Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Hosea’s Wife and Children

² When the Lord began speaking through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, and marry an unfaithful woman and have unfaithful children, because the people in this country have been completely unfaithful to the Lord.” ³ So Hosea married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Hosea’s son.

⁴ The Lord said to Hosea, “Name him Jezreel, because soon I will punish the family of Jehu for the people they killed at Jezreel. In the future I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel ⁵ and break the power of Israel’s army in the Valley of Jezreel.”

⁶ Gomer became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter. The Lord said to Hosea, “Name her Lo-Ruhamah,^[a] because I will not pity Israel anymore, nor will I forgive them. ⁷ But I will show pity to the people of Judah. I will save them, but not by using bows or swords, horses or horsemen, or weapons of war. I, the Lord their God, will save them.”

⁸ After Gomer had stopped nursing Lo-Ruhamah, she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. ⁹ The Lord said, “Name him Lo-Ammi,^[b] because you are not my people, and I am not your God.

God’s Promise to Israel

¹⁰ “But the number of the Israelites will become like the grains of sand of the sea, which no one can measure or count. They were called, ‘You are not my people,’ but later they will be called ‘children of the living God.’

A Prayer for the Nation

For the director of music. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

Continue to Live in Christ

⁶ As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to live in him. ⁷ Keep your roots deep in him and have your lives built on him. Be strong in the faith, just as you were taught, and always be thankful.

⁸ Be sure that no one leads you away with false and empty teaching that is only human, which comes from the ruling spirits of this world, and not from Christ. ⁹ All of God lives fully in Christ (even when Christ was on earth), ¹⁰ and you have a full and true life in Christ, who is ruler over all rulers and powers.

¹¹ Also in Christ you had a different kind of circumcision, a circumcision not done by hands. It was through Christ’s circumcision, that is, his death, that you were made free from the power of your sinful self. ¹² When you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and you were raised up with him through your faith in God’s power that was shown when he raised Christ from the dead. ¹³ When you were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self, God made you alive with Christ, and he forgave all our sins. ¹⁴ He canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵ God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross, he won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless.

Don’t Follow People’s Rules

¹⁶ So do not let anyone make rules for you about eating and drinking or about a religious feast, a New Moon Festival, or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These things were like a shadow of what was to come. But what is true and real has come and is found in Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone disqualify you by making you humiliate yourself and worship angels. Such people enter into visions, which fill them with foolish pride because of their human way of thinking. ¹⁹ They do not hold tightly to Christ, the head. It is from him that all the parts of the body are cared for and held together. So it grows in the way God wants it to grow.

Jesus Teaches About Prayer

11 One time Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his followers said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his followers.”

² Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say:

Continue to Ask

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you went to your friend’s house at midnight and said to him, ‘Friend, loan me three loaves of bread. ⁶ A friend of mine has come into town to visit me, but I have nothing for him to eat.’ ⁷ Your friend inside the house answers, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, if friendship is not enough to make him get up to give you the bread, your boldness will make him get up and give you whatever you need. ⁹ So I tell you, ask, and God will give to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will open for you. ¹⁰ Yes, everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find. And everyone who knocks will have the door opened. ¹¹ If your children ask for^[b] a fish, which of you would give them a snake instead? ¹² Or, if your children ask for an egg, would you give them a scorpion? ¹³ Even though you are bad, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more your heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”