When the messenger arrived to report to the king, he said, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.”
Jehu replied, “Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning.”

¹⁰ Keep this in mind—not a single statement by the LORD will fail to come about that he spoke concerning Ahab’s dynasty, because the LORD has accomplished what he predicted by his servant Elijah.”
¹¹ So Jehu executed all those who remained from Ahab’s dynasty in Jezreel, including all of Ahab’s men, his friends, and his priests, until there remained not even one survivor.

¹⁷ When Jehu arrived in Samaria, he executed everyone who remained of Ahab’s household in Samaria, until he had utterly destroyed Ahab in accordance with the message from the LORD that he spoke to Elijah.

²⁹ Even so, Jehu never abandoned the sins of Nebat’s son Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin, regarding the golden calves that were at Bethel and Dan.
³⁰ Israel Begins to Reduce in SizeNevertheless, the LORD told Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what I saw as the right thing to do by completing everything I had in mind regarding Ahab’s dynasty, your sons will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” ³¹ But Jehu did not remain careful to walk in the instruction of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart. He never abandoned the sins of Jeroboam that had caused Israel to sin.

¹⁰ So Jabesh’s son Shallum conspired against him and attacked him in full view of the people, killed him, and reigned in his place. ¹¹ The rest of Zachariah’s activities are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
¹² Shallum’s Reign over IsraelThis is what the LORD told Jehu: “Your children will sit on Israel’s throne for the next four generations.” And that is what happened:

²⁹ During the lifetime of King Pekah of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria attacked. He captured the cities of Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, and Hazor. He also captured Gilead, Galilee, and the entire territory of Naphtali, and carried its people off to Assyria.

⁶ As a result, during the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelis off to Assyria, placing them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities ruled by the Medes.
⁷ The Idolatry of the Northern KingdomThis happened because the Israelis had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt and from the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, because they were fearing other gods, ⁸ and because they were following the rules of the nations whom the LORD had expelled before the Israelis and that the kings of Israel had practiced.
⁹ The Israelis practiced secret things that were not right, offending the LORD their God. In addition, they built high places for use by all their towns, watchtowers, and fortified cities. ¹⁰ They set up pillars and Asherim on every high hill and in the shade of every green tree, ¹¹ where they made offerings on all the high places, as did the nations whom the LORD had expelled before them. They also practiced other wickedness, provoking the LORD to become angry, ¹² and they served idols, a practice that the LORD had warned them, “You are not to do this.”
¹³ Nevertheless, the LORD had warned both Israel and Judah by means of every prophet and seer: “Turn away from your evil practices and keep my commandments and statutes according to the entire Law that I gave your ancestors and that I sent to you through my servants, the prophets.” ¹⁴ But they would not listen. Instead, they were stubborn, just like their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. ¹⁵ They rejected the LORD’s statutes, the covenant that he had made with their ancestors, and his warnings that he gave them. They pursued meaninglessness—and became meaningless themselves—as they followed the lifestyles of the nations that surrounded them, a practice that the LORD had warned them not to do.
¹⁶ They abandoned all of the commands given by the LORD their God, crafted for themselves cast images of two calves, constructed an Asherah, worshipped all of the stars in heaven, and served Baal. ¹⁷ They passed their sons and daughters through fire, practiced divination, cast spells, and sold themselves to practice what the LORD considered to be evil, thereby provoking him. ¹⁸ As a result, the LORD was angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. No one was left except for the tribe of Judah.
¹⁹ But Judah, too, did not keep the commands of the LORD their God. Instead, they lived the lifestyle that Israel had chosen, ²⁰ so the LORD rejected all of the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and handed them over to the control of plunderers until he had thrown them away from his presence. ²¹ He ripped them away from the heritage of David, even as the people appointed Nebat’s son Jeroboam to be king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD and made them commit great sin.
²² The Israelis practiced all the sins that Jeroboam had practiced, and never wavered from them ²³ until the LORD removed Israel from his presence, just as he had warned through all of his prophets who served him. So Israel was carried off into exile from their own land into Assyria, where they remain to this day.

⁹ Shalmaneser Attacks SamariaIn the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign (that is, during the seventh year of Elah’s son Hoshea’s reign as king of Israel), King Shalmaneser from Assyria invaded Samaria and besieged it. ¹⁰ Three years later, they captured Samaria during the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign as king of Israel. ¹¹ After this, the king of Assyria carried Israel off into exile in Assyria, settling them in Halah, on the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities controlled by the Medes, ¹² because they would not obey the voice of the LORD their God. Instead, they transgressed his covenant, including everything that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded, by neither listening nor putting what he had commanded into practice.

²⁵ But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors by prostituting themselves to the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had exterminated right in front of them. ²⁶ So the God of Israel incited King Pul of Assyria (also known as King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria), who took them prisoner and brought the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh to Halah, Habor, Hara, and to the Gozan River, where they remain to this day.

¹⁴ “Therefore the LORD himself will give you a sign. Watch! The virgin is conceiving a child, and will give birth to a son, and his name will be called Immanuel.

⁶ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁸ I saw that even though I had sent unfaithful Israel away for all her adulteries and had given her a divorce decree, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t fear, and she, too, committed adultery.

² Therefore, this is what the LORD God of Israel says about the shepherds who are shepherding my people, “You have scattered my flock and driven them away. You haven’t taken care of them, and now I’m about to take care of you because of your evil deeds,” declares the LORD.

¹⁰ They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters, and executed her with a sword. She became an object of ridicule among other nations when they punished her.”

³¹ You took the path of your sister, so I’ll place her cup in your hand.’

⁶ Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter, so the LORD told Hosea, “Name her ‘Lo-ruhamah,’ because I will no longer be showing mercy to the house of Israel, nor will I forgive them.

⁹ so the LORD told Hosea, “Name him ‘Lo-ammi,’ because you are not my people, and I will not be your God.

¹³ I’ll punish her for the time she has devoted to the Baals, to whom she burned incense, and for whom she put on her earrings and jewels so she could go after her lovers and forget me,” declares the LORD.

²² The earth will respond with grain, new wine, and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.

¹⁷ “My God will reject them, because they did not obey him, and they will become wanderers among the nations.”

²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he is the one who will save his people from their sins.”

¹³ But the angel told him, “Stop being afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to name him John.

³¹ Listen! You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus.

⁶³ He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And everyone was amazed.

⁴² He led Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him intently and said, “You are Simon, John’s son. You will be called Cephas!” (which is translated “Peter”).

¹⁶ The descendants of Joseph replied, “The hill country isn’t sufficient for us, but all the Canaanites who live on the plain have iron chariots, both those in Beth-shean and its villages as well as the inhabitants of the Jezreel Valley.”

³³ Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and certain groups from the east gathered together, crossed the Jordan River, and set up camp in the Jezreel Valley.

¹⁵ But their sword will pierce their own heart, and their bows will be broken!

⁹ He causes wars to cease all over the earth, he causes the bow to break, the spear to snap, the chariots to ignite and burn.

³⁴ Prophecies against ElamThis is what came as a message from the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet about Elam at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah: ³⁵ This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: “Look, I’m going to break the bow of Elam, the finest of their troops.

⁵⁶ Indeed, the destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon. Her warriors are captured, and her bows are broken. For the LORD is a God of recompense, and he will repay in full.

¹⁸ I will make a covenant with them at that time, a covenant with the wild animals of the field, with the birds of the air, and with the creatures of the ground. I will banish the battle bow, the sword, and war from the earth. I will cause my people to lie down where it is safe.

⁶ As a result, during the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelis off to Assyria, placing them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities ruled by the Medes.

²³ until the LORD removed Israel from his presence, just as he had warned through all of his prophets who served him. So Israel was carried off into exile from their own land into Assyria, where they remain to this day.
²⁴ Assyria Supplants the Northern KingdomBecause the king of Assyria brought captives from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sephar-vaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria to replace the Israelis, the settlers possessed Samaria and lived in its cities. ²⁵ When they first began to live there, the settlers did not fear the LORD, so he sent lions among them, and they killed a few of them. ²⁶ As a result, they reported to the king of Assyria, “Because the nations whom you exiled to live in the cities of Samaria don’t know the law of the god of the land, he has sent lions among them. Look how the lions are killing them, because they don’t know the law of the god of the land!”
²⁷ So the king of Assyria issued this order: “Take one of the priests whom you carried away and let him go back and live there. Let him teach them the law of the god of the land.” ²⁸ So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria went to live in Bethel to teach them how they ought to fear the LORD.
²⁹ Assyrian Settlers Create Lasting CorruptionNevertheless, each nation continued to craft their own gods and install them in the temples on the high places that the people of Samaria had constructed—every nation in their own cities where they continued to live. ³⁰ Settlers from Babylon built Succoth-benoth, settlers from Cuth built Nergal, settlers from Hamath built Ashima, ³¹ and settlers from Avva built Nibhaz and Tartak. The residents of Sephar-vaim burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sephar-vaim.
³² Because they feared the LORD, they also appointed from among themselves priests for the high places who acted on their behalf in the temples on the high places. ³³ While they continued to fear the LORD, they served their own gods, following the custom of the nations whom they had carried away from there. ³⁴ To this very day, they still follow the former customs: they don’t fear the LORD and they don’t live in accordance with the statutes, ordinances, laws, or commandments that the LORD had given to the descendants of Jacob—whom he renamed Israel— ³⁵ and with whom the LORD had made a covenant when he gave these orders to them: “You are not to fear other gods, bow down to them, serve them, or sacrifice to them. ³⁶ Instead, it is to be the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, showing great power and public demonstrations of might, whom you are to fear, worship, and to whom you are to offer sacrifice. ³⁷ Furthermore, you are to be careful to observe forever the statutes, ordinances, law, and the commandment that he wrote for you. And you are not to fear other gods. ³⁸ You are not to forget the covenant that I’ve made with you, and you are not to fear other gods. ³⁹ But you are to fear the LORD, and he will deliver you from the control of all your enemies.”
⁴⁰ But they wouldn’t listen. Instead, they did what they had been doing before. ⁴¹ These nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images. Their descendants did the same thing, as did their grandchildren. Just as their ancestors had done, they also do the same thing to this day.

¹¹ When its branches are dry, they are broken off, and women come and kindle fires with them, since this is a people who show no consideration. That is why the One who made them shows them no compassion; the One who created them shows them no mercy.

⁴ Furthermore, I’ll not show pity on her children, since they are children of prostitution.

²³ I will plant my people in the land for myself. I will show mercy on her who has received no mercy I will say to those who are not my people, ‘You are my people!’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

¹⁵ “All of their wickedness started in Gilgal, because I began to hate them there. Because of the wickedness of their behavior, I will drive them from my Temple. I will not love them anymore; all their leaders are rebels. ¹⁶ Ephraim is blighted; its roots shriveled. It can bear no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will kill their cherished offspring. ¹⁷ “My God will reject them, because they did not obey him, and they will become wanderers among the nations.”

¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

³⁵ God Destroys the Assyrian Army
That very night, the angel of the LORD went out to the camp of the Assyrian army and killed 185,000 men. Early the next morning, when the army of Israel arose, all 185,000 soldiers were dead.

¹⁶ A king is not saved by a large army; a mighty soldier is not delivered by his great strength.

³ It was not with their sword that they inherited the land, nor did their own arm deliver them. But it was by your power, your strength, and by the light of your face; because you were pleased with them. ⁴ You are my king, God, command victories for Jacob. ⁵ Through you we will knock down our oppressors; through your name we will tread down those who rise up against us. ⁶ For I place no confidence in my bow, nor will my sword deliver me.

² “Look! God—yes God—is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid. For the LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

¹ Sennacherib AttacksIn the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ² Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander, along with a very large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the field commander stopped at the aqueduct at the Upper Pool on the road to Laundryman’s Field, ³ Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Asaph’s son Joah, the recorder, went out to him.
⁴ The field commander told them: “Tell Hezekiah, king of Judah, ‘This is what the mighty king, the king of Assyria, has to say: What is this “guarantee” that makes you yourself rely on it? ⁵ Do you really think that guarantees alone can withstand strategy and military strength? On whom are you now depending, that you’re rebelling against me? ⁶ Take note: you’re relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the palm of anyone who leans on it. This is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is like to everybody who depends on him! ⁷ But if you all say to me, “We are depending on the LORD our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, while he kept on telling Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem’? ⁸ Come now, all of you, make a bet with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you can furnish riders for them! ⁹ How, then, can you repulse even one officer from the least of my master’s officials, when you are depending for yourselves on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ¹⁰ One other thing: have I really marched against this country to destroy it apart from the LORD’s direction? The LORD himself ordered me, ‘March against this country to destroy it.’”
¹¹ Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah replied to him, “Please speak with your servants—with us—in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew where the people sitting on the wall can hear.”
¹² But the field commander asked, “Was it only to all of you and to your master that my master sent me to speak these things? Wasn’t it also to the men sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”
¹³ Then the commander stood up and shouted out loud in Hebrew: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴ This is what the king of Assyria says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you—for he cannot save you! ¹⁵ Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the LORD when he says, “The LORD will really deliver us!” and “This city will never be handed over to the king of Assyria!” ¹⁶ Don’t listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then everyone will eat from his own vine and from his own fig tree, and everyone will drink water from his own cistern, ¹⁷ until I come and take you away to a land like your own land—to a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.’ ¹⁸ Be careful not to let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, “The LORD will save us.” Has any god of any nation ever delivered his country from the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim? Have they saved Samaria from me? ²⁰ Who among all the gods of these countries has delivered their land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from me?’”
²¹ But the people remained silent and didn’t respond to him with so much as a single word, because the king had commanded, “Don’t answer him.”
²² Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Asaph’s son Joah, the recorder, approached Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and let him know what the field commander had said.

⁶ he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Israel and bring back those of Jacob I have preserved. I’ll also make you as a light to the nations, to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

⁵ “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I’ll raise up a righteous branch for David. He will be a king who rules wisely, and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶ In his time Judah will be delivered and Israel will dwell in safety. This is the name by which he will be known: ‘The LORD Our Righteousness.’

¹² “Ephraim surrounds me with lies, and the house of Israel surrounds me with deceit, But Judah still rules with God, and remains faithful, along with the godly ones.”

⁶ “‘Come now! Come now! Flee from the land of the north,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I have dispersed you like the four winds of heaven,’ declares the LORD.
⁷ “‘Come now, Zion! Escape, you who are living with the residents of Babylon. ⁸ For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: “In pursuit of glory I was sent to the nations who plundered you, because whoever injures you injures the pupil of my eye. ⁹ And look, I will shake my fist over them, and they will become plunder for their former slaves. And you will know that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies sent me.”’”
¹⁰ The LORD will Live in Zion“Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion! Take note! I am coming to live in your midst,” declares the LORD. ¹¹ “Many nations will cling to the LORD at that time and will become my people. I will live in your midst, and you will know that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies has sent me to you.

⁶ The LORD’s First Charge to ZerubbabelThen he replied to me, “This is this message from the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by valor nor by strength, but only by my Spirit,’ says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

⁹ The Coming of Zion’s King“Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; cry out, daughter of Jerusalem! Look! Your king is coming to you. He is righteous, and he is able to save. He is humble, and is riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey. ¹⁰ I will banish chariots from Ephraim and horses from Jerusalem. War weapons will be banished, and your king will speak peace to the nations. His dominion will extend from sea to sea, and from the River to the farthest portion of the earth.

²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he is the one who will save his people from their sins.”
²² Now all this happened to fulfill what was declared by the Lord through the prophet when he said, ²³ “See, a virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel,”
which means, “God with us.”

⁴ In grace our Savior God appeared, to make his love for mankind clear. ⁵ ‘Twas not for deeds that we had done, but by his steadfast love alone, he saved us through a second birth, renewed us by the Spirit’s work, ⁶ and poured him out upon us, too, through Jesus the Messiah our Savior true.

¹ The Destiny of the JudgedThen the LORD told me, “Even if Moses and Samuel were standing before me, I wouldn’t be favorably disposed toward this people. Send them out of my presence! Let them go!

¹⁶ I’ll make your descendants as plentiful as the specks of dust of the earth, so that if one could count the specks of dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be counted.

¹⁷ I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in heaven and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the gates of their enemies.

¹² Now, you promised me that ‘I’m certainly going to cause things to go well with you, and I’m going to make your offspring as numerous as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”

⁶ I’ll say to the north, ‘Give them up’! and to the south, ‘Don’t keep them back!’ Bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the ends of the earth—

¹⁹ Your descendants would’ve been like the sand, and your offspring like its numberless grains. Their name wouldn’t have been cut off or annihilated out of my reach.

¹⁷ Your builders are working faster than your destroyers, and those who devastated you go away from you. ¹⁸ Lift up your eyes and look around— they have all gathered together and are coming to you. “As surely as I live,” says the LORD, “you will clothe yourself with all of them like ornaments, and tie them on like a bride. ¹⁹ Indeed, your ruins, your desolate places, and your devastated land will now be too crowded for your inhabitants, while those who swallowed you up will be far away. ²⁰ “The children who are grieving at present will yet say in your hearing, ‘This place is too crowded for me; make room for me, so I may have a place to live.’ ²¹ Then you’ll ask in your heart, ‘Who bore these children for me, although I was childless and barren, and an exile and cast aside? Who brought these up? Look! For my part I was left all alone; but as for these, where have they come from?’ ²² “For this what the LORD says, ‘Watch! I’ll lift up my hand to the nations and raise my banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.’

¹ The Coming Glory of Israel “Sing, you barren woman, even the one who never bore a child! Burst into song and shout for joy, even you who were never in labor! For the children of the desolate woman will be more than the children of her that is married,” says the LORD. ² “Enlarge the location of your tent, let the curtains of your dwellings be stretched wide, and don’t hold back. Lengthen your cords; strengthen your stakes. ³ For you will spread out to the right hand and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations and will populate the deserted towns.

⁴ “Lift up your eyes and look around: They all gather together, they come to you; your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried on the hip.” ⁵ Then you will look and be radiant; your heart will swell with joy, because the abundance of the seas will be diverted to you, and the riches of the nations will come to you. ⁶ Throngs of camels will blanket you: the young camels of Midian and Ephu; all those from Shebu will come. They’ll carry gold and frankincense, and proclaim the praise of the LORD. ⁷ All Kedar’s flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you. and they’ll come up with acceptance upon my altar, and I’ll glorify my glorious house.”
⁸ The Future Restoration of Zion“Who are these that fly like clouds, and like doves to their windows? ⁹ For the coastlands will look to me, with the ships of Tarshish in the lead, to bring my children from far away, their silver and gold with them, to the name of the LORD your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you. ¹⁰ “Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in my anger I struck you down, in my favor I have shown you mercy. ¹¹ Your gates will always stand open by day or night, and they will not be shut, so that nations will bring you their wealth, with their kings led in procession. ¹² For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; those nations will be utterly ruined. ¹³ “He has given you the glory of Lebanon, and it will come to you, the cypress, and the plane tree, and the pine, to adorn the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. ¹⁴ “All the descendants of those who oppressed you will come bending low before you, and all those who despised you will bow down at your feet. They’ll call you ‘The City of the LORD,’ ‘Zion of the Holy One of Israel.’”
¹⁵ Israel: the Joy of Generations“Although you have been forsaken and despised, with no one traveling through, I will make you the everlasting pride, the joy of all generations. ¹⁶ You’ll suck the milk of nations, You’ll suck the breasts of kings. Then you will realize that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. ¹⁷ “Instead of bronze, I’ll bring gold, and instead of iron, I’ll bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. I’ll appoint peace as your supervisor and righteousness as your taskmaster. ¹⁸ Then violence will no longer be heard in your land, nor devastation or destruction within your borders; but you’ll call your walls ‘Salvation’, and your gates ‘Praise’. ¹⁹ “The sun will no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness will the moon shine on you by night— for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. ²⁰ Your sun won’t set, nor will your moon withdraw itself— for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning will end. ²¹ Then your people will all be righteous; They’ll possess the land forever. They are the shoot that the LORD planted, the works of his hands, so that I might be glorified. ²² The least of them will become a thousand, and the smallest one a mighty nation. “I am the LORD; When the time is right, I will do this swiftly.”

²⁰ They will bring all—yes, all!— of your kindred from all the nations to my holy mountain Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD—on horses, in chariots, in wagons, and on mules—yes, even on mules!— and on camels,” says the LORD, “just as the Israelis bring a grain offering in a clean vessel to the LORD’s house.

²² As the heavenly bodies cannot be counted, and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I’ll multiply the descendants of my servant David and the descendants of Levi who serve me.’”

¹² However, to all who received him, those believing in his name, he gave authority to become God’s children,

¹⁴ For all who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s children. ¹⁵ For you have not received a spirit of slavery that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with the Messiah—if, in fact, we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

²⁵ As the Scripture says in Hosea, “Those who are not my people I will call my people, and the one who was not loved I will call my loved one. ²⁶ In the very place where it was told them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called children of the living God.”
²⁷ Isaiah also calls out concerning Israel, “Although the descendants of Israel are as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, only a few will be saved. ²⁸ For the Lord will carry out his plan decisively, bringing it to completion on the earth.”

¹⁸ I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters,” declares the Lord Almighty.

⁶ Now because you are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to cry out, “Abba! Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if you are a child, then you are also an heir because of what God did.

¹² Abraham was as good as dead, yet from this one man came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people to be his very own and to proclaim the wonderful deeds of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹ We are God’s ChildrenSee what kind of love the Father has given us: We are called God’s children—and that is what we are! For this reason the world does not recognize us, because it did not recognize him, either.
² Dear friends, we are now God’s children, but what we will be like has not been revealed yet. We know that when the Messiah is revealed, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.

²⁷ All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD; all the families of the nations will bow in submission to the LORD. ²⁸ Indeed, the kingdom belongs to the LORD; he rules over the nations. ²⁹ All the prosperous people will eat and bow down in submission. All those who are about to go down to the grave will bow down in submission, along with the one who can no longer keep himself alive. ³⁰ Our descendants will serve him, and that generation will be told about the Lord.

³ Your soldiers are willing volunteers on your day of battle; in majestic holiness, from the womb, from the dawn, the dew of your youth belongs to you.

¹² He will raise a banner for the nations and will assemble the dispersed of Israel; he will gather the scattered people of Judah from the corners of the earth.
¹³ Israel’s Victory over Its EnemiesEphraim’s jealousy will vanish, and those who are hostile to Judah will be eliminated; Ephraim will no longer be jealous of Judah, and Judah will not be hostile to Ephraim.

¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and together they’ll come to the land that I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.”
¹⁹ God’s Desire for His People“I said, ‘How I wanted to treat you like children, and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations.’ I said, ‘You will call me, my father, and won’t turn back from following me.’

⁵ “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I’ll raise up a righteous branch for David. He will be a king who rules wisely, and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶ In his time Judah will be delivered and Israel will dwell in safety. This is the name by which he will be known: ‘The LORD Our Righteousness.’
⁷ “Therefore, the time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives who brought up the Israelis from the land of Egypt,’ ⁸ but they’ll say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives who brought the descendants of the Israelis from the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them and brought them into the land.’ Then they’ll live in their own land.”

³ Indeed, the time will come,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I’ll restore the security of my people Israel and Judah,’ says the LORD. ‘I’ll bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors, and they’ll possess it.’”

¹ “At that time,” declares the LORD, “I’ll be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”
² The LORD Promises RestorationThis is what the LORD says: “The people who survived the sword, found favor in the desert while Israel was seeking rest. ³ The LORD appeared to Israel from far away and said, “I’ve loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I’ve drawn you with gracious love. ⁴ I’ll again build you, and you will be rebuilt, Virgin Israel! You will again take up your tambourines and go out to dance with those who are filled with joy. ⁵ You will again plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria where planters had planted and defiled the fruit. ⁶ For there will be a day when the watchmen will call out on the hills of Ephraim, ‘Arise, let’s go up to Zion to the LORD our God.’”
⁷ The Blessings of Returning from ExileFor this is what the LORD says: “Cry out with joy for Jacob and shout for the chief among the nations. Announce, give praise, and say, ‘Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’ ⁸ Look, I’m bringing them from the northern region, and I’ll gather them from the farthest parts of the earth. among them will be the blind and the lame, together with the pregnant woman and the woman in labor. A large group will return here. ⁹ They’ll come crying, and I’ll lead them as they pray for mercy. I’ll make them walk by streams of water, along a straight path on which they won’t stumble. For I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn.”

³³ “Rather, this is the covenant that I’ll make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD. “I’ll put my Law within them and will write it on their hearts. I’ll be their God and they will be my people.

⁴ In those days, and at that time,” declares the LORD, “the people of Israel will come together with the people of Judah. They’ll be weeping as they travel along, and they’ll be seeking the LORD their God. ⁵ They’ll ask the way to Zion, turning their faces in that direction. They’ll come and join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that won’t be forgotten.

¹⁹ I’ll bring Israel back to his pasture. He will graze on Carmel, on Bashan, on Mt. Ephraim, and on Gilead—his hunger will be satisfied.

²³ God’s Shepherd: His Servant David“‘Then I’ll install one shepherd for them—my servant David—and he will feed them, will be there for them, and will serve as their shepherd. ²⁴ I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David will rule among them as Prince.’ I, the LORD, have spoken this.

¹⁶ “Now as for you, Son of Man, grab a stick of wood for yourself and write on it these words: ‘FOR JUDAH AND THE ISRAELIS, HIS COMPANIONS’
“Then grab another stick and write on it: ‘FOR JOSEPH, THE STICK OF EPHRAIM, AND ALL THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, HIS COMPANIONS’
¹⁷ “Then join them together end-to-end so that they become a single baton in your hand. ¹⁸ When the descendants of your people ask you, ‘Would you please explain to us what you mean by this?’ ¹⁹ you are to tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “Watch me! I’m taking the baton that represents Joseph, which Ephraim is holding in his hand, along with his companions the tribes of Israel, and I’m going to join them with the baton that represents Judah. I’m making them a single baton, that is, a complete baton in my hand.”
²⁰ “The batons on which you engrave your writing are to remain right in front of them in your hand. ²¹ Then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Watch me take the Israelis out of the nations where they’ve gone and return them from every direction. I’m going to bring them back into their own land. ²² I’m going to make them a united people in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and I’ll set a single king to rule over them. They’ll never again be two separate people. They’ll never again be divided into two kingdoms. ²³ They will never again defile themselves with their idols, with other loathsome things, or with any of their sins. Instead, I will deliver them from all of the places where they have sinned, and then I’ll cleanse them. They will be my people and I will be their God.”’”
²⁴ David’s Rule as King“‘“My servant King David will be there for them, and one shepherd will be appointed for them. They will live according to my decrees, keep my regulations, and practice them. ²⁵ They will live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob and on which your ancestors lived. They will live in that land, along with their children and grandchildren, forever. David my servant will be their everlasting leader.

²² The earth will respond with grain, new wine, and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. ²³ I will plant my people in the land for myself. I will show mercy on her who has received no mercy I will say to those who are not my people, ‘You are my people!’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

⁵ Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come in awe to the LORD and to his goodness in the last days.

¹² The Coming Judgment“Jacob, how I will surely gather all of you! How I will gather the survivors of Israel! I will gather them together like sheep in a pen, like the flock in the midst of the sheepfold. There will be a great commotion because of all the people. ¹³ God will stand up and break through in their presence. Then they will pass through the gate, going out by it. Their king will pass in front of them with the LORD at their head.”

⁶ “I will fortify the house of Judah, and the house of Joseph I will save. I will surely bring them back, because I care about them. They will be as if I had never cast them away. Since I am the LORD their God, I will answer them. ⁷ “The people of Ephraim will become like mighty soldiers; they will be glad, like those who have wine. Their children will see this and rejoice; their hearts will find joy in the Lord. ⁸ I will whistle for them, gathering them together, because I have redeemed them, and they will multiply as they were before. ⁹ I will scatter them among the nations, and so they will remember me in distant countries. They will rear their children, and they will return.

¹⁵ For if their rejection results in reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance bring but life from the dead?

²⁵ The Restoration of IsraelFor I want to let you know about this secret, brothers, so that you will not claim to be wiser than you are: Stubbornness has come to part of Israel until the full number of the gentiles comes to faith. ²⁶ In this way, all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.