Love Pursues the Unfaithful Heart

1. Yahweh’s word that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. 2. When Yahweh spoke at first by Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking Yahweh.” 3. So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and bore him a son. 4. Yahweh said to him, “Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease. 5. It will happen in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.” 6. She conceived again, and bore a daughter. Then he said to him, “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah; for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, that I should in any way pardon them. 7. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by Yahweh their God, and will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.” 8. Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived, and bore a son. 9. He said, “Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours. 10. Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured or counted; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ 11. The children of Judah and the children of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one head, and will go up from the land; for great will be the day of Jezreel. 1. “Say to your brothers, ‘My people!’ and to your sisters, ‘My loved one!’ 2. Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts; 3. Lest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst. 4. Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy; for they are children of unfaithfulness; 5. For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’ 6. Therefore behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can’t find her way. 7. She will follow after her lovers, but she won’t overtake them; and she will seek them, but won’t find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.’ 8. For she did not know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. 9. Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness. 10. Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand. 11. I will also cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies. 12. I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest,’ and the animals of the field shall eat them. 13. I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me,” says Yahweh. 14. “Therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 15. I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 16. It will be in that day,” says Yahweh, “that you will call me ‘my husband,’ and no longer call me ‘my master.’ 17. For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name. 18. In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely. 19. I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion. 20. I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know Yahweh. 21. It will happen in that day, I will respond,” says Yahweh, “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth; 22. and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel. 23. I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they will say, ‘My God!’” 1. Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins.” 2. So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley. 3. I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days. You shall not play the prostitute, and you shall not be with any other man. I will also be so toward you.” 4. For the children of Israel shall live many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols. 5. Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days. 1. Hear Yahweh’s word, you children of Israel; for Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “Indeed there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land. 2. There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed. 3. Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells therein will waste away. all living things in her, even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky; yes, the fish of the sea also die. 4. “Yet let no man bring a charge, neither let any man accuse; For your people are like those who bring charges against a priest. 5. You will stumble in the day, and the prophet will also stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother. 6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten your God’s law, I will also forget your children. 7. As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me. I will change their glory into shame. 8. They feed on the sin of my people, and set their heart on their iniquity. 9. It will be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them for their deeds. 10. They will eat, and not have enough. They will play the prostitute, and will not increase; because they have abandoned giving to Yahweh. 11. Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding. 12. My people consult with their wooden idol, and answer to a stick of wood. Indeed the spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have been unfaithful to their God. 13. They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery. 14. I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, nor your brides when they commit adultery; because the men consort with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes; so the people without understanding will come to ruin. 15. “Though you, Israel, play the prostitute, yet don’t let Judah offend; and don’t come to Gilgal, neither go up to Beth Aven, nor swear, ‘As Yahweh lives.’ 16. For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will Yahweh feed them like a lamb in a meadow. 17. Ephraim is joined to idols. Leave him alone! 18. Their drink has become sour. They play the prostitute continually. Her rulers dearly love their shameful way. 19. The wind has wrapped her up in its wings; and they shall be disappointed because of their sacrifices.

1. The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2. As it is written in the prophets, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you: 3. the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight!’” 4. John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. 5. All the country of Judea and all those of Jerusalem went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins. 6. John was clothed with camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. 7. He preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and loosen. 8. I baptized you in water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.” 9. In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10. Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting, and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11. A voice came out of the sky, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 12. Immediately the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness. 13. He was there in the wilderness forty days tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals; and the angels were serving him. 14. Now after John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Good News of God’s Kingdom, 15. and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and God’s Kingdom is at hand! Repent, and believe in the Good News.” 16. Passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you into fishers for men.” 18. Immediately they left their nets, and followed him. 19. Going on a little further from there, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. 20. Immediately he called them, and they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him. 21. They went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. 22. They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes. 23. Immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, 24. saying, “Ha! What do we have to do with you, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are: the Holy One of God!” 25. Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” 26. The unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27. They were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching? For with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him!” 28. The report of him went out immediately everywhere into all the region of Galilee and its surrounding area. 29. Immediately, when they had come out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30. Now Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 31. He came and took her by the hand, and raised her up. The fever left her, and she served them. 32. At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick, and those who were possessed by demons. 33. All the city was gathered together at the door. 34. He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. He didn’t allow the demons to speak, because they knew him. 35. Early in the morning, while it was still dark, he rose up and went out, and departed into a deserted place, and prayed there. 36. Simon and those who were with him followed after him; 37. and they found him, and told him, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38. He said to them, “Let’s go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because I came out for this reason.” 39. He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons. 40. A leper came to him, begging him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, “If you want to, you can make me clean.” 41. Being moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand, and touched him, and said to him, “I want to. Be made clean.” 42. When he had said this, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was made clean. 43. He strictly warned him, and immediately sent him out, 44. and said to him, “See you say nothing to anybody, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.” 45. But he went out, and began to proclaim it much, and to spread about the matter, so that Jesus could no more openly enter into a city, but was outside in desert places: and they came to him from everywhere. 1. When he entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was heard that he was in the house. 2. Immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even around the door; and he spoke the word to them. 3. Four people came, carrying a paralytic to him. 4. When they could not come near to him for the crowd, they removed the roof where he was. When they had broken it up, they let down the mat that the paralytic was lying on. 5. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” 6. But there were some of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 7. “Why does this man speak blasphemies like that? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8. Immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you reason these things in your hearts? 9. Which is easier, to tell the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Arise, and take up your bed, and walk?’ 10. But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11. “I tell you, arise, take up your mat, and go to your house.” 12. He arose, and immediately took up the mat, and went out in front of them all; so that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” 13. He went out again by the seaside. All the multitude came to him, and he taught them. 14. As he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he arose and followed him. 15. He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him. 16. The scribes and the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?” 17. When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” 18. John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and they came and asked him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?” 19. Jesus said to them, “Can the groomsmen fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they can’t fast. 20. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then will they fast in that day. 21. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, or else the patch shrinks and the new tears away from the old, and a worse hole is made. 22. No one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine pours out, and the skins will be destroyed; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins.” 23. He was going on the Sabbath day through the grain fields, and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of grain. 24. The Pharisees said to him, “Behold, why do they do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath day?” 25. He said to them, “Did you never read what David did, when he had need, and was hungry—he, and those who were with him? 26. How he entered into God’s house at the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the show bread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him?” 27. He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28. Therefore the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” 1. He entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had his hand withered. 2. They watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him. 3. He said to the man who had his hand withered, “Stand up.” 4. He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?” But they were silent. 5. When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored as healthy as the other. 6. The Pharisees went out, and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. 7. Jesus withdrew to the sea with his disciples, and a great multitude followed him from Galilee, from Judea, 8. from Jerusalem, from Idumaea, beyond the Jordan, and those from around Tyre and Sidon. A great multitude, hearing what great things he did, came to him. 9. He spoke to his disciples that a little boat should stay near him because of the crowd, so that they wouldn’t press on him. 10. For he had healed many, so that as many as had diseases pressed on him that they might touch him. 11. The unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, “You are the Son of God!” 12. He sternly warned them that they should not make him known. 13. He went up into the mountain, and called to himself those whom he wanted, and they went to him. 14. He appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach, 15. and to have authority to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: 16. Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17. James the son of Zebedee; and John, the brother of James, (whom he called Boanerges, which means, Sons of Thunder); 18. Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James, the son of Alphaeus; Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot; 19. and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. Then he came into a house. 20. The multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21. When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him: for they said, “He is insane.” 22. The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons.” 23. He summoned them, and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24. If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26. If Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he can’t stand, but has an end. 27. But no one can enter into the house of the strong man to plunder, unless he first binds the strong man; and then he will plunder his house. 28. Most certainly I tell you, all sins of the descendants of man will be forgiven, including their blasphemies with which they may blaspheme; 29. but whoever may blaspheme against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.” 30. —because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.” 31. His mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling him. 32. A multitude was sitting around him, and they told him, “Behold, your mother, your brothers, and your sisters are outside looking for you.” 33. He answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34. Looking around at those who sat around him, he said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers! 35. For whoever does the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.”

1. I will extol you, Yahweh, for you have raised me up, and have not made my foes to rejoice over me. 2. Yahweh my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me. 3. Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 4. Sing praise to Yahweh, you saints of his. Give thanks to his holy name. 5. For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning. 6. As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” 7. You, Yahweh, when you favored me, made my mountain stand strong; but when you hid your face, I was troubled. 8. I cried to you, Yahweh. I made supplication to the Lord: 9. “What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? Shall it declare your truth? 10. Hear, Yahweh, and have mercy on me. Yahweh, be my helper.” 11. You have turned my mourning into dancing for me. You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness, 12. To the end that my heart may sing praise to you, and not be silent. Yahweh my God, I will give thanks to you forever!