Hosea 1; Hosea 2; Hosea 3; Hosea 4; Revelation 1

Hosea 1

1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel.

2 When the Lord first spoke to Hosea, He said this to him: Go and marry a promiscuous wife and [have] children of promiscuity, for the whole land has been promiscuous by abandoning the Lord.

3 So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 Then the Lord said to him: Name him Jezreel, for in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu and put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

6 She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter, and the Lord said to him: Name her No Compassion, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel. I will certainly take them away.

7 But I will have compassion on the house of Judah, and I will deliver them by the Lord their God. I will not deliver them by bow, sword, or war, or by horses and cavalry.

8 After Gomer had weaned No Compassion, she conceived and gave birth to a son.

9 Then the Lord said: Name him Not My People, for you are not My people, and I will not be your God.

10 Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And in the place where they were told: You are not My people, they will be called: Sons of the living God.

11 And the Judeans and the Israelites will be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves a single ruler, and go up from the land. For the day of Jezreel will be great.

Hosea 2

1 Call your brothers: My People and your sisters: Compassion.

2 Rebuke your mother; rebuke [her]. For she is not My wife and I am not her husband. Let her remove the promiscuous look from her face and her adultery from between her breasts.

3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her as she was on the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and like a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst.

4 I will have no compassion on her children because they are the children of promiscuity.

5 For their mother is promiscuous; she conceived them and acted shamefully. For she thought: I will go after my lovers, the men who give me my food and water, my wool and flax, my oil and drink.

6 Therefore, this is what I will do: I will block her way with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so that she cannot find her paths.

7 She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will seek them but not find [them]. Then she will think: I will go back to my former husband, for then it was better for me than now.

8 She does not recognize that it is I who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil. I lavished silver and gold on her, which they used for Baal.

9 Therefore, I will take back My grain in its time and My new wine in its season; I will take away My wool and linen, which were to cover her nakedness.

10 Now I will expose her shame in the sight of her lovers, and no one will rescue her from My hands.

11 I will put an end to all her celebrations: her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths- all her festivals.

12 I will devastate her vines and fig trees. She thinks that these are her wages that her lovers have given her. I will turn them into a thicket, and the wild animals will eat them.

13 And I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, put on her rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but forgot Me. [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration.

14 Therefore, I am going to persuade her, lead her to the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.

15 There I will give her vineyards back to her and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as [she did] in the days of her youth, as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.

16 In that day- the Lord's declaration- you will call [Me]: My husband, and no longer call Me: My Baal.

17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth; they will no longer be remembered by their names.

18 On that day I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will shatter bow, sword, and weapons of war in the land and will enable the people to rest securely.

19 I will take you to be My wife forever. I will take you to be My wife in righteousness, justice, love, and compassion.

20 I will take you to be My wife in faithfulness, and you will know the Lord.

21 On that day I will respond- the Lord's declaration. I will respond to the sky, and it will respond to the earth.

22 The earth will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.

23 I will sow her in the land for Myself, and I will have compassion on No Compassion; I will say to Not My People: You are My people, and he will say: [You are] My God.

Hosea 3

1 Then the Lord said to me, "Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes."

2 So I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and five bushels of barley.

3 I said to her, "You must live with me many days. Don't be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way toward you."

4 For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or household idols.

5 Afterwards, the people of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come with awe to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days.

Hosea 4

1 Hear the word of the Lord, people of Israel, for the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land: There is no truth, no faithful love, and no knowledge of God in the land!

2 Cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.

3 For this reason the land mourns, and everyone who lives in it languishes, along with the wild animals and the birds of the sky; even the fish of the sea disappear.

4 But let no one dispute; let no one argue, for My case is against you priests.

5 You will stumble by day; the prophet will also stumble with you by night. And I will destroy your mother.

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from serving as My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons.

7 The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me. I will change their honor into disgrace.

8 They feed on the sin of My people; they have an appetite for their transgressions.

9 [The same judgment] will happen to both people and priests. I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.

10 They will eat but not be satisfied; they will be promiscuous but not multiply; for they have abandoned their devotion to the Lord.

11 Promiscuity, wine, and new wine take away [one's] understanding.

12 My people consult their wooden [idols], and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of promiscuity leads them astray; they act promiscuously in disobedience to their God.

13 They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and they burn offerings on the hills, and under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters act promiscuously and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

14 I will not punish your daughters when they act promiscuously or your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, for the men themselves go off with prostitutes and make sacrifices with cult prostitutes. People without discernment are doomed.

15 Israel, if you act promiscuously, don't let Judah become guilty! Do not go to Gilgal or make a pilgrimage to Beth-aven, and do not swear an oath: As the Lord lives!

16 For Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn cow. Can the Lord now shepherd them like a lamb in an open meadow?

17 Ephraim is attached to idols; leave him alone!

18 When their drinking is over, they turn to promiscuity. Israel's leaders fervently love disgrace.

19 A wind with its wings will carry them off, and they will be ashamed of their sacrifices.

Revelation 1

1 The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave Him to show His slaves what must quickly take place. He sent it and signified it through His angel to His slave John,

2 who testified to God's word and to the testimony about Jesus Christ, in all he saw.

3 Blessed is the one who reads and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it, because the time is near!

4 John: To the seven churches in the province of Asia. Grace and peace to you from the One who is, who was, and who is coming; from the seven spirits before His throne;

5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by His blood,

6 and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father-to Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

7 Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, including those who pierced Him. And all the families of the earth will mourn over Him. This is certain. Amen.

8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "the One who is, who was, and who is coming, the Almighty."

9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation, kingdom, and perseverance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of God's word and the testimony about Jesus.

10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet

11 saying, "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea."

12 I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. When I turned I saw seven gold lampstands,

13 and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man, dressed in a long robe, and with a gold sash wrapped around His chest.

14 His head and hair were white like wool-white as snow, His eyes like a fiery flame,

15 His feet like fine bronze fired in a furnace, and His voice like the sound of cascading waters.

16 In His right hand He had seven stars; from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was shining like the sun at midday.

17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. He laid His right hand on me, and said, "Don't be afraid! I am the First and the Last,

18 and the Living One. I was dead, but look-I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.

19 Therefore write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this.

20 The secret of the seven stars you saw in My right hand, and of the seven gold lampstands, is this: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.