Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



Like a diamond {harder than flint} I have made your forehead; you must not fear them, and you must not be dismayed {on account of them}, for they {are a rebellious house}.



to whom he has said, "This [is] rest; give rest to the weary; and this [is] repose"; yet they were not willing to hear.

Thus says Yahweh: "Stand at [the] roads and look, and ask for [the] ancient paths, where the way of the good [is], and walk in it, and find rest for your inner selves. But they said, 'We will not walk [in it].'

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, "Look, I [am] going to bring to Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem every disaster that I have spoken against them, because I have spoken to them and they have not listened, and I have called to them and they have not answered." '"

{They made their hearts adamant} in order not to hear the law and the words that Yahweh of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets; [therefore] great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts. 'Thus, just as I called and they would not hear, so they will call and I will not hear,' says Yahweh of hosts. 'And I scattered them with a wind among all the nations that they had not known; the land was made desolate behind them-- no one crossing through [it] or returning--and they made the desirable land a desolation.'"


Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trampled down my plot of land. They have made {my pleasant field} like the desert of desolation. They have made it a desolation. Desolate, it mourns to me. All the land is made desolate, but there is no person taking [it] to heart. Upon all [the] barren heights in the desert destroyers have come, for [the] sword of Yahweh devours, from [one] end of [the] land to the [other] end of the land, there is no peace for all flesh. read more.
They have sown wheat and they have reaped thorns. They are exhausted, they do not profit. And they will be ashamed of your produce, because of {the burning anger} of Yahweh."

I [am] Yahweh, your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves; and I broke the bars of your yoke, and I caused you to walk erectly. " 'But if you do not listen to me and you do not carry out all these commands, and if you reject my statutes and if your inner self abhors my regulations, to not carry out all my commands [by] your breaking my covenant, read more.
I {in turn} will do this to you: then I will summon onto you horror, the wasting disease, and the fever that wastes eyes and that drains away life; and you shall sow your seed {in vain}, and your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you, and you shall be defeated {before} your enemies; and your haters shall rule over you, and you shall flee away, but there shall not be {anybody who is pursuing} you. " 'And if in spite of these [things] you do not listen to me, then I will continue to discipline you seven times for your sins. And I will break the pride of your strength; and I will make your heaven like iron and your land like copper. And your strength shall be consumed {in vain}; and your land shall not give its produce, and the land's trees shall not give their fruit. " 'And if you go against me [in] hostility and you are not willing to listen to me, then I will add a plague onto you seven times according to your sins. And I will send {wild animals} out among you, and they shall make you childless, and they shall cut down your domestic animals, and they shall make you fewer; and your roads shall be desolate. " 'And if you do not accept correction from me through these [things], but you go against me [in] hostility, then I myself will also go against you in hostility, and I myself also will strike you seven times for your sins. And I will bring upon you a sword that seeks vengeance [for the] covenant, and you shall be gathered to your cities; and I will send a plague in your midst, and you shall be given into [the] hand of an enemy. At my breaking [the] {supply} of bread for you, then ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall return your bread by weight; and you shall eat [it], and you shall not be satisfied. " 'And if through this you do not listen to me and you go against me in hostility, then I will go against you in hostile anger, and also I myself will discipline you seven times for your sins. And you shall eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat. And I will destroy your high places, and I will cut down your incense altars, and I will place your corpses on your idols' corpses; and my inner self shall abhor you. And I will lay your cities [in] ruins, and I will lay waste your sanctuaries; and I shall not smell your [sacrifices'] appeasing fragrance. And I myself will lay waste the land, and your enemies who are living in it shall be appalled over it.

Do not be like your fathers and like your brothers, who acted unfaithfully before Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, so that he made them as a desolation, as you see.

And you felt secure in your wickedness; you said, "{No one} sees me." Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, "I [am], and besides me [there is] no one." And evil shall come upon you, you will not know; it will be on the lookout for her. And disaster shall fall upon you; you will not be able to {avert} it. And ruin shall come on you suddenly; you do not know.

And [though] Yahweh has sent all his servants the prophets to you {over and over again} you have not listened, and you have not inclined your ear to hear, {saying}, 'Turn back please, each one from his evil way, and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the land that Yahweh has given to you and to your ancestors from a long time back and until forever, and you must not go after other gods to serve them, and to bow in worship to them, and you must not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, then I will not do something bad to you.' read more.
'Yet you have not listened to me,' {declares} Yahweh, 'so that you have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands for your own harm.' {Therefore} thus says Yahweh of hosts, 'Because you have not obeyed my words, look, I [am] going to send and take all [the] clans of [the] north,' {declares} Yahweh, 'and [I will send] to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations all around, and I will destroy them, and I will make them a horror, and [an object of] hissing, and {everlasting ruins}. And I will exterminate from them the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, [the] voice of [the] bridegroom, and [the] voice of [the] bride, [the] sound of [the] millstones, and [the] light of [the] lamp. And all this land will become a site of ruins, a desolation, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. {And then} when [the] seventy years [are] fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,' {declares} Yahweh, 'for their iniquity, and [the] land of [the] Chaldeans, and I will make it {an everlasting waste}.

For Gaza will be abandoned, and Ashkelon as a desolation. [As for] Ashdod, at noon they will drive her away, and Ekron shall be uprooted. Woe [to you], inhabitants of the region of the sea, people of the Kerethites! The word of Yahweh [is] against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines. I will destroy you {until there is no inhabitant}. And you, O region of the sea, shall become pastures [and] meadows [for] shepherds and sheep pens [for the] flocks. read more.
And it shall become a region for the remnant of the house of Judah; upon them they shall graze, and in the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down in the evening. For Yahweh their God shall be mindful of them, and he will restore their fortunes. I have heard the reproaches of Moab and the scorning of the {Ammonites}, [with] which they have taunted my nation and made boasts against their territory. "Therefore, as I live"--a declaration of Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel-- "Moab shall be as Sodom, and the {Ammonites} like Gomorrah, a place of weeds and salt pits and a desolation forever. The remnant of my people shall plunder them, and the remainder of my nation shall possess them." This [shall be] for them in place of their pride because they mocked and boasted against the people of Yahweh of hosts. Yahweh [will be] awesome against them, for he will destroy all the gods of the earth and all the lands of the nations; each in its place will bow down to him. You also, O Cushites, they shall be killed by my sword. And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and he will destroy Assyria and will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry wasteland like the desert. Herds shall lie down in her midst, every wild animal of a nation; even the desert owl and the screech owl shall lodge on her capitals. A voice shall hoot in the window; rubble on the threshold; for the cedar [is] laid bare. This [is] the city of rejoicing that lived securely; the one saying in her heart, "{I am, and there is none besides me}." How she has become a desolation, a lair for wild animals! Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder and {stopped their ears from listening}. {They made their hearts adamant} in order not to hear the law and the words that Yahweh of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets; [therefore] great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts. 'Thus, just as I called and they would not hear, so they will call and I will not hear,' says Yahweh of hosts. read more.
'And I scattered them with a wind among all the nations that they had not known; the land was made desolate behind them-- no one crossing through [it] or returning--and they made the desirable land a desolation.'"



And looking around at them with anger, grieved at the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched [it] out, and his hand was restored.

And Pharaoh saw that there was relief, and he made his heart {insensitive}, and he did not listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.

And later, [while] they were reclining at table, he appeared to the eleven. And he reprimanded their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him [after he] had been raised.

Yahweh, do not your eyes [look] for honesty? You have struck them, but they felt no pain, you have destroyed them, they refused to take discipline. They have hardened their faces more than rock, they have refused to turn back.

And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to Yahweh, the God of Israel.

They refused to listen and did not remember your wonders that you did among them. They stiffened their neck and in their rebellion {determined} to return to their slavery. But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, {slow to anger}, abundant in loyal love, so you did not abandon them.

In spite of all this they sinned further and did not believe his wonders.

But {when} his heart became arrogant and his spirit became hard [so as] to act proudly, he was deposed from the throne of his kingdom and the glory {was taken away from him}.

And knowing [this], he said to them, "Why are you discussing that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Have your hearts been hardened?


for what [is the] hope of [the] godless when he cuts [them] off, when God takes away his life? Will God hear his cry of distress when distress comes upon him? Or, in Shaddai will he find delight? Will he call upon God at all times?


So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, "Look, you are old and your sons do not follow in your ways. So then appoint a king for us to judge us, like all the nations. But the matter {was displeasing to Samuel} when they said, "Give us a king to judge us," so Samuel prayed to Yahweh. read more.
Then Yahweh said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people concerning all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Like all the deeds they have done from the day I brought them up from Egypt until this day, they have forsaken me and have served other gods--so they [are] doing to you also. And so then, listen to their voice. However, you must earnestly warn them; you must explain to them the custom of the king who will rule over them." So Samuel spoke all the words of Yahweh to the people who [were] requesting a king from him. He said, "This will be the custom of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and his horsemen, and they will run before his chariots. He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and [those] {to do his plowing} and to reap his harvest, and [those] to make weapons of war and the equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters as [his] perfume makers and as cooks and as bakers. He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive trees and will give [them] to his servants. He will take a tenth of your seed and your vineyards and give [it] to his high officials and to his servants. He will take your male slaves and your female slaves and the best of your young men and your donkeys and {will use them for his projects}. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you [yourselves] will become his servants. So you will cry out on that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but Yahweh will not answer you on that day!"

Hear the word of Yahweh, rulers of Sodom! Listen [to] the teaching of our God, people of Gomorrah! What [is the] abundance of your sacrifices to me? says Yahweh. I have had enough [of] burnt offerings of rams and [the] fat [of] fattened animals and I do not delight in [the] blood of bulls and ram-lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who asked for this from your hand: you trampling my courts? read more.
You must not {continue} to bring offerings of futility, incense--it [is] an abomination to me; new moon and Sabbath, [the] calling of a convocation-- I cannot endure iniquity with [solemn] assembly. Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become to me like burden, I am not able to bear [them]. And when you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I [will] not be listening. Your hands are full of blood.

Look! The hand of Yahweh is not too short {to save}, and his ear is not [too] dull {to hear}. Rather, your iniquities have been {barriers} between you and your God, and your sins have hidden [his] face from you, from hearing.

But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder and {stopped their ears from listening}. {They made their hearts adamant} in order not to hear the law and the words that Yahweh of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets; [therefore] great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts. 'Thus, just as I called and they would not hear, so they will call and I will not hear,' says Yahweh of hosts.


For the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ears they hear with difficulty, and they have shut their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them."


And they say to God, 'Turn away from us, for we do not desire to know your ways.

But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder and {stopped their ears from listening}. {They made their hearts adamant} in order not to hear the law and the words that Yahweh of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets; [therefore] great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts.

For [when] they maintain this, it escapes [their] notice that the heavens existed long ago and the earth held together out of water and through water by the word of God,



Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and dry grass sinks down [in the] flame, so their root will become like [the] stench, and their blossom will go up like [the] dust. For they have rejected the instruction of Yahweh of hosts, and they have treated the word of the holy one of Israel with contempt.

To whom shall I speak and admonish, that they may hear? Look, their ears [are] {closed}, and they are not able to listen attentively. Look, the word of Yahweh is to them an object of scorn, they do not delight in it.


{And then}, as Jehudi read three or four columns, he would cut it up in pieces with the knife of the scribe, and he would throw [it] into the fire that [was] in the fire-pot until the whole of the scroll [was] consumed in the fire that was in the fire-pot.

Therefore the holy one of Israel says this: "Because you [are] rejecting this word and you trust in oppression and {cunning} and you rely on it,

[The] wise will be put to shame, they will be dismayed, and they will get taken. Look, they have rejected the word of Yahweh, and what [is] wisdom to them?

For {as often as} I speak, I must cry out violence and destruction. I must shout, for the word of Yahweh has become for me a disgrace and derision all day [long].

[thus] making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down, and you do many similar [things] such as this."



But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder and {stopped their ears from listening}. {They made their hearts adamant} in order not to hear the law and the words that Yahweh of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets; [therefore] great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts. 'Thus, just as I called and they would not hear, so they will call and I will not hear,' says Yahweh of hosts.



Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and dry grass sinks down [in the] flame, so their root will become like [the] stench, and their blossom will go up like [the] dust. For they have rejected the instruction of Yahweh of hosts, and they have treated the word of the holy one of Israel with contempt.

To whom shall I speak and admonish, that they may hear? Look, their ears [are] {closed}, and they are not able to listen attentively. Look, the word of Yahweh is to them an object of scorn, they do not delight in it.


{And then}, as Jehudi read three or four columns, he would cut it up in pieces with the knife of the scribe, and he would throw [it] into the fire that [was] in the fire-pot until the whole of the scroll [was] consumed in the fire that was in the fire-pot.

Therefore the holy one of Israel says this: "Because you [are] rejecting this word and you trust in oppression and {cunning} and you rely on it,

[The] wise will be put to shame, they will be dismayed, and they will get taken. Look, they have rejected the word of Yahweh, and what [is] wisdom to them?

For {as often as} I speak, I must cry out violence and destruction. I must shout, for the word of Yahweh has become for me a disgrace and derision all day [long].

[thus] making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down, and you do many similar [things] such as this."



Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and dry grass sinks down [in the] flame, so their root will become like [the] stench, and their blossom will go up like [the] dust. For they have rejected the instruction of Yahweh of hosts, and they have treated the word of the holy one of Israel with contempt.

To whom shall I speak and admonish, that they may hear? Look, their ears [are] {closed}, and they are not able to listen attentively. Look, the word of Yahweh is to them an object of scorn, they do not delight in it.


{And then}, as Jehudi read three or four columns, he would cut it up in pieces with the knife of the scribe, and he would throw [it] into the fire that [was] in the fire-pot until the whole of the scroll [was] consumed in the fire that was in the fire-pot.

Therefore the holy one of Israel says this: "Because you [are] rejecting this word and you trust in oppression and {cunning} and you rely on it,

[The] wise will be put to shame, they will be dismayed, and they will get taken. Look, they have rejected the word of Yahweh, and what [is] wisdom to them?

For {as often as} I speak, I must cry out violence and destruction. I must shout, for the word of Yahweh has become for me a disgrace and derision all day [long].

[thus] making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down, and you do many similar [things] such as this."