Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
6 (A)The kingdom that God has given you[a]
will last forever and ever.
You rule over your people with justice;
7 you love what is right and hate what is evil.
That is why God, your God, has chosen you
and has poured out more happiness on you
than on any other king.
8 The perfume of myrrh and aloes is on your clothes;
musicians entertain you in palaces decorated with ivory.
9 Among the women of your court are daughters of kings,
and at the right of your throne stands the queen,
wearing ornaments of finest gold.
10 Bride of the king, listen to what I say—
forget your people and your relatives.
11 Your beauty will make the king desire you;
he is your master, so you must obey him.
12 The people of Tyre will bring you gifts;
rich people will try to win your favor.
13 The princess is in the palace—how beautiful she is!
Her gown is made of gold thread.
14 In her colorful gown she is led to the king,
followed by her bridesmaids,
and they also are brought to him.
15 With joy and gladness they come
and enter the king's palace.
16 You, my king, will have many sons
to succeed your ancestors as kings,
and you will make them rulers over the whole earth.
17 My song will keep your fame alive forever,
and everyone will praise you for all time to come.
Hosea and the Unfaithful Woman
3 The Lord said to me, “Go again[a] and show your love for a woman who is committing adultery with a lover. You must love her just as I still love the people of Israel, even though they turn to other gods and like to take offerings of raisins to idols.”[b]
2 So I paid fifteen pieces of silver and seven bushels of barley to buy her. 3 I told her that for a long time she would have to wait for me without being a prostitute or committing adultery; and during this time I would wait for her. 4 In just this way the people of Israel will have to live for a long time without kings or leaders, without sacrifices or sacred stone pillars, without idols or images to use for divination. 5 But the time will come when the people of Israel will once again turn to the Lord their God and to a descendant of David their king. Then they will fear the Lord and will receive his good gifts.
23 I call God as my witness—he knows my heart! It was in order to spare you that I decided not to go to Corinth. 24 We are not trying to dictate to you what you must believe; we know that you stand firm in the faith. Instead, we are working with you for your own happiness.
2 So I made up my mind not to come to you again to make you sad. 2 For if I were to make you sad, who would be left to cheer me up? Only the very persons I had made sad. 3 That is why I wrote that letter to you—I did not want to come to you and be made sad by the very people who should make me glad. For I am convinced that when I am happy, then all of you are happy too. 4 I wrote you with a greatly troubled and distressed heart and with many tears; my purpose was not to make you sad, but to make you realize how much I love you all.
Forgiveness for the Offender
5 Now, if anyone has made somebody sad, he has not done it to me but to all of you—in part, at least. (I say this because I do not want to be too hard on him.) 6 It is enough that this person has been punished in this way by most of you. 7 Now, however, you should forgive him and encourage him, in order to keep him from becoming so sad as to give up completely. 8 And so I beg you to let him know that you really do love him. 9 I wrote you that letter because I wanted to find out how well you had stood the test and whether you are always ready to obey my instructions. 10 When you forgive people for what they have done, I forgive them too. For when I forgive—if, indeed, I need to forgive anything—I do it in Christ's presence because of you, 11 in order to keep Satan from getting the upper hand over us; for we know what his plans are.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.