Formation Journal Reading Plan

5:1 Hear ye this word which I take up against you, [even] a lamentation, O house of Israel.

5:2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; [there is] none to raise her up.

5:3 For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out [by] a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth [by] an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

5:4 For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

5:5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

5:6 Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour [it], and [there be] none to quench [it] in Bethel.

5:7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

5:8 [Seek him] that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD [is] his name:

5:9 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

5:10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

5:11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading [is] upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

5:12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate [from their right].

5:13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it [is] an evil time.

5:14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

5:15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

5:16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing [shall be] in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

5:17 And in all vineyards [shall be] wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.

5:18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end [is] it for you? the day of the LORD [is] darkness, and not light.

5:19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

5:20 [Shall] not the day of the LORD [be] darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

5:21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.

5:22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept [them]: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.

5:23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

5:24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

5:25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

5:26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.

5:27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name [is] The God of hosts.

17:1 Better [is] a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices [with] strife.

17:2 A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren.

17:3 The fining pot [is] for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.

17:4 A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; [and] a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.

17:5 Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: [and] he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.

17:6 Children’s children [are] the crown of old men; and the glory of children [are] their fathers.

17:7 Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.

17:8 A gift [is as] a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.

17:9 He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth [very] friends.

17:10 A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.

17:11 An evil [man] seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.

17:12 Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.

17:13 Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

17:14 The beginning of strife [is as] when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.

2:12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

2:13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, [even] where Satan’s seat [is]: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas [was] my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

2:14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

2:15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

2:16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth [it].