Psalm 85
The Voice
Psalm 85
For the worship leader. A song of the sons of Korah.
1 O Eternal One, there was a time when You were gracious to Your land;
You returned Jacob’s descendants from their captivity.
2 You forgave the iniquity of Your people,
covered all of their sins.
[pause][a]
3 There was a time when You restrained all of Your fierce wrath,
when You cooled Your hot anger.
4 O God of our salvation, bring us back again—as You did before—
and put away Your anger toward us.
5 Will You be mad at us forever?
Will You continue to be angry with our children and theirs?
6 Will You not bring us back to life once more
so that we, Your people, will find joy and pleasure in You?
7 O Eternal One, show us Your unfailing love;
give us what we truly need: Your salvation.
8 I will hear what the True God—the Eternal—will say,
for He will speak peace over His people,
peace over those who faithfully follow Him, [but do not let them abuse His gift and return to foolish ways].[b]
9 Without a doubt, His salvation is near for those who revere Him
so that He will be with us again and all His glory will fill this land.
10 Unfailing love and truth have met on their way;
righteousness and peace have kissed one another.
11 Truth will spring from the earth like a plant,
and justice will look down from the sky.
12 Yes, the Eternal will plant goodness in the earth,
and our land will yield great abundance.
13 Justice will come before Him,
marking out a path, setting a way for His feet.
Hosea 4
The Voice
4 Listen to what the Eternal says, you people of Israel!
Eternal One: I am bringing charges against everyone who lives in your land
because there’s no truth and no faithfulness and no knowledge of God in the land.
2 There is only cursing and lying and killing and stealing and adultery—
so that one act of bloodshed follows right after another.
3 It’s because you’re breaking My most basic directives
that the land will mourn with grief and even dry up like a desert plant.
Those dwelling in it waste away,
As the wild animals, the flying birds, and the swimming fish are all dying.
4 Be careful in bringing these charges and contending with one another,
for this is My charge against you,
you priests—I have a divine contention against you!
5 You stumble around during the day, and the prophets stumble with you at night.
And so I will destroy your mother, the land where you live.
6 You’ve forgotten the law of your God: you’ve rejected My judgments.
I’ll reject you because of your lack of knowledge—reject you as My priests;
I’ll even forget your children!
7 The more powerful the priests grew, the more they sinned against Me.
So I’ll turn their honor[a] into shame.
8 Because these priests are allowed to eat the sin offerings,
they actually want the people to sin so they’ll have more meat to eat!
9 And so it’s “like priest, like people”: a low standard for living.
I’ll punish them for this and repay them for what they’ve done:
10 They’ll eat, but they won’t be satisfied; they’ll be active like whores, but have no children
because they’ve rebelled in guarding Me and My ways.
11 Through prostitution, wine, and new wine,
My people have lost their senses;
12 They expect to hear oracles from a wooden idol,
to get guidance from a diviner’s wand!
For a spirit of prostitution is leading them astray—
that’s why they’re so unfaithful to their God and are becoming prostitutes.
13 They offer sacrifices on the mountain tops
and burn incense on the hills,
Gathering under sacred trees like oaks, poplars, and terebinths,
relaxing in their comforting shade.
This is why your own daughters become prostitutes
and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!
14 I won’t punish your daughters for their prostitution
or your daughters-in-law for their adultery,
Because you men are visiting common prostitutes yourselves
and offering sacrifices with cultic prostitutes.
My people have no understanding, and they’re being ruined!
15 But even though Israel is being so unfaithful,
don’t you become guilty, too, Judah!
Don’t go to Gilgal, and don’t go to that “house of wickedness,” Beth-aven.
Don’t swear by My name while you’re worshiping other gods!
16 The people of Israel are stubborn, just like heifers,
so how can I shepherd them like lambs in a pasture?
17 Ephraim is allied with idols;
don’t have anything to do with him![b]
18 When they’ve finished drinking, they turn to prostitution to sate their thirst.
Their rulers love shame rather than living decently.[c]
19 They’ll be swept away by the wind,
and they’ll be ashamed of the way they sacrificed to idols.
Acts 1:15-20
The Voice
15 As the disciples prayed, Peter stood among the group of about 120 people and made this proposal:
The Creator of heaven and earth is orchestrating a redemptive story that will radically change the course of history. The most significant supernatural event in the history of this newly formed church will be the filling of the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, God will direct the church’s growth. But how does the early church make important decisions before the Holy Spirit descends on them?
The company of disciples turns to the practice of “drawing lots,” a practice used by saints for centuries to discover God’s providential leading. After much prayer, Joseph and Matthias most likely write their names on scraps; then someone draws the replacement’s name out of a bag. What seems like a 50/50 chance is, in fact, God’s way of imparting His will. The disciples aren’t putting their faith in “chance”; they are putting their faith in a God who lives. This living God isn’t distant; He is a player in their lives, active when His people seek Him and His will. They know God directs the process, start to finish, and determines whose name is drawn to join the eleven.
Peter: 16-17 My friends, everything in the Hebrew Scriptures had to be fulfilled, including what the Holy Spirit foretold through David about Judas. As you know, Judas was one of us and participated in our ministry until he guided the authorities to arrest Jesus. 18 (He was paid handsomely for his betrayal, and he bought a field with the blood money. But he died on that land—falling so that his abdomen burst and his internal organs gushed out. 19 News of this death spread to everyone in Jerusalem, so Judas’s property is known as Hakeldama, which means “field of blood.”) 20 In this way, one of David’s psalms was fulfilled: “May their camps be bleak, with not one left in any tent.”[a] But the psalms also include these words: “Let his position of oversight be given to another.”[b]
Footnotes
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
