Hosea 13:1-14
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Relentless Judgment on Israel
13 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
he was exalted in Israel,
but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.(A)
2 And now they keep on sinning
and make a cast image for themselves,
idols of silver made according to their understanding,
all of them the work of artisans.
“Sacrifice to these,” they say.[a]
People are kissing calves!(B)
3 Therefore they shall be like the morning mist
or like the dew that goes away early,
like chaff that swirls from the threshing floor
or like smoke from a window.(C)
4 Yet I have been the Lord your God
ever since the land of Egypt;
you know no God but me,
and besides me there is no savior.(D)
5 It was I who fed[b] you in the wilderness,
in the land of drought.(E)
6 When I fed[c] them, they were satisfied;
they were satisfied, and their heart was proud;
therefore they forgot me.(F)
7 So I will become like a lion to them;
like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.(G)
8 I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs
and will tear open the covering of their heart;
there I will devour them like a lion,
as a wild animal would mangle them.
9 I will destroy you, O Israel;
who can help you?[d]
10 Where now is[e] your king, that he may save you?
Where in all your cities are your rulers,
of whom you said,
“Give me a king and rulers”?(H)
11 I gave you a king in my anger,
and I took him away in my wrath.(I)
12 Ephraim’s iniquity is bound up;
his sin is kept in store.(J)
13 The pangs of childbirth come for him,
but he is an unwise son,
for at the proper time he does not present himself
at the mouth of the womb.(K)
14 Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?
Shall I redeem them from Death?
O Death, where are[f] your plagues?
O Sheol, where is[g] your destruction?
Compassion is hidden from my eyes.(L)
Matthew 13:1-23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Parable of the Sower
13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach.(A) 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.(B) 9 If you have ears,[a] hear!”(C)
The Purpose of the Parables
10 Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets[b] of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.(D) 12 For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.(E) 13 The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’(F) 14 With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
‘You will indeed listen but never understand,
and you will indeed look but never perceive.(G)
15 For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and their ears are hard of hearing,
and they have shut their eyes,
so that they might not look with their eyes,
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart and turn—
and I would heal them.’(H)
16 “But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.(I) 17 Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.(J)
The Parable of the Sower Explained
18 “Hear, then, the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.(K) 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.[c](L) 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this[d] age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.(M) 23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”(N)
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Hosea 14
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
A Plea for Repentance
14 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.(A)
2 Take words with you
and return to the Lord;
say to him,
“Take away all guilt;
accept that which is good,
and we will offer
the fruit[a] of our lips.(B)
3 Assyria shall not save us;
we will not ride upon horses;
we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.”(C)
Assurance of Forgiveness
4 I will heal their disloyalty;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.(D)
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily;
he shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon.[b](E)
6 His shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.(F)
7 They shall again live beneath my[c] shadow;
they shall flourish as a garden;[d]
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.(G)
8 O Ephraim, what have I[e] to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.[f]
I am like an evergreen cypress;
your fruit comes from me.(H)
9 Those who are wise understand these things;
those who are discerning know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.(I)
1 Corinthians 1:26-2:16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards,[a] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.(A) 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;(B) 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to abolish things that are, 29 so that no one[b] might boast in the presence of God.(C) 30 In contrast, God is why you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,(D) 31 in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in[c] the Lord.”(E)
Proclaiming Christ Crucified
2 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the testimony[d] of God to you with superior speech or wisdom.(F) 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my proclamation were made not with persuasive words of wisdom[e] but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power,(G) 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
The True Wisdom of God
6 Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are being destroyed.(H) 7 But we speak God’s wisdom, a hidden mystery, which God decreed before the ages for our glory 8 and which none of the rulers of this age understood, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—(I)
10 God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.(J) 11 For what human knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.(K) 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 13 And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.[f](L)
14 Those who are unspiritual[g] do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.(M) 15 Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.
16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.(N)
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.