The Message Bible MSG
New Living Translation NLT
1 "Come on, let's go back to God. He hurt us, but he'll heal us. He hit us hard, but he'll put us right again.
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“Come, let us return to the LORD . He has torn us to pieces; now he will heal us. He has injured us; now he will bandage our wounds.
2 In a couple of days we'll feel better. By the third day he'll have made us brand-new, Alive and on our feet, fit to face him.
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In just a short time he will restore us, so that we may live in his presence.
3 We're ready to study God, eager for God-knowledge. As sure as dawn breaks, so sure is his daily arrival. He comes as rain comes, as spring rain refreshing the ground."
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Oh, that we might know the LORD ! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.”
4 "What am I to do with you, Ephraim? What do I make of you, Judah? Your declarations of love last no longer than morning mist and predawn dew.
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“O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?” asks the LORD . “For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight.
5 That's why I use prophets to shake you to attention, why my words cut you to the quick: To wake you up to my judgment blazing like light.
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I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces— to slaughter you with my words, with judgments as inescapable as light.
6 I'm after love that lasts, not more religion. I want you to know God, not go to more prayer meetings.
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I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.
7 You broke the covenant - just like Adam! You broke faith with me - ungrateful wretches!
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But like Adam, you broke my covenant and betrayed my trust.
8 "Gilead has become Crime City - blood on the sidewalks, blood on the streets.
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“Gilead is a city of sinners, tracked with footprints of blood.
9 It used to be robbers who mugged pedestrians. Now it's gangs of priests Assaulting worshipers on their way to Shechem. Nothing is sacred to them.
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Priests form bands of robbers, waiting in ambush for their victims. They murder travelers along the road to Shechem and practice every kind of sin.
10 "I saw a shocking thing in the country of Israel: Ephraim worshiping in a religious whorehouse, and Israel in the mud right there with him.
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Yes, I have seen something horrible in Ephraim and Israel: My people are defiled by prostituting themselves with other gods!
11 "You're as bad as the worst of them, Judah. You've been sowing wild oats. Now it's harvest time.
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“O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you, though I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.