They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow of it is good. Therefore your daughters play the harlot, and your brides commit adultery.

The wind has wrapped her up in its wings, and they shall be put to shame because of their sacrifices.

Ephraim is oppressed. He is crushed in judgment, because he was content to walk after [man's] command.

[Set] the trumpet to thy mouth. As an eagle [he comes] against the house of LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.

Yea, though they hire among the nations, I will now gather them, and they shall begin to be diminished because of the burden of the king of rulers.

Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, altars have been to him for sinning.

The days of visitation have come. The days of recompense have come. Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the abundance of thine iniquity, and because the enmity is great.

All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them. Because of the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more. All their rulers are rebels.

My God will cast them away because they did not hearken to him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

The inhabitants of Samaria shall be in terror for the calves of Beth-aven. For the people of it shall mourn over it, and the priests of it, who rejoiced over it for the glory of it, because it has departed from it.

So shall Bethel do to you because of your great wickedness. At daybreak the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off.

They shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be their king, because they refused to return [to me].

And the sword shall fall upon their cities, and shall consume their bars, and devour [them], because of their own counsels.

Awake, ye drunkards, and weep, and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.

How do the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because they have no pasture, yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the sons of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

Thus says LORD: For three transgressions of Damascus, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron.

Thus says LORD: For three transgressions of Gaza, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they carried away captive the whole people, to deliver them up to Edom.

Thus says LORD: For three transgressions of Tyre, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they delivered up the whole people to Edom, and did not remember the brotherly covenant.

Thus says LORD: For three transgressions of Edom, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity. And his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath

Thus says LORD: For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border.

Thus says LORD: For three transgressions of Moab, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.

Thus says LORD: For three transgressions of Judah, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they have rejected the law of LORD, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have caused them to err, accord

Thus says LORD: For three transgressions of Israel, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they have sold a righteous man for silver, and a needy man for a pair of shoes--

Therefore thus I will do to thee, O Israel, [and] because I will do this to thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, What is this that thou have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of LORD, because he had told them.

And he said, I called because of my affliction to LORD, and he answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, [and] thou heard my voice.

And LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very glad because of the gourd.

For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, because evil has come down from LORD to the gate of Jerusalem.

Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.

Arise ye, and depart, for this is not your resting-place, because of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction.

I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their pasture. They shall make great noise because of [the multit

Therefore I also have smitten thee with a grievous wound, I have made thee desolate because of thy sins.

I will bear the indignation of LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my case, and executes judgment for me. He will bring me forth to the light, [and] I shall behold his righteousness.

Yet the land shall be desolate because of those who dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.

They shall lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their close places. They shall come with fear to LORD our God, and shall be afraid because of thee.

Who is a God like to thee, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness.

because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, who sells nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.

Thou also shall be drunken. Thou shall be hid. Thou also shall seek a stronghold because of the enemy.

Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his drag, because by them his portion is fat, and his food plentiful.

For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hastens toward the end, and shall not lay. Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come. It will not delay.

Because thou have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder thee, because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell therein.

For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee and the plunder of the beasts ([which] made them afraid), because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell therein.

I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us.

And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against LORD, and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung.

They shall have this for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of LORD of hosts.

Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little, and when ye brought it home, I blew upon it. Why? says LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lays waste while ye run each man to his own house.

Then Haggai said, If a man who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.

and said to him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and cattle therein.

For before those days there was no wage for man, nor any wage for beast, nor was there any peace to him who went out or came in, because of the adversary. For I set all men each one against his neighbor.

and also Hamath, which borders on it, Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise.

As for thee also, because of the blood of thy covenant I have set free thy prisoners from the pit in which is no water.

For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and they have told FALSE dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.

And they shall be as mighty men, treading down [their enemies] in the mire of the streets in the battle. And they shall fight, because LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.

Wail, O fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, because the fine ones are destroyed. Wail, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest has come down.

If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, says LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it

Yet ye say, Why? Because LORD has been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou have dealt treacherously, though she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.

A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children. And she did not want to be comforted, because they are not.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, because the kingdom of the heavens is theirs.

Blessed are those who mourn, because they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, because they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, because they will obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who have been persecuted because of righteousness, because the kingdom of the heavens is theirs.

Blessed are ye when they revile you, and persecute you, and say every evil word, being deceitful against you because of me.

Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, because your reward is great in the heavens, for so they persecuted the prophets before you.

But I say to you, not to swear at all, neither by heaven, because it is the throne of God,

nor by the earth, because it is the footstool of his feet, nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King.

Neither shall thou swear by thy head, because thou cannot make one hair white or black.

so that ye may become sons of your Father in the heavens, because he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and makes rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

And when thou pray, thou shall not be as the hypocrites, because they love to pray having stood in the synagogues and in the corners of the thoroughfares, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.

And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, because from thee is the kingdom and the power and the glory into the ages. Truly.

Because of this I say to you, be not anxious about your life, what ye may eat, or what ye may drink, nor yet for your body, what ye may wear. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the clothing?

Look to the birds of the sky, because they sow not, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are ye not more valuable then they?

Enter ye in by the narrow gate, because wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many are they who enter through it.

But when he saw the multitudes, he felt compassion for them, because they were troubled and dejected, as sheep having no shepherd.

and ye will be brought to governors and even kings because of me, for a witness to them and to the Gentiles.

And ye will be hated by all men because of my name, but he who endures to the end, this man will be saved.

He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life because of me will find it.

Then he began to upbraid the cities in which most of his mighty works occurred, because they did not repent.

Woe to thee, Chorazin! Woe to thee, Bethsaida! Because if the mighty works that occurred in you occurred in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

And thou, Capernaum, which was exalted as far as the sky. Thou will be brought down as far as Hades, because if the mighty works had occurred in Sodom that occurred in thee, it would have remained until this day.

Jesus having responded at that time, said, I extol thee, O Father, Lord of the heaven and the earth, because thou hid these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to the childlike.

Yea, Father, because this way it was done pleasing in thy sight.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, because I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye will find rest for your souls.

And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Because of this they will be your judges.

Because of this I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven to men, but the blasphemy of the spirit will not be forgiven men.

The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, a greater than Jonah is here.

The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

But others fell upon the rocky places, where they had not much soil, and straightaway they sprang up because they had no depth of soil.

But when the sun was risen, they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered.

And having answered, he said to them, Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to those men it has not been given.

Because of this I speak to them in parables, because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, nor do they understand.

But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.

yet he has no root in himself, instead it is temporary. And when tribulation or persecution develops because of the word, straightaway he is caused to stumble.

And he said to them, Because of this every scholar who has been instructed in the kingdom of the heavens is like a man, a house-ruler, who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.

And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

and he said to his boys, This is John the immerser. He has risen from the dead, and because of this the powers work in him.