Hosea 1-3
Christian Standard Bible
1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah,(A) Jotham,(B) Ahaz,(C) and Hezekiah,(D) kings of Judah, and of Jeroboam(E) son of Jehoash, king of Israel.
Hosea’s Marriage and Children
2 When the Lord first spoke to Hosea, he said this to him:
Go and marry a woman of promiscuity,(F)
and have children of promiscuity,
for the land is committing blatant acts of promiscuity
by abandoning the Lord.
3 So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.(G) 4 Then the Lord said to him:
Name him Jezreel,[a](H) for in a little while
I will bring the bloodshed of Jezreel(I)
on the house of Jehu(J)
and put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel(K)
in Jezreel Valley.(L)
6 She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter, and the Lord said to him:
Name her Lo-ruhamah,[b]
for I will no longer have compassion
on the house of Israel.
I will certainly take them away.
7 But I will have compassion on the house of Judah,(M)
and I will deliver them by the Lord their God.(N)
I will not deliver them by bow, sword, or war,
or by horses and cavalry.(O)
8 After Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son. 9 Then the Lord said:
Name him Lo-ammi,[c]
for you are not my people,
and I will not be your God.[d](P)
10 Yet the number of the Israelites
will be like the sand of the sea,(Q)
which cannot be measured or counted.
And in the place where they were told:
You are not my people,
they will be called: Sons of the living God.(R)
11 And the Judeans and the Israelites
will be gathered together.(S)
They will appoint for themselves a single ruler(T)
and go up from[e] the land.
For the day of Jezreel(U) will be great.
2 Call[f] your brothers: My People
and your sisters: Compassion.
Israel’s Adultery Rebuked
2 Rebuke your mother; rebuke her.(V)
For she is not my wife and I am not her husband.(W)
Let her remove the promiscuous look from her face(X)
and her adultery from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked(Y)
and expose her as she was on the day of her birth.
I will make her like a desert(Z)
and like a parched land,
and I will let her die of thirst.(AA)
4 I will have no compassion on her children(AB)
because they are the children of promiscuity.
5 Yes, their mother is promiscuous;
she conceived them and acted shamefully.(AC)
For she thought, “I will follow my lovers,(AD)
the men who give me my food and water,
my wool and flax, my oil and drink.”(AE)
6 Therefore, this is what I will do:
I will block her[g] way(AF) with thorns;(AG)
I will enclose her with a wall,
so that she cannot find her paths.(AH)
7 She will pursue her lovers but not catch them;(AI)
she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will think,
“I will go back to my former husband,(AJ)
for then it was better for me than now.”(AK)
8 She does not recognize(AL)
that it is I who gave her the grain,(AM)
the new wine, and the fresh oil.
I lavished silver and gold on her,
which they used for Baal.
9 Therefore, I will take back my grain in its time(AN)
and my new wine in its season;
I will take away my wool and linen,
which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now I will expose her shame(AO)
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one will rescue her from my power.
11 I will put an end to all her celebrations:(AP)
her feasts,(AQ) New Moons,(AR) and Sabbaths—
all her festivals.
12 I will devastate her vines and fig trees.(AS)
She thinks that these are her wages
that her lovers have given her.
I will turn them into a thicket,(AT)
and the wild animals will eat them.(AU)
13 And I will punish her for the days of the Baals,(AV)
to which she burned incense.(AW)
She put on her rings and her jewelry(AX)
and followed her lovers,
but she forgot me.(AY)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Israel’s Adultery Forgiven
14 Therefore, I am going to persuade her,
lead her to the wilderness,(AZ)
and speak tenderly to her.[h]
15 There I will give her vineyards back to her(BA)
and make the Valley of Achor[i](BB)
into a gateway of hope.
There she will respond as she did
in the days of her youth,(BC)
as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 In that day—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
you will call me “my husband”(BD)
and no longer call me “my Baal.”[j]
17 For I will remove the names of the Baals
from her mouth;
they will no longer be remembered by their names.
18 On that day I will make a covenant for them
with the wild animals, the birds of the sky,
and the creatures that crawl on the ground.(BE)
I will shatter bow, sword,
and weapons of war in the land[k](BF)
and will enable the people to rest securely.(BG)
19 I will take you to be my wife forever.(BH)
I will take you to be my wife in righteousness,
justice, love, and compassion.(BI)
20 I will take you to be my wife in faithfulness,
and you will know the Lord.(BJ)
21 On that day I will respond(BK)—
this is the Lord’s declaration.
I will respond to the sky,
and it will respond to the earth.
22 The earth will respond to the grain,(BL)
the new wine, and the fresh oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 I will sow her[l] in the land for myself,(BM)
and I will have compassion(BN)
on Lo-ruhamah;
I will say to Lo-ammi:(BO)
You are my people,(BP)
and he will say, “You are my God.”
Waiting for Restoration
3 Then the Lord said to me, “Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress,(BQ) just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”(BR)
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and nine bushels of barley.[m][n](BS) 3 I said to her, “You are to live with me many days. You must not be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way toward you.”
4 For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince,(BT) without sacrifice(BU) or sacred pillar,(BV) and without ephod(BW) or household idols.(BX) 5 Afterward, the people of Israel will return(BY) and seek the Lord their God and David their king.(BZ) They will come with awe to the Lord(CA) and to his goodness in the last days.
Footnotes
- 1:4 = God Sows
- 1:6 = No Compassion
- 1:9 = Not My People
- 1:9 Lit not be yours
- 1:11 Or and flourish in; Hb obscure
- 2:1 Lit Say to
- 2:6 LXX, Syr; MT reads your
- 2:14 Lit speak to her heart
- 2:15 = Trouble
- 2:16 Or my master
- 2:18 Or war on the earth
- 2:23 = Israel
- 3:2 LXX reads barley and a measure of wine
- 3:2 Lit silver, a homer of barley, and a lethek of barley
James 5
Christian Standard Bible
Warning to the Rich
5 Come now, you rich(A) people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you. 2 Your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten.(B) 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days.(C) 4 Look! The pay that you withheld from the workers(D) who mowed your fields cries out, and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Armies.(E) 5 You have lived luxuriously on the earth and have indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts(F) in a day of slaughter.(G) 6 You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous, who does not resist you.(H)
Waiting for the Lord
7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.(I) 8 You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.(J)
9 Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another, so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door!(K)
10 Brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name as an example of suffering and patience. 11 See, we count as blessed those who have endured.[a] You have heard of Job’s endurance(L) and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about—the Lord is compassionate and merciful.(M)
Truthful Speech
12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath.(N) But let your “yes” mean “yes,” and your “no” mean “no,” so that you won’t fall under judgment.[b]
Effective Prayer
13 Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises.(O) 14 Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.(P) 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.(Q) 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.(R) 17 Elijah was a human being as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land.(S) 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its fruit.(T)
19 My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth,(U) and someone turns him back,(V) 20 let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.(W)
Psalm 133-134
Christian Standard Bible
Psalm 133
Living in Harmony
A song of ascents. Of David.
1 How delightfully good
when brothers live together in harmony!(A)
2 It is like fine oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down Aaron’s beard
onto his robes.(B)
3 It is like the dew of Hermon[a]
falling on the mountains of Zion.(C)
For there the Lord has appointed the blessing—
life forevermore.(D)
Psalm 134
Call to Evening Worship
A song of ascents.
1 Now bless the Lord,
all you servants of the Lord
who stand in the Lord’s house at night!(E)
2 Lift up your hands in the holy place
and bless the Lord!(F)
3 May the Lord,
Maker of heaven and earth,
bless you from Zion.(G)
Footnotes
- 133:3 The tallest mountain in the region, noted for its abundant precipitation
Proverbs 29:7-8
Christian Standard Bible
7 The righteous person knows the rights[a] of the poor,(A)
but the wicked one does not understand these concerns.
8 Mockers inflame a city,(B)
but the wise turn away anger.
Footnotes
- 29:7 Lit justice
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