The Daily Audio Bible
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1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, (A)in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of (B)Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
Hosea's Wife and Children
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, (C)“Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have (D)children of whoredom, for (E)the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while (F)I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and (G)I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day (H)I will break the bow of Israel (I)in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, (J)“Call her name No Mercy,[a] for (K)I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But (L)I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I (M)will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, (N)“Call his name Not My People,[b] for (O)you are not my people, and I am not your God.”[c]
10 [d] Yet (P)the number of the children of Israel shall be (Q)like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. (R)And (S)in the place where it was said to them, (T)“You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, (U)“Children[e] of (V)the living God.” 11 And (W)the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and (X)they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
Israel's Unfaithfulness Punished
2 [f] Say to your brothers, (Y)“You are my people,”[g] and to your sisters, (Z)“You have received mercy.”[h]
2 “Plead with your mother, plead—
for (AA)she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband—
that she put away (AB)her whoring from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts;
3 lest (AC)I strip her naked
and make her as (AD)in the day she was born,
and (AE)make her like a wilderness,
and make her like a parched land,
and kill her with thirst.
4 (AF)Upon her children also I will have no mercy,
(AG)because they are children of whoredom.
5 For (AH)their mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For (AI)she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who (AJ)give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore (AK)I will hedge up her[i] way with thorns,
and (AL)I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
(AM)Then she shall say,
‘I will go and return to (AN)my first husband,
(AO)for it was better for me then than now.’
8 And (AP)she did not know
that it was (AQ)I who gave her
(AR)the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on (AS)her silver and gold,
(AT)which they used for Baal.
9 Therefore (AU)I will take back
my grain in its time,
and my wine in its season,
and (AV)I will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now (AW)I will uncover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
11 (AX)And I will put an end to all her mirth,
her feasts, her (AY)new moons, her (AZ)Sabbaths,
and all her (BA)appointed feasts.
12 And (BB)I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
(BC)of which she said,
‘These are (BD)my wages,
which my lovers have given me.’
I will make them a forest,
(BE)and the beasts of the field shall devour them.
13 And (BF)I will punish her for (BG)the feast days of the Baals
when she burned offerings to them
and (BH)adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
and went after her lovers
and forgot me, declares the Lord.
The Lord's Mercy on Israel
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and (BI)bring her into the wilderness,
and (BJ)speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor[j] a door of hope.
And there she shall answer (BK)as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And (BL)in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For (BM)I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And (BN)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 (BO)I will abolish[k] the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in (BP)safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me (BQ)forever. (BR)I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 (BS)I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And (BT)you shall know the Lord.
21 “And (BU)in that day (BV)I will answer, declares the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer (BW)Jezreel,[l]
23 and (BX)I will sow her for myself in the land.
And (BY)I (BZ)will have mercy on No Mercy,[m]
and (CA)I will say to Not My People,[n] (CB)‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
Hosea Redeems His Wife
3 And the Lord said to me, (CC)“Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a (CD)homer and a lethech[o] of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must (CE)dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” 4 For the children of Israel (CF)shall dwell many days (CG)without king or prince, (CH)without sacrifice or (CI)pillar, without (CJ)ephod or (CK)household gods. 5 Afterward (CL)the children of Israel shall return and (CM)seek the Lord their God, and (CN)David their king, (CO)and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the (CP)latter days.
Overcoming the World
5 (A)Everyone who believes that (B)Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and (C)everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 (D)By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For (E)this is the love of God, that we (F)keep his commandments. And (G)his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For (H)everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—(I)our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes (J)that Jesus is the Son of God?
Testimony Concerning the Son of God
6 This is he who came (K)by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And (L)the Spirit is the one who testifies, because (M)the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 9 (N)If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God (O)that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God (P)has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God (Q)has made him a liar, (R)because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us (S)eternal life, and (T)this life is in his Son. 12 (U)Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
That You May Know
13 I write (V)these things to you who (W)believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is (X)the confidence that we have toward him, that (Y)if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and (Z)God[a] will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. (AA)There is sin that leads to death; (AB)I do not say that one should pray for that. 17 (AC)All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
18 We know that (AD)everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but (AE)he who was born of God (AF)protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are from God, and (AG)the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and (AH)has given us understanding, so that we may know (AI)him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and (AJ)eternal life. 21 Little children, (AK)keep yourselves from idols.
Our Help Is in the Name of the Lord
A Song of (A)Ascents. Of David.
124 (B)If it had not been the Lord who was on our side—
(C)let Israel now say—
2 if it had not been the Lord who was on our side
when people rose up against us,
3 then they would have (D)swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us;
4 then (E)the flood would have (F)swept us away,
the torrent would have gone (G)over us;
5 then over us would have gone
the raging waters.
6 Blessed be the Lord,
who has not given us
as prey to their teeth!
7 We have escaped like a bird
from (H)the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
and we have escaped!
8 (I)Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
5 (A)A man who flatters his neighbor
spreads (B)a net for his feet.
6 An evil man is (C)ensnared in his transgression,
but a righteous man (D)sings and rejoices.
7 A righteous man (E)knows the rights of the poor;
a wicked man does not (F)understand such knowledge.
8 (G)Scoffers set a city aflame,
but the wise turn away wrath.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.