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Ezra
9
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1
¶Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying,
The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not
separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according
to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the
Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians,
and the Amorites.
2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for
their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the
people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath
been chief in this trespass.
3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle,
and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down
astonied.
4 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words
of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that
had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.
5 ¶And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness;
and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees,
and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God,
6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face
to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head,
and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.
7 Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass
unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our
priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands,
to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of
face, as it is this day.
8 And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD
our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail
in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us
a little reviving in our bondage.
9 For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage,
but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia,
to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair
the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have
forsaken thy commandments,
11 Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying,
The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with
the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations,
which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.
12 Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither
take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their
wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the
land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.
13 And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for
our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less
than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance
as this;
14 Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity
with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry
with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no
remnant nor escaping?
15 O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped,
as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses:
for we cannot stand before thee because of this.
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Hosea
10
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1 ¶Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself:
according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars;
according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.
2 Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall
break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.
3 For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not
the LORD; what then should a king do to us?
4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant:
thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of
Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests
thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is
departed from it.
6 It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb:
Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his
own counsel.
7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water.
8 The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed:
the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they
shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on
us.
9 ¶O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there
they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity
did not overtake them.
10 It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the people
shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves
in their two furrows.
11 And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread
out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make
Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.
12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your
fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and
rain righteousness upon you.
13 Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten
the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude
of thy mighty men.
14 Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy
fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the
day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.
15 So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness:
in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.
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Colossians
1
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1 ¶Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and
Timotheus our brother,
2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse:
Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
3 ¶We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
praying always for you,
4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love
which ye have to all the saints,
5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard
before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
6 Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth
forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it,
and knew the grace of God in truth:
7 As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is
for you a faithful minister of Christ;
8 Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.
9 ¶For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not
cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with
the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being
fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of
God;
11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power,
unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
12 ¶Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins:
15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every
creature:
16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that
are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created
by him, and for him:
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the
preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him
to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they
be things in earth, or things in heaven.
21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind
by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and
unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not
moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and
which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof
I Paul am made a minister;
24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which
is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's
sake, which is the church:
25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of
God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations,
but now is made manifest to his saints:
27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the
hope of glory:
28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in
all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which
worketh in me mightily.
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