Hosea 7-10

English Standard Version

7 ^(A)when I would heal Israel,
    the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,
    and the evil deeds of ^(B)Samaria,
for ^(C)they deal falsely;
    the thief breaks in,
    and the bandits raid outside.
²But they do not consider
    that ^(D)I remember all their evil.
Now ^(E)their deeds surround them;
    ^(F)they are before my face.
³By their evil ^(G)they make ^(H)the king glad,
    and the princes by their treachery.
⁴^(I)They are all adulterers;
    they are like a heated oven
whose baker ceases to stir the fire,
    from the kneading of the dough
    until it is leavened.
⁵On the day of ^(J)our king, the princes
    became sick with the heat of wine;
    he stretched out his hand with mockers.
⁶For with hearts like an oven ^(K)they approach their intrigue;
    all night their anger smolders;
    in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
⁷All of them are hot as an oven,
    and they devour their rulers.
All ^(L)their kings ^(M)have fallen,
    and none of them calls upon me.

⁸Ephraim ^(N)mixes himself with the peoples;
    Ephraim is a cake not turned.
⁹^(O)Strangers devour his strength,
    and ^(P)he knows it not;
gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,
    and ^(Q)he knows it not.
¹⁰^(R)The pride of Israel testifies to his face;^[a]
    ^(S)yet they do not return to the Lord their God,
    nor seek him, for all this.

¹¹Ephraim is like a dove,
    ^(T)silly and without sense,
    calling to ^(U)Egypt, going to ^(V)Assyria.
¹²As they go, ^(W)I will spread over them my net;
    I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;
    ^(X)I will discipline them ^(Y)according to the report made to their congregation.
¹³^(Z)Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!
    Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!
^(AA)I would redeem them,
    but ^(AB)they speak lies against me.

¹⁴^(AC)They do not cry to me from the heart,
    but ^(AD)they wail upon their beds;
for grain and wine they gash themselves;
    they rebel against me.
¹⁵Although ^(AE)I trained and strengthened their arms,
    yet they devise evil against me.
¹⁶They ^(AF)return, but not upward;^[b]
    they are ^(AG)like a treacherous bow;
their princes shall fall by the sword
    because of ^(AH)the insolence of their tongue.
This shall be their derision ^(AI)in the land of Egypt.

Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind

8 Set ^(AJ)the trumpet to your lips!
    One ^(AK)like a vulture is over the house of the Lord,
because ^(AL)they have transgressed my covenant
    and rebelled against my law.
²To me they cry,
    ^(AM)“My God, we—Israel—know you.”
³Israel has spurned the good;
    the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴^(AN)They made kings, ^(AO)but not through me.
    They set up princes, but I knew it not.
With their silver and gold they made idols
    for their own destruction.
⁵^(AP)I have^[c] spurned your calf, O Samaria.
    My anger burns against them.
^(AQ)How long will they be incapable of innocence?
⁶For it is from Israel;
a craftsman made it;
    it is not God.
^(AR)The calf of Samaria
    ^(AS)shall be broken to pieces.^[d]

⁷For ^(AT)they sow the wind,
    and they shall reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain has no heads;
    it shall yield no flour;
if it were to yield,
    ^(AU)strangers would devour it.
⁸^(AV)Israel is swallowed up;
    already they are among the nations
    as ^(AW)a useless vessel.
⁹For ^(AX)they have gone up to Assyria,
    ^(AY)a wild donkey wandering alone;
    Ephraim has hired lovers.
¹⁰Though they hire allies among the nations,
    I will soon gather them up.
And ^(AZ)the king and princes ^(BA)shall soon writhe
    because of the tribute.

¹¹Because Ephraim ^(BB)has multiplied altars for sinning,
    they have become to him altars for sinning.
¹²^(BC)Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands,
    they would be regarded as a strange thing.
¹³As for my sacrificial offerings,
    ^(BD)they sacrifice meat and eat it,
    but the Lord does not accept them.
^(BE)Now he will remember their iniquity
    and punish their sins;
    ^(BF)they shall return to Egypt.
¹⁴For ^(BG)Israel has forgotten ^(BH)his Maker
    and ^(BI)built palaces,
and ^(BJ)Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
    so ^(BK)I will send a fire upon his cities,
    and it shall devour her strongholds.

The Lord Will Punish Israel

9 Rejoice not, O Israel!
    Exult not like the peoples;
^(BL)for you have played the whore, forsaking your God.
    ^(BM)You have loved a prostitute's wages
    on all threshing floors.
²^(BN)Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,
    and ^(BO)the new wine shall fail them.
³They shall not remain in ^(BP)the land of the Lord,
    but ^(BQ)Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
    and ^(BR)they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

⁴^(BS)They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,
    ^(BT)and their sacrifices shall not please him.
It shall be like ^(BU)mourners' bread to them;
    all who eat of it shall be defiled;
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
    ^(BV)it shall not come to the house of the Lord.

⁵^(BW)What will you do on the day of the appointed festival,
    and on the day of the feast of the Lord?
⁶For behold, they are going away from destruction;
    but ^(BX)Egypt shall gather them;
    Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess ^(BY)their precious things of silver;
    ^(BZ)thorns shall be in their tents.

⁷^(CA)The days of punishment have come;
    the days of recompense have come;
    Israel shall know it.
^(CB)The prophet is a fool;
    the man of the spirit is mad,
because of your great iniquity
    and great hatred.
⁸The prophet is ^(CC)the watchman of Ephraim with my God;
yet ^(CD)a fowler's snare is on all his ways,
    and hatred in the house of his God.
⁹^(CE)They have deeply corrupted themselves
    as ^(CF)in the days of Gibeah:
^(CG)he will remember their iniquity;
    he will punish their sins.

¹⁰Like grapes in the wilderness,
    ^(CH)I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree
    in its first season,
    I saw your fathers.
But ^(CI)they came to Baal-peor
    and ^(CJ)consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,
    and ^(CK)became detestable like the thing they loved.
¹¹Ephraim's ^(CL)glory shall fly away like a bird—
    ^(CM)no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
¹²^(CN)Even if they bring up children,
    I will bereave them till none is left.
^(CO)Woe to them
    when ^(CP)I depart from them!
¹³Ephraim, ^(CQ)as I have seen, was like a young palm^[e] planted in a meadow;
    but ^(CR)Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.^[f]
¹⁴Give them, O Lord—
    what will you give?
Give them ^(CS)a miscarrying womb
    and dry breasts.

¹⁵Every evil of theirs is in ^(CT)Gilgal;
    there I began to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
    I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
    all ^(CU)their princes are ^(CV)rebels.

¹⁶Ephraim is stricken;
    ^(CW)their root is dried up;
    they shall bear no fruit.
Even ^(CX)though they give birth,
    ^(CY)I will put their beloved children to death.
¹⁷^(CZ)My God will reject them
    because they have not listened to him;
    ^(DA)they shall be wanderers among the nations.

10 ^(DB)Israel is a luxuriant vine
    that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased,
    ^(DC)the more altars he built;
as his country improved,
    he improved his pillars.
²Their heart is false;
    now they must bear their guilt.
The Lord^[g] will break down their altars
    and destroy their pillars.

³For now they will say:
    ^(DD)“We have no king,
for we do not fear the Lord;
    and a king—what could he do for us?”
⁴They utter ^(DE)mere words;
    with empty^[h] oaths they make covenants;
so ^(DF)judgment springs up like poisonous weeds
    ^(DG)in the furrows of the field.
⁵The inhabitants of Samaria tremble
    for ^(DH)the calf^[i] of ^(DI)Beth-aven.
Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests—
    those who rejoiced over it and ^(DJ)over its glory—
    for it has departed^[j] from them.
⁶^(DK)The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria
    as tribute to ^(DL)the great king.^[k]
Ephraim shall be put to shame,
    and Israel shall be ashamed ^(DM)of his idol.^[l]

⁷^(DN)Samaria's king shall perish
    like a twig on the face of the waters.
⁸The high places of ^(DO)Aven, ^(DP)the sin of Israel,
    shall be destroyed.
^(DQ)Thorn and thistle shall grow up
    on their altars,
and ^(DR)they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”
    and to the hills, “Fall on us.”

⁹From ^(DS)the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel;
    there they have continued.
    Shall not the war against the unjust^[m] overtake them in Gibeah?
¹⁰^(DT)When I please, ^(DU)I will discipline them,
    and nations shall be gathered against them
    when they are bound up for ^(DV)their double iniquity.

¹¹Ephraim was a trained calf
    that ^(DW)loved to thresh,
    and I spared her fair neck;
but I will put ^(DX)Ephraim to the yoke;
    ^(DY)Judah must plow;
    Jacob must harrow for himself.
¹²^(DZ)Sow for yourselves righteousness;
    reap steadfast love;
    ^(EA)break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the Lord,
    that he may come and ^(EB)rain righteousness upon you.

¹³^(EC)You have plowed iniquity;
    you have reaped injustice;
    you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your own way
    and in the multitude of your warriors,
¹⁴therefore ^(ED)the tumult of war shall arise among your people,
    and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,
as ^(EE)Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle;
    ^(EF)mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
¹⁵Thus it shall be done to you, O ^(EG)Bethel,
    because of your great evil.
At dawn ^(EH)the king of Israel
    shall be utterly cut off.

Footnotes

Hosea 7:10 Or in his presence
Hosea 7:16 Or to the Most High
Hosea 8:5 Hebrew He has
Hosea 8:6 Or shall go up in flames
Hosea 9:13 Or like Tyre
Hosea 9:13 Hebrew to him who slaughters
Hosea 10:2 Hebrew He
Hosea 10:4 Or vain (see Exodus 20:7)
Hosea 10:5 Or calves
Hosea 10:5 Or has gone into exile
Hosea 10:6 Or to King Jareb
Hosea 10:6 Or counsel
Hosea 10:9 Hebrew the children of injustice

Matthew 18

English Standard Version

Who Is the Greatest?

18 ^(A)At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” ²And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them ³and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you ^(B)turn and ^(C)become like children, you ^(D)will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴^(E)Whoever humbles himself like this child is the ^(F)greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

⁵^(G)“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, ⁶but ^(H)whoever causes one of these ^(I)little ones who believe in me to sin,^[a] it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Temptations to Sin

⁷“Woe to the world for ^(J)temptations to sin!^[b] ^(K)For it is necessary that temptations come, ^(L)but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! ⁸^(M)And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into ^(N)the eternal fire. ⁹^(O)And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the ^(P)hell^[c] of fire.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

¹⁰“See that you do not despise ^(Q)one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven ^(R)their angels always ^(S)see the face of my Father who is in heaven.^[d] ¹²^(T)What do you think? ^(U)If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? ¹³And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. ¹⁴So ^(V)it is not the will of my^[e] Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

If Your Brother Sins Against You

¹⁵^(W)“If your brother sins against you, ^(X)go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have ^(Y)gained your brother. ¹⁶But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established ^(Z)by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, ^(AA)tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, ^(AB)let him be to you as ^(AC)a Gentile and ^(AD)a tax collector. ¹⁸Truly, I say to you, ^(AE)whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed^[f] in heaven. ¹⁹Again I say to you, if two of you ^(AF)agree on earth about anything they ask, ^(AG)it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰For where two or three are ^(AH)gathered in my name, ^(AI)there am I among them.”

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

²¹Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often ^(AJ)will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? ^(AK)As many as seven times?” ²²Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

²³“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished ^(AL)to settle accounts with his servants.^[g] ²⁴When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ^(AM)ten thousand ^(AN)talents.^[h] ²⁵^(AO)And since he could not pay, his master ordered him ^(AP)to be sold, with his wife and ^(AQ)children and all that he had, and payment to be made. ²⁶So the servant^[i] ^(AR)fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ ²⁷And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and ^(AS)forgave him the debt. ²⁸But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred ^(AT)denarii,^[j] and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ ²⁹So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ ³⁰He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. ³¹When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. ³²Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³^(AU)And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴^(AV)And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers,^[k] ^(AW)until he should pay all his debt. ³⁵^(AX)So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother ^(AY)from your heart.”

Footnotes

Matthew 18:6 Greek causes… to stumble; also verses 8, 9
Matthew 18:7 Greek stumbling blocks
Matthew 18:9 Greek Gehenna
Matthew 18:10 Some manuscripts add verse 11: For the Son of Man came to save the lost
Matthew 18:14 Some manuscripts your
Matthew 18:18 Or shall have been bound… shall have been loosed
Matthew 18:23 Or bondservants; also verses 28, 31
Matthew 18:24 A talent was a monetary unit worth about twenty years' wages for a laborer
Matthew 18:26 Or bondservant; also verses 27, 28, 29, 32, 33
Matthew 18:28 A denarius was a day's wage for a laborer
Matthew 18:34 Greek torturers