Hosea 10
The Lordâs Judgment against Israel
How prosperous Israel isâ
a luxuriant vine loaded with fruit.
But the richer the people get,
the more pagan altars they build.
The more bountiful their harvests,
the more beautiful their sacred pillars.
2 The hearts of the people are fickle;
they are guilty and must be punished.
The Lord will break down their altars
and smash their sacred pillars.
3 Then they will say, âWe have no king
because we didnât fear the Lord.
But even if we had a king,
what could he do for us anyway?â
4 They spout empty words
and make covenants they donât intend to keep.
So injustice springs up among them
like poisonous weeds in a farmerâs field.
5 The people of Samaria tremble in fear
for their calf idol at Beth-aven,
and they mourn for it.
Though its priests rejoice over it,
its glory will be stripped away.
6 This idol will be carted away to Assyria,
a gift to the great king there.
Ephraim will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed,
because its people have trusted in this idol.
7 Samaria and its king will be cut off;
they will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave.
8 And the pagan shrines of Aven, the place of Israelâs sin, will crumble.
Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars.
They will beg the mountains, âBury us!â
and plead with the hills, âFall on us!â
9 The Lord says, âO Israel, ever since Gibeah,
there has been only sin and more sin!
You have made no progress whatsoever.
Was it not right that the wicked men of Gibeah were attacked?
10 Now whenever it fits my plan,
I will attack you, too.
I will call out the armies of the nations
to punish you for your multiplied sins.
11 âIsrael is like a trained heifer treading out the grainâ
an easy job she loves.
But I will put a heavy yoke on her tender neck.
I will force Judah to pull the plow
and Israel to break up the hard ground.
12 I said, âPlant the good seeds of righteousness,
and you will harvest a crop of love.
Plow up the hard ground of your hearts,
for now is the time to seek the Lord,
that he may come
and shower righteousness upon you.â
13 âBut you have cultivated wickedness
and harvested a thriving crop of sins.
You have eaten the fruit of liesâ
trusting in your military might,
believing that great armies
could make your nation safe.
14 Now the terrors of war
will rise among your people.
All your fortifications will fall,
just as when Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel.
Even mothers and children
were dashed to death there.
15 You will share that fate, Bethel,
because of your great wickedness.
When the day of judgment dawns,
the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.
Hosea 11
The Lordâs Love for Israel
âWhen Israel was a child, I loved him,
and I called my son out of Egypt.
2 But the more I called to him,
the farther he moved from me,
offering sacrifices to the images of Baal
and burning incense to idols.
3 I myself taught Israel how to walk,
leading him along by the hand.
But he doesnât know or even care
that it was I who took care of him.
4 I led Israel along
with my ropes of kindness and love.
I lifted the yoke from his neck,
and I myself stooped to feed him.
5 âBut since my people refuse to return to me,
they will return to Egypt
and will be forced to serve Assyria.
6 War will swirl through their cities;
their enemies will crash through their gates.
They will destroy them,
trapping them in their own evil plans.
7 For my people are determined to desert me.
They call me the Most High,
but they donât truly honor me.
8 âOh, how can I give you up, Israel?
How can I let you go?
How can I destroy you like Admah
or demolish you like Zeboiim?
My heart is torn within me,
and my compassion overflows.
9 No, I will not unleash my fierce anger.
I will not completely destroy Israel,
for I am God and not a mere mortal.
I am the Holy One living among you,
and I will not come to destroy.
10 For someday the people will follow me.
I, the Lord, will roar like a lion.
And when I roar,
my people will return trembling from the west.
11 Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt.
Trembling like doves, they will return from Assyria.
And I will bring them home again,â
says the Lord.
Charges against Israel and Judah
12 Israel surrounds me with lies and deceit,
but Judah still obeys God
and is faithful to the Holy One.
Hosea 12
The people of Israel feed on the wind;
they chase after the east wind all day long.
They pile up lies and violence;
they are making an alliance with Assyria
while sending olive oil to buy support from Egypt.
2 Now the Lord is bringing charges against Judah.
He is about to punish Jacob for all his deceitful ways,
and pay him back for all he has done.
3 Even in the womb,
Jacob struggled with his brother;
when he became a man,
he even fought with God.
4 Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won.
He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him.
There at Bethel he met God face to face,
and God spoke to himâ
5 the Lord God of Heavenâs Armies,
the Lord is his name!
6 So now, come back to your God.
Act with love and justice,
and always depend on him.
7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants
selling from dishonest scalesâ
they love to cheat.
8 Israel boasts, âI am rich!
Iâve made a fortune all by myself!
No one has caught me cheating!
My record is spotless!â
9 âBut I am the Lord your God,
who rescued you from slavery in Egypt.
And I will make you live in tents again,
as you do each year at the Festival of Shelters.
10 I sent my prophets to warn you
with many visions and parables.â
11 But the people of Gilead are worthless
because of their idol worship.
And in Gilgal, too, they sacrifice bulls;
their altars are lined up like the heaps of stone
along the edges of a plowed field.
12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram,
and there he earned a wife by tending sheep.
13 Then by a prophet
the Lord brought Jacobâs descendants out of Egypt;
and by that prophet
they were protected.
14 But the people of Israel
have bitterly provoked the Lord,
so their Lord will now sentence them to death
in payment for their sins.
Hosea 13
The Lordâs Anger against Israel
When the tribe of Ephraim spoke,
the people shook with fear,
for that tribe was important in Israel.
But the people of Ephraim sinned by worshiping Baal
and thus sealed their destruction.
2 Now they continue to sin by making silver idols,
images shaped skillfully with human hands.
âSacrifice to these,â they cry,
âand kiss the calf idols!â
3 Therefore, they will disappear like the morning mist,
like dew in the morning sun,
like chaff blown by the wind,
like smoke from a chimney.
4 âI have been the Lord your God
ever since I brought you out of Egypt.
You must acknowledge no God but me,
for there is no other savior.
5 I took care of you in the wilderness,
in that dry and thirsty land.
6 But when you had eaten and were satisfied,
you became proud and forgot me.
7 So now I will attack you like a lion,
like a leopard that lurks along the road.
8 Like a bear whose cubs have been taken away,
I will tear out your heart.
I will devour you like a hungry lioness
and mangle you like a wild animal.
9 âYou are about to be destroyed, O Israelâ
yes, by me, your only helper.
10 Now where is your king?
Let him save you!
Where are all the leaders of the land,
the king and the officials you demanded of me?
11 In my anger I gave you kings,
and in my fury I took them away.
12 âEphraimâs guilt has been collected,
and his sin has been stored up for punishment.
13 Pain has come to the people
like the pain of childbirth,
but they are like a child
who resists being born.
The moment of birth has arrived,
but they stay in the womb!
14 âShould I ransom them from the grave?
Should I redeem them from death?
O death, bring on your terrors!
O grave, bring on your plagues!
For I will not take pity on them.
15 Ephraim was the most fruitful of all his brothers,
but the east windâa blast from the Lordâ
will arise in the desert.
All their flowing springs will run dry,
and all their wells will disappear.
Every precious thing they own
will be plundered and carried away.
16 The people of Samaria
must bear the consequences of their guilt
because they rebelled against their God.
They will be killed by an invading army,
their little ones dashed to death against the ground,
their pregnant women ripped open by swords.â
Revelation 7
Godâs People Will Be Preserved
Then I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds so they did not blow on the earth or the sea, or even on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel coming up from the east, carrying the seal of the living God. And he shouted to those four angels, who had been given power to harm land and sea, 3 âWait! Donât harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on the foreheads of his servants.â
4 And I heard how many were marked with the seal of Godâ144,000 were sealed from all the tribes of Israel:
5 from Judah 12,000 from Reuben 12,000 from Gad 12,000 6 from Asher 12,000 from Naphtali 12,000 from Manasseh 12,000 7 from Simeon 12,000 from Levi 12,000 from Issachar 12,000 8 from Zebulun 12,000 from Joseph 12,000 from Benjamin 12,000Praise from the Great Crowd
9 After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were shouting with a great roar,
âSalvation comes from our God who sits on the throne
and from the Lamb!â
11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God. 12 They sang,
âAmen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and strength belong to our God
forever and ever! Amen.â
13 Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, âWho are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?â
14 And I said to him, âSir, you are the one who knows.â
Then he said to me, âThese are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.
15 âThat is why they stand in front of Godâs throne
and serve him day and night in his Temple.
And he who sits on the throne
will give them shelter.
16 They will never again be hungry or thirsty;
they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun.
17 For the Lamb on the throne
will be their Shepherd.
He will lead them to springs of life-giving water.
And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.â
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.