Hosea 11:12-14:9

New International Version

Israel’s Sin

¹²Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,^(A)
Israel with deceit.
And Judah is unruly against God,
even against the faithful^(B) Holy One.^[a]^(C)

12 ^[b]¹Ephraim^(D) feeds on the wind;^(E)
    he pursues the east wind all day
    and multiplies lies and violence.^(F)
He makes a treaty with Assyria^(G)
    and sends olive oil to Egypt.^(H)
²The Lord has a charge^(I) to bring against Judah;^(J)
    he will punish^(K) Jacob^[c] according to his ways
    and repay him according to his deeds.^(L)
³In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel;^(M)
    as a man he struggled^(N) with God.
⁴He struggled with the angel and overcame him;
    he wept and begged for his favor.
He found him at Bethel^(O)
    and talked with him there—
⁵the Lord God Almighty,
    the Lord is his name!^(P)
⁶But you must return^(Q) to your God;
    maintain love and justice,^(R)
    and wait for your God always.^(S)

⁷The merchant uses dishonest scales^(T)
    and loves to defraud.
⁸Ephraim boasts,^(U)
    “I am very rich; I have become wealthy.^(V)
With all my wealth they will not find in me
    any iniquity or sin.”

⁹“I have been the Lord your God
    ever since you came out of Egypt;^(W)
I will make you live in tents^(X) again,
    as in the days of your appointed festivals.
¹⁰I spoke to the prophets,
    gave them many visions
    and told parables^(Y) through them.”^(Z)

¹¹Is Gilead wicked?^(AA)
    Its people are worthless!
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?^(AB)
    Their altars will be like piles of stones
    on a plowed field.^(AC)
¹²Jacob fled to the country of Aram^[d];^(AD)
    Israel served to get a wife,
    and to pay for her he tended sheep.^(AE)
¹³The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt,^(AF)
    by a prophet he cared for him.^(AG)
¹⁴But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;
    his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed^(AH)
    and will repay him for his contempt.^(AI)

The Lord’s Anger Against Israel

13 When Ephraim spoke, people trembled;^(AJ)
    he was exalted^(AK) in Israel.
    But he became guilty of Baal worship^(AL) and died.
²Now they sin more and more;
    they make^(AM) idols for themselves from their silver,^(AN)
cleverly fashioned images,
    all of them the work of craftsmen.^(AO)
It is said of these people,
    “They offer human sacrifices!
    They kiss^[e]^(AP) calf-idols!^(AQ)”
³Therefore they will be like the morning mist,
    like the early dew that disappears,^(AR)
    like chaff^(AS) swirling from a threshing floor,^(AT)
    like smoke^(AU) escaping through a window.

⁴“But I have been the Lord your God
    ever since you came out of Egypt.^(AV)
You shall acknowledge^(AW) no God but me,^(AX)
    no Savior^(AY) except me.
⁵I cared for you in the wilderness,^(AZ)
    in the land of burning heat.
⁶When I fed them, they were satisfied;
    when they were satisfied, they became proud;^(BA)
    then they forgot^(BB) me.^(BC)
⁷So I will be like a lion^(BD) to them,
    like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
⁸Like a bear robbed of her cubs,^(BE)
    I will attack them and rip them open;
like a lion^(BF) I will devour them—
    a wild animal will tear them apart.^(BG)

⁹“You are destroyed, Israel,
    because you are against me,^(BH) against your helper.^(BI)
¹⁰Where is your king,^(BJ) that he may save you?
    Where are your rulers in all your towns,
of whom you said,
    ‘Give me a king and princes’?^(BK)
¹¹So in my anger I gave you a king,^(BL)
    and in my wrath I took him away.^(BM)
¹²The guilt of Ephraim is stored up,
    his sins are kept on record.^(BN)
¹³Pains as of a woman in childbirth^(BO) come to him,
    but he is a child without wisdom;
when the time^(BP) arrives,
    he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb.^(BQ)

¹⁴“I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;^(BR)
I will redeem them from death.^(BS)
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?^(BT)

“I will have no compassion,
¹⁵    even though he thrives^(BU) among his brothers.
An east wind^(BV) from the Lord will come,
    blowing in from the desert;
his spring will fail
    and his well dry up.^(BW)
His storehouse will be plundered^(BX)
    of all its treasures.
¹⁶The people of Samaria^(BY) must bear their guilt,^(BZ)
    because they have rebelled^(CA) against their God.
They will fall by the sword;^(CB)
    their little ones will be dashed^(CC) to the ground,
    their pregnant women^(CD) ripped open.”^[f]

Repentance to Bring Blessing

14 ^[g]Return,^(CE) Israel, to the Lord your God.
    Your sins^(CF) have been your downfall!^(CG)
²Take words with you
    and return to the Lord.
Say to him:
    “Forgive^(CH) all our sins
and receive us graciously,^(CI)
    that we may offer the fruit of our lips.^[h]^(CJ)
³Assyria cannot save us;^(CK)
    we will not mount warhorses.^(CL)
We will never again say ‘Our gods’^(CM)
    to what our own hands have made,^(CN)
    for in you the fatherless^(CO) find compassion.”

⁴“I will heal^(CP) their waywardness^(CQ)
    and love them freely,^(CR)
    for my anger has turned away^(CS) from them.
⁵I will be like the dew^(CT) to Israel;
    he will blossom like a lily.^(CU)
Like a cedar of Lebanon^(CV)
    he will send down his roots;^(CW)
⁶    his young shoots will grow.
His splendor will be like an olive tree,^(CX)
    his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.^(CY)
⁷People will dwell again in his shade;^(CZ)
    they will flourish like the grain,
they will blossom^(DA) like the vine—
    Israel’s fame will be like the wine^(DB) of Lebanon.^(DC)
⁸Ephraim, what more have I^[i] to do with idols?^(DD)
    I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a flourishing juniper;^(DE)
    your fruitfulness comes from me.”

⁹Who is wise?^(DF) Let them realize these things.
    Who is discerning? Let them understand.^(DG)
The ways of the Lord are right;^(DH)
    the righteous walk^(DI) in them,
    but the rebellious stumble in them.

Footnotes

Hosea 11:12 In Hebrew texts this verse (11:12) is numbered 12:1.
Hosea 12:1 In Hebrew texts 12:1-14 is numbered 12:2-15.
Hosea 12:2 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives.
Hosea 12:12 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
Hosea 13:2 Or “Men who sacrifice / kiss
Hosea 13:16 In Hebrew texts this verse (13:16) is numbered 14:1.
Hosea 14:1 In Hebrew texts 14:1-9 is numbered 14:2-10.
Hosea 14:2 Or offer our lips as sacrifices of bulls
Hosea 14:8 Or Hebrew; Septuagint What more has Ephraim

Romans 9:1-21

New International Version

Paul’s Anguish Over Israel

9 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying,^(A) my conscience confirms^(B) it through the Holy Spirit— ²I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³For I could wish that I myself^(C) were cursed^(D) and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people,^(E) those of my own race,^(F) ⁴the people of Israel.^(G) Theirs is the adoption to sonship;^(H) theirs the divine glory,^(I) the covenants,^(J) the receiving of the law,^(K) the temple worship^(L) and the promises.^(M) ⁵Theirs are the patriarchs,^(N) and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah,^(O) who is God over all,^(P) forever praised!^[a]^(Q) Amen.

God’s Sovereign Choice

⁶It is not as though God’s word^(R) had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.^(S) ⁷Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”^[b]^(T) ⁸In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children,^(U) but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.^(V) ⁹For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”^[c]^(W)

¹⁰Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac.^(X) ¹¹Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad^(Y)—in order that God’s purpose^(Z) in election might stand: ¹²not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”^[d]^(AA) ¹³Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”^[e]^(AB)

¹⁴What then shall we say?^(AC) Is God unjust? Not at all!^(AD) ¹⁵For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”^[f]^(AE)

¹⁶It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.^(AF) ¹⁷For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”^[g]^(AG) ¹⁸Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.^(AH)

¹⁹One of you will say to me:^(AI) “Then why does God still blame us?^(AJ) For who is able to resist his will?”^(AK) ²⁰But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?^(AL) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,^(AM) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”^[h]^(AN) ²¹Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?^(AO)

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Footnotes

Romans 9:5 Or Messiah, who is over all. God be forever praised! Or Messiah. God who is over all be forever praised!
Romans 9:7 Gen. 21:12
Romans 9:9 Gen. 18:10,14
Romans 9:12 Gen. 25:23
Romans 9:13 Mal. 1:2,3
Romans 9:15 Exodus 33:19
Romans 9:17 Exodus 9:16
Romans 9:20 Isaiah 29:16; 45:9

Psalm 89:9-13

New International Version

⁹You rule over the surging sea;
    when its waves mount up, you still them.^(A)
¹⁰You crushed Rahab^(B) like one of the slain;
    with your strong arm you scattered^(C) your enemies.
¹¹The heavens are yours,^(D) and yours also the earth;^(E)
    you founded the world and all that is in it.^(F)
¹²You created the north and the south;
    Tabor^(G) and Hermon^(H) sing for joy^(I) at your name.
¹³Your arm is endowed with power;
    your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.^(J)