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| 1 'Hear a word of Jehovah, sons of Israel, For a strife [is] to Jehovah with inhabitants of the land, For there is no truth, nor kindness, Nor knowledge of God, in the land, |
Children of Israel – Nominal fleshly Israel and, doubly, in its fuller application, to nominal spiritual Israel. D19, D20
Hath a controversy – Because the day of recompenses has come. (Isa. 34:8) D19
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| 2 Swearing, and lying, and murdering, And stealing, and committing adultery have increased, And blood against blood hath touched. |
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| 3 Therefore mourn doth the land, And weak is every dweller in it, With the beast of the field, And with the fowl of the heavens, And the fishes of the sea they are removed. |
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| 4 Only, let no one strive, nor reprove a man, And thy people [are] as those striving with a priest. |
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| 5 And thou hast stumbled in the day, And stumbled hath also a prophet with thee in the night, And I have cut off thy mother. |
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| 6 Cut off have been My people for lack of knowledge, Because thou knowledge hast rejected, I reject thee from being priest to Me, And thou forgettest the law of thy God, I forget thy sons, I also! |
My people – The discontented, the unsatisfied, hungering and thirsting after the right was of God--the real teachings of the Bible. OV263:T
Are destroyed – Perish. R4396:3, R3941:3
Ensnared by the very ones who should be their pastors, assistants and protectors; and by reason of their confidence in them. R4396:3
Are dumbfounded. R3008:5
Lack of knowledge – Many do not realize how important are knowledge and a correct faith. R4527:4, R4533:6
Dwarfed Christian life and experience result, except as the Word of God is understood and assimilated. R5416:5
Faith can keep pace only with knowledge, for faith must have a basis. A correct life depends greatly upon a correct faith. R4527:4, R4533:6
Because, though generally swift to speak and slow to hear, they, through indolence or fear, neglect systematic study of the divine message. R3941:3
God's Word, through the prophet, applies to Jews as well as to Christians. OV154:T
False teachings in high places, and throughout Babylon, have hidden the "key of knowledge" to the privileges and opportunities of the Gospel age. (Luke 11:52) R2693:4
They are "willingly ignorant." (2 Pet. 3:5) "They hear not, neither do they understand." (Matt. 13:13) SM288:1
The secret of nearly all the rebellions against the Bible is the result of a lack of knowledge of God, his plan and his Book. R3008:5
Being ensnared by misplaced confidence in spiritual leaders. R4396:3
There is a famine in the land, not for bread, but for the hearing (understanding) of the Word of the Lord. (Amos 8:11) OV154:T
Few parents realize their obligations toward the children they bring into the world. R5700:6
Hast rejected knowledge – Having "hidden the key of knowledge," they not only fail to enter the privileges of the Gospel call, but they hinder them that would enter, by their false teachings and misrepresentations. R2693:4
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| 7 According to their abundance so they sinned against Me, Their honour into shame I change. |
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| 8 The sin of My people they do eat, And unto their iniquity lift up their soul. |
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| 9 And it hath been, like people, like priest, And I have charged on it its ways, And its habitual doings I return to it. |
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| 10 And they have eaten, and are not satisfied, They have gone a-whoring, and increase not, For they have left off taking heed to Jehovah. |
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| 11 Whoredom, and wine, and new wine, take the heart, |
And wine – Doctrine, or the spirit of the world. D266, D267
As the first house of Israel stumbled because of intoxication with false doctrines, so with nominal spiritual Israel. R3962:5
"The inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." (Rev. 17:2) R3962:5
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| 12 My people at its staff asketh and its rod declareth to it, For a spirit of whoredoms hath caused to err, And they go a-whoring from under their God. |
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| 13 On tops of the mountains they do sacrifice, And on the hills they make perfume, Under oak, and poplar, and terebinth, For good [is] its shade. |
Of the mountains – Kingdoms. A318
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| 14 Therefore commit whoredom do your daughters, And your spouses commit adultery, I do not see after your daughters when they commit whoredom, And after your spouses when they commit adultery, For they with the harlots are separated, And with the whores they do sacrifice, A people that doth not understand kicketh. |
With harlots – Apostate churches. B277
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| 15 Though a harlot thou [art], O Israel, Let not Judah become guilty, And come not ye in to Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-Aven, Nor swear ye, Jehovah liveth. |
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| 16 For as a refractory heifer hath Israel turned aside, Now doth Jehovah feed them as a lamb in a large place. |
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| 17 Joined to idols [is] Ephraim, let him alone. |
Ephraim – Christendom. D22
Is joined to idols – The idolatry of money. B139
Let him alone – For a period of 70 years--long enough to allow nearly all of them to die in exile, a period in which those who loved idolatry might go their own way. R3623:5
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| 18 Sour [is] their drink, They have gone diligently a-whoring, Her protectors have loved shame thoroughly. |
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| 19 Distressed her hath wind with its wings, And they are ashamed of their sacrifices! |
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