Hosea 9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Punishment for Israel’s Sin
9 Do not rejoice, O Israel!
Do not exult[a] as other nations do,
for you have prostituted yourself, departing from your God.
You have loved a prostitute’s pay
on all threshing floors.(A)
2 Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,
and the new wine shall fail them.(B)
3 They shall not remain in the land of the Lord,
but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
and in Assyria they shall eat unclean food.(C)
4 They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,
and their sacrifices shall not please him.
Such sacrifices shall be like mourners’ bread;
all who eat of it shall be defiled,
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
it shall not come to the house of the Lord.(D)
5 What will you do on the day of appointed festival
and on the day of the festival of the Lord?(E)
6 For even if they escape destruction,
Egypt shall gather them;
Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;[b]
thorns shall be in their tents.(F)
7 The days of punishment have come;
the days of recompense have come.
Israel will cry out,[c]
“The prophet is a fool;
the man of the spirit is mad!”
Because of your great iniquity,
your hostility is great.(G)
8 The prophet is a sentinel for my God over Ephraim,
yet a hunter’s snare is on all his ways
and hostility in the house of his God.(H)
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah;
he will remember their iniquity;
he will punish their sins.(I)
10 Like grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree,
in its first season,
I saw your ancestors.
But they came to Baal-peor
and consecrated themselves to a thing of shame
and became detestable like the thing they loved.(J)
11 Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!(K)
12 Even if they bring up children,
I will bereave them until no one is left.
Woe to them indeed
when I depart from them!(L)
13 Once I saw Ephraim as a young palm planted in a lovely meadow,[d]
but now Ephraim must lead out his children for slaughter.(M)
14 Give them, O Lord—
what will you give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
and dry breasts.
15 Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal;
there I came to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
all their officials are rebels.(N)
Matthew 12:1-21
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Plucking Grain on the Sabbath
12 At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.(A) 2 When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”(B) 3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?(C) 4 How he entered the house of God, and they[a] ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests?(D) 5 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and yet are guiltless?(E) 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.(F) 7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.(G) 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
The Man with a Withered Hand
9 He left that place and entered their synagogue; 10 a man was there with a withered hand, and they asked him, “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath?” so that they might accuse him.(H) 11 He said to them, “Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out?(I) 12 How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”(J) 13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and it was restored, as sound as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.(K)
God’s Chosen Servant
15 When Jesus became aware of this, he departed. Many[b] followed him, and he cured all of them,(L) 16 and he ordered them not to make him known.(M) 17 This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
18 “Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,
my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the gentiles.(N)
19 He will not wrangle or cry aloud,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
20 He will not break a bruised reed
or quench a smoldering wick
until he brings justice to victory.
21 And in his name the gentiles will hope.”
Hosea 10
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Israel’s Sin and Captivity
10 Israel is a luxuriant vine
that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased,
the more altars he built;
as his country improved,
he improved his pillars.(A)
2 Their heart is false;
now they must bear their guilt.
The Lord[a] will break down their altars
and destroy their pillars.(B)
3 For now they will say:
“We have no king,
for we do not fear the Lord,
and a king—what could he do for us?”
4 They utter mere words;
with empty oaths they make covenants;
so litigation springs up like poisonous weeds
in the furrows of the field.(C)
5 The inhabitants of Samaria tremble
for the calf[b] of Beth-aven.
Its people shall mourn for it,
and its idolatrous priests shall wail[c] over it,
over its glory that has departed from it.(D)
6 The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria
as tribute to the great king.[d]
Ephraim shall be put to shame,
and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.[e](E)
7 Samaria’s king shall perish
like a chip on the face of the waters.(F)
8 The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
shall be destroyed.
Thorn and thistle shall grow up
on their altars.
They shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”
and to the hills, “Fall on us.”(G)
9 Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel;
there they have continued.
Shall not war overtake them in Gibeah?(H)
10 I will come[f] against the wayward people to punish them,
and nations shall be gathered against them
when they are punished[g] for their double iniquity.(I)
11 Ephraim was a trained heifer
that loved to thresh,
and I spared her fair neck,
but I will make Ephraim break the ground;
Judah must plow;
Jacob must harrow for himself.(J)
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.(K)
13 You have plowed wickedness;
you have reaped injustice;
you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your chariots,[h]
in the multitude of your warriors,(L)
14 therefore the tumult of war shall rise against your people,
and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,
as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle,
when mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.(M)
15 Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel
shall be utterly cut off.(N)
Galatians 6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Bear One Another’s Burdens
6 My brothers and sisters, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill[a] the law of Christ.(A) 3 For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves.(B) 4 All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor’s work, will become a cause for pride.(C) 5 For all must carry their own loads.
6 Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher.(D)
7 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.(E) 8 If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh, but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.(F) 9 So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.(G) 10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all and especially for those of the family of faith.(H)
Final Admonitions and Benediction
11 See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand! 12 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who try to compel you to be circumcised—only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.(I) 13 Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh. 14 May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which[b] the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.(J) 15 For[c] neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, but a new creation is everything!(K) 16 As for those who will follow this rule—peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
17 From now on, let no one make trouble for me, for I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body.(L)
18 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.
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.