Hosea 13-14

English Standard Version

The Lord's Relentless Judgment on Israel

13 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
    ^(A)he was exalted in Israel,
    but he incurred guilt ^(B)through Baal and died.
²And now they sin more and more,
    and ^(C)make for themselves metal images,
idols skillfully made of their silver,
    ^(D)all of them the work of craftsmen.
It is said of them,
    “Those who offer human sacrifice ^(E)kiss calves!”
³Therefore they shall be ^(F)like the morning mist
    or ^(G)like the dew that goes early away,
^(H)like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor
    or ^(I)like smoke from a window.

⁴But ^(J)I am the Lord your God
    from the land of Egypt;
^(K)you know no God but me,
    and ^(L)besides me there is no savior.
⁵^(M)It was I who knew you in the wilderness,
    in the land of drought;
⁶^(N)but when they had grazed,^[a] they became full,
    ^(O)they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;
    ^(P)therefore they forgot me.
⁷So ^(Q)I am to them like a lion;
    ^(R)like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
⁸I will fall upon them ^(S)like a bear robbed of her cubs;
    I will tear open their breast,
and there I will devour them like a lion,
    ^(T)as a wild beast would rip them open.

⁹He destroys^[b] you, O Israel,
    for you are against me, against ^(U)your helper.
¹⁰^(V)Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?
    Where are all your rulers—
those of whom ^(W)you said,
    “Give me a king and princes”?
¹¹^(X)I gave you a king in my anger,
    and ^(Y)I took him away in my wrath.

¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is ^(Z)bound up;
    his sin is ^(AA)kept in store.
¹³^(AB)The pangs of childbirth come for him,
    but he is an unwise son,
for at the right time he does not present himself
    ^(AC)at the opening of the womb.

¹⁴^(AD)I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol;
    ^(AE)I shall redeem them from Death.^[c]
^(AF)O ^(AG)Death, where are your plagues?
    ^(AH)O ^(AI)Sheol, where is your sting?
    ^(AJ)Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

¹⁵Though ^(AK)he may flourish among his brothers,
    ^(AL)the east wind, the wind of the Lord, shall come,
    rising from the wilderness,
^(AM)and his fountain shall dry up;
    his spring shall be parched;
it shall strip ^(AN)his treasury
    of every precious thing.
¹⁶^[d] Samaria ^(AO)shall bear her guilt,
    because ^(AP)she has rebelled against her God;
they shall fall by the sword;
    ^(AQ)their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,
    and their ^(AR)pregnant women ripped open.

A Plea to Return to the Lord

14 ^(AS)Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
    for ^(AT)you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
²Take with you words
    and return to the Lord;
say to him,
    “Take away all iniquity;
accept ^(AU)what is good,
    and we will pay with bulls
    ^(AV)the vows^[e] of our lips.
³^(AW)Assyria shall not save us;
    ^(AX)we will not ride on horses;
and ^(AY)we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
    to the work of our hands.
^(AZ)In you the orphan finds mercy.”

⁴I ^(BA)will heal their apostasy;
    ^(BB)I will love them freely,
    for my anger has turned from them.
⁵^(BC)I will be like the dew to Israel;
    ^(BD)he shall blossom like the lily;
    he shall take root like the trees ^(BE)of Lebanon;
⁶his shoots shall spread out;
    his beauty shall be ^(BF)like the olive,
    and his fragrance like Lebanon.
⁷They shall return and ^(BG)dwell beneath my^[f] shadow;
    they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
    their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸O ^(BH)Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.^[g]
I am like an evergreen cypress;
^(BI)from me comes your fruit.

⁹^(BJ)Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
    whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the Lord are right,
    and ^(BK)the upright walk in them,
    ^(BL)but transgressors stumble in them.

Footnotes

Hosea 13:6 Hebrew according to their pasture
Hosea 13:9 Or I will destroy
Hosea 13:14 Or Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death?
Hosea 13:16 Ch 14:1 in Hebrew
Hosea 14:2 Septuagint, Syriac pay the fruit
Hosea 14:7 Hebrew his
Hosea 14:8 Hebrew him

Psalm 112

English Standard Version

The Righteous Will Never Be Moved

112 ^[a] ^(A)Praise the Lord!
^(B)Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
    who ^(C)greatly delights in his commandments!
²His ^(D)offspring will be mighty in the land;
    ^(E)the generation of the upright will be blessed.
³^(F)Wealth and riches are in his house,
    and his ^(G)righteousness endures forever.
⁴Light dawns in the darkness ^(H)for the upright;
    he is gracious, merciful, and ^(I)righteous.
⁵It is well with the man who ^(J)deals generously and lends;
    who conducts his affairs with justice.
⁶For the righteous will ^(K)never be moved;
    ^(L)he will be remembered forever.
⁷He is not ^(M)afraid of bad news;
    his ^(N)heart is firm, ^(O)trusting in the Lord.
⁸His heart is steady;^[b] he will not be afraid,
    until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.
⁹He has ^(P)distributed freely; he has given to the poor;
    his righteousness endures forever;
    his ^(Q)horn is exalted in honor.
¹⁰The wicked man sees it and is angry;
    he ^(R)gnashes his teeth and ^(S)melts away;
    ^(T)the desire of the wicked will perish!

Footnotes

Psalm 112:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, each line beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet
Psalm 112:8 Or established (compare 111:8)

Colossians 1-2

English Standard Version

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)an apostle of Christ Jesus ^(B)by the will of God, and Timothy ^(C)our brother,

²To the ^(D)saints and faithful brothers^[a] in Christ at Colossae:

^(E)Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

³^(F)We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴since we heard of ^(G)your faith in Christ Jesus and of ^(H)the love that you have for all the saints, ⁵because of ^(I)the hope ^(J)laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in ^(K)the word of the truth, the gospel, ⁶which has come to you, as indeed ^(L)in the whole world it is ^(M)bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you ^(N)heard it and understood ^(O)the grace of God in truth, ⁷just as you learned it from ^(P)Epaphras our beloved ^(Q)fellow servant.^[b] He is ^(R)a faithful minister of Christ on your^[c] behalf ⁸and has made known to us your ^(S)love in the Spirit.

⁹And so, ^(T)from the day we heard, ^(U)we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that ^(V)you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all ^(W)spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰so as ^(X)to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, ^(Y)fully pleasing to him: ^(Z)bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹^(AA)being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for ^(AB)all endurance and patience ^(AC)with joy; ¹²^(AD)giving thanks^[d] to the Father, who has qualified you^[e] to share in ^(AE)the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³He ^(AF)has delivered us from ^(AG)the domain of darkness and transferred us to ^(AH)the kingdom of ^(AI)his beloved Son, ¹⁴^(AJ)in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Preeminence of Christ

¹⁵^(AK)He is the image of ^(AL)the invisible God, ^(AM)the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶For by^[f] him all things were created, ^(AN)in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether ^(AO)thrones or ^(AP)dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created ^(AQ)through him and for him. ¹⁷And ^(AR)he is before all things, and in him all things ^(AS)hold together. ¹⁸And ^(AT)he is the head of the body, the church. He is ^(AU)the beginning, ^(AV)the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹For ^(AW)in him all the ^(AX)fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰and ^(AY)through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, ^(AZ)making peace ^(BA)by the blood of his cross.

²¹^(BB)And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, ^(BC)doing evil deeds, ²²he has now reconciled ^(BD)in his body of flesh by his death, ^(BE)in order to present you holy and blameless and ^(BF)above reproach before him, ²³^(BG)if indeed you continue in the faith, ^(BH)stable and steadfast, not shifting from ^(BI)the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed ^(BJ)in all creation^[g] under heaven, ^(BK)and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Paul's Ministry to the Church

²⁴Now ^(BL)I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh ^(BM)I am filling up ^(BN)what is lacking in Christ's afflictions ^(BO)for the sake of his body, that is, the church, ²⁵^(BP)of which I became a minister according to ^(BQ)the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, ²⁶^(BR)the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. ²⁷^(BS)To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are ^(BT)the riches of the glory of ^(BU)this mystery, which is Christ in you, ^(BV)the hope of glory. ²⁸Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that ^(BW)we may present everyone ^(BX)mature in Christ. ²⁹For this ^(BY)I toil, ^(BZ)struggling ^(CA)with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

2 For I want you to know ^(CB)how great a ^(CC)struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, ²that ^(CD)their hearts may be encouraged, being ^(CE)knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of ^(CF)God's mystery, which is Christ, ³^(CG)in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ⁴I say this in order ^(CH)that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. ⁵For ^(CI)though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your ^(CJ)good order and ^(CK)the firmness of your faith in Christ.

Alive in Christ

⁶^(CL)Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ⁷^(CM)rooted and ^(CN)built up in him and ^(CO)established in the faith, just ^(CP)as you were taught, abounding ^(CQ)in thanksgiving.

⁸See to it that no one takes you captive by ^(CR)philosophy and ^(CS)empty deceit, according to ^(CT)human tradition, according to the ^(CU)elemental spirits^[h] of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹For ^(CV)in him the whole fullness of deity dwells ^(CW)bodily, ¹⁰and ^(CX)you have been filled in him, who is ^(CY)the head of all rule and authority. ¹¹In him also ^(CZ)you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by ^(DA)putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹²^(DB)having been buried with him in baptism, in which ^(DC)you were also raised with him through faith in ^(DD)the powerful working of God, ^(DE)who raised him from the dead. ¹³^(DF)And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God ^(DG)made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴by ^(DH)canceling ^(DI)the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵^(DJ)He disarmed the rulers and authorities^[i] and ^(DK)put them to open shame, by ^(DL)triumphing over them in him.^[j]

Let No One Disqualify You

¹⁶Therefore let no one ^(DM)pass judgment on you ^(DN)in questions of food and drink, or with regard to ^(DO)a festival or ^(DP)a new moon or a Sabbath. ¹⁷^(DQ)These are a shadow of the things to come, but ^(DR)the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸Let no one ^(DS)disqualify you, ^(DT)insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, ^(DU)going on in detail about visions,^[k] ^(DV)puffed up without reason by ^(DW)his sensuous mind, ¹⁹and ^(DX)not ^(DY)holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

²⁰If with Christ ^(DZ)you died to the ^(EA)elemental spirits of the world, ^(EB)why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ²¹^(EC)“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” ²²(^(ED)referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to ^(EE)human precepts and teachings? ²³These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in ^(EF)promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are ^(EG)of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Footnotes

Colossians 1:2 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters
Colossians 1:7 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word sundoulos, see Preface
Colossians 1:7 Some manuscripts our
Colossians 1:12 Or patience, with joy giving thanks
Colossians 1:12 Some manuscripts us
Colossians 1:16 That is, by means of; or in
Colossians 1:23 Or to every creature
Colossians 2:8 Or elementary principles; also verse 20
Colossians 2:15 Probably demonic rulers and authorities
Colossians 2:15 Or in it (that is, the cross)
Colossians 2:18 Or about the things he has seen