Hosea 11-13

New King James Version

God’s Continuing Love for Israel

11 “When Israel was a ^[a]child, I loved him,
And out of Egypt ^(A)I called My ^(B)son.
²^[b]As they called them,
So they ^(C)went ^[c]from them;
They sacrificed to the Baals,
And burned incense to carved images.

³“I^(D) taught Ephraim to walk,
Taking them by ^[d]their arms;
But they did not know that ^(E)I healed them.
⁴I drew them with ^[e]gentle cords,
With bands of love,
And ^(F)I was to them as those who take the yoke from their ^[f]neck.
^(G)I stooped and fed them.

⁵“He shall not return to the land of Egypt;
But the Assyrian shall be his king,
Because they refused to repent.
⁶And the sword shall slash in his cities,
Devour his districts,
And consume them,
Because of their own counsels.
⁷My people are bent on ^(H)backsliding from Me.
Though ^[g]they call ^[h]to the Most High,
None at all exalt Him.

⁸“How^(I) can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I make you like ^(J)Admah?
How can I set you like Zeboiim?
My heart ^[i]churns within Me;
My sympathy is stirred.
⁹I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim.
^(K)For I am God, and not man,
The Holy One in your midst;
And I will not ^[j]come with terror.

¹⁰“They shall walk after the Lord.
^(L)He will roar like a lion.
When He roars,
Then His sons shall come trembling from the west;
¹¹They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt,
^(M)Like a dove from the land of Assyria.
^(N)And I will let them dwell in their houses,”
Says the Lord.

God’s Charge Against Ephraim

¹²“Ephraim has encircled Me with lies,
And the house of Israel with deceit;
But Judah still walks with God,
Even with the ^[k]Holy One who is faithful.

Ephraim’s Sins Rebuked by God

12 “Ephraim ^(O)feeds on the wind,
And pursues the east wind;
He daily increases lies and ^[l]desolation.
^(P)Also they make a ^[m]covenant with the Assyrians,
And ^(Q)oil is carried to Egypt.

²“The^(R) Lord also brings a ^[n]charge against Judah,
And will punish Jacob according to his ways;
According to his deeds He will recompense him.
³He took his brother ^(S)by the heel in the womb,
And in his strength he ^(T)struggled with God.
⁴Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed;
He wept, and sought favor from Him.
He found Him in ^(U)Bethel,
And there He spoke to us—
⁵That is, the Lord God of hosts.
The Lord is His ^(V)memorable name.
⁶^(W)So you, by the help of your God, return;
Observe mercy and justice,
And wait on your God continually.

⁷“A cunning ^[o]Canaanite!
^(X)Deceitful scales are in his hand;
He loves to oppress.
⁸And Ephraim said,
^(Y)‘Surely I have become rich,
I have found wealth for myself;
In all my labors
They shall find in me no iniquity that is sin.’

⁹“But I am the Lord your God,
Ever since the land of Egypt;
^(Z)I will again make you dwell in tents,
As in the days of the appointed feast.
¹⁰^(AA)I have also spoken by the prophets,
And have multiplied visions;
I have given ^[p]symbols ^[q]through the witness of the prophets.”

¹¹Though ^(AB)Gilead has idols—
Surely they are ^[r]vanity—
Though they sacrifice bulls in ^(AC)Gilgal,
Indeed their altars shall be heaps in the furrows of the field.

¹²Jacob ^(AD)fled to the country of Syria;
^(AE)Israel served for a spouse,
And for a wife he tended sheep.
¹³^(AF)By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,
And by a prophet he was preserved.
¹⁴Ephraim ^(AG)provoked Him to anger most bitterly;
Therefore his Lord will leave the guilt of his bloodshed upon him,
^(AH)And return his reproach upon him.

Relentless Judgment on Israel

13 When Ephraim spoke, trembling,
He exalted himself in Israel;
But when he offended through Baal worship, he died.
²Now they sin more and more,
And have made for themselves molded images,
Idols of their silver, according to their skill;
All of it is the work of craftsmen.
They say of them,
“Let ^[s]the men who sacrifice ^[t]kiss the calves!”
³Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud
And like the early dew that passes away,
^(AI)Like chaff blown off from a threshing floor
And like smoke from a chimney.

⁴“Yet ^(AJ)I am the Lord your God
Ever since the land of Egypt,
And you shall know no God but Me;
For ^(AK)there is no savior besides Me.
⁵^(AL)I ^[u]knew you in the wilderness,
^(AM)In the land of ^[v]great drought.
⁶^(AN)When they had pasture, they were filled;
They were filled and their heart was exalted;
Therefore they forgot Me.

⁷“So ^(AO)I will be to them like a lion;
Like ^(AP)a leopard by the road I will lurk;
⁸I will meet them ^(AQ)like a bear deprived of her cubs;
I will tear open their rib cage,
And there I will devour them like a lion.
The ^[w]wild beast shall tear them.

⁹“O Israel, ^[x]you are destroyed,
But ^[y]your help is from Me.
¹⁰^[z]I will be your King;
^(AR)Where is any other,
That he may save you in all your cities?
And your judges to whom ^(AS)you said,
‘Give me a king and princes’?
¹¹^(AT)I gave you a king in My anger,
And took him away in My wrath.

¹²“The^(AU) iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
His sin is stored up.
¹³^(AV)The sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him.
He is an unwise son,
For he should not stay long where children are born.

¹⁴“I will ransom them from the ^[aa]power of ^[ab]the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
^(AW)O Death, ^[ac]I will be your plagues!
O ^[ad]Grave, ^[ae]I will be your destruction!
^(AX)Pity is hidden from My eyes.”

¹⁵Though he is fruitful among his brethren,
^(AY)An east wind shall come;
The wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness.
Then his spring shall become dry,
And his fountain shall be dried up.
He shall plunder the treasury of every desirable prize.
¹⁶Samaria ^[af]is held guilty,
For she has ^(AZ)rebelled against her God.
They shall fall by the sword,
Their infants shall be dashed in pieces,
And their women with child ^(BA)ripped open.

Footnotes

Hosea 11:1 Or youth
Hosea 11:2 So with MT, Vg.; LXX Just as I called them; Tg. interprets as I sent prophets to a thousand of them.
Hosea 11:2 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX from My face
Hosea 11:3 Some Heb. mss., LXX, Syr., Vg. My arms
Hosea 11:4 Lit. cords of a man
Hosea 11:4 Lit. jaws
Hosea 11:7 The prophets
Hosea 11:7 Or upward
Hosea 11:8 Lit. turns over
Hosea 11:9 Or enter a city
Hosea 11:12 Or holy ones
Hosea 12:1 ruin
Hosea 12:1 Or treaty
Hosea 12:2 A legal complaint
Hosea 12:7 Or merchant
Hosea 12:10 Or parables
Hosea 12:10 Lit. by the hand
Hosea 12:11 worthless
Hosea 13:2 Or those who offer human sacrifice
Hosea 13:2 Worship with kisses
Hosea 13:5 Cared for you
Hosea 13:5 Lit. droughts
Hosea 13:8 Lit. beast of the field
Hosea 13:9 Lit. it or he destroyed you
Hosea 13:9 Lit. in your help
Hosea 13:10 LXX, Syr., Tg., Vg. Where is your king?
Hosea 13:14 Lit. hand
Hosea 13:14 Or Sheol
Hosea 13:14 LXX where is your punishment?
Hosea 13:14 Or Sheol
Hosea 13:14 LXX where is your sting?
Hosea 13:16 LXX shall be disfigured

Matthew 19

New King James Version

Marriage and Divorce^(A)

19 Now it came to pass, ^(B)when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. ²^(C)And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.

³The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

⁴And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who ^[a]made them at the beginning ^(D)‘made them male and female,’ ⁵and said, ^(E)‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and ^(F)the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

⁷They said to Him, ^(G)“Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”

⁸He said to them, “Moses, because of the ^(H)hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your ^(I)wives, but from the beginning it was not so. ⁹^(J)And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for ^[b]sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

¹⁰His disciples said to Him, ^(K)“If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

Jesus Teaches on Celibacy

¹¹But He said to them, ^(L)“All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: ¹²For there are ^[c]eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and ^(M)there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”

Jesus Blesses Little Children^(N)

¹³^(O)Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for ^(P)of such is the kingdom of heaven.” ¹⁵And He laid His hands on them and departed from there.

Jesus Counsels the Rich Young Ruler^(Q)

¹⁶^(R)Now behold, one came and said to Him, ^(S)“Good^[d] Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”

¹⁷So He said to him, ^[e]“Why do you call Me good? ^[f]No one is ^(T)good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, ^(U)keep the commandments.”

¹⁸He said to Him, “Which ones?”

Jesus said, ^(V)“‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ¹⁹^(W)‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ^(X)‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

²⁰The young man said to Him, “All these things I have ^(Y)kept ^[g]from my youth. What do I still lack?”

²¹Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, ^(Z)go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

²²But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

With God All Things Are Possible^(AA)

²³Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that ^(AB)it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁵When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁶But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but ^(AC)with God all things are possible.”

²⁷Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, ^(AD)we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?”

²⁸So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, ^(AE)you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ²⁹^(AF)And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother ^[h]or wife or children or ^[i]lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. ³⁰^(AG)But many who are first will be last, and the last first.