Hosea 1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri, in the days of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah and in the days of King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel.
The Family of Hosea
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of prostitution, for the land commits great prostitution by forsaking the Lord.”(A) 3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel,[a] for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.(B) 5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”(C)
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah,[b] for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them.(D) 7 But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”(E)
8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Then the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi,[c] for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”[d]
The Restoration of Israel
10 [e]Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered, and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”(F) 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head, and they shall rise up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.(G)
Matthew 9:35-10:23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Harvest Is Great, the Laborers Few
35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness.(A) 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.(B) 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;(C) 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
The Twelve Apostles
10 Then Jesus[a] summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.(D) 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus;[b] 4 Simon the Cananaean and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.(E)
The Mission of the Twelve
5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not take a road leading to gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town,(F) 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.(G) 7 As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’[c](H) 8 Cure the sick; raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. 9 Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff, for laborers deserve their food.(I) 11 Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.(J) 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.(K)
Coming Persecutions
16 “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.(L) 17 Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the gentiles.(M) 19 When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you at that time, 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.(N) 21 Sibling will betray sibling to death and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.(O) 23 When they persecute you in this town, flee to the next, for truly I tell you, you will not have finished going through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
Hosea 2:1-13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
2 [a]Say to your brothers, “Ammi,”[b] and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”[c]
Israel’s Infidelity, Punishment, and Redemption
2 Plead with your mother, plead—
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband—
that she put away her prostitution from her face
and her adultery from between her breasts,(A)
3 or I will strip her naked
and expose her as in the day she was born
and make her like a wilderness
and turn her into a parched land
and kill her with thirst.(B)
4 Upon her children also I will have no pity,
because they are children of prostitution.(C)
5 For their mother has prostituted herself;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, “I will go after my lovers;
they give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.”(D)
6 Therefore I will hedge up her[d] way with thorns,
and I will build a wall against her
so that she cannot find her paths.(E)
7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
Then she shall say, “I will go
and return to my first husband,
for it was better with me then than now.”(F)
8 She did not know
that it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine, and the oil
and who lavished upon her silver
and gold that they used for Baal.(G)
9 Therefore I will take back
my grain in its time
and my wine in its season,
and I will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now I will uncover her shame
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.(H)
11 I will put an end to all her mirth,
her festivals, her new moons, her Sabbaths,
and all her appointed festivals.(I)
12 I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
of which she said,
“These are my pay,
which my lovers have given me.”
I will make them a forest,
and the wild animals shall devour them.(J)
13 I will punish her for the festival days of the Baals,
to whom she offered incense
and decked herself with her rings and jewelry
and went after her lovers
and forgot me, says the Lord.(K)
Galatians 3
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Law or Faith
3 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!(A) 2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?(B) 3 Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?(C) 4 Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing.(D) 5 Well then, does God[a] supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law or by your believing what you heard?
6 Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,”(E) 7 so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would reckon as righteous the gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the gentiles shall be blessed in you.”(F) 9 For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.
10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.”(G) 11 Now it is evident that no one is reckoned as righteous before God by the law, for “the one who is righteous will live by faith.”[b](H) 12 But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, “Whoever does the works of the law[c] will live by them.”(I) 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”(J)— 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.(K)
The Promise to Abraham
15 Brothers and sisters, I give an example from daily life: once a person’s will[d] has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it.(L) 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring;[e] it does not say, “And to offsprings,”[f] as of many, but it says, “And to your offspring,”[g] that is, to one person, who is Christ.(M) 17 My point is this: the law, which came four hundred thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.(N) 18 For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise, but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.(O)
The Purpose of the Law
19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring[h] would come to whom the promise had been made, and it was ordained through angels by a mediator.(P) 20 Now a mediator involves more than one party, but God is one.(Q)
21 Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law. 22 But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through the faith of Jesus Christ[i] might be given to those who believe.(R)
23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be reckoned as righteous[j] by faith.(S) 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.(T) 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.(U) 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.(V) 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring,[k] heirs according to the promise.(W)
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.