Psalm 44

New International Version

Psalm 44^[a]

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil.^[b]

¹We have heard it with our ears,^(A) O God;
    our ancestors have told us^(B)
what you did in their days,
    in days long ago.^(C)
²With your hand you drove out^(D) the nations
    and planted^(E) our ancestors;
you crushed^(F) the peoples
    and made our ancestors flourish.^(G)
³It was not by their sword^(H) that they won the land,
    nor did their arm bring them victory;
it was your right hand,^(I) your arm,^(J)
    and the light^(K) of your face, for you loved^(L) them.

⁴You are my King^(M) and my God,^(N)
    who decrees^[c] victories^(O) for Jacob.
⁵Through you we push back^(P) our enemies;
    through your name we trample^(Q) our foes.
⁶I put no trust in my bow,^(R)
    my sword does not bring me victory;
⁷but you give us victory^(S) over our enemies,
    you put our adversaries to shame.^(T)
⁸In God we make our boast^(U) all day long,^(V)
    and we will praise your name forever.^[d]^(W)

⁹But now you have rejected^(X) and humbled us;^(Y)
    you no longer go out with our armies.^(Z)
¹⁰You made us retreat^(AA) before the enemy,
    and our adversaries have plundered^(AB) us.
¹¹You gave us up to be devoured like sheep^(AC)
    and have scattered us among the nations.^(AD)
¹²You sold your people for a pittance,^(AE)
    gaining nothing from their sale.

¹³You have made us a reproach^(AF) to our neighbors,^(AG)
    the scorn^(AH) and derision^(AI) of those around us.
¹⁴You have made us a byword^(AJ) among the nations;
    the peoples shake their heads^(AK) at us.
¹⁵I live in disgrace^(AL) all day long,
    and my face is covered with shame^(AM)
¹⁶at the taunts^(AN) of those who reproach and revile^(AO) me,
    because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.^(AP)

¹⁷All this came upon us,
    though we had not forgotten^(AQ) you;
    we had not been false to your covenant.
¹⁸Our hearts had not turned^(AR) back;
    our feet had not strayed from your path.
¹⁹But you crushed^(AS) us and made us a haunt for jackals;^(AT)
    you covered us over with deep darkness.^(AU)

²⁰If we had forgotten^(AV) the name of our God
    or spread out our hands to a foreign god,^(AW)
²¹would not God have discovered it,
    since he knows the secrets of the heart?^(AX)
²²Yet for your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep^(AY) to be slaughtered.^(AZ)

²³Awake,^(BA) Lord! Why do you sleep?^(BB)
Rouse yourself!^(BC) Do not reject us forever.^(BD)
²⁴Why do you hide your face^(BE)
and forget^(BF) our misery and oppression?^(BG)

²⁵We are brought down to the dust;^(BH)
our bodies cling to the ground.
²⁶Rise up^(BI) and help us;
rescue^(BJ) us because of your unfailing love.^(BK)

Footnotes

Psalm 44:1 In Hebrew texts 44:1-26 is numbered 44:2-27.
Psalm 44:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
Psalm 44:4 Septuagint, Aquila and Syriac; Hebrew King, O God; / command
Psalm 44:8 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.

Hosea 2:14-3:5

New International Version

¹⁴“Therefore I am now going to allure her;
    I will lead her into the wilderness^(A)
    and speak tenderly to her.
¹⁵There I will give her back her vineyards,
    and will make the Valley of Achor^[a]^(B) a door of hope.
There she will respond^[b]^(C) as in the days of her youth,^(D)
    as in the day she came up out of Egypt.^(E)

¹⁶“In that day,” declares the Lord,
    “you will call me ‘my husband’;^(F)
    you will no longer call me ‘my master.^[c]’
¹⁷I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;^(G)
    no longer will their names be invoked.^(H)
¹⁸In that day I will make a covenant for them
    with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
    and the creatures that move along the ground.^(I)
Bow and sword and battle
    I will abolish^(J) from the land,
    so that all may lie down in safety.^(K)
¹⁹I will betroth^(L) you to me forever;
    I will betroth you in^[d] righteousness and justice,^(M)
    in^[e] love and compassion.^(N)
²⁰I will betroth you in^[f] faithfulness,
    and you will acknowledge^(O) the Lord.^(P)

²¹“In that day I will respond,”
    declares the Lord—
“I will respond^(Q) to the skies,
    and they will respond to the earth;
²²and the earth will respond to the grain,
    the new wine and the olive oil,^(R)
    and they will respond to Jezreel.^[g]^(S)
²³I will plant^(T) her for myself in the land;
    I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.^[h]^(U)’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,^[i]’ ‘You are my people’;^(V)
    and they will say, ‘You are my God.^(W)’”

Hosea’s Reconciliation With His Wife

3 The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress.^(X) Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.^(Y)”

²So I bought her for fifteen shekels^[j] of silver and about a homer and a lethek^[k] of barley. ³Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”

⁴For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince,^(Z) without sacrifice^(AA) or sacred stones,^(AB) without ephod^(AC) or household gods.^(AD) ⁵Afterward the Israelites will return and seek^(AE) the Lord their God and David their king.^(AF) They will come trembling^(AG) to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.^(AH)

Footnotes

Hosea 2:15 Achor means trouble.
Hosea 2:15 Or sing
Hosea 2:16 Hebrew baal
Hosea 2:19 Or with
Hosea 2:19 Or with
Hosea 2:20 Or with
Hosea 2:22 Jezreel means God plants.
Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ruhamah (see 1:6)
Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ammi (see 1:9)
Hosea 3:2 That is, about 6 ounces or about 170 grams
Hosea 3:2 A homer and a lethek possibly weighed about 430 pounds or about 195 kilograms.

Colossians 2:16-3:1

New International Version

Freedom From Human Rules

¹⁶Therefore do not let anyone judge you^(A) by what you eat or drink,^(B) or with regard to a religious festival,^(C) a New Moon celebration^(D) or a Sabbath day.^(E) ¹⁷These are a shadow of the things that were to come;^(F) the reality, however, is found in Christ. ¹⁸Do not let anyone who delights in false humility^(G) and the worship of angels disqualify you.^(H) Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. ¹⁹They have lost connection with the head,^(I) from whom the whole body,^(J) supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.^(K)

²⁰Since you died with Christ^(L) to the elemental spiritual forces of this world,^(M) why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:^(N) ²¹“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? ²²These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish^(O) with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.^(P) ²³Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility^(Q) and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.