The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday October 4, 2019 (NIV)

³¹ Evil generation,
pay attention to the word of the Lord!
Have I been a wilderness to Israel
or a land of dense darkness?^(A)
Why do my people claim,
“We will go where we want;^[a]
we will no longer come to you”?
³² Can a young woman forget her jewelry^(B)
or a bride her wedding sash?
Yet my people have forgotten me^(C)
for countless days.
³³ How skillfully you pursue love;
you also teach evil women your ways.
³⁴ Moreover, your skirts are stained
with the blood of the innocent poor.^(D)
You did not catch them breaking and entering.^(E)
But in spite of all these things
³⁵ you claim, “I am innocent.^(F)
His anger is sure to turn away from me.”
But I will certainly judge you
because you have said, “I have not sinned.”^(G)
36 How unstable you are,^(H)
constantly changing your ways!
You will be put to shame by Egypt^(I)
just as you were put to shame by Assyria.
³⁷ Moreover, you will be led out from here
with your hands on your head^(J)
since the Lord has rejected those you trust;^(K)
you will not succeed even with their help.^[b]

3 If^[c] a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him to marry another,
can he ever return to her?^(L)
Wouldn’t such a land^[d] become totally defiled?
But you!
You have prostituted yourself with many partners^(M)—
can you return to me?^(N)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
² Look to the barren heights^(O) and see.
Where have you not been immoral?
You sat waiting for them beside the highways^(P)
like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.^(Q)
3 This is why the showers haven’t come^(R)—
why there has been no spring rain.
You have the brazen look^(S) of a prostitute^[e]
and refuse to be ashamed.^(T)
4 Haven’t you recently called to me, “My Father.^(U)
You were my friend in my youth.^(V)
5 Will he bear a grudge forever?^(W)
Will he be endlessly infuriated?”
This is what you have said,
but you have done the evil things
you are capable of.

‘Return, unfaithful Israel.^(AG)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will not look on you with anger,^[h]
for I am unfailing in my love.^(AH)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will not be angry forever.^(AI)
13 Only acknowledge your guilt^(AJ)—
you have rebelled against the Lord your God.^(AK)
You have scattered your favors to strangers
under every green tree^(AL)
and have not obeyed me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹⁹ I thought, “How I long to make you my sons
and give you a desirable land,
the most beautiful inheritance^(AX) of all the nations.”
I thought, “You will call me ‘My Father’
and never turn away from me.”
²⁰ However, as a woman may betray her lover,^[l]
so you have betrayed^(AY) me, house of Israel.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

4 If you return,^[n] Israel—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
you will return to me,^(BG)
if you remove your abhorrent idols^(BH)
from my presence
and do not waver,
² then you can swear, “As the Lord lives,”^(BI)
in truth,^(BJ) in justice, and in righteousness,^(BK)
then the nations will be blessed^[o] by him^(BL)
and will pride themselves in him.^(BM)

Break up the unplowed ground;^(BN)
do not sow among the thorns.^(BO)
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,^(BP)
men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem.
Otherwise, my wrath will break out like fire
and burn with no one to extinguish it^(BQ)
because of your evil deeds.

Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land.^(BR)
Cry out loudly and say:
Assemble yourselves,
and let’s flee to the fortified cities.
⁶ Lift up a signal flag toward Zion.^(BS)
Run for cover! Don’t stand still!
For I am bringing disaster from the north—
a crushing blow.^(BT)
7 A lion has gone up from his thicket;^(BU)
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his lair
to make your land a waste.
Your cities will be reduced to uninhabited ruins.^(BV)
8 Because of this, put on sackcloth;
mourn and wail,^(BW)
for the Lord’s burning anger^(BX)
has not turned away from us.

¹³ Look, he advances like clouds;^(CC)
his chariots are like a storm.^(CD)
His horses are swifter than eagles.^(CE)
Woe to us, for we are ruined!^(CF)
14 Wash the evil from your heart,^(CG) Jerusalem,
so that you will be delivered.
How long will you harbor
malicious thoughts?^(CH)
15 For a voice announces from Dan,
proclaiming malice from Mount Ephraim.
¹⁶ Warn the nations: Look!
Proclaim to Jerusalem:
Those who besiege are coming
from a distant land;^(CI)
they raise their voices
against the cities of Judah.
¹⁷ They have her surrounded^(CJ)
like those who guard a field,
because she has rebelled against me.^(CK)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
¹⁸ Your way and your actions
have brought this on you.^(CL)
This is your punishment. It is very bitter,
because it has reached your heart!

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God,^(X)
the firstborn over all creation.^(Y)
16 For everything was created by him,^(Z)
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through him and for him.^(AA)
17 He is before all things,^(AB)
and by him all things^(AC) hold together.

¹ God is known in Judah;
his name is great in Israel.^(B)
2 His tent is in Salem,
his dwelling place in Zion.^(C)
3 There he shatters the bow’s flaming arrows,
the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war.^(D)Selah