For though I, the Lord who rules over all, ¹  planted you in the land, ²  I now decree that disaster will come on you ³  because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.” ⁴ 

I did not send those prophets, though they claim to be prophesying in my name. They may be saying, ‘No war or famine will happen in this land.’ But I, the Lord, say this about ¹  them: ‘War and starvation will kill those prophets.’ ² 

I said, ¹  “Oh, mother, how I regret ²  that you ever gave birth to me! I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. ³  I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone. Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.” ⁴ 

You are the one in whom Israel may find hope. ¹  All who leave you will suffer shame. Those who turn away from you ²  will be consigned to the nether world. ³  For they have rejected you, the Lord, the fountain of life. ⁴ 

Let the prophet who has had a dream go ahead and tell his dream. Let the person who has received my message report that message faithfully. What is like straw cannot compare to what is like grain! ¹  I, the Lord, affirm it! ² 

Those who have been killed by the Lord at that time will be scattered from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned over, gathered up, or buried. ¹  Their dead bodies will lie scattered over the ground like manure.

For they have not paid attention to what I said to them through my servants the prophets whom I sent to them over and over again,’ ¹  says the Lord. ²  ‘And you exiles ³  have not paid any attention to them either,’ says the Lord. ⁴ 

“‘As for the prophet, if he is made a fool by being deceived into speaking a prophetic word – I, the Lord, have made a fool of ¹  that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel.

Wherever human beings, ¹  wild animals, ²  and birds of the sky live – he has given them into your power. ³  He has given you authority over them all. You are the head of gold.

The male goat acted even more arrogantly. But no sooner had the large horn become strong than it was broken, and there arose four conspicuous horns ¹  in its place, ²  extending toward the four winds of the sky. ³ 

He will not respect ¹  the gods of his fathers – not even the god loved by women. ²  He will not respect any god; he will elevate himself above them all.

“I will punish her for the festival days when she burned incense to the Baal idols; ¹  she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but ²  she forgot me!” ³  says the Lord.

Then I will plant her as my own ¹  in the land. I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah). I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’ And he ²  will say, ‘You are ³  my God!’”

Ephraim boasts, ¹  “I am very rich! I have become wealthy! ²  In all that I have done to gain my wealth, ³  no one can accuse me of any offense ⁴  that is actually sinful.” ⁵ 

(But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion; he can turn the darkness into morning and daylight ¹  into night. He summons the water of the seas and pours it out on the earth’s surface. The Lord is his name!

This is what the Lord says: “The prophets who mislead my people are as good as dead. ¹  If someone gives them enough to eat, they offer an oracle of peace. ²  But if someone does not give them food, they are ready to declare war on him. ³ 

You march out to deliver your people, to deliver your special servant. ¹  You strike the leader of the wicked nation, ²  laying him open from the lower body to the neck. ³  Selah.

Then say to him, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “Look – here is the man whose name is Branch, ¹  who will sprout up from his place and build the temple of the Lord.

Then those who respected ¹  the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord took notice. ²  A scroll ³  was prepared before him in which were recorded the names of those who respected the Lord and honored his name.

When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one ¹  comes and snatches what was sown in his heart; ²  this is the seed sown along the path.