Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Backsliders » Return of
Restore us again, O God; and cause Your face to shine [in pleasure and approval on us], and we shall be saved! O Lord God of hosts, how long will You be angry with Your people's prayers? You have fed them with the bread of tears, and You have given them tears to drink in large measure. read more.
You make us a strife and scorn to our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves. Restore us again, O God of hosts; and cause Your face to shine [upon us with favor as of old], and we shall be saved!
You make us a strife and scorn to our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves. Restore us again, O God of hosts; and cause Your face to shine [upon us with favor as of old], and we shall be saved!
Turn again, we beseech You, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven and see, visit, and have regard for this vine! [Protect and maintain] the stock which Your right hand planted, and the branch (the son) that You have reared and made strong for Yourself. They have burned it with fire, it is cut down; may they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance. read more.
Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You have made strong for Yourself. Then will we not depart from You; revive us (give us life) and we will call upon Your name. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; cause Your face to shine [in pleasure, approval, and favor on us], and we shall be saved!
Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You have made strong for Yourself. Then will we not depart from You; revive us (give us life) and we will call upon Your name. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; cause Your face to shine [in pleasure, approval, and favor on us], and we shall be saved!
In that day man will have regard for his Maker,
And his eyes will regard the Holy One of Israel [with awe-inspired reverence].
“Those who err in mind will know the truth,
And those who criticize and murmur discontentedly will accept instruction.
Return, O children of Israel, to Him against Whom you have so deeply plunged into revolt. For in that day every man of you will cast away [in contempt and disgust] his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your own hands have sinfully made for you.
In those days and at that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall come up weeping as they come and seek the Lord their God [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him, both by right of necessity and of the promises of God's Word]. They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces in that direction, saying, Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray [to favorite places of idolatry] on mountains [that seduce]. They have gone from [one sin to another] mountain to hill; they have forgotten their [own] resting-place.
Afterward the sons of Israel will return [in deep repentance] and seek the Lord their God and [seek from the line of] David their king [the King of kings—the Messiah]; and they will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness and blessing in the last days.
Come and let us return to the Lord, for He has torn so that He may heal us; He has stricken so that He may bind us up. After two days He will revive us (quicken us, give us life); on the third day He will raise us up that we may live before Him. Yes, let us know (recognize, be acquainted with, and understand) Him; let us be zealous to know the Lord [to appreciate, give heed to, and cherish Him]. His going forth is prepared and certain as the dawn, and He will come to us as the [heavy] rain, as the latter rain that waters the earth.
Backsliding » Exhortations to return from
So the runners went throughout Israel and Judah with the letters from the hand of the king and his officials, in accordance with the command of the king, saying, “O sons (descendants) of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob), so that He will return to those of you who escaped and are left from the hand (power) of the kings of Assyria.
Return to Him from whom you have so deeply defected, O sons of Israel.
Go and proclaim these words toward the north [where the ten tribes have been taken as captives] and say,
‘Return, faithless Israel,’ says the Lord;
‘I will notlook on you in anger.
For I am gracious and merciful,’ says the Lord;
‘I will not be angry forever.
‘I will not
For I am gracious and merciful,’ says the Lord;
‘I will not be angry forever.
‘Return, O faithless children [of the twelve tribes],’ says the Lord,
‘For I am a master and husband to you,
And I will take you [not as a nation, but individually]—one from a city and two from a [tribal] family—
And I will bring you to Zion.’
“Return, O faithless sons,” [says the Lord],
“I will heal your unfaithfulness.”
[They answer] “Behold, we come to You,
For You are the Lord our God.
Conversion » Exhortations to
Return to Him from whom you have so deeply defected, O sons of Israel.
Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back (change your way of thinking), turn back [in repentance] from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
“If you will turn and pay attention to my rebuke,
Behold, I [Wisdom] will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.
Let the wicked leave (behind) his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the Lord,
And He will have compassion (mercy) on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
I thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her treacherous (faithless) sister Judah saw it.
Isaiah » Prophecies, reproofs, and exhortations of » Reproves the people for their confidence in egypt, and their contempt of God
Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord, who take counsel and carry out a plan, but not Mine, and who make a league and pour out a drink offering, but not of My Spirit, thus adding sin to sin; Who set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked Me -- "to flee to the stronghold of Pharaoh and to strengthen themselves in his strength and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength and protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt be to your humiliation and confusion. read more.
For though [Pharaoh's] officials are at Zoan and his ambassadors arrive at Hanes [in Egypt], Yet will all be ashamed because of a people [the Egyptians] who cannot profit them, who are not a help or benefit, but a shame and disgrace. A mournful, inspired prediction (a burden to be lifted up) concerning the beasts of the South (the Negeb): Oh, the heavy burden, the load of treasures going to Egypt! Through a land of trouble and anguish, in which are lioness and lion, viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people that will not and cannot profit them. For Egypt's help is worthless and toward no purpose. Therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still. Now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be as a witness for the time to come forevermore. For this is a rebellious people, faithless and lying sons, children who will not hear the law and instruction of the Lord; Who [virtually] say to the seers [by their conduct], See not! and to the prophets, Prophesy not to us what is right! Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceitful illusions. Get out of the true way, turn aside out of the path, cease holding up before us the Holy One of Israel. Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: Because you despise and spurn this [My] word and trust in cunning and oppression, in crookedness and perverseness, and rely on them, Therefore this iniquity and guilt will be to you like a broken section of a high wall, bulging out and ready [at some distant day] to fall, whose crash will [then] come suddenly and swiftly, in an instant. And he shall break it as a potter's vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing so that there cannot be found among its pieces one large enough to carry coals of fire from the hearth or to dip water out of the cistern. For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength. But you would not, And you said, No! We will speed [our own course] on horses! Therefore you will speed [in flight from your enemies]! You said, We will ride upon swift steeds [doing our own way]! Therefore will they who pursue you be swift, [so swift that] One thousand of you will flee at the threat of one of them; at the threat of five you will flee till you are left like a beacon or a flagpole on the top of a mountain, and like a signal on a hill.
For though [Pharaoh's] officials are at Zoan and his ambassadors arrive at Hanes [in Egypt], Yet will all be ashamed because of a people [the Egyptians] who cannot profit them, who are not a help or benefit, but a shame and disgrace. A mournful, inspired prediction (a burden to be lifted up) concerning the beasts of the South (the Negeb): Oh, the heavy burden, the load of treasures going to Egypt! Through a land of trouble and anguish, in which are lioness and lion, viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people that will not and cannot profit them. For Egypt's help is worthless and toward no purpose. Therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still. Now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be as a witness for the time to come forevermore. For this is a rebellious people, faithless and lying sons, children who will not hear the law and instruction of the Lord; Who [virtually] say to the seers [by their conduct], See not! and to the prophets, Prophesy not to us what is right! Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceitful illusions. Get out of the true way, turn aside out of the path, cease holding up before us the Holy One of Israel. Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: Because you despise and spurn this [My] word and trust in cunning and oppression, in crookedness and perverseness, and rely on them, Therefore this iniquity and guilt will be to you like a broken section of a high wall, bulging out and ready [at some distant day] to fall, whose crash will [then] come suddenly and swiftly, in an instant. And he shall break it as a potter's vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing so that there cannot be found among its pieces one large enough to carry coals of fire from the hearth or to dip water out of the cistern. For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength. But you would not, And you said, No! We will speed [our own course] on horses! Therefore you will speed [in flight from your enemies]! You said, We will ride upon swift steeds [doing our own way]! Therefore will they who pursue you be swift, [so swift that] One thousand of you will flee at the threat of one of them; at the threat of five you will flee till you are left like a beacon or a flagpole on the top of a mountain, and like a signal on a hill.
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses and trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they look not to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek and consult the Lord! And yet He is wise and brings calamity and does not retract His words; He will arise against the house (the whole race) of evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity. Now the Egyptians are men and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit; and when the Lord stretches out His hand, both [Egypt] who helps will stumble, and [Judah] who is helped will fall, and they will all perish and be consumed together. read more.
For the Lord has said to me, As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey -- "and though a large band of shepherds is called out against him, he will not be terrified at their voice or daunted at their noise -- "so the Lord of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hills. Like birds hovering, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; He will protect and deliver it, He will pass over and spare and preserve it. Return, O children of Israel, to Him against Whom you have so deeply plunged into revolt.
For the Lord has said to me, As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey -- "and though a large band of shepherds is called out against him, he will not be terrified at their voice or daunted at their noise -- "so the Lord of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hills. Like birds hovering, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; He will protect and deliver it, He will pass over and spare and preserve it. Return, O children of Israel, to Him against Whom you have so deeply plunged into revolt.
Rebellion against God » Exhibited in » Revolting from him
Return to Him from whom you have so deeply defected, O sons of Israel.
Why should you be stricken and punished again [since no change results from it]?
You [only] continue to rebel.
The whole head is sick
And the whole heart is faint and sick.