I will speak through the prophets and grant many visions; I will give parables through the prophets.

“我已晓谕众先知，并且加增默示，藉先知设立比喻。”

我已吩咐众先知，又增加异象，藉先知设比喻。

我已吩咐众先知，又增加异象，藉先知设比喻。

我曾对先知讲话，赐给他们许多异象，借他们用比喻警告你们。”

我曾对先知说话，加添许多异象；又藉先知说比喻。

我已曉諭眾先知，並且加增默示，藉先知設立比喻。

我已吩咐眾先知，又增加異象，藉先知設比喻。

我已吩咐眾先知，又增加異象，藉先知設比喻。

我曾對先知講話，賜給他們許多異象，藉他們用比喻警告你們。」

我曾對先知說話，加添許多異象；又藉先知說比喻。

我向眾神言人說了話；是我加多了異象，由眾神言人經手用比喻說的。

我曾諭諸先知、增加異象、藉先知以設譬、

我叠顯異象、屢使先知罕譬而喻、以告斯民、

我屢諭先知、多賜默示、藉諸先知設譬、以教斯民、

I spoke to the prophets, gave them many visions and told parables through them.”

I spoke to the prophets. They saw many visions. I gave you warnings through them.”

I spoke to the prophets; it was I who multiplied visions, and through the prophets gave parables.

I sent my prophets to warn you with many visions and parables.”

I have also spoken to the prophets, And I provided many visions, And through the prophets I spoke in parables.

I have also spoken by the prophets, And have multiplied visions; I have given symbols through the witness of the prophets.”

I have also spoken unto the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the ministry of the prophets have I used similitudes.

I spoke through the prophets and granted many visions; I gave parables through the prophets.

I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.

I spoke to the prophets; I myself revealed many visions; I spoke in parables through the prophets.”

I have also spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the ministry of the prophets I have used parables.

Still, the LORD warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and every seer, saying,“ Turn from your evil ways and keep my commands and statutes according to the whole law I commanded your ancestors and sent to you through my servants the prophets.”

Then I said,“ Oh, Lord GOD, they are saying of me,‘ Isn’t he just composing parables?’”

After this I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions.

“ Now you, son of man, take a brick, set it in front of you, and draw the city of Jerusalem on it.Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp, pitch military camps, and place battering rams against it on all sides.Take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Face it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign for the house of Israel.“ Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. You will bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side.For I have assigned you the years of their iniquity according to the number of days you lie down, 390 days; so you will bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, I have sent all my servants the prophets to you time and time again.

during that time the LORD had spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying,“ Go, take off your sackcloth from your waist and remove the sandals from your feet,” and he did that, going stripped and barefoot—the LORD said,“ As my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,so the king of Assyria will lead the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, stripped and barefoot, with bared buttocks— to Egypt’s shame.Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed.

And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all people; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

Then Elijah approached all the people and said,“ How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him. But if Baal, follow him.” But the people didn’t answer him a word.Then Elijah said to the people,“ I am the only remaining prophet of the LORD, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men.Let two bulls be given to us. They are to choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and place it on the wood but not light the fire. I will prepare the other bull and place it on the wood but not light the fire.Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The God who answers with fire, he is God.” All the people answered,“ That’s fine.”Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal,“ Since you are so numerous, choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first. Then call on the name of your god but don’t light the fire.”So they took the bull that he gave them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying,“ Baal, answer us!” But there was no sound; no one answered. Then they danced around the altar they had made.At noon Elijah mocked them. He said,“ Shout loudly, for he’s a god! Maybe he’s thinking it over; maybe he has wandered away; or maybe he’s on the road. Perhaps he’s sleeping and will wake up!”They shouted loudly, and cut themselves with knives and spears, according to their custom, until blood gushed over them.All afternoon they kept on raving until the offering of the evening sacrifice, but there was no sound; no one answered, no one paid attention.Then Elijah said to all the people,“ Come near me.” So all the people approached him. Then he repaired the LORD’s altar that had been torn down:Elijah took twelve stones— according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying,“ Israel will be your name”—and he built an altar with the stones in the name of the LORD. Then he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold about four gallons.Next, he arranged the wood, cut up the bull, and placed it on the wood. He said,“ Fill four water pots with water and pour it on the offering to be burned and on the wood.”Then he said,“ A second time!” and they did it a second time. And then he said,“ A third time!” and they did it a third time.So the water ran all around the altar; he even filled the trench with water.At the time for offering the evening sacrifice, the prophet Elijah approached the altar and said,“ LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that you are God in Israel and I am your servant, and that at your word I have done all these things.Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people will know that you, the LORD, are God and that you have turned their hearts back.”Then the LORD’s fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.When all the people saw it, they fell facedown and said,“ The LORD, he is God! The LORD, he is God!”Then Elijah ordered them,“ Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let even one of them escape.” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and slaughtered them there.

A man of God came, however, from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD while Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense.

Then the LORD said to me,“ Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the LORD loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”

Then the word of the LORD came to me:“ Son of man, how does the wood of the vine, that branch among the trees of the forest, compare to any other wood?Can wood be taken from it to make something useful? Or can anyone make a peg from it to hang things on?In fact, it is put into the fire as fuel. The fire devours both of its ends, and the middle is charred. Can it be useful for anything?Even when it was whole it could not be made into a useful object. How much less can it ever be made into anything useful when the fire has devoured it and it is charred!”Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says,“ Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire as fuel, so I will give up the residents of Jerusalem.I will turn against them. They may have escaped from the fire, but it will still consume them. And you will know that I am the LORD when I turn against them.I will make the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

This is what the LORD said to me:“ Go and buy yourself a linen undergarment and put it on. But do not put it in water.”So I bought underwear as the LORD instructed me and put it on.Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time:“ Take the underwear that you bought and are wearing, and go at once to the Euphrates and hide it in a rocky crevice.”So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.A long time later the LORD said to me,“ Go at once to the Euphrates and get the underwear that I commanded you to hide there.”So I went to the Euphrates and dug up the underwear and got it from the place where I had hidden it, but it was ruined— of no use at all.Then the word of the LORD came to me:“ This is what the LORD says: Just like this I will ruin the great pride of both Judah and Jerusalem.These evil people, who refuse to listen to me, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who have followed other gods to serve and bow in worship— they will be like this underwear, of no use at all.Just as underwear clings to one’s waist, so I fastened the whole house of Israel and of Judah to me”— this is the LORD’s declaration—“ so that they might be my people for my fame, praise, and glory, but they would not obey.“ Say this to them:‘ This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Every jar should be filled with wine.’ Then they will respond to you,‘ Don’t we know that every jar should be filled with wine?’And you will say to them,‘ This is what the LORD says: I am about to fill all who live in this land— the kings who reign for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the residents of Jerusalem— with drunkenness.I will smash them against each other, fathers and sons alike— this is the LORD’s declaration. I will allow no mercy, pity, or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’”

When the LORD first spoke to Hosea, he said this to him: Go and marry a woman of promiscuity, and have children of promiscuity, for the land is committing blatant acts of promiscuity by abandoning the LORD.So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.Then the LORD said to him: Name him Jezreel, for in a little while I will bring the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu and put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.On that day I will break the bow of Israel in Jezreel Valley.

The LORD sent all his servants the prophets to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed or even paid attention.

“ Then you are to shatter the jar in the presence of the people going with you,

Go tell Jeroboam,‘ This is what the LORD God of Israel says: I raised you up from among the people, appointed you ruler over my people Israel,tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you. But you were not like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what is right in my sight.You behaved more wickedly than all who were before you. In order to anger me, you have proceeded to make for yourself other gods and cast images, but you have flung me behind your back.Because of all this, I am about to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will wipe out all of Jeroboam’s males, both slave and free, in Israel; I will sweep away the house of Jeroboam as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone!Anyone who belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, the dogs will eat, and anyone who dies in the field, the birds will eat, for the LORD has spoken!’“ As for you, get up and go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the boy will die.All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He alone out of Jeroboam’s house will be given a proper burial because out of the house of Jeroboam something favorable to the LORD God of Israel was found in him.The LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel, who will wipe out the house of Jeroboam. This is the day, yes, even today!For the LORD will strike Israel so that they will shake as a reed shakes in water. He will uproot Israel from this good soil that he gave to their ancestors. He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates because they made their Asherah poles, angering the LORD.He will give up Israel because of Jeroboam’s sins that he committed and caused Israel to commit.”

He replied,“ I have been very zealous for the LORD God of Armies, but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are looking for me to take my life.”

he said:“ Listen to what I say: If there is a prophet among you from the LORD, I make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.

This is what the LORD says:“ Go, buy a potter’s clay jar. Take some of the elders of the people and some of the leading priests

You were patient with them for many years, and your Spirit warned them through your prophets, but they would not listen. Therefore, you handed them over to the surrounding peoples.

especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself.

So Amos answered Amaziah,“ I was not a prophet or the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman, and I took care of sycamore figs.

Now Elijah the Tishbite, from the Gilead settlers, said to Ahab,“ As the LORD God of Israel lives, in whose presence I stand, there will be no dew or rain during these years except by my command!”

I will sing about the one I love, a song about my loved one’s vineyard: The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the finest vines. He built a tower in the middle of it and even dug out a winepress there. He expected it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.So now, residents of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.What more could I have done for my vineyard than I did? Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes, did it yield worthless grapes?Now I will tell you what I am about to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.I will make it a wasteland. It will not be pruned or weeded; thorns and briers will grow up. I will also give orders to the clouds that rain should not fall on it.For the vineyard of the LORD of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, the plant he delighted in. He expected justice but saw injustice; he expected righteousness but heard cries of despair.

Boasting is necessary. It is not profitable, but I will move on to visions and revelations of the Lord.