Hosea 12:6
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6 But as for you, return to your God;
hold fast to love and justice,
and wait continually for your God.(A)
Micah 6:8
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8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with your God?(A)
Hosea 14:1
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A Plea for Repentance
14 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.(A)
Zechariah 7:9
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9 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another;(A)
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Micah 7:7
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7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.(A)
Hosea 6:1-3
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A Call to Repentance
6 “Come, let us return to the Lord,
for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
he has struck down, and he will bind us up.(A)
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
3 Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord;
his appearing is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like the showers,
like the spring rains that water the earth.”(B)
Lamentations 3:25-26
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25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.(A)
26 It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.(B)
James 2:13
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13 For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.(A)
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James 1:27
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27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.(A)
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Acts 26:20
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20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance.(A)
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Acts 2:38
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38 Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.(A)
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Zechariah 8:16
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16 These are the things that you shall do: speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace,(A)
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Zechariah 1:3
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3 Therefore say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.(A)
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Zephaniah 3:8
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Punishment and Conversion of the Nations
8 Therefore wait for me, says the Lord,
for the day when I arise as a witness.
For my decision is to gather nations,
to assemble kingdoms,
to pour out upon them my indignation,
all the heat of my anger,
for in the fire of my passion
all the earth shall be consumed.(A)
Habakkuk 2:3
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3 For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
it speaks of the end and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.(A)
Amos 5:24
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24 But let justice roll down like water
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.(A)
Joel 2:13
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13 rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,
and relenting from punishment.(A)
Hosea 10:12
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12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love;
break up your fallow ground,
for it is time to seek the Lord,
that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.(A)
Hosea 4:1
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God Accuses Israel
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel,
for the Lord has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or loyalty
and no knowledge of God in the land.(A)
Lamentations 3:39-41
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39 Why should any who draw breath complain
about the punishment of their sins?(A)
40 Let us test and examine our ways
and return to the Lord.(B)
41 Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands
to God in heaven.(C)
Jeremiah 22:15
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15 Are you a king
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.(A)
Jeremiah 3:14-22
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14 Return, O faithless children,
says the Lord,
for I am your husband;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.(A)
15 I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.(B) 16 And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the Lord, they shall no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed, nor shall another one be made.(C) 17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no longer stubbornly follow their own evil will.(D) 18 In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your ancestors for a heritage.(E)
19 I thought
how I would set you among my children
and give you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful heritage of all the nations.
And I thought you would call to me, “My Father,”
and would not turn from following me.(F)
20 Instead, as a faithless wife leaves her husband,
so you have been faithless to me, O house of Israel,
says the Lord.(G)
21 A voice on the bare heights[a] is heard,
the plaintive weeping of Israel’s children,
because they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God:(H)
22 Return, O faithless children,
I will heal your faithlessness.
“Here we come to you,
for you are the Lord our God.(I)
Footnotes
- 3.21 Or the trails
Isaiah 58:6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
6 Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?(A)
Isaiah 55:6-7
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6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;(A)
7 let the wicked forsake their way
and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.(B)
Isaiah 40:31
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31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.(A)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.