Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁶ O God, Your throne is forever and ever. You rule Your holy nation by what is right. ⁷ You have loved what is right and good. You have hated what is wrong. That is why God, Your God, has chosen You. He has poured over You the oil of joy more than over anyone else. ⁸ All Your clothes smell of fine perfumes. Out of ivory palaces music of strings have made You glad. ⁹ Daughters of kings are among Your women of honor. At Your right hand stands the queen, wearing gold from Ophir.

¹⁰ Listen, O daughter, hear my words and think about them. Forget your people and your father’s house. ¹¹ Then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him. ¹² And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift. The rich people will ask for your favor.

¹³ The daughter of the King is beautiful within. Her clothes are made with gold. ¹⁴ She will be led to the King in clothes sewed for beauty. The young women who have never had men are her friends. They follow her and will be brought to You. ¹⁵ They will be led in with joy and happiness, because they will come into the King’s palace.

¹⁶ Instead of Your fathers, it will be Your sons whom You will make rulers over all the earth. ¹⁷ I will make Your name to be remembered to all the children-to-come. So that the nations will honor You forever and ever.

Hosea’s Last Words to Israel

14 Return to the Lord your God, O Israel, for you have fallen because of your sin. ² Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him, “Take away all sin, and receive us in kindness, that we may praise You with our lips. ³ Assyria will not save us. We will not ride on horses. And we will never say again, ‘Our god,’ to what we have made with our hands. For those who have no father find loving-kindness in You.”

New Life for Israel

⁴ “I will bring My people back to Me. I will not hold back My love from them, for I am no longer angry with them. ⁵ I will be to Israel like the water on the grass in the early morning. He will grow like the lily, and have roots like the cedars of Lebanon. ⁶ His young branches will spread out and his beauty will be like the olive tree. His smell will be like the cedars of Lebanon. ⁷ Those who live in his shadow will grow like grain and like flowers of the vine. He will be known like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸ “O Ephraim, what have I to do with false gods? It is I Who answer and take care of you. I am like a green cypress tree. Your fruit comes from Me.”

⁹ Whoever is wise, let him understand these things and know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and those who are right and good will follow them, but sinners will not follow them.

Paul—the True Missionary

11 I wish you would listen to a little foolish talk from me. Now listen. ² I am jealous for you with a God-like jealousy. I have given you, as a woman who has never had a man, to one Husband, Who is Christ. ³ Eve was fooled by the snake in the garden of Eden. In the same way, I am afraid that you will be fooled and led away from your pure love for Christ. ⁴ You listen when someone comes and preaches a different Jesus than the One we preached. You believe what you hear about a different spirit and different good news than that which we preached.

⁵ I do not think I am less than those special missionaries who are coming to you. ⁶ Even if it is hard for me to speak, I know what I am talking about. You know this by now. ⁷ Did I do wrong? I did not ask you for anything when I preached the Good News to you. I made myself poor so you would be made rich. ⁸ I did take money from other churches. I used it while I worked with you so you would not have to pay me. ⁹ Some of the time I had no money when I was with you. But I did not ask you for money. The Christians from the country of Macedonia brought me what I needed. I did not ask you and I will not ask you for anything. ¹⁰ As sure as the truth of Christ is in me, I will not stop telling those in the country of Greece that I am proud of this. ¹¹ Does it mean I do not love you? God knows I do.

¹² What I am doing now, I will keep on doing. I will do it to stop those who say they work as we do. ¹³ Those men are false missionaries. They lie about their work. But they make themselves look like true missionaries of Christ. ¹⁴ It is no surprise! The devil makes himself look like an angel of light. ¹⁵ And so it is no surprise if his servants also make themselves look like preachers of the Good News. They and their work will come to the same end.