GOD'S WORD TO LAODICEA

I saw my beloved, the firstborn of my youth. From afar I called to her, but she did not answer. I said, "Perhaps she has become deaf while I was on a long journey." I waved my hand so that she might see me, but she was blind! I tried to pursue her to bring her back, and I overtook her. But she was naked. The clothes I had given her on our engagement were worn out and could not cover her nakedness. She was a bed of cobwebs.

I said to her, "Here are some clothes and eye salve for your eyes, so that you may see." And she said, "Who are you?" I said, "I am the one you swore to me from your youth, 'You will always love me,' and I have come to take you to my Father's house." My beloved said, "Behold, I am now a man; I speak as an adult and am no longer a child. I was poor, but now I am rich. What will you give me that I do not have, that I may be united to you?"

Though my beloved was naked, he thought himself rich; though he was blind, he did not take eye salve from my hands. He who has ears, let him hear!