Through the Bible – Day 347

Bible text(s)

Hosea 8

Israel rejects the LORD

The LORD said:

1Sound a warning!

Israel, you broke our agreement

and ignored my teaching.

Now an eagle is swooping down

to attack my land.

2Israel, you say, “We claim you,

the LORD, as our God.”

3But your enemies

will chase you for rejecting

our good agreement.

4You chose kings and leaders

without consulting me;

you made silver and gold idols

that led to your downfall.

5City of Samaria, I'm angry

because of your idol

in the shape of a calf.

When will you ever

be innocent again?

6Someone from Israel built

that idol for you,

but only I am God.

And so it will be smashed

to pieces.

7If you scatter wind

instead of wheat,

you will harvest a whirlwind

and have no wheat.

Even if you harvest grain,

enemies will steal it all.

8Israel, you are ruined,

and now the nations

consider you worthless.

9You are like a wild donkey

that goes its own way.

You've run off to Assyria

and hired them as allies.

10You can bargain with nations,

but I'll catch you anyway.

Soon you will suffer abuse

by kings and rulers.

11Israel, you have built

many altars where you offer

sacrifices for sin.

But these altars have become

places for sin.

12My instructions for sacrifices

were written in detail,

but you ignored them.

13You sacrifice your best animals

and eat the sacrificial meals,

but I, the LORD,

refuse your offerings.

I will remember your sins

and punish you.

Then you will return to Egypt.

14Israel, I created you,

but you forgot me.

You and Judah built palaces

and many strong cities.

Now I will send fire to destroy

your towns and fortresses.

Hosea 9

Israel will get the punishment it deserves

1Israel, don't celebrate

or make noisy shouts

like other nations.

You have been unfaithful

to your God.

Wherever grain is threshed,

you behave like prostitutes

because you enjoy

the money you receive.

2But you will run short

of grain and wine,

3and you will have to leave

the land of the LORD.

Some of you will go to Egypt;

others will go to Assyria

and eat unclean food.

4You won't be able to offer

sacrifices of wine

to the LORD.

None of your sacrifices

will please him—

they will be unclean

like food offered to the dead.

Your food will only be used

to satisfy your hunger;

none of it will be brought

to the LORD's temple.

5You will no longer be able

to celebrate the festival

of the LORD.

6Even if you escape alive,

you will end up in Egypt

and be buried in Memphis.

Your silver treasures

will be lost among weeds;

thorns will sprout in your tents.

7Israel, the time has come.

You will get what you deserve,

and you will know it.

“Prophets are fools,” you say.

“And God's messengers

are mad.”

Your terrible guilt

has filled you with hatred.

8Israel, the LORD sent me

to look after you.

But you trap his prophets

and flood his temple

with your hatred.

9You are brutal and corrupt,

as were the men of Gibeah.

But God remembers your sin,

and you will be punished.

Sin's terrible results

10Israel, when I, the LORD,

found you long ago

it was like finding

grapes in a barren desert

or tender young figs.

Then you worshipped Baal-Peor,

that disgusting idol,

and you became as disgusting

as the idol you loved.

11And so, Israel, your glory

will fly away like birds—

your women will no longer

be able to give birth.

12Even if you do have children,

I will take them all

and leave you to mourn.

I will turn away,

and you will sink down

in deep trouble.

13Israel, when I first met you,

I thought of you as palm trees

growing in fertile ground.

Now you lead your people out,

only to be slaughtered.

Hosea's advice

14Our LORD, do just one thing

for your people—

make their women unable

to have children

or to nurse their babies.

The LORD's judgment on Israel

15Israel, I first began

to hate you because

you did evil at Gilgal.

Now I will chase you

out of my house.

No longer will I love you;

your leaders betrayed me.

16Israel, you are a vine

with dried up roots

and fruitless branches.

Even if you had more children

and loved them dearly,

I would slaughter them all.

Warnings for Israel

17Israel, you disobeyed my God.

Now he will force you to roam

from nation to nation.

Hosea 10

1You were a healthy vine

covered with grapes.

But the more grapes you grew,

the more altars you built;

the better off you became,

the better shrines you set up

for pagan gods.

2You are deceitful and disloyal.

So you will pay

for your sins,

because the LORD will destroy

your altars and images.

3“We don't have a king,”

you will say.

“We don't fear the LORD.

And what good are kings?”

4Israel, you break treaties

and don't keep promises;

you turn justice

into poisonous weeds

where healthy plants should grow.

5All who live in Samaria tremble

with concern for the idols

at sinful Bethel.

The idol there was the pride

of the priests,

but it has been put to shame;

now everyone will cry.

6It will be taken to Assyria

and given to the great king.

Then Israel will be disgraced

for worshipping that idol.

7Like a twig in a stream,

the king of Samaria

will be swept away.

8The altars at sinful Bethel

will be destroyed

for causing Israel to sin;

they will be overgrown

with thorns and thistles.

Then everyone will beg

the mountains and hills

to cover and protect them.

The LORD promises to punish Israel

9Israel, you have never

stopped sinning

since that time at Gibeah.

That's why you

will be attacked at Gibeah.

10Your sins have doubled,

and you are rebellious.

Now I have decided

to send nations to attack

and put you in chains.

11Once you were obedient

like a calf

that loved to thresh grain.

But I will put a harness

on your powerful neck;

you and Judah must plough

and cultivate the ground.

12Plough your fields,

scatter seeds of justice,

and harvest faithfulness.

Worship me, the LORD,

and I will send my saving power

down like rain.

13You have planted evil,

harvested injustice, and eaten

the fruit of your lies.

You trusted your own strength

and your powerful forces.

14So war will break out,

and your fortresses

will be destroyed.

Your enemies will do to you

what Shalman did to the people

of Beth-Arbel—

mothers and their children

will be beaten to death

against rocks.

15Bethel, this will be your fate

because of your evil.

Israel, at dawn your king

will be killed.

Hosea 8:1-10:15CEVOpen in Bible reader

Revelation 4

A vision of worship in heaven

1After this, I looked and saw a door that opened into heaven. Then the voice that had spoken to me at first and that sounded like a trumpet said, “Come up here! I will show you what must happen next.” 2At once the Spirit took control of me, and there in heaven I saw a throne and someone sitting on it. 3The one who was sitting there sparkled like precious stones of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow that looked like an emerald surrounded the throne.

4Twenty-four other thrones were in a circle around that throne. And on each of these thrones there was an elder dressed in white clothes and wearing a gold crown. 5Flashes of lightning and roars of thunder came out from the throne in the centre of the circle. Seven torches, which are the seven spirits of God, were burning in front of the throne. 6Also in front of the throne was something that looked like a glass sea, clear as crystal.

Around the throne in the centre were four living creatures covered front and back with eyes. 7The first creature was like a lion, the second one was like a bull, the third one had the face of a human, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8Each of the four living creatures had six wings, and their bodies were covered with eyes. Day and night they never stopped singing,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord,

the all-powerful God,

who was and is

and is coming!”

9The living creatures kept praising, honouring, and thanking the one who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever. 10At the same time the twenty-four elders knelt down before the one sitting on the throne. And as they worshipped the one who lives for ever, they placed their crowns in front of the throne and said,

11“Our Lord and God,

you are worthy

to receive glory,

honour, and power.

You created all things,

and by your decision they are

and were created.”

Revelation 4:1-11CEVOpen in Bible reader
Canadian Bible Societyv.4.26.9
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