Hosea 12; Hosea 13; Hosea 14; Revelation 4

1 Ephraim chases the wind and pursues the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and violence. He makes a covenant with Assyria, and olive oil is carried to Egypt.

2 The Lord also has a dispute with Judah. He is about to punish Jacob according to his ways; He will repay him based on his actions.

3 In the womb he grasped his brother's heel, and as an adult he wrestled with God.

4 Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor. He found him at Bethel, and there He spoke with him.

5 Yahweh is the God of Hosts; Yahweh is His name.

6 But you must return to your God. Maintain love and justice, and always put your hope in God.

7 A merchant loves to extort with dishonest scales in his hands.

8 But Ephraim says: "How rich I have become; I made it all myself. In all my earnings, no one can find any crime in me that I can be punished for!"

9 I have been the Lord your God ever since the land of Egypt. I will make you live in tents again, as in the festival days.

10 I spoke through the prophets and granted many visions; I gave parables through the prophets.

11 Since Gilead is full of evil, they will certainly come to nothing. They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal; even their altars will be like heaps of rocks on the furrows of a field.

12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram. Israel worked to earn a wife; he tended flocks for a wife.

13 The Lord brought Israel from Egypt by a prophet, and Israel was tended by a prophet.

14 Ephraim has provoked bitter anger, so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him and repay him for his contempt.

1 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel. But he incurred guilt through Baal and died.

2 Now they continue to sin and make themselves a cast image, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. People say about them, "Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves."

3 Therefore, they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, or like smoke from a window.

4 I have been the Lord your God ever since the land of Egypt; you know no God but Me, and no Savior exists besides Me.

5 I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

6 When they had pasture, they became satisfied; they were satisfied, and their hearts became proud. Therefore they forgot Me.

7 So I will be like a lion to them; I will lurk like a leopard on the path.

8 I will attack them like a bear robbed of her cubs and tear open the rib cage over their hearts. I will devour them there like a lioness, like a wild beast that would rip them open.

9 I will destroy you, Israel; you have no help but Me.

10 Where now is your king, that he may save you in all your cities, and the rulers you demanded, saying: Give me a king and leaders?

11 I give you a king in My anger and take away [a king] in My wrath.

12 Ephraim's guilt is preserved; his sin is stored up.

13 Labor pains come on him. He is not a wise son; when the time comes, he will not be born.

14 I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death. Death, where are your barbs? Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from My eyes.

15 Although he flourishes among [his] brothers, an east wind will come, a wind from the Lord rising up from the desert. His water source will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder the treasury of every precious item.

16 Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

1 Israel, return to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in your sin.

2 Take words [of repentance] with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him: "Forgive all [our] sin and accept what is good, so that we may repay You with praise from our lips.

3 Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will no longer proclaim: Our gods! to the work of our hands. For the fatherless receives compassion in You."

4 I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger will have turned from him.

5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like [the cedars of] Lebanon.

6 His new branches will spread, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, his fragrance, like [the forest of] Lebanon.

7 The people will return and live beneath his shade. They will grow grain and blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

8 Ephraim, why should I have anything more to do with idols? It is I who answer and watch over him. I am like a flourishing pine tree; your fruit comes from Me.

9 Let whoever is wise understand these things, and whoever is insightful recognize them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.

1 After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."

2 Immediately I was in the Spirit, and there in heaven a throne was set. One was seated on the throne,

3 and the One seated looked like jasper and carnelian stone. A rainbow that looked like an emerald surrounded the throne.

4 Around that throne were 24 thrones, and on the thrones sat 24 elders dressed in white clothes, with gold crowns on their heads.

5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, and thunder. Burning before the throne were seven fiery torches, which are the seven spirits of God.

6 Also before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the middle and around the throne were four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back.

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

8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is coming.

9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One seated on the throne, the One who lives forever and ever,

10 the 24 elders fall down before the One seated on the throne, worship the One who lives forever and ever, cast their crowns before the throne, and say:

11 Our Lord and God, You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because You have created all things, and because of Your will they exist and were created.