For there on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord, all the house of Israel will serve me, all of them ¹  in the land. I will accept them there, and there I will seek your contributions and your choice gifts, with all your holy things.

Her priests abuse my law and have desecrated my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the profane, ¹  or recognize any distinction between the unclean and the clean. They ignore ²  my Sabbaths and I am profaned in their midst.

take note, I have stretched out my hand against you, and I will hand you over as plunder ¹  to the nations. I will cut you off from the peoples and make you perish from the lands. I will destroy you; then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake that I am about to act, O house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy reputation ¹  which you profaned among the nations where you went.

tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to take the branch of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will place them on the stick of Judah, ¹  and make them into one stick – they will be one in my hand.’ ² 

At that time my sanity returned to me. I was restored ¹  to the honor of my kingdom, and my splendor returned to me. My ministers and my nobles were seeking me out, and I was reinstated ²  over my kingdom. I became even greater than before.

I looked up ¹  and saw ²  a ³  ram with two horns standing at the canal. Its two horns were both long, ⁴  but one was longer than the other. The longer one was coming up after the shorter one.

For their mother has committed adultery; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, “I will seek out ¹  my lovers; ²  they are the ones who give me my bread and my water, my wool, my flax, my olive oil, and my wine. ³ 

How can I give you up, ¹  O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? I have had a change of heart! ²  All my tender compassions are aroused! ³ 

Lord, you have been active from ancient times; ¹  my sovereign God, ²  you are immortal. ³  Lord, you have made them ⁴  your instrument of judgment. ⁵  Protector, ⁶  you have appointed them as your instrument of punishment. ⁷ 

Therefore you must wait patiently ¹  for me,” says the Lord, “for the day when I attack and take plunder. ²  I have decided ³  to gather nations together and assemble kingdoms, so I can pour out my fury on them – all my raging anger. For ⁴  the whole earth will be consumed by my fiery anger.

‘You expected a large harvest, but instead ¹  there was little, and when you brought it home it disappeared right away. ²  Why?’ asks the Lord who rules over all. ‘Because my temple remains in ruins, thanks to each of you favoring his own house! ³ 

On that day,’ ¹  says the Lord who rules over all, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant,’ ²  says the Lord, ‘and I will make you like a signet ring, ³  for I have chosen you,’ says the Lord who rules over all.” ⁴ 

“I wish that one of you would close the temple doors, ¹  so that you no longer would light useless fires on my altar. I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and I will no longer accept an offering from you.

From the days of your ancestors you have ignored ¹  my commandments ²  and have not kept them! Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord who rules over all. “But you say, ‘How should we return?’

“Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse ¹  so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter,” says the Lord who rules over all, “to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no room for it all.

Once ¹  the head of the house ²  gets up ³  and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, ⁴  let us in!’ ⁵  But he will answer you, ⁶  ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ ⁷ 

After removing him, God ¹  raised up ²  David their king. He testified about him: ³  ‘I have found David ⁴  the son of Jesse to be a man after my heart, ⁵  who will accomplish everything I want him to do.’ ⁶ 

I have been on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, ¹  in dangers from my own countrymen, in dangers from Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, ²  in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers,

I have been crucified with Christ, ¹  and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So ²  the life I now live in the body, ³  I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, ⁴  who loved me and gave himself for me.