One Year Bible

Hosea 6:1-9:17

The Unrepentance of Israel and Judah

1 Come, let us return to the Lord.

For He has torn us to pieces,

but He will heal us;

He has wounded us,

but He will bind up our wounds.

2 After two days He will revive us;

on the third day He will raise us up,

that we may live in His presence.

3 So let us know —

let us press on to know the Lord.

As surely as the sun rises,

He will appear;

He will come to us like the rain,

like the spring showers that water the earth.

4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?

What shall I do with you, O Judah?

For your loyalty is like a morning mist,

like the early dew that vanishes.

5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;

I have slain them by the words of My mouth,

and My judgments go forth like lightning.

6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,

and the knowledge of God

rather than burnt offerings.

7 But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant;

there they were unfaithful to Me.

8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,

tracked with footprints of blood.

9 Like raiders who lie in ambush,

so does a band of priests;

they murder on the way to Shechem;

surely they have committed atrocities.

10 In the house of Israel

I have seen a horrible thing:

Ephraim practices prostitution there,

and Israel is defiled.

11 Also for you, O Judah,

a harvest is appointed,

when I restore

My people from captivity.

Ephraim’s Iniquity

1 When I heal Israel,

the iniquity of Ephraim will be exposed,

as well as the crimes of Samaria.

For they practice deceit and thieves break in;

bandits raid in the streets.

2 But they fail to consider in their hearts

that I remember all their evil.

Now their deeds are all around them;

they are before My face.

3 They delight the king with their evil,

and the princes with their lies.

4 They are all adulterers,

like an oven heated by a baker

who needs not stoke the fire

from the kneading to the rising of the dough.

5 The princes are inflamed with wine

on the day of our king;

so he joins hands

with those who mock him.

6 For they prepare their heart like an oven

while they lie in wait;

all night their anger smolders;

in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

7 All of them are hot as an oven,

and they devour their rulers.

All their kings fall;

not one of them calls upon Me.

8 Ephraim mixes with the nations;

Ephraim is an unturned cake.

9 Foreigners consume his strength,

but he does not notice.

Even his hair is streaked with gray,

but he does not know.

10 Israel’s arrogance testifies against them,

yet they do not return to the Lord their God;

despite all this, they do not seek Him.

11 So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove —

calling out to Egypt, then turning to Assyria.

12 As they go, I will spread My net over them;

I will bring them down like birds of the air.

I will chastise them

when I hear them flocking together.

13 Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me!

Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against Me!

Though I would redeem them,

they speak lies against Me.

14 They do not cry out to Me from their hearts

when they wail upon their beds.

They slash themselves for grain and new wine,

but turn away from Me.

15 Although I trained and strengthened their arms,

they plot evil against Me.

16 They turn, but not to the Most High;

they are like a faulty bow.

Their leaders will fall by the sword

for the cursing of their tongue;

for this they will be ridiculed

in the land of Egypt.

Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind

1 Put the ram’s horn to your lips!

An eagle looms over the house of the Lord,

because the people have transgressed My covenant

and rebelled against My law.

2 Israel cries out to Me,

“O our God, we know You!”

3 But Israel has rejected good;

an enemy will pursue him.

4 They set up kings, but not by Me.

They make princes, but without My approval.

With their silver and gold they make themselves idols,

to their own destruction.

5 He has rejected your calf, O Samaria.

My anger burns against them.

How long will they be

incapable of innocence?

6 For this thing is from Israel—

a craftsman made it, and it is not God.

It will be broken to pieces,

that calf of Samaria.

7 For they sow the wind,

and they shall reap the whirlwind.

There is no standing grain;

what sprouts fails to yield flour.

Even if it should produce,

the foreigners would swallow it up.

8 Israel is swallowed up!

Now they are among the nations

like a worthless vessel.

9 For they have gone up to Assyria

like a wild donkey on its own.

Ephraim has hired lovers.

10 Though they hire allies among the nations,

I will now round them up,

and they will begin to diminish

under the oppression of the king of princes.

11 Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin,

they became his altars for sinning.

12 Though I wrote for them the great things of My law,

they regarded them as something strange.

13 Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me,

and though they eat the meat,

the Lord does not accept them.

Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins:

They will return to Egypt.

14 Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces;

Judah has multiplied its fortified cities.

But I will send fire upon their cities,

and it will consume their citadels.

Israel’s Punishment

1 Do not rejoice, O Israel,

with exultation like the nations,

for you have played the harlot against your God;

you have made love for hire on every threshing floor.

2 The threshing floor and winepress will not feed them,

and the new wine will fail them.

3 They will not remain

in the land of the Lord;

Ephraim will return to Egypt

and eat unclean food in Assyria.

4 They will not pour out wine offerings to the Lord,

and their sacrifices will not please Him,

but will be to them like the bread of mourners;

all who eat will be defiled.

For their bread will be for themselves;

it will not enter the house of the Lord.

5 What will you do on the appointed day,

on the day of the Lord’s feast?

6 For even if they flee destruction,

Egypt will gather them

and Memphis will bury them.

Their precious silver will be taken over by thistles,

and thorns will overrun their tents.

7 The days of punishment have come;

the days of retribution have arrived —

let Israel know it.

The prophet is called a fool,

and the inspired man insane,

because of the greatness

of your iniquity and hostility.

8 The prophet is Ephraim’s watchman,

along with my God,

yet the snare of the fowler lies on all his paths.

Hostility is in the house of his God!

9 They have deeply corrupted themselves

as in the days of Gibeah;

He will remember their guilt;

He will punish their sins.

10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness.

I saw your fathers as the firstfruits

of the fig tree in its first season.

But they went to Baal-peor,

and consecrated themselves to Shame;

so they became as detestable

as the thing they loved.

11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird,

with no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.

12 Even if they raise their children,

I will bereave them of each one.

Yes, woe be to them

when I turn away from them!

13 I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre,

planted in a meadow.

But Ephraim will bring out

his children for slaughter.

14 Give them, O LORD—

what will You give?

Give them wombs that miscarry

and breasts that dry up!

15 All their evil appears at Gilgal,

for there I hated them.

I will drive them from My house

for the wickedness of their deeds.

I will no longer love them;

all their leaders are rebellious.

16 Ephraim is struck down;

their root is withered;

they cannot bear fruit.

Even if they bear children,

I will slay the darlings of their wombs.

17 My God will reject them

because they have not obeyed Him;

and they shall be wanderers

among the nations.

3 John 1:1-15

A Greeting from the Elder

(2 John 1:1–3)

1 The elder,

To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth:

2 Beloved, I pray that in every way you may prosper and enjoy good health, as your soul also prospers. 3For I was overjoyed when the brothers came and testified about your devotion to the truth, in which you continue to walk. 4I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Gaius Commended for Hospitality

5 Beloved, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, and especially since they are strangers to you. 6They have testified to the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7For they went out on behalf of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

Diotrephes and Demetrius

9 I have written to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not accept our instruction. 10So if I come, I will call attention to his malicious slander against us. And unsatisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and forbids those who want to do so, even putting them out of the church.

11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.

12 Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also testify for him, and you know that our testimony is true.

Conclusion

(2 John 1:12–13)

13 I have many things to write to you, but I would prefer not to do so with pen and ink. 14Instead, I hope to see you soon and speak with you face to face.

Peace to you.

The friends here send you greetings.

Greet each of our friends there by name.

Psalm 126:1-6

Zion’s Captives Restored

1 A song of ascents.

When the Lord restored the captives of Zion,

we were like dreamers.

2 Then our mouths were filled with laughter,

our tongues with shouts of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,

“The Lord has done great things for them.”

3 The Lord has done great things for us;

we are filled with joy.

4 Restore our captives, O LORD,

like streams in the Negev.

5 Those who sow in tears

will reap with shouts of joy.

6 He who goes out weeping,

bearing a trail of seed,

will surely return with shouts of joy,

carrying sheaves of grain.

Proverbs 29:12-14

12 If a ruler listens to lies,

all his officials will be wicked.

13 The poor man and the oppressor have this in common:

The Lord gives light to the eyes of both.

14 A king who judges the poor with fairness—

his throne will be established forever.

sozo church

One Year Bible

Hosea 6:1-9:17

3 John 1:1-15

Psalm 126:1-6

Proverbs 29:12-14