Hosea 1-2

Holman Christian Standard Bible

1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah,^(A) Jotham,^(B) Ahaz,^(C) and Hezekiah,^(D) kings of Judah, and of Jeroboam^(E) son of Jehoash, king of Israel.

Hosea’s Marriage and Children

²When the Lord first spoke to Hosea, He said this to him:

Go and marry a promiscuous wife^(F)
and have children of promiscuity,
for the land is committing blatant acts of promiscuity
by abandoning the Lord.

³So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.^(G) ⁴Then the Lord said to him:

Name him Jezreel,^(H) for in a little while
I will bring the bloodshed of Jezreel^(I)
on the house of Jehu^(J)
and put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
⁵On that day I will break the bow of Israel^(K)
in the Valley of Jezreel.^[a]^(L)

⁶She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter, and the Lord said to him:

Name her No Compassion,^[b]
for I will no longer have compassion
on the house of Israel.
I will certainly take them away.
⁷But I will have compassion on the house of Judah,^(M)
and I will deliver them by the Lord their God.^(N)
I will not deliver them by bow, sword, or war,
or by horses and cavalry.^(O)

⁸After Gomer had weaned No Compassion, she conceived and gave birth to a son. ⁹Then the Lord said:

Name him Not My People,^[c]
for you are not My people,
and I will not be your God.^[d]^(P)
¹⁰^[e]Yet the number of the Israelites
will be like the sand of the sea,^(Q)
which cannot be measured or counted.
And in the place where they were told:
You are not My people,
they will be called: Sons of the living God.^(R)
¹¹And the Judeans and the Israelites
will be gathered together.^(S)
They will appoint for themselves a single ruler^(T)
and go up from^[f] the land.
For the day of Jezreel^(U) will be great.
2 ^[g]Call^[h] your brothers: My People
and your sisters: Compassion.

Israel’s Adultery Rebuked

²Rebuke your mother; rebuke her.^(V)
For she is not My wife and I am not her husband.^(W)
Let her remove the promiscuous look from her face^(X)
and her adultery from between her breasts.
³Otherwise, I will strip her naked^(Y)
and expose her as she was on the day of her birth.
I will make her like a desert^(Z)
and like a parched land,
and I will let her die of thirst.^(AA)
⁴I will have no compassion on her children^(AB)
because they are the children of promiscuity.
⁵Yes, their mother is promiscuous;
she conceived them and acted shamefully.^(AC)
For she thought, “I will go after my lovers,^(AD)
the men who give me my food and water,
my wool and flax, my oil and drink.”^(AE)
⁶Therefore, this is what I will do:
I will block her^[i] way^(AF) with thorns;^(AG)
I will enclose her with a wall,
so that she cannot find her paths.^(AH)
⁷She will pursue her lovers but not catch them;^(AI)
she will seek them but not find them.
Then she will think,
“I will go back to my former husband,^(AJ)
for then it was better for me than now.”^(AK)
⁸She does not recognize^(AL)
that it is I who gave her the grain,^(AM)
the new wine, and the oil.
I lavished silver and gold on her,
which they used for Baal.
⁹Therefore, I will take back My grain in its time^(AN)
and My new wine in its season;
I will take away My wool and linen,
which were to cover her nakedness.
¹⁰Now I will expose her shame^(AO)
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one will rescue her from My hands.
¹¹I will put an end to all her celebrations:^(AP)
her feasts,^(AQ) New Moons,^(AR) and Sabbaths—
all her festivals.
¹²I will devastate her vines and fig trees.^(AS)
She thinks that these are her wages
that her lovers have given her.
I will turn them into a thicket,^(AT)
and the wild animals will eat them.^(AU)
¹³And I will punish her for the days of the Baals^(AV)
when she burned incense to them,^(AW)
put on her rings and jewelry,^(AX)
and went after her lovers,
but forgot Me.^(AY)
This is the Lord’s declaration.

Israel’s Adultery Forgiven

¹⁴Therefore, I am going to persuade her,
lead her to the wilderness,^(AZ)
and speak tenderly to her.^[j]
¹⁵There I will give her vineyards back to her^(BA)
and make the Valley of Achor^[k]^(BB)
into a gateway of hope.
There she will respond as she did
in the days of her youth,^(BC)
as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.
¹⁶In that day—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
you will call Me, “My husband,”^(BD)
and no longer call Me, “My Baal.”^[l]
¹⁷For I will remove the names of the Baals
from her mouth;
they will no longer be remembered by their names.
¹⁸On that day I will make a covenant for them
with the wild animals, the birds of the sky,
and the creatures that crawl on the ground.^(BE)
I will shatter bow, sword,
and weapons of war in the land^[m]^(BF)
and will enable the people to rest securely.^(BG)
¹⁹I will take you to be My wife forever.^(BH)
I will take you to be My wife in righteousness,
justice, love, and compassion.^(BI)
²⁰I will take you to be My wife in faithfulness,
and you will know Yahweh.^(BJ)
²¹On that day I will respond^(BK)—
this is the Lord’s declaration.
I will respond to the sky,
and it will respond to the earth.
²²The earth will respond to the grain,^(BL)
the new wine, and the oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
²³I will sow her^[n] in the land for Myself,^(BM)
and I will have compassion^(BN)
on No Compassion;
I will say^(BO) to Not My People:^(BP)
You are My people,^(BQ)
and he will say, “You are My God.”

Footnotes

Hosea 1:5 = God sows
Hosea 1:6 Or Lo-ruhamah
Hosea 1:9 Or Lo-ammi
Hosea 1:9 Lit not be yours
Hosea 1:10 Hs 2:1 in Hb
Hosea 1:11 Or and flourish in; Hb obscure
Hosea 2:1 Hs 2:3 in Hb
Hosea 2:1 Lit Say to
Hosea 2:6 LXX, Syr; MT reads your
Hosea 2:14 Lit speak to her heart
Hosea 2:15 = Trouble
Hosea 2:16 Or My master
Hosea 2:18 Or war on the earth
Hosea 2:23 = Israel

Romans 9

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Israel’s Rejection of Christ

9 I speak the truth in Christ^(A)—I am not lying; my conscience is testifying to me with the Holy Spirit^[a]— ²that I have intense sorrow and continual anguish in my heart. ³For I could almost wish^(B) to be cursed^(C) and cut off^[b] from the Messiah for the benefit of my brothers, my own flesh and blood. ⁴They are Israelites,^(D) and to them belong the adoption,^(E) the glory,^(F) the covenants,^(G) the giving of the law,^(H) the temple service,^(I) and the promises.^(J) ⁵The ancestors are theirs,^(K) and from them, by physical descent,^[c] came the Messiah,^(L) who is God^(M) over all,^(N) praised forever.^[d]^(O) Amen.

God’s Gracious Election of Israel

⁶But it is not as though the word of God has failed.^(P) For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.^(Q) ⁷Neither are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants.^[e]^(R) On the contrary, your offspring will be traced^[f] through Isaac.^(S)^[g] ⁸That is, it is not the children by physical descent^[h] who are God’s children,^(T) but the children of the promise^(U) are considered to be the offspring. ⁹For this is the statement of the promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.^(V)^[i] ¹⁰And not only that,^(W) but also Rebekah received a promise when she became pregnant^[j]^(X) by one man, our ancestor Isaac. ¹¹For though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand—^(Y) ¹²not from works but from the One who calls—she was told: The older will serve the younger.^(Z)^[k] ¹³As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.^(AA)^[l]

God’s Selection Is Just

¹⁴What should we say then?^(AB) Is there injustice with God?^(AC) Absolutely not!^(AD) ¹⁵For He tells Moses:

I will show mercy
to whom I will show mercy,
and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion.^(AE)^[m]

¹⁶So then it does not depend on human will or effort^[n]^(AF) but on God who shows mercy.^(AG) ¹⁷For the Scripture tells Pharaoh:

I raised you up for this reason
so that I may display My power in you
and that My name may be proclaimed in all the earth.^(AH)^[o]

¹⁸So then, He shows mercy to those He wants to, and He hardens those He wants to harden.^(AI)

¹⁹You will say to me,^(AJ) therefore, “Why then does He still find fault?^(AK) For who can resist His will?”^(AL) ²⁰But who are you, a mere man, to talk back to God?^(AM) Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”^(AN) ²¹Or has the potter no right over the clay,^(AO) to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor? ²²And what if God, desiring to display His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience^(AP) objects of wrath ready for destruction?^(AQ) ²³And what if He did this to make known the riches of His glory^(AR) on objects of mercy^(AS) that He prepared beforehand for glory^(AT)— ²⁴on us, the ones He also called,^(AU) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?^(AV) ²⁵As He also says in Hosea:

I will call Not My People, My People,
and she who is Unloved, Beloved.^(AW)^[p]
²⁶And it will be in the place where they were told,
you are not My people,
there they will be called sons of the living God.^(AX)^[q]

²⁷But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

Though the number of Israel’s sons
is like the sand of the sea,^(AY)
only the remnant will be saved;^(AZ)
²⁸for the Lord will execute His sentence
completely and decisively on the earth.^[r]^(BA)^[s]

²⁹And just as Isaiah predicted:

If the Lord of Hosts^[t] had not left us offspring,^(BB)
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have been made like Gomorrah.^(BC)^[u]

Israel’s Present State

³⁰What should we say then?^(BD) Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness—namely the righteousness that comes from faith.^(BE) ³¹But Israel, pursuing the law for righteousness,^(BF) has not achieved the righteousness of the law.^[v]^(BG) ³²Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works.^[w] They stumbled over the stumbling stone.^(BH) ³³As it is written:

Look! I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over
and a rock to trip over,
yet the one who believes on Him^(BI)
will not be put to shame.^(BJ)^[x]

Footnotes

Romans 9:1 Or testifying with me by the Holy Spirit
Romans 9:3 Lit were anathema
Romans 9:5 Lit them, according to the flesh
Romans 9:5 Or the Messiah, the One who is over all, the God who is blessed forever, or Messiah. God, who is over all, be blessed forever
Romans 9:7 Lit seed
Romans 9:7 Lit called
Romans 9:7 Gn 21:12
Romans 9:8 Lit children of the flesh
Romans 9:9 Gn 18:10,14
Romans 9:10 Or Rebekah conceived by the one act of sexual intercourse
Romans 9:12 Gn 25:23
Romans 9:13 Mal 1:2-3
Romans 9:15 Ex 33:19
Romans 9:16 Or on the one running; lit on the one willing
Romans 9:17 Ex 9:16
Romans 9:25 Hs 2:23
Romans 9:26 Hs 1:10
Romans 9:28 Or land
Romans 9:28 Is 10:22-23; 28:22; Hs 1:10
Romans 9:29 Gk Sabaoth; this word is a transliteration of the Hb word for Hosts, or Armies.
Romans 9:29 Is 1:9
Romans 9:31 Other mss read the law for righteousness
Romans 9:32 Other mss add of the law
Romans 9:33 Is 8:14; 28:16