Gaze down from heaven, and behold from your holy habitation and from your glory. Where is your zeal, and your strength, the fullness of your heart and of your compassion? They have held themselves back from me.
Certainly, Ephraim is an honorable son to me; surely, he is a tender child. For I will still remember him, as in the time when I first spoke about him. Because my heart is stirred up over him, surely I will take pity on him, says the Lord.
For I want you to know the kind of solicitude that I have for you, and for those who are at Laodicea, as well as for those who have not seen my face in the flesh.
So desirous were we for you that we were willing to hand over to you, not only the Gospel of God, but even our own souls. For you have become most beloved to us.
Whoever possesses the goods of this world, and sees his brother to be in need, and yet closes his heart to him: in what way does the love of God abide in him?