Hosea 9

¹  Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations! For you have played the harlot, forsaking your God. You have loved harlots' earnings on every threshing floor. ²  Threshing floor and wine press will not feed them, And the new wine will fail them. ³  They will not remain in the LORD'S land, But Ephraim will return to Egypt, And in Assyria they will eat unclean food. ⁴  They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the LORD, Their sacrifices will not please Him. Their bread will be like mourners' bread; All who eat of it will be defiled, For their bread will be for themselves alone; It will not enter the house of the LORD. ⁵  What will you do on the day of the appointed festival And on the day of the feast of the LORD? ⁶  For behold, they will go because of destruction; Egypt will gather them up, Memphis will bury them. Weeds will take over their treasures of silver; Thorns will be in their tents. ⁷  The days of punishment have come, The days of retribution have come; Let Israel know this! The prophet is a fool, The inspired man is demented, Because of the grossness of your iniquity, And because your hostility is so great. ⁸  Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet; Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways, And there is only hostility in the house of his God. ⁹  They have gone deep in depravity As in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their iniquity, He will punish their sins. ¹⁰  I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season. But they came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame, And they became as detestable as that which they loved. ¹¹  As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird-- No birth, no pregnancy and no conception! ¹²  Though they bring up their children, Yet I will bereave them until not a man is left. Yes, woe to them indeed when I depart from them! ¹³  Ephraim, as I have seen, Is planted in a pleasant meadow like Tyre; But Ephraim will bring out his children for slaughter. ¹⁴  Give them, O LORD--what will You give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. ¹⁵  All their evil is at Gilgal; Indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house! I will love them no more; All their princes are rebels. ¹⁶  Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up, They will bear no fruit. Even though they bear children, I will slay the precious ones of their womb. ¹⁷  My God will cast them away Because they have not listened to Him; And they will be wanderers among the nations.

Hosea 10

¹  Israel is a luxuriant vine; He produces fruit for himself. The more his fruit, The more altars he made; The richer his land, The better he made the sacred pillars. ²  Their heart is faithless; Now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars And destroy their sacred pillars. ³  Surely now they will say, "We have no king, For we do not revere the LORD. As for the king, what can he do for us?" ⁴  They speak mere words, With worthless oaths they make covenants; And judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field. ⁵  The inhabitants of Samaria will fear For the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn for it, And its idolatrous priests will cry out over it, Over its glory, since it has departed from it. ⁶  The thing itself will be carried to Assyria As tribute to King Jareb; Ephraim will be seized with shame And Israel will be ashamed of its own counsel. ⁷  Samaria will be cut off with her king Like a stick on the surface of the water. ⁸  Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed; Thorn and thistle will grow on their altars; Then they will say to the mountains, "Cover us!" And to the hills, "Fall on us!" ⁹  From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel; There they stand! Will not the battle against the sons of iniquity overtake them in Gibeah? ¹⁰  When it is My desire, I will chastise them; And the peoples will be gathered against them When they are bound for their double guilt. ¹¹  Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh, But I will come over her fair neck with a yoke; I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, Jacob will harrow for himself. ¹²  Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD Until He comes to rain righteousness on you. ¹³  You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, You have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your way, in your numerous warriors, ¹⁴  Therefore a tumult will arise among your people, And all your fortresses will be destroyed, As Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle, When mothers were dashed in pieces with their children. ¹⁵  Thus it will be done to you at Bethel because of your great wickedness. At dawn the king of Israel will be completely cut off.

Hosea 11

¹  When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son. ²  The more they called them, The more they went from them; They kept sacrificing to the Baals And burning incense to idols. ³  Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in My arms; But they did not know that I healed them. ⁴  I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; And I bent down and fed them. ⁵  They will not return to the land of Egypt; But Assyria--he will be their king Because they refused to return to Me. ⁶  The sword will whirl against their cities, And will demolish their gate bars And consume them because of their counsels. ⁷  So My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call them to the One on high, None at all exalts Him. ⁸  How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned over within Me, All My compassions are kindled. ⁹  I will not execute My fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, And I will not come in wrath. ¹⁰  They will walk after the LORD, He will roar like a lion; Indeed He will roar And His sons will come trembling from the west. ¹¹  They will come trembling like birds from Egypt And like doves from the land of Assyria; And I will settle them in their houses, declares the LORD. ¹²  Ephraim surrounds Me with lies And the house of Israel with deceit; Judah is also unruly against God, Even against the Holy One who is faithful.

Revelation 3

¹  "To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ' I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. ²  'Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. ³  'So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. ⁴  'But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. ⁵  ' He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. ⁶  ' He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' ⁷  "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this: ⁸  ' I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. ⁹  'Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie--I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. ¹⁰  'Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. ¹¹  ' I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. ¹²  ' He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. ¹³  ' He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' ¹⁴  "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: ¹⁵  ' I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. ¹⁶  'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. ¹⁷  'Because you say, " I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, ¹⁸  I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. ¹⁹  ' Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. ²⁰  'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. ²¹  ' He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. ²²  ' He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'"