12/26/10
Dear Jehovah God,
Strangers devour Ephraim’s strength, yet he does not know it; gray hairs also are sprinkled on him, yet he does not know it.
Our land is desolate, our cities are burned with fire, our fields – strangers are devouring them in our presence; it is desolation, as overthrown by strangers.
Us, however, You will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after us, as our land becomes desolate and our cities become waste.
Therefore, Your wrath and Your anger were poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, so they have become a ruin and a desolation as it is this day.
For we sow the wind, and we reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it yields not grain. Should it yield, strangers would swallow it up.
We who sow iniquity will reap vanity, and the rod of our fury will perish.
For behold, Jehovah will come in fire and Your chariots like the whirlwind, to render Your anger with fury, and Your rebuke with flames of fire.
Jehovah is slow to anger and great in power, and Jehovah will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm in Your way, and clouds are the dust beneath Your feet.
Therefore, You will take back Your grain at harvest time and Your new wine in its season. You will also take away Your wool and Your flax given to cover her nakedness.
How do we not be like Ephraim? Strangers devour my own strength, yet I do not know it. Gray hairs also are sprinkled on me, yet I do not know it. I am one scattered among the nations and swords drawn after me, as my land becomes desolate and my cities becomes waste.
For I know I sow the wind and I reap the whirlwind. I sow iniquity and will reap vanity, and the rod of my fury will perish. I am guilty and I will be punished. I am naked. And I do not know any different. Amen, Amen, and Amen.