Hosea 2:14-23

English Standard Version

The Lord's Mercy on Israel

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
    and ^(A)bring her into the wilderness,
    and ^(B)speak tenderly to her.
¹⁵And there I will give her her vineyards
    and make the Valley of Achor^[a] a door of hope.
And there she shall answer ^(C)as in the days of her youth,
    as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁶“And ^(D)in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ ¹⁷For ^(E)I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. ¹⁸And ^(F)I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And ^(G)I will abolish^[b] the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in ^(H)safety. ¹⁹And I will betroth you to me ^(I)forever. ^(J)I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. ²⁰^(K)I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And ^(L)you shall know the Lord.

²¹“And ^(M)in that day ^(N)I will answer, declares the Lord,
    I will answer the heavens,
    and they shall answer the earth,
²²and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
    and they shall answer ^(O)Jezreel,^[c]
²³    and ^(P)I will sow her for myself in the land.
And ^(Q)I ^(R)will have mercy on No Mercy,^[d]
    and ^(S)I will say to Not My People,^[e] ^(T)‘You are my people’;
    and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”

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Footnotes

Hosea 2:15 Achor means trouble; compare Joshua 7:26
Hosea 2:18 Hebrew break
Hosea 2:22 Jezreel means God will sow
Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-ruhama
Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-ammi

Psalm 103

English Standard Version

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Of David.

103 ^(A)Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and all that is within me,
    bless his holy name!
²^(B)Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and ^(C)forget not all his benefits,
³who ^(D)forgives all your iniquity,
    who ^(E)heals all your diseases,
⁴who ^(F)redeems your life from the pit,
    who ^(G)crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
⁵who ^(H)satisfies you with good
    so that your youth is renewed like ^(I)the eagle's.

⁶The Lord works ^(J)righteousness
    and justice for all who are oppressed.
⁷He made known his ^(K)ways to Moses,
    his ^(L)acts to the people of Israel.
⁸The Lord is ^(M)merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹^(N)He will not always chide,
    nor will he ^(O)keep his anger forever.
¹⁰He does not deal with us ^(P)according to our sins,
    nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹For ^(Q)as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his ^(R)steadfast love toward ^(S)those who fear him;
¹²as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he ^(T)remove our transgressions from us.
¹³As ^(U)a father shows compassion to his children,
    so the Lord shows compassion ^(V)to those who fear him.
¹⁴For he knows our frame;^[a]
    he ^(W)remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵As for man, his days are like ^(X)grass;
    he flourishes like ^(Y)a flower of the field;
¹⁶for ^(Z)the wind passes over it, and ^(AA)it is gone,
    and ^(AB)its place knows it no more.
¹⁷But ^(AC)the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on ^(AD)those who fear him,
    and his righteousness to ^(AE)children's children,
¹⁸to those who ^(AF)keep his covenant
    and ^(AG)remember to do his commandments.
¹⁹The Lord has ^(AH)established his throne in the heavens,
    and his ^(AI)kingdom rules over all.

²⁰Bless the Lord, O you ^(AJ)his angels,
    you ^(AK)mighty ones who ^(AL)do his word,
    obeying the voice of his word!
²¹Bless the Lord, all his ^(AM)hosts,
    his ^(AN)ministers, who do his will!
²²^(AO)Bless the Lord, all his works,
    in all places of his dominion.
^(AP)Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Footnotes

Psalm 103:14 Or knows how we are formed

2 Corinthians 3:4-18

English Standard Version

⁴^(A)Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. ⁵^(B)Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but ^(C)our sufficiency is from God, ⁶who has made us sufficient to be ^(D)ministers of ^(E)a new covenant, not of ^(F)the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but ^(G)the Spirit gives life.

⁷Now if ^(H)the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory ^(I)that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, ⁸will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? ⁹For if there was glory in ^(J)the ministry of condemnation, ^(K)the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. ¹⁰Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

¹²Since we have such a hope, ^(L)we are very bold, ¹³not like Moses, ^(M)who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. ¹⁴But ^(N)their minds were ^(O)hardened. For to this day, ^(P)when they read ^(Q)the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. ¹⁶But when ^(R)one^[a] turns to the Lord, ^(S)the veil is removed. ¹⁷Now the Lord^[b] is the Spirit, and where ^(T)the Spirit of the Lord is, there is ^(U)freedom. ¹⁸And we all, with unveiled face, ^(V)beholding ^(W)the glory of the Lord,^[c] ^(X)are being transformed into the same image ^(Y)from one degree of glory to another.^[d] For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

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Footnotes

2 Corinthians 3:16 Greek he
2 Corinthians 3:17 Or this Lord
2 Corinthians 3:18 Or reflecting the glory of the Lord
2 Corinthians 3:18 Greek from glory to glory

Mark 2:18-22

English Standard Version

A Question About Fasting

¹⁸Now ^(A)John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, ^(B)“Why do John's disciples and ^(C)the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹And Jesus said to them, ^(D)“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰^(E)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^(F)then they will fast in that day. ²¹No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²²And no one puts new wine into old ^(G)wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”^[a]