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Hosea’s Wife Is Redeemed

Then the Lord said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she[a] commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them.[b]

So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver[c] and five bushels of barley and a measure of wine.[d] Then I said to her, “You must live in my house for many days and stop your prostitution. During this time, you will not have sexual relations with anyone, not even with me.[e]

This shows that Israel will go a long time without a king or prince, and without sacrifices, sacred pillars, priests,[f] or even idols! But afterward the people will return and devote themselves to the Lord their God and to David’s descendant, their king.[g] In the last days, they will tremble in awe of the Lord and of his goodness.

Footnotes

  1. 3:1a Or Go and love a woman who.
  2. 3:1b Hebrew love their raisin cakes.
  3. 3:2a Hebrew 15 [shekels] of silver, about 6 ounces or 171 grams in weight.
  4. 3:2b As in Greek version, which reads a homer of barley and a wineskin full of wine; Hebrew reads a homer [5 bushels or 220 liters] of barley and a lethek [2.5 bushels or 110 liters] of barley.
  5. 3:3 Or and I will live with you.
  6. 3:4 Hebrew ephod, the vest worn by the priest.
  7. 3:5 Hebrew to David their king.

A person who plans evil
    will get a reputation as a troublemaker.
The schemes of a fool are sinful;
    everyone detests a mocker.

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Psalm 141

A psalm of David.

O Lord, I am calling to you. Please hurry!
    Listen when I cry to you for help!
Accept my prayer as incense offered to you,
    and my upraised hands as an evening offering.

Take control of what I say, O Lord,
    and guard my lips.
Don’t let me drift toward evil
    or take part in acts of wickedness.
Don’t let me share in the delicacies
    of those who do wrong.

Let the godly strike me!
    It will be a kindness!
If they correct me, it is soothing medicine.
    Don’t let me refuse it.

But I pray constantly
    against the wicked and their deeds.
When their leaders are thrown down from a cliff,
    the wicked will listen to my words and find them true.
Like rocks brought up by a plow,
    the bones of the wicked will lie scattered without burial.[a]

I look to you for help, O Sovereign Lord.
    You are my refuge; don’t let them kill me.
Keep me from the traps they have set for me,
    from the snares of those who do wrong.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
    but let me escape.

Footnotes

  1. 141:7 Hebrew our bones will be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

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