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Superficial Repentance Breeds False Assurance of God’s Forgiveness
6 Come on! Let’s return to the Lord.
He himself has torn us to pieces,
but he will heal us!
He has injured[a] us,
but he will bandage our wounds!
2 He will restore[b] us in a very short time;[c]
he will heal us in a little while,[d]
so that we may live in his presence.
3 So let us search for him![e]
Let us seek[f] to know the Lord!
He will come to our rescue as certainly as the appearance of the dawn,
as certainly as the winter rain comes,
as certainly as the spring rain that waters the land.
Transitory Faithfulness and Imminent Judgment
4 What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim?
What am I going to do with you, O Judah?
For[g] your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist;[h]
it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew.[i]
5 Therefore, I will certainly cut[j] you into pieces at the hands of the prophets;[k]
I will certainly kill you[l] in fulfillment of my oracles of judgment,[m]
for[n] my judgment[o] will come forth like the light of the dawn.[p]
6 For I delight in faithfulness, not simply in sacrifice;
I delight[q] in acknowledging God, not simply in whole burnt offerings.[r]
Indictments Against the Cities of Israel and Judah
7 At Adam[s] they broke[t] the covenant;
Oh how[u] they were unfaithful[v] to me!
8 Gilead is a city full of evildoers;[w]
its streets are stained with bloody footprints![x]
9 The company of priests is like a gang of robbers,
lying in ambush to pounce on a victim.
They commit murder on the road to Shechem;
they have done heinous crimes!
10 I have seen a disgusting thing in the house of Israel:
there Ephraim commits prostitution with other gods,[y]
and Israel defiles itself.
11 I have appointed a time to reap judgment[z] for you also, O Judah!
If Israel Would Repent of Sin, God Would Relent of Judgment
Whenever I want to restore the fortunes of my people,[aa]
7 whenever I want to heal Israel,
the sin of Ephraim is revealed,
and the evil deeds of Samaria are exposed.
For they do what is wrong;
thieves break into houses,
and gangs rob people out in the streets.
2 They do not realize[ab]
that I remember all their wicked deeds.
Their evil deeds have now surrounded them;
their sinful deeds are always before me.[ac]
Political Intrigue and Conspiracy in the Palace
3 The royal advisers delight the king with their evil schemes,
the princes make him glad with their lies.
4 They are all like bakers,[ad]
they[ae] are like a smoldering oven;
they are like a baker who does not stoke the fire
until the kneaded dough is ready for baking.
5 At the celebration[af] of their king,[ag]
his princes become inflamed[ah] with wine;
they conspire[ai] with evildoers.
6 They approach him, all the while plotting against him.
Their hearts are like an oven;
their anger smolders all night long,
but in the morning it bursts into a flaming fire.
7 All of them are blazing like an oven;
they devour their rulers.
All their kings fall,
and none of them call on me!
Israel Lacks Discernment and Refuses to Repent
8 Ephraim has mixed itself like flour[aj] among the nations;
Ephraim is like a ruined cake of bread that is scorched on one side.[ak]
9 Foreigners are consuming what his strenuous labor produced,[al]
but he does not recognize it.
His head is filled with gray hair,
but he does not realize it.
10 The arrogance of Israel testifies against him,
yet they refuse to return to the Lord their God.
In spite of all this they refuse to seek him.
Israel Turns to Assyria and Egypt for Help
11 Ephraim has been like a dove,
easily deceived and lacking discernment.
They called to Egypt for help;
they turned to Assyria for protection.
12 I will throw my bird net over them while they are flying;
I will bring them down like birds in the sky;
I will discipline them when I hear them flocking together.
Israel Has Turned Away from the Lord
13 Woe to them! For they have fled from me!
Destruction to them! For they have rebelled against me!
I want to deliver[am] them,
but they have lied to me.
14 They do not pray to me,[an]
but howl in distress on their beds;
they slash themselves[ao] for grain and new wine,
but turn away from me.
15 Although I trained and strengthened them,[ap]
they plot evil against me!
16 They turn to Baal;[aq]
they are like an unreliable bow.
Their leaders will fall by the sword
because their prayers to Baal[ar] have made me angry.
So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt.[as]
God Will Raise Up the Assyrians to Attack Israel
8 Sound the alarm![at]
An eagle[au] looms over the temple of the Lord!
For they have broken their covenant with me[av]
and have rebelled against my law.
2 Israel cries out to me,
“My God, we acknowledge you!”
3 But Israel has rejected what is morally good;
so an enemy will pursue him.
The Political and Cultic Sin of Israel
4 They enthroned kings without my consent.[aw]
They appointed princes without my approval.[ax]
They made idols out of their silver and gold,
but they will be destroyed![ay]
5 O Samaria, he has rejected your calf idol.
My anger burns against them!
They will not survive much longer without being punished,[az]
even though they are Israelites!
6 That idol was made by a workman—it is not God!
The calf idol of Samaria will be broken to bits.
The Fertility Cultists Will Become Infertile
7 They sow the wind,
and so they will reap the whirlwind!
The stalk does not have any standing grain;
it will not produce any flour.
Even if it were to yield grain,
foreigners would swallow it all up.
8 Israel will be swallowed up among the nations;
they will be like a worthless piece of pottery.
Israel’s Hired Lovers
9 They have gone up to Assyria,
like a wild donkey that wanders off.
Ephraim has hired prostitutes as lovers.[ba]
10 Even though they have hired lovers among the nations,[bb]
I will soon gather them together for judgment.[bc]
Then[bd] they will begin to waste away
under the oppression of a mighty king.[be]
Sacrifices Ineffective without Moral Obedience
11 Although Ephraim has built many altars for sin offerings,
these have become altars for sinning.
12 I spelled out my law for him in great detail,
but they regard it as something totally unknown[bf] to them.
13 They offer up sacrificial gifts to me
and eat the meat,
but the Lord does not accept their sacrifices.[bg]
Soon he will remember their wrongdoing,
he will punish their sins,
and they will return to Egypt.
14 Israel has forgotten his Maker and built royal palaces,
and Judah has built many fortified cities.
But I will send fire on their cities;
it will consume their royal citadels.
Fertility Cult Festivals Have Intoxicated Israel
9 O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly[bh] like the nations,
for you are unfaithful[bi] to your God.
You love to receive a prostitute’s wages[bj]
on all the floors where you thresh your grain.
2 Threshing floors and wine vats will not feed the people,[bk]
and new wine only deceives them.[bl]
Assyrian Exile Will Reverse the Egyptian Exodus
3 They will not remain in the Lord’s land.
Ephraim will return to Egypt;
they will eat ritually unclean food in Assyria.
4 They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord;
they will not please him with their sacrifices.
Their sacrifices will be like bread eaten while in mourning;
all those who eat them will make themselves ritually unclean.
For their bread will be only to satisfy their appetite;
it will not come into the temple of the Lord.
5 So what will you do on the festival day,
on the festival days of the Lord?
No Escape for the Israelites This Time
6 Look![bm] Even if[bn] they flee from the destruction,
Egypt will take hold of[bo] them,
and Memphis will bury them.
The weeds will inherit the silver they treasure[bp]—
thorn bushes will occupy their homes.[bq]
7 The time of judgment[br] is about to arrive![bs]
The time of retribution[bt] is imminent![bu]
Israel will be humbled![bv]
Israel Rejects Hosea’s Prophetic Exhortations
The prophet is considered a fool[bw]—
the inspired man[bx] is viewed as a madman[by]—
because of the multitude of your sins
and your intense[bz] animosity.
8 The prophet[ca] is a watchman[cb] over Ephraim[cc] on behalf of God,[cd]
yet traps[ce] are laid for him along all his paths;[cf]
animosity rages against him in the land[cg] of his God.
The Best of Times, the Worst of Times
9 They have sunk deep into corruption[ch]
as in the days of Gibeah.
He will remember their wrongdoing.
He will repay them for their sins.
10 When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the wilderness.
I viewed your ancestors[ci] like an early fig on a fig tree in its first season.
Then they came to Baal Peor and they dedicated themselves to shame—
they became as detestable as what they loved.
The Fertility Worshipers Will Become Infertile
11 Ephraim will be like a bird;
what they value[cj] will fly away.
They will not bear children—
they will not enjoy pregnancy—
they will not even conceive![ck]
12 Even if they raise their children,
I will take away every last one of them.[cl]
Woe to them!
For I will turn away from them.
13 Ephraim, as I have seen, has given their children for prey;[cm]
Ephraim will bear his sons for slaughter.
14 Give them, O Lord—
what will you give them?
Give them wombs that miscarry,
and breasts that cannot nurse![cn]
15 Because of all their evil in Gilgal,
I hate them there.
On account of their evil deeds,
I will drive them out of my land.[co]
I will no longer love them;
all their rulers are rebels.
16 Ephraim will be struck down[cp]—
their root will be dried up;
they will not yield any fruit.
Even if they do bear children,
I will kill their precious offspring.
17 My God will reject them,
for they have not obeyed him;
so they will be fugitives among the nations.
Introduction and Thanksgiving
1 From[a] the elder,[b] to Gaius[c] my dear brother, whom I love in truth.[d] 2 Dear friend, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.[e] 3 For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, just as you are living according to the truth.[f]
4 I have no greater joy than this: to hear[g] that my children are living according to the truth.[h]
The Charge to Gaius
5 Dear friend,[i] you demonstrate faithfulness[j] by whatever you do for the brothers (even though they are strangers). 6 They[k] have testified to your love before the church.[l] You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.[m] 7 For they have gone forth[n] on behalf of “The Name,”[o] accepting nothing from the pagans.[p] 8 Therefore we[q] ought to support such people, so that we become coworkers in cooperation with the truth.[r]
Diotrephes the Troublemaker
9 I wrote something to the church,[s] but Diotrephes,[t] who loves to be first among them, does not acknowledge us.[u] 10 Therefore, if I come,[v] I will call attention to the deeds he is doing[w]—the bringing of unjustified charges against us with evil words! And not being content with that, he not only refuses to welcome the brothers himself, but hinders the people who want to do so and throws them out of the church! 11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is bad but what is good.[x] The one who does good is of God; the one who does what is bad has not seen God.[y]
Worthy Demetrius
12 Demetrius[z] has been testified to by all, even by the truth itself. We also testify to him,[aa] and you know that our testimony is true.
Conclusion
13 I have many things to write to you, but I do not wish to write to you with[ab] pen and ink.[ac] 14 But I hope to see you right away, and we will speak face to face.[ad] 15 Peace be with you.[ae] The friends here[af] greet you. Greet the friends[ag] there[ah] by name.
Psalm 126[a]
A song of ascents.[b]
126 When the Lord restored the well-being of Zion,[c]
we thought we were dreaming.[d]
2 At that time we laughed loudly
and shouted for joy.[e]
At that time the nations said,[f]
“The Lord has accomplished great things for these people.”
3 The Lord did indeed accomplish great things for us.
We were happy.
4 O Lord, restore our well-being,
just as the streams in the arid south are replenished.[g]
5 Those who shed tears as they plant
will shout for joy when they reap the harvest.[h]
6 The one who weeps as he walks along, carrying his bag[i] of seed,
will certainly come in with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves of grain.[j]
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