Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Come to Our Help
To the choirmaster. (A)A Maskil[a] of the Sons of Korah.
44 O God, we have heard with our ears,
(B)our fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
(C)in the days of old:
2 you with your own hand (D)drove out the nations,
but (E)them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
but (F)them you set free;
3 for not (G)by their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
and (H)the light of your face,
(I)for you delighted in them.
4 (J)You are my King, O God;
(K)ordain salvation for Jacob!
5 Through you we (L)push down our foes;
through your name we (M)tread down those who rise up against us.
6 For not in (N)my bow do I trust,
nor can my sword save me.
7 But you have saved us from our foes
and have (O)put to shame those who hate us.
8 (P)In God we have boasted continually,
and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah
9 But you have (Q)rejected us and disgraced us
and (R)have not gone out with our armies.
10 You have made us (S)turn back from the foe,
and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
11 You have made us like (T)sheep for slaughter
and have (U)scattered us among the nations.
12 (V)You have sold your people for a trifle,
demanding no high price for them.
13 You have made us (W)the taunt of our neighbors,
the derision and (X)scorn of those around us.
14 You have made us (Y)a byword among the nations,
(Z)a laughingstock[b] among the peoples.
15 All day long my disgrace is before me,
and (AA)shame has covered my face
16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
at the sight of (AB)the enemy and the avenger.
17 (AC)All this has come upon us,
though we have not forgotten you,
and we have not been false to your covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our (AD)steps (AE)departed from your way;
19 yet you have (AF)broken us in the place of (AG)jackals
and covered us with (AH)the shadow of death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or (AI)spread out our hands to (AJ)a foreign god,
21 (AK)would not God discover this?
(AL)For he knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yet (AM)for your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 (AN)Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
Rouse yourself! (AO)Do not reject us forever!
24 Why (AP)do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
25 For our (AQ)soul is bowed down to the dust;
our belly clings to the ground.
26 Rise up; (AR)come to our help!
(AS)Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!
The Lord's Mercy on Israel
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and (A)bring her into the wilderness,
and (B)speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor[a] a door of hope.
And there she shall answer (C)as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And (D)in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For (E)I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And (F)I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And (G)I will abolish[b] the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in (H)safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me (I)forever. (J)I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 (K)I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And (L)you shall know the Lord.
21 “And (M)in that day (N)I will answer, declares the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer (O)Jezreel,[c]
23 and (P)I will sow her for myself in the land.
And (Q)I (R)will have mercy on No Mercy,[d]
and (S)I will say to Not My People,[e] (T)‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
Hosea Redeems His Wife
3 And the Lord said to me, (U)“Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a (V)homer and a lethech[f] of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must (W)dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” 4 For the children of Israel (X)shall dwell many days (Y)without king or prince, (Z)without sacrifice or (AA)pillar, without (AB)ephod or (AC)household gods. 5 Afterward (AD)the children of Israel shall return and (AE)seek the Lord their God, and (AF)David their king, (AG)and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the (AH)latter days.
Let No One Disqualify You
16 Therefore let no one (A)pass judgment on you (B)in questions of food and drink, or with regard to (C)a festival or (D)a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 (E)These are a shadow of the things to come, but (F)the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one (G)disqualify you, (H)insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, (I)going on in detail about visions,[a] (J)puffed up without reason by (K)his sensuous mind, 19 and (L)not (M)holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
20 If with Christ (N)you died to the (O)elemental spirits of the world, (P)why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 (Q)“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 ((R)referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to (S)human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in (T)promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are (U)of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Put On the New Self
3 (V)If then you have been raised with Christ, seek (W)the things that are above, where Christ is, (X)seated at the right hand of God.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.