Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
8 Now I will listen to what the Lord God says.
He will give peace to his people,
to those who serve him.
But they must not turn back
to do foolish things again.
9 Yes, God will soon rescue his people who serve him.
Then we will see his glory again in our land.
10 God will be faithful to us
and he will love us with his faithful love.
His justice and his peace will join together,
like dear friends.
11 Faithful truth will grow like a plant in the ground.
Justice will look down from the sky above.[a]
12 Yes! The Lord will bless us with many good things.
Plenty of food will grow in our land.
13 Justice will go before our God,
and it will make a way for him to walk on.
The people say that they are sorry
6 ‘Listen! We should return to serve the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces, but now he will make us well again.
He has hurt us, but now he will make our wounds better.[a]
2 He will soon make us strong again.
After three days, we will have new lives.
Then we can live together with him.
3 We should respect the Lord's authority.
We must try to know him better.
Then he will certainly come to rescue us.
He will come to us as surely as the sun appears each morning.
He will help us as surely as the rain comes in spring
and it makes the ground wet for plants to grow.’
The Lord replies
4 ‘People of Ephraim and Judah, can I forgive you so easily?
Your love for me soon disappears.
It goes away as quickly as mist or dew in the morning.[b]
5 I sent my prophets to warn you.
They gave you my messages that I would punish you.
Now that punishment will certainly happen to you!
I will suddenly come to judge you,
like the sun that rises at dawn.
6 It is faithful love that makes me happy.
That would be better than your sacrifices to me.
You should know me as your God.
That would be better than your burnt offerings.
2 We always thank God for all of you. Every time that we pray, we pray for you. 3 As we pray to our Father God, we remember how you live. You do good things because you believe in Christ. You work hard to help other people because you love them and you love God. You are also strong and patient because you hope strongly in our Lord Jesus Christ.[a]
4 Our Christian friends, God loves you. We know that he has chosen you to belong to him. 5 When we told you God's good news, it was not only words that we spoke to you. God helped us with his power and with the Holy Spirit. As a result, you were sure that our message was true. You also know that we lived among you in a good way. We had come to help you.
6 In your lives also, you copied our example and the example of the Lord Jesus. When you believed our message, people caused you to have a lot of trouble. But God's Holy Spirit helped you to be very happy. 7 As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.[b]
8 Because of you, people in many places have clearly heard the message about the Lord. It is not only the people in Macedonia and in Achaia who have heard it. People everywhere now know how you trust God. So, as we travel to different places, we do not need to tell people anything. 9 Those people themselves speak about how you accepted us. They tell us how you stopped worshipping false gods. They know that you now serve the true God who always lives. 10 They also tell us that you are waiting patiently for God's Son to return from heaven. God raised him up after his death on the cross. He is Jesus. He saves us from God's punishment that will come one day.[c]
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