WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.840 Nancy: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience. 00:00:02.920 --> 00:00:04.320 Day 200 and 47 00:00:04.833 --> 00:00:10.413 The Lord says, oh, Israel, when I first found you, it was like 00:00:10.413 --> 00:00:12.453 finding fresh grapes in the desert. 00:00:13.353 --> 00:00:18.723 When I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season. 00:00:19.043 --> 00:00:25.023 But then they deserted me for Baal Peor, giving themselves to that shameful idol. 00:00:26.073 --> 00:00:27.213 Soon they became vile. 00:00:27.873 --> 00:00:33.873 As vile as the God they worshiped, the glory of Israel will fly away like a bird 00:00:34.503 --> 00:00:40.023 for your children will not be born or grow in the womb or even be conceived. 00:00:40.923 --> 00:00:44.973 Even if you do have children who grow up, I will take them from you. 00:00:45.313 --> 00:00:49.263 It will be a terrible day when I turn away and leave you alone. 00:00:50.493 --> 00:00:55.173 I have watched Israel become as beautiful as tire, but now. 00:00:56.313 --> 00:00:58.683 Israel will bring out her children for slaughter. 00:00:59.883 --> 00:01:03.393 Oh Lord, what should I request for your people? 00:01:04.533 --> 00:01:09.483 I will ask for wombs that don't give birth and breasts that give no milk. 00:01:11.043 --> 00:01:16.503 The Lord says all their wickedness began at Gilgal there. 00:01:16.623 --> 00:01:17.823 I began to hate them. 00:01:19.023 --> 00:01:22.473 I will drive them from my land because of their evil actions. 00:01:23.328 --> 00:01:27.318 I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels. 00:01:28.338 --> 00:01:30.678 The people of Israel are struck down. 00:01:31.368 --> 00:01:34.548 Their roots are dried up, and they will bear no more fruit. 00:01:35.538 --> 00:01:39.678 And if they give birth, I will slaughter their beloved children. 00:01:40.908 --> 00:01:46.758 My God will reject the people of Israel because they will not listen or obey. 00:01:47.628 --> 00:01:50.928 They will be wanderers, homeless among the nations. 00:01:52.248 --> 00:01:57.078 How prosperous Israel is a luxurious vine loaded with fruit, 00:01:57.948 --> 00:02:01.818 but the richer the people get, the more pagan altars they build. 00:02:02.568 --> 00:02:07.128 The more bountiful their harvests, the more beautiful their sacred pillars. 00:02:07.878 --> 00:02:09.828 The hearts of the people are fickle. 00:02:09.888 --> 00:02:12.018 They are guilty and must be punished. 00:02:12.798 --> 00:02:16.758 The Lord will break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. 00:02:17.343 --> 00:02:20.763 Then they will say, we have no king because we didn't fear the 00:02:20.763 --> 00:02:25.083 Lord, but even if we had a king, what could he do for us anyway? 00:02:26.223 --> 00:02:30.183 They spout empty words and make covenants they don't intend to keep. 00:02:31.023 --> 00:02:35.733 So when Justice springs up among them like poisonous weeds in a farmer's 00:02:35.733 --> 00:02:41.253 field, the people of Samaria tremble in fear for their calf idol at 00:02:41.253 --> 00:02:43.443 Beth Aven, and they mourn for it. 00:02:44.343 --> 00:02:48.543 Though its priests rejoice over it, its glory will be stripped away. 00:02:49.623 --> 00:02:54.663 This idol will be carted away to Assyria, a gift to the great king There. 00:02:55.743 --> 00:03:00.723 EAM will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed because its people 00:03:00.723 --> 00:03:05.913 have trusted in this idol, Samaria and its king will be cut off. 00:03:06.243 --> 00:03:09.513 They will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave. 00:03:10.743 --> 00:03:15.423 The pagan shrines of Aven, the place of Israel's sin will crumble. 00:03:16.443 --> 00:03:19.413 Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars. 00:03:19.863 --> 00:03:24.783 They will beg the mountains, bury us, and plead with the hills, fall on us. 00:03:25.803 --> 00:03:27.993 The Lord says, oh Israel. 00:03:28.513 --> 00:03:32.853 Ever since Gibbon, there has been only sin and more sin. 00:03:33.483 --> 00:03:36.033 You have made no progress whatsoever. 00:03:36.798 --> 00:03:40.548 Was it not right that the wicked men of Gibbon were attacked? 00:03:41.268 --> 00:03:45.588 Now, whenever it fits my plan, I will attack you too. 00:03:46.458 --> 00:03:51.618 I will call out the armies of the nations to punish you for your multiplied sins. 00:03:52.788 --> 00:03:58.308 Israel is like a trained heifer treading out the grain and easy job she loves. 00:03:59.028 --> 00:04:01.578 But I will put a heavy yolk on her tender neck. 00:04:02.508 --> 00:04:07.578 I will force Judah to pull the plow and Israel to break up the hard ground. 00:04:08.418 --> 00:04:11.838 I said, plant the good seeds of righteousness and you 00:04:11.838 --> 00:04:13.728 will harvest a crop of love. 00:04:14.418 --> 00:04:16.818 Plow up the hard ground of your hearts. 00:04:16.998 --> 00:04:21.708 For now is the time to seek the Lord that he may come and shower righteousness upon 00:04:21.708 --> 00:04:28.218 you, but you have cultivated wickedness and harvested a thriving crop of sins. 00:04:29.058 --> 00:04:31.068 You have eaten the fruit of lies. 00:04:31.338 --> 00:04:34.938 Trusting in your military might believing that great armies 00:04:34.938 --> 00:04:36.618 could make your nation safe. 00:04:37.698 --> 00:04:40.788 Now, the terrors of war will rise among your people. 00:04:41.658 --> 00:04:47.538 All your fortifications will fall just as when shaman destroyed Beth Arbel. 00:04:48.468 --> 00:04:51.078 Even mothers and children were dashed to death. 00:04:51.078 --> 00:04:56.538 There you will share that fate, Bethel, because of your great wickedness. 00:04:57.603 --> 00:05:02.223 When the day of judgment dawns the King of Israel will be completely destroyed. 00:05:03.453 --> 00:05:09.393 When Israel was a child, I loved him and I called my son out of Egypt. 00:05:10.383 --> 00:05:15.213 But the more I called to him, the farther he moved from me, offering 00:05:15.218 --> 00:05:19.443 sacrifices to the images of Baal and burning incense to idols. 00:05:20.493 --> 00:05:23.313 I myself taught Israel how to walk. 00:05:23.613 --> 00:05:25.353 Leading him along by the hand. 00:05:26.583 --> 00:05:31.623 He doesn't know or even care that it was I who took care of him. 00:05:32.613 --> 00:05:36.483 I led Israel along with my ropes of kindness and love. 00:05:37.143 --> 00:05:42.123 I lifted the yoke from his neck and I myself stooped to feed him. 00:05:42.603 --> 00:05:47.913 But since my people refuse to return to me, they will return to 00:05:47.913 --> 00:05:50.883 Egypt and will be forced to serve. 00:05:50.973 --> 00:05:54.993 Assyria War will swirl through their cities. 00:05:55.518 --> 00:05:57.888 Their enemies will crash through their gates. 00:05:58.698 --> 00:06:02.298 They will destroy them, trapping them in their own evil plans. 00:06:03.198 --> 00:06:05.868 For my people are determined to desert me. 00:06:06.708 --> 00:06:10.548 They call me the most high, but they don't truly honor me. 00:06:11.748 --> 00:06:14.388 Oh, how can I give you up Israel? 00:06:15.378 --> 00:06:16.758 How can I let you go? 00:06:17.778 --> 00:06:19.068 How can I destroy you? 00:06:19.068 --> 00:06:22.188 Like Adah or demolish you like Zeum. 00:06:23.373 --> 00:06:27.363 My heart is torn within me and my compassion overflows. 00:06:28.353 --> 00:06:31.533 No, I will not unleash my fierce anger. 00:06:31.683 --> 00:06:34.473 I will not completely destroy Israel. 00:06:34.533 --> 00:06:37.713 For I am God and not a mere mortal. 00:06:38.373 --> 00:06:46.203 I am the holy one living among you, and I will not come to destroy for 00:06:46.203 --> 00:06:48.723 someday that people will follow me. 00:06:49.533 --> 00:06:54.333 I, the Lord will roar like a lion, and when I roar, my people 00:06:54.333 --> 00:06:58.683 will return trembling from the west like a flock of birds. 00:06:58.683 --> 00:07:02.013 They will come from Egypt, trembling like doves. 00:07:02.013 --> 00:07:07.923 They will return from Assyria and I will bring them home again, says the Lord. 00:07:10.023 --> 00:07:15.513 Israel surrounds me with lies and deceit, but Judah still obeys God 00:07:15.543 --> 00:07:17.133 and is faithful to the holy one. 00:07:18.078 --> 00:07:20.058 The people of Israel feed on the wind. 00:07:20.418 --> 00:07:23.358 They chase after the east wind All day long. 00:07:23.808 --> 00:07:26.238 They pile up lies and violence. 00:07:26.748 --> 00:07:30.198 They are making an alliance with Assyria while sending olive 00:07:30.198 --> 00:07:32.208 oil to buy support from Egypt. 00:07:33.378 --> 00:07:36.018 Now the Lord is bringing charges against Judah. 00:07:36.378 --> 00:07:41.178 He is about to punish Jacob for all his deceitful ways and pay him back 00:07:41.178 --> 00:07:44.628 for all he has done even in the womb. 00:07:45.018 --> 00:07:46.818 Jacob struggled with his brother. 00:07:47.343 --> 00:07:49.953 When he became a man, he even fought with God. 00:07:50.313 --> 00:07:53.163 Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. 00:07:53.763 --> 00:07:58.773 He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him there at Bethel. 00:07:58.773 --> 00:08:02.463 He met God face to face and God spoke to him. 00:08:02.943 --> 00:08:05.223 The Lord God of heaven's armies. 00:08:05.223 --> 00:08:06.394 The Lord is his name. 00:08:08.013 --> 00:08:13.593 So now come back to your God, act with love and justice, 00:08:13.713 --> 00:08:15.513 and always depend on him. 00:08:17.163 --> 00:08:22.533 No, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales. 00:08:23.133 --> 00:08:24.303 They love to cheat. 00:08:25.293 --> 00:08:27.633 Israel boasts, I am rich. 00:08:28.053 --> 00:08:30.303 I've made a fortune all by myself. 00:08:30.753 --> 00:08:32.253 No one has caught me cheating. 00:08:32.258 --> 00:08:37.323 My record is spotless, but I am the Lord your God. 00:08:37.713 --> 00:08:40.143 Who rescued you from slavery in Egypt? 00:08:40.908 --> 00:08:44.598 And I will make you live in tents again, as you do each year 00:08:44.598 --> 00:08:46.128 at the Festival of Shelters. 00:08:46.788 --> 00:08:52.668 I sent my prophets to warn you with many visions and parables, but 00:08:52.668 --> 00:08:56.178 the people of Gilead are worthless because of their idol worship. 00:08:56.928 --> 00:08:59.598 And in Gilgal too, they sacrifice bulls. 00:09:00.108 --> 00:09:03.168 Their altars are lined up like the heaps of stone along 00:09:03.168 --> 00:09:04.638 the edges of a plowed field. 00:09:06.153 --> 00:09:09.813 Jacob fled to the land of Arum, and there he earned a wife by 00:09:09.813 --> 00:09:12.783 tending sheep, then by a prophet. 00:09:12.993 --> 00:09:17.463 The Lord brought Jacob's descendants out of Egypt, and by 00:09:17.463 --> 00:09:19.083 that prophet they were protected. 00:09:20.043 --> 00:09:24.243 But the people of Israel have bitterly provoked the Lord, so 00:09:24.243 --> 00:09:28.083 their Lord will now sentence them to death in payment for their sins. 00:09:29.823 --> 00:09:34.623 When the tribe of Efram spoke, The people shook with fear for that tribe 00:09:34.623 --> 00:09:40.413 was important in Israel, but the people of Efram sinned by worshiping Baal 00:09:41.373 --> 00:09:43.023 and thus sealed their destruction. 00:09:44.133 --> 00:09:49.413 Now they continue to sin by making silver idols, images shaped skillfully 00:09:49.413 --> 00:09:55.533 with human hands sacrifice To these, they cry and kiss the calf idols. 00:09:56.733 --> 00:10:01.413 Therefore, they will disappear like the morning mist, like do in the morning sun. 00:10:01.953 --> 00:10:06.213 Like chaff blown by the wind, like smoke from a chimney. 00:10:08.193 --> 00:10:10.023 I have been the Lord your God. 00:10:10.028 --> 00:10:14.433 Ever since I brought you out of Egypt, you must acknowledge no God 00:10:14.433 --> 00:10:17.133 but me for there is no other savior. 00:10:17.943 --> 00:10:22.623 I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land, but 00:10:22.623 --> 00:10:27.873 when you had eaten and were satisfied, you became proud and forgot me. 00:10:29.253 --> 00:10:34.923 So now I will attack you like a lion, like a leopard that lurks along the road like 00:10:34.923 --> 00:10:37.263 a bear whose cubs have been taken away. 00:10:37.413 --> 00:10:39.243 I will tear out your heart. 00:10:40.083 --> 00:10:43.323 I will devour you like a hungry lions and mangle. 00:10:43.328 --> 00:10:44.793 You like a wild animal. 00:10:46.023 --> 00:10:47.883 You are about to be destroyed. 00:10:48.033 --> 00:10:50.853 Oh, Israel, yes, by me. 00:10:51.453 --> 00:10:52.563 Your only helper. 00:10:53.673 --> 00:10:55.773 Now where is your king? 00:10:56.463 --> 00:10:57.453 Let him save you. 00:10:58.398 --> 00:11:02.148 Where are all the leaders of the land, the king and the officials You demanded 00:11:02.148 --> 00:11:09.318 of me in my anger I gave you kings, and in my fury, I took them away. 00:11:11.028 --> 00:11:15.888 Efraim's guilt has been collected and his sin has been stored up for punishment. 00:11:16.728 --> 00:11:21.018 Pain has come to the people like the pain of childbirth, but they are 00:11:21.018 --> 00:11:23.208 like a child who resists being born. 00:11:23.838 --> 00:11:25.698 The moment of birth has arrived. 00:11:26.238 --> 00:11:27.468 They stay in the womb. 00:11:28.548 --> 00:11:30.618 Should I ransom them from the grave? 00:11:31.068 --> 00:11:32.838 Should I redeem them from death? 00:11:33.528 --> 00:11:34.128 Oh, death. 00:11:34.128 --> 00:11:35.418 Bring on your terrors. 00:11:35.778 --> 00:11:39.948 Oh grave, bring on your plagues for I will not take pity on them. 00:11:41.568 --> 00:11:47.448 Efraim was the most fruitful of all his brothers, but the east wind, a blast 00:11:47.448 --> 00:11:49.998 from the Lord will arise in the desert. 00:11:51.018 --> 00:11:56.058 All their flowing springs will run dry and all their wells will disappear. 00:11:57.048 --> 00:12:01.398 Every precious thing they own will be plundered and carried away. 00:12:02.328 --> 00:12:06.738 The people of Samaria must bear the consequences of their guilt because 00:12:06.738 --> 00:12:09.048 they rebelled against their God. 00:12:09.918 --> 00:12:11.958 They will be killed by an invading army. 00:12:12.468 --> 00:12:15.228 Their little ones dashed to death against the ground. 00:12:15.828 --> 00:12:18.198 Their pregnant women ripped open by swords. 00:12:19.863 --> 00:12:25.323 Return O Israel to the Lord your God, for your sins have brought you down. 00:12:26.103 --> 00:12:28.803 Bring your confessions and return to the Lord. 00:12:29.313 --> 00:12:34.473 Say to him, forgive all our sins and graciously receive us so that 00:12:34.473 --> 00:12:36.753 we may offer you our praises. 00:12:37.323 --> 00:12:40.713 Assyria cannot save us, nor can our war horses. 00:12:41.343 --> 00:12:44.223 Never again will we say to the idols we have made. 00:12:44.343 --> 00:12:46.203 You are our gods. 00:12:46.848 --> 00:12:51.048 No in you alone, do the orphans find mercy. 00:12:52.488 --> 00:12:56.538 The Lord says, then I will heal you of your faithlessness. 00:12:56.988 --> 00:13:01.578 My love will no, no bounds for my anger will be gone forever. 00:13:02.778 --> 00:13:06.678 I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. 00:13:07.308 --> 00:13:09.648 Israel will blossom like the lily. 00:13:09.798 --> 00:13:14.028 It will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon. 00:13:14.763 --> 00:13:18.153 Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees. 00:13:18.423 --> 00:13:21.063 As fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon. 00:13:21.873 --> 00:13:24.963 My people will again live under my shade. 00:13:25.383 --> 00:13:29.073 They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. 00:13:29.673 --> 00:13:32.553 They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon. 00:13:33.753 --> 00:13:36.963 Oh, Israel, stay away from idols. 00:13:37.383 --> 00:13:41.013 I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you. 00:13:41.598 --> 00:13:44.178 I am like a tree that is always green. 00:13:44.658 --> 00:13:47.148 All your fruit comes from me. 00:13:49.788 --> 00:13:52.788 Let those who are wise understand these things. 00:13:53.598 --> 00:13:55.248 Let those with discernment. 00:13:55.308 --> 00:13:56.418 Listen carefully. 00:13:57.288 --> 00:14:00.798 The paths of the Lord are true and right, and righteous 00:14:00.798 --> 00:14:02.438 people live by walking in them. 00:14:03.538 --> 00:14:07.278 But in those paths, sinners stumble and fall. 00:14:11.673 --> 00:14:14.523 This concludes today's Immerse Reading experience. 00:14:14.673 --> 00:14:15.903 Thank you for joining us.