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Listen to me, LORD, and answer me, for I am helpless and weak.
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Save me from death, because I am loyal to you; save me, for I am your servant and I trust in you.
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You are my God, so be merciful to me; I pray to you all day long.
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Make your servant glad, O Lord, because my prayers go up to you.
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You are good to us and forgiving, full of constant love for all who pray to you.
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Listen, LORD, to my prayer; hear my cries for help.
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I call to you in times of trouble, because you answer my prayers.
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There is no god like you, O Lord, not one has done what you have done.
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All the nations that you have created will come and bow down to you; they will praise your greatness.
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You are mighty and do wonderful things; you alone are God.
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Teach me, LORD, what you want me to do, and I will obey you faithfully; teach me to serve you with complete devotion.
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I will praise you with all my heart, O Lord my God; I will proclaim your greatness forever.
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How great is your constant love for me! You have saved me from the grave itself.
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Proud people are coming against me, O God; a cruel gang is trying to kill me--- people who pay no attention to you.
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But you, O Lord, are a merciful and loving God, always patient, always kind and faithful.
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Turn to me and have mercy on me; strengthen me and save me, because I serve you just as my mother did.
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Show me proof of your goodness, LORD; those who hate me will be ashamed when they see that you have given me comfort and help.
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Listen to this, you women of Samaria, who grow fat like the well-fed cows of Bashan, who mistreat the weak, oppress the poor, and demand that your husbands keep you supplied with liquor!
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As the Sovereign LORD is holy, he has promised, "The days will come when they will drag you away with hooks; every one of you will be like a fish on a hook.
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You will be dragged to the nearest break in the wall and thrown out."
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The Sovereign LORD says, "People of Israel, go to the holy place in Bethel and sin, if you must! Go to Gilgal and sin with all your might! Go ahead and bring animals to be sacrificed morning after morning, and bring your tithes every third day.
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Go on and offer your bread in thanksgiving to God, and brag about the extra offerings you bring! This is the kind of thing you love to do.
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"I was the one who brought famine to all your cities, yet you did not come back to me.
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I kept it from raining when your crops needed it most. I sent rain on one city, but not on another. Rain fell on one field, but another field dried up.
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Weak with thirst, the people of several cities went to a city where they hoped to find water, but there was not enough to drink. Still you did not come back to me.
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"I sent a scorching wind to dry up your crops. The locusts ate up all your gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and olive trees. Still you did not come back to me.
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"I sent a plague on you like the one I sent on Egypt. I killed your young men in battle and took your horses away. I filled your nostrils with the stink of dead bodies in your camps. Still you did not come back to me.
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"I destroyed some of you as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Those of you who survived were like a burning stick saved from a fire. Still you did not come back to me," says the LORD.
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"So then, people of Israel, I am going to punish you. And because I am going to do this, get ready to face my judgment!"
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God is the one who made the mountains and created the winds. He makes his thoughts known to people; he changes day into night. He walks on the heights of the earth. This is his name: the LORD God Almighty!
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Listen, people of Israel, to this funeral song which I sing over you:
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Virgin Israel has fallen, Never to rise again! She lies abandoned on the ground, And no one helps her up.
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The Sovereign LORD says, "A city in Israel sends out a thousand soldiers, but only a hundred return; another city sends out a hundred, but only ten come back."
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The LORD says to the people of Israel, "Come to me, and you will live.
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Do not go to Beersheba to worship. Do not try to find me at Bethel---Bethel will come to nothing. Do not go to Gilgal---her people are doomed to exile."
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Go to the LORD, and you will live. If you do not go, he will sweep down like fire on the people of Israel. The fire will burn up the people of Bethel, and no one will be able to put it out.
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You are doomed, you that twist justice and cheat people out of their rights!
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The LORD made the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into daylight and day into night. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the earth. His name is the LORD.
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He brings destruction on the mighty and their strongholds.
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You people hate anyone who challenges injustice and speaks the whole truth in court.
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You have oppressed the poor and robbed them of their grain. And so you will not live in the fine stone houses you build or drink wine from the beautiful vineyards you plant.
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I know how terrible your sins are and how many crimes you have committed. You persecute good people, take bribes, and prevent the poor from getting justice in the courts.
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And so, keeping quiet in such evil times is the smart thing to do!
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Make it your aim to do what is right, not what is evil, so that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty really will be with you, as you claim he is.
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Hate what is evil, love what is right, and see that justice prevails in the courts. Perhaps the LORD will be merciful to the people of this nation who are still left alive.
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And so the Sovereign LORD Almighty says, "There will be wailing and cries of sorrow in the city streets. Even farmers will be called to mourn the dead along with those who are paid to mourn.
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There will be wailing in all the vineyards. All this will take place because I am coming to punish you." The LORD has spoken.
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How terrible it will be for you who long for the day of the LORD! What good will that day do you? For you it will be a day of darkness and not of light.
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It will be like someone who runs from a lion and meets a bear! Or like someone who comes home and puts his hand on the wall---only to be bitten by a snake!
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The day of the LORD will bring darkness and not light; it will be a day of gloom, without any brightness.
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The LORD says, "I hate your religious festivals; I cannot stand them!
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When you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will not accept the animals you have fattened to bring me as offerings.
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Stop your noisy songs; I do not want to listen to your harps.
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Instead, let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry.
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"People of Israel, I did not demand sacrifices and offerings during those forty years that I led you through the desert.
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But now, because you have worshiped images of Sakkuth, your king god, and of Kaiwan, your star god, you will have to carry those images
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when I take you into exile in a land beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is Almighty God.
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How terrible it will be for you that have such an easy life in Zion and for you that feel safe in Samaria---you great leaders of this great nation Israel, you to whom the people go for help!
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Go and look at the city of Calneh. Then go on to the great city of Hamath and on down to the Philistine city of Gath. Were they any better than the kingdoms of Judah and Israel? Was their territory larger than yours?
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You refuse to admit that a day of disaster is coming, but what you do only brings that day closer.
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How terrible it will be for you that stretch out on your luxurious couches, feasting on veal and lamb!
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You like to compose songs, as David did, and play them on harps.
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You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest perfumes, but you do not mourn over the ruin of Israel.
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So you will be the first to go into exile. Your feasts and banquets will come to an end.
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The Sovereign LORD Almighty has given this solemn warning: "I hate the pride of the people of Israel; I despise their luxurious mansions. I will give their capital city and everything in it to the enemy."
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If there are ten men left in a family, they will die.
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The dead man's relative, the one in charge of the funeral, will take the body out of the house. The relative will call to whoever is still left in the house, "Is anyone else there with you?" The person will answer, "No!" Then the relative will say, "Be quiet! We must be careful not even to mention the LORD's name."
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When the LORD gives the command, houses large and small will be smashed to pieces.
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Do horses gallop on rocks? Does anyone plow the sea with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison, and right into wrong.
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You brag about capturing the town of Lodebar. You boast, "We were strong enough to take Karnaim."
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The LORD God Almighty himself says, "People of Israel, I am going to send a foreign army to occupy your country. It will oppress you from Hamath Pass in the north to the Brook of the Arabah in the south."
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From Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I was chosen and sent to help the faith of God's chosen people and to lead them to the truth taught by our religion,
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which is based on the hope for eternal life. God, who does not lie, promised us this life before the beginning of time,
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and at the right time he revealed it in his message. This was entrusted to me, and I proclaim it by order of God our Savior.
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I write to Titus, my true son in the faith that we have in common. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior give you grace and peace.
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I left you in Crete, so that you could put in order the things that still needed doing and appoint church elders in every town. Remember my instructions:
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an elder must be without fault; he must have only one wife, and his children must be believers and not have the reputation of being wild or disobedient.
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For since a church leader is in charge of God's work, he should be without fault. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered, or a drunkard or violent or greedy for money.
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He must be hospitable and love what is good. He must be self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.
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He must hold firmly to the message which can be trusted and which agrees with the doctrine. In this way he will be able to encourage others with the true teaching and also to show the error of those who are opposed to it.
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For there are many, especially the converts from Judaism, who rebel and deceive others with their nonsense.
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It is necessary to stop their talk, because they are upsetting whole families by teaching what they should not, and all for the shameful purpose of making money.
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It was a Cretan himself, one of their own prophets, who spoke the truth when he said, "Cretans are always liars, wicked beasts, and lazy gluttons." For this reason you must rebuke them sharply, so that they may have a healthy faith
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and no longer hold on to Jewish legends and to human commandments which come from people who have rejected the truth.
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Everything is pure to those who are themselves pure; but nothing is pure to those who are defiled and unbelieving, for their minds and consciences have been defiled.
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They claim that they know God, but their actions deny it. They are hateful and disobedient, not fit to do anything good.
