I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending {them}, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me.

(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for {he that is} now {called} a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.)

Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.

And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware. {against: Heb. before} {go...: Heb. do}

And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear. {withdrew...: Heb. they gave a withdrawing shoulder}

And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.

Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, {yet} let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth.

Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I {am} God, {even} thy God.

Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they {are} written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer, {book: or, history: Heb. words}

And the LORD said unto the children of Israel, {Did} not {I deliver you} from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?

For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: {concerning: Heb. concerning the matter of}

Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.

The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day. {admonished...: Heb. testified against you}

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

Shall I not visit for these {things}? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;

And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the LORD of all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and to your fathers. {righteous...: Heb. righteousnesses, or, benefits} {to: Heb. with}

Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. {revolt...: Heb. increase revolt}

And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending {them}; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.

Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong {your} days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.

And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: {by: Heb. by the hand of} {betimes: that is, continually and carefully}

And I said unto you, I {am} the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice.

Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.

(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for {he that is} now {called} a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.)

I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets. {ministry: Heb. hand}

Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. {forbear...: Heb. protract over them} {in thy...: Heb. in the hand of thy prophets}

Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

For he clave to the LORD, {and} departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses. {from...: Heb. from after him}

He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.

At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. {hath been...: or, hath sold himself}

And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear. {withdrew...: Heb. they gave a withdrawing shoulder}

Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them.

He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.

Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

{As} they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I {am} God, {even} thy God.

To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending {them}, but ye have not hearkened;

And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: {by: Heb. by the hand of} {betimes: that is, continually and carefully}

Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent {him} away empty.

When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.

They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they {are written} in the book of the kings of Israel.

Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.

And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. {Is it} not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.

Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,

But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. {pulled...: Heb. they gave a backsliding shoulder} {stopped: Heb. made heavy}

And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.

And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.

And I said after she had done all these {things}, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw {it}.

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech {you} by us: we pray {you} in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.