One Story That Leads to Jesus, Day 128
Hosea 6
6“Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces; now he will heal us. He has injured us; now he will bandage our wounds.H3212H7725H3068H2963H7495H5221H22802In just a short time he will restore us, so that we may live in his presence.H3117H2421H7992H3117H6965H2421H64403Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.”H3045H7291H3045H3068H4161H3559H7837H935H1653H4456H3384H7764“O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?” asks the Lord. “For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight.H669H6213H3063H6213H2617H1242H6051H7925H2919H19805I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces—to slaughter you with my words, with judgments as inescapable as light.H2672H5030H2026H561H6310H4941H216H33186I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.H2654H2617H2077H1847H430H59307But like Adam, you broke my covenant and betrayed my trust.H120H5674H1285H8988“Gilead is a city of sinners, tracked with footprints of blood.H1568H7151H6466H205H6121H18189Priests form bands of robbers, waiting in ambush for their victims. They murder travelers along the road to Shechem and practice every kind of sin.H1416H2442H376H2267H3548H7523H1870H7926H7927H6213H215410Yes, I have seen something horrible in Ephraim and Israel: My people are defiled by prostituting themselves with other gods!H7200H8186H1004H3478H2184H669H3478H293011“O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you, though I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people.H3063H7896H7105H7725H7622H5971
Hosea 7
7“I want to heal Israel, but its sins are too great. Samaria is filled with liars. Thieves are on the inside and bandits on the outside!H7495H3478H5771H669H1540H7451H8111H6466H8267H1590H935H1416H6584H23512Its people don’t realize that I am watching them. Their sinful deeds are all around them, and I see them all.H559H3824H2142H7451H4611H5437H64403“The people entertain the king with their wickedness, and the princes laugh at their lies.H4428H8055H7451H8269H35854They are all adulterers, always aflame with lust. They are like an oven that is kept hot while the baker is kneading the dough.H5003H8574H1197H644H7673H5782H3888H1217H25565On royal holidays, the princes get drunk with wine, carousing with those who mock them.H3117H4428H8269H2470H2534H3196H4900H3027H39456Their hearts are like an oven blazing with intrigue. Their plot smolders through the night, and in the morning it breaks out like a raging fire.H7126H3820H8574H693H644H3463H3915H1242H1197H3852H7847Burning like an oven, they consume their leaders. They kill their kings one after another, and no one cries to me for help.H2552H8574H398H8199H4428H5307H71218“The people of Israel mingle with godless foreigners, making themselves as worthless as a half-baked cake!H669H1101H5971H669H5692H20159Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength, but they don’t even know it. Their hair is gray, but they don’t realize they’re old and weak.H2114H398H3581H3045H7872H2236H304510Their arrogance testifies against them, yet they don’t return to the Lord their God or even try to find him.H1347H3478H6030H6440H7725H3068H430H124511“The people of Israel have become like silly, witless doves, first calling to Egypt, then flying to Assyria for help.H669H6601H3123H3820H7121H4714H1980H80412But as they fly about, I will throw my net over them and bring them down like a bird from the sky. I will punish them for all the evil they do.H3212H6566H7568H3381H5775H8064H3256H5712H808813“What sorrow awaits those who have deserted me! Let them die, for they have rebelled against me. I wanted to redeem them, but they have told lies about me.H188H5074H7701H6586H6299H1696H357714They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts. Instead, they sit on their couches and wail. They cut themselves, begging foreign gods for grain and new wine, and they turn away from me.H2199H3820H3213H4904H1481H1715H8492H549315I trained them and made them strong, yet now they plot evil against me.H3256H2388H2220H2803H745116They look everywhere except to the Most High. They are as useless as a crooked bow. Their leaders will be killed by their enemies because of their insolence toward me. Then the people of Egypt will laugh at them.H7725H5920H7423H7198H8269H5307H2719H2195H3956H2097H3933H776H4714
Hosea 8
8“Sound the alarm! The enemy descends like an eagle on the people of the Lord, for they have broken my covenant and revolted against my law.H7782H2441H5404H1004H3068H5674H1285H6586H8451 2Now Israel pleads with me, ‘Help us, for you are our God!’H3478H2199H430H3045 3But it is too late. The people of Israel have rejected what is good, and now their enemies will chase after them.H3478H2186H2896H341H7291 4The people have appointed kings without my consent, and princes without my knowledge. By making idols for themselves from their silver and gold, they have brought about their own destruction.H4427H7786H3045H3701H2091H6213H6091H3772 5“O Samaria, I reject this calf—this idol you have made. My fury burns against you. How long will you be incapable of innocence?H5695H8111H2186H639H2734H3808H3201H5356 6This calf you worship, O Israel, was crafted by your own hands! It is not God! Therefore, it must be smashed to bits.H3478H2796H6213H430H5695H8111H7616 7“They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind. The stalks of grain wither and produce nothing to eat. And even if there is any grain, foreigners will eat it.H2232H7307H7114H5492H7054H6780H6213H7058H194H6213H2114H1104 8The people of Israel have been swallowed up; they lie among the nations like an old discarded pot.H3478H1104H1471H3627H2656 9Like a wild donkey looking for a mate, they have gone up to Assyria. The people of Israel have sold themselves—sold themselves to many lovers.H5927H804H6501H909H669H8566H158 10But though they have sold themselves to many allies, I will now gather them together for judgment. Then they will writhe under the burden of the great king.H8566H1471H6908H2490H4592H4853H4428H8269 11“Israel has built many altars to take away sin, but these very altars became places for sinning!H669H7235H4196H2398H4196H2398 12Even though I gave them all my laws, they act as if those laws don’t apply to them.H3789H7230H7239H8451H2803H2114 13The people of Israel love their rituals of sacrifice, but to me their sacrifices are all meaningless. I will hold my people accountable for their sins, and I will punish them. They will return to Egypt.H2076H1320H2077H1890H398H3068H7521H2142H5771H6485H2403H7725H4714 14Israel has forgotten its Maker and built great palaces, and Judah has fortified its cities. Therefore, I will send down fire on their cities and will burn up their fortresses.”H3478H7911H6213H1129H1964H3063H7235H1219H5892H7971H784H5892H398H759
Hosea 9
9O people of Israel, do not rejoice as other nations do. For you have been unfaithful to your God, hiring yourselves out like prostitutes, worshiping other gods on every threshing floor.H8055H3478H1524H5971H2181H430H157H868H1637H17152So now your harvests will be too small to feed you. There will be no grapes for making new wine.H1637H3342H7462H8492H35843You may no longer stay here in the Lord’s land. Instead, you will return to Egypt, and in Assyria you will eat food that is ceremonially unclean.H3427H3068H776H669H7725H4714H398H2931H8044There you will make no offerings of wine to the Lord. None of your sacrifices there will please him. They will be unclean, like food touched by a person in mourning. All who present such sacrifices will be defiled. They may eat this food themselves, but they may not offer it to the Lord.H5258H3196H3068H6149H2077H3899H205H398H2930H3899H5315H935H1004H30685What then will you do on festival days? How will you observe the Lord’s festivals?H6213H4150H3117H3117H2282H30686Even if you escape destruction from Assyria, Egypt will conquer you, and Memphis will bury you. Nettles will take over your treasures of silver; thistles will invade your ruined homes.H1980H7701H4714H6908H4644H6912H4261H3701H7057H3423H2336H1687The time of Israel’s punishment has come; the day of payment is here. Soon Israel will know this all too well. Because of your great sin and hostility, you say, “The prophets are crazy and the inspired men are fools!”H3117H6486H935H3117H7966H935H3478H3045H5030H191H7307H376H7696H7230H5771H7227H48958The prophet is a watchman over Israel for my God, yet traps are laid for him wherever he goes. He faces hostility even in the house of God.H6822H669H430H5030H6341H3352H1870H4895H1004H4309The things my people do are as depraved as what they did in Gibeah long ago. God will not forget. He will surely punish them for their sins.H6009H7843H3117H1390H2142H5771H6485H240310The Lord says, “O Israel, when I first found you, it was like finding fresh grapes in the desert. When I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season. But then they deserted me for Baal-peor, giving themselves to that shameful idol. Soon they became vile, as vile as the god they worshiped.H4672H3478H6025H4057H7200H1H1063H8384H7225H935H1187H5144H1322H8251H15711The glory of Israel will fly away like a bird, for your children will not be born or grow in the womb or even be conceived.H669H3519H5774H5775H3205H990H203212Even if you do have children who grow up, I will take them from you. It will be a terrible day when I turn away and leave you alone.H1431H1121H7921H120H188H549313I have watched Israel become as beautiful as Tyre. But now Israel will bring out her children for slaughter.”H669H7200H6865H8362H5116H669H3318H1121H202614O Lord, what should I request for your people? I will ask for wombs that don’t give birth and breasts that give no milk.H5414H3068H5414H5414H7921H7358H6784H769915The Lord says, “All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their evil actions. I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels.H7451H1537H8130H7455H4611H1644H1004H160H3254H8269H563716The people of Israel are struck down. Their roots are dried up, and they will bear no more fruit. And if they give birth, I will slaughter their beloved children.”H669H5221H8328H3001H6213H6529H3205H4191H4261H99017My God will reject the people of Israel because they will not listen or obey. They will be wanderers, homeless among the nations.H430H3988H8085H5074H1471
Hosea 10
10How prosperous Israel is—a luxuriant vine loaded with fruit. But the richer the people get, the more pagan altars they build. The more bountiful their harvests, the more beautiful their sacred pillars.H3478H1238H1612H7737H6529H7230H6529H7235H4196H2896H776H2895H46762The hearts of the people are fickle; they are guilty and must be punished. The Lord will break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars.H3820H2505H816H6202H4196H7703H46763Then they will say, “We have no king because we didn’t fear the Lord. But even if we had a king, what could he do for us anyway?”H559H4428H3372H3068H4428H62134They spout empty words and make covenants they don’t intend to keep. So injustice springs up among them like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field.H1696H1697H422H7723H3772H1285H4941H6524H7219H8525H77045The people of Samaria tremble in fear for what might happen to their calf idol at Beth-aven. The people mourn and the priests wail, because its glory will be stripped away.H7934H8111H1481H5697H1007H5971H56H3649H1523H3519H15406This idol will be carted away to Assyria, a gift to the great king there. Ephraim will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed, because its people have trusted in this idol.H2986H804H4503H4428H3377H669H3947H1317H3478H954H60987Samaria and its king will be cut off; they will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave.H8111H4428H1820H7110H6440H43258And the pagan shrines of Aven, the place of Israel’s sin, will crumble. Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars. They will beg the mountains, “Bury us!” and plead with the hills, “Fall on us!”H1116H206H2403H3478H8045H6975H1863H5927H4196H559H2022H3680H1389H53079The Lord says, “O Israel, ever since Gibeah, there has been only sin and more sin! You have made no progress whatsoever. Was it not right that the wicked men of Gibeah were attacked?H3478H2398H3117H1390H5975H4421H1390H1121H5932H538110Now whenever it fits my plan, I will attack you, too. I will call out the armies of the nations to punish you for your multiplied sins.H185H3256H5971H622H631H8147H586911“Israel is like a trained heifer treading out the grain—an easy job she loves. But I will put a heavy yoke on her tender neck. I will force Judah to pull the plow and Israel to break up the hard ground.H669H5697H3925H157H1758H5674H2898H6677H669H7392H3063H2790H3290H770212I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’H2232H6666H7114H6310H2617H5214H5215H6256H1875H3068H935H3384H666413“But you have cultivated wickedness and harvested a thriving crop of sins. You have eaten the fruit of lies—trusting in your military might, believing that great armies could make your nation safe.H2790H7562H7114H5766H398H6529H3585H982H1870H7230H136814Now the terrors of war will rise among your people. All your fortifications will fall, just as when Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel. Even mothers and children were dashed to death there.H7588H6965H5971H4013H7703H8020H7701H1009H3117H4421H517H7376H112115You will share that fate, Bethel, because of your great wickedness. When the day of judgment dawns, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.H3602H1008H6213H6440H7451H7451H7837H4428H3478H1820H1820
Psalms 123
123[A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.] I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven.H7892H4609H5375H5869H3427H8064 2We keep looking to the Lord our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.H5869H5650H3027H113H5869H8198H3027H1404H5869H3068H430H2603 3Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy, for we have had our fill of contempt.H2603H3068H2603H7227H7646H937 4We have had more than our fill of the scoffing of the proud and the contempt of the arrogant.H5315H7227H7646H3933H7600H937H3238H1343H1349
Dublin, OH
and Judah, what should I do with you?” asks the Lord. “For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight.H669
