Day 346 of 365

Hos 1:1–3:5

1:1 The word of the Lord 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.

1:2 When the Lord spoke at the first by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking the Lord."

1:3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and bore him a son.

1:4 The Lord 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.

1:5 It will happen in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."

1:6 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.

1:7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen."

1:8 Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived, and bore a son.

1:9 He said, "Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.

1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can't be measured nor numbered; 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.'

1:11 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.

2:1 "Say to your brothers, 'My people!' and to your sisters, 'My loved one!'

2:2 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;

2:3 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.

2:4 Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy; for they are children of unfaithfulness;

2:5 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.'

2:6 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.

2:7 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.'

2:8 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.

2:9 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.

2:10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand.

2:11 I will also cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.

2:12 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.

2:13 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 the Lord.

2:14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.

2:15 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.

2:16 It will be in that day," says the Lord, "that you will call me 'my husband,' and no longer call me 'my master.'

2:17 For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name.

2:18 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.

2:19 I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.

2:20 I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord.

2:21 It will happen in that day, I will respond," says the Lord, "I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth;

2:22 and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel.

2:23 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!'"

3:1 The Lord said to me, "Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins."

3:2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley.

3:3 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."

3:4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols.

3:5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.

Rev 4:1–11

1 After these things I looked and saw a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, like a trumpet speaking with me, was one saying, "Come up here, and I will show you the things which must happen after this."

2 Immediately I was in the Spirit. Behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting on the throne.

3 And the one who sat there looked like a jasper stone and a sardius. There was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald to look at.

4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones. On the thrones were twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white garments, with crowns of gold on their heads.

5 Out of the throne proceed lightnings, sounds, and thunders. There were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

6 Before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the midst of the throne, and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind.

7 The first living creature was like a lion, and the second living creature like a calf, and the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.

8 The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!"

9 When the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever,

10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever, and throw their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your desire they existed, and were created!"

Ps 144:1–15

1 Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to battle:

2 my loving kindness, my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge; who subdues my people under me.

3 Lord, what is man, that you care for him? Or the son of man, that you think of him?

4 Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.

5 Part your heavens, Lord, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.

6 Throw out lightning, and scatter them. Send out your arrows, and rout them.

7 Stretch out your hand from above, rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, out of the hands of foreigners;

8 whose mouths speak deceit, Whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

9 I will sing a new song to you, God. On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you.

10 You are he who gives salvation to kings, who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword.

11 Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners, whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

12 Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace.

13 Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision. Our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields.

14 Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets.

15 Happy are the people who are in such a situation. Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.