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In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.
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I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.
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I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the class="small-caps" >Lord.
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“In that day I will respond,” declares the class="small-caps" >Lord— “I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth;
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and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.
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I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
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Hosea’s Reconciliation With His Wife
The class="small-caps" >Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the class="small-caps" >Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”
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So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.
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Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”
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For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods.
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Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the class="small-caps" >Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the class="small-caps" >Lord and to his blessings in the last days.
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The Charge Against Israel
Hear the word of the class="small-caps" >Lord, you Israelites, because the class="small-caps" >Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.
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There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
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Because of this the land dries up, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away.
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“But let no one bring a charge, let no one accuse another, for your people are like those who bring charges against a priest.
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my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.
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The more priests there were, the more they sinned against me; they exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful.
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And it will be: Like people, like priests. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
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“They will eat but not have enough; they will engage in prostitution but not flourish, because they have deserted the class="small-caps" >Lord to give themselves
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My people consult a wooden idol, and a diviner’s rod speaks to them. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God.
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They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar and terebinth, where the shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
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“I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because the men themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes— a people without understanding will come to ruin!
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“Though you, Israel, commit adultery, do not let Judah become guilty. “Do not go to Gilgal; do not go up to Beth Aven. And do not swear, ‘As surely as the class="small-caps" >Lord lives!’
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The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can the class="small-caps" >Lord pasture them like lambs in a meadow?
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Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!