Reading the Old Testament

New International Version: 303 of 324 days

• Hosea 13
• 1. When Ephraim spoke, men trembled; he was exalted in Israel. But he became guilty of Baal worship and died.
• 2. Now they sin more and more; they make idols for themselves from their silver, cleverly fashioned images, all of them the work of craftsmen. It is said of these people, "They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calf-idols."
• 3. Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears, like chaff swirling from a threshing floor, like smoke escaping through a window.
• 4. "But I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but me, no Savior except me.
• 5. I cared for you in the desert, in the land of burning heat.
• 6. When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.
• 7. So I will come upon them like a lion, like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
• 8. Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them and rip them open. Like a lion I will devour them; a wild animal will tear them apart.
• 9. "You are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against me, against your helper.
• 10. Where is your king, that he may save you? Where are your rulers in all your towns, of whom you said, 'Give me a king and princes'?
• 11. So in my anger I gave you a king, and in my wrath I took him away.
• 12. The guilt of Ephraim is stored up, his sins are kept on record.
• 13. Pains as of a woman in childbirth come to him, but he is a child without wisdom; when the time arrives, he does not come to the opening of the womb.
• 14. "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? "I will have no compassion,
• 15. even though he thrives among his brothers. An east wind from the LORD will come, blowing in from the desert; his spring will fail and his well dry up. His storehouse will be plundered of all its treasures.
• 16. The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open."
• Hosea 14
• 1. Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall!
• 2. Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
• 3. Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount war-horses. We will never again say 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion."
• 4. "I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.
• 5. I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots;
• 6. his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
• 7. Men will dwell again in his shade. He will flourish like the grain. He will blossom like a vine, and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon.
• 8. O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a green pine tree; your fruitfulness comes from me."
• 9. Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.

New International Version