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| 1 Hear the word of Jehovah, ye children of Israel; for Jehovah hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land; for there is no truth, nor goodness, 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 killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, --they break out; and blood toucheth blood. |
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| 3 For this shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowl of the heavens, yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. |
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| 4 Yet let no man strive, and let no man reprove; for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. |
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| 5 And thou shalt stumble by day; and the prophet also shall stumble with thee by night: and I will destroy thy mother. |
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| 6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; for thou hast rejected knowledge, and I will reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me; seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children. |
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 As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame. |
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| 8 They eat the sin of my people, and their soul longeth for their iniquity. |
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| 9 And it shall be as the people so the priest; and I will visit their ways upon them, and recompense to them their doings; |
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| 10 and they shall eat, and not have enough; they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: for they have left off taking heed to Jehovah. |
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| 11 Fornication, and wine, and new wine take away 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 ask counsel of their stock, and their staff declareth unto them; for the spirit of whoredoms causeth them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God: |
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| 13 they sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oak and poplar and terebinth, because the shade thereof is good; therefore your daughters play the harlot and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. |
Of the mountains – Kingdoms. A318
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| 14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot, nor your daughters-in-law for their committing adultery; for they themselves go aside with harlots, and they sacrifice with prostitutes: and the people that doth not understand shall come to ruin. |
With harlots – Apostate churches. B277
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| 15 Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, let not Judah trespass; and come ye not unto Gilgal, neither go up to Beth-aven, nor swear As Jehovah liveth! |
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| 16 For Israel is refractory as an untractable heifer; now will Jehovah feed them as a lamb in a wide pasture2. |
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| 17 --Ephraim is joined to idols: leave 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 Their drink is sour; they give themselves up to whoredom; her great men passionately love their shame. |
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| 19 The wind hath wrapped her up in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices. |
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