HOSEA 4

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The Lord Accuses Israel4:1

Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel,

for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.

There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,

and no knowledge of God in the land; 2

there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;

they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. 3

Therefore the land mourns,

and all who dwell in it languish,

and also the beasts of the field

and the birds of the heavens,

and even the fish of the sea are taken away.
4

Yet let no one contend,

and let none accuse,

for with you is my contention, O priest. 5

You shall stumble by day;

the prophet also shall 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 reject you from being a priest to me.

And since you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.
7

The more they increased,

the more they sinned against me;

I will change their glory into shame. 8

They feed on the sin of my people;

they are greedy for their iniquity. 9

And it shall be like people, like priest;

I will punish them for their ways

and repay them for their deeds. 10

They shall eat, but not be satisfied;

they shall play the whore, but not multiply,

because they have forsaken the Lord

to cherish 11 whoredom, wine, and new wine,

which take away the understanding. 12

My people inquire of a piece of wood,

and their walking staff gives them oracles.

For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray,

and they have left their God to play the whore. 13

They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains

and burn offerings on the hills,

under oak, poplar, and terebinth,

because their shade is good.

Therefore your daughters play the whore,

and your brides commit adultery. 14

I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,

nor your brides when they commit adultery;

for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes

and sacrifice with cult prostitutes,

and a people without understanding shall come to ruin.
15

Though you play the whore, O Israel,

let not Judah become guilty.

Enter not into Gilgal,

nor go up to Beth-aven,

and swear not, “As the Lord lives.” 16

Like a stubborn heifer,

Israel is stubborn;

can the Lord now feed them

like a lamb in a broad pasture?
17

Ephraim is joined to idols;

leave him alone. 18

When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring;

their rulers dearly love shame. 19

A wind has wrapped them in its wings,

and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

HOSEA 5

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Punishment Coming for Israel and Judah5:1

Hear this, O priests!

Pay attention, O house of Israel!

Give ear, O house of the king!

For the judgment is for you;

for you have been a snare at Mizpah

and a net spread upon Tabor. 2

And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter,

but I will discipline all of them.
3

I know Ephraim,

and Israel is not hidden from me;

for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore;

Israel is defiled. 4

Their deeds do not permit them

to return to their God.

For the spirit of whoredom is within them,

and they know not the Lord.
5

The pride of Israel testifies to his face;

Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt;

Judah also shall stumble with them. 6

With their flocks and herds they shall go

to seek the Lord,

but they will not find him;

he has withdrawn from them. 7

They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord;

for they have borne alien children.

Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.
8

Blow the horn in Gibeah,

the trumpet in Ramah.

Sound the alarm at Beth-aven;

we follow you, O Benjamin! 9

Ephraim shall become a desolation

in the day of punishment;

among the tribes of Israel

I make known what is sure. 10

The princes of Judah have become

like those who move the landmark;

upon them I will pour out

my wrath like water. 11

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,

because he was determined to go after filth. 12

But I am like a moth to Ephraim,

and like dry rot to the house of Judah.
13

When Ephraim saw his sickness,

and Judah his wound,

then Ephraim went to Assyria,

and sent to the great king.

But he is not able to cure you

or heal your wound. 14

For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,

and like a young lion to the house of Judah.

I, even I, will tear and go away;

I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.
15

I will return again to my place,

until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,

and in their distress earnestly seek me.

PROVERBS 2

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The Value of Wisdom2:1

My son, if you receive my words

and treasure up my commandments with you, 2

making your ear attentive to wisdom

and inclining your heart to understanding; 3

yes, if you call out for insight

and raise your voice for understanding, 4

if you seek it like silver

and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5

then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God. 6

For the Lord gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7

he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8

guarding the paths of justice

and watching over the way of his saints. 9

Then you will understand righteousness and justice

and equity, every good path; 10

for wisdom will come into your heart,

and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11

discretion will watch over you,

understanding will guard you, 12

delivering you from the way of evil,

from men of perverted speech, 13

who forsake the paths of uprightness

to walk in the ways of darkness, 14

who rejoice in doing evil

and delight in the perverseness of evil, 15

men whose paths are crooked,

and who are devious in their ways.
16

So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,

from the adulteress with her smooth words, 17

who forsakes the companion of her youth

and forgets the covenant of her God; 18

for her house sinks down to death,

and her paths to the departed; 19

none who go to her come back,

nor do they regain the paths of life.
20

So you will walk in the way of the good

and keep to the paths of the righteous. 21

For the upright will inhabit the land,

and those with integrity will remain in it, 22

but the wicked will be cut off from the land,

and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

PSALM 141

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Give Ear to My VoiceA Psalm of David.
141:1

O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me!

Give ear to my voice when I call to you! 2

Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,

and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
3

Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;

keep watch over the door of my lips! 4

Do not let my heart incline to any evil,

to busy myself with wicked deeds

in company with men who work iniquity,

and let me not eat of their delicacies!
5

Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness;

let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head;

let my head not refuse it.

Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds. 6

When their judges are thrown over the cliff,

then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant. 7

As when one plows and breaks up the earth,

so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
8

But my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord;

in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless! 9

Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me

and from the snares of evildoers! 10

Let the wicked fall into their own nets,

while I pass by safely.

PSALM 142

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You Are My RefugeA Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.
142:1

With my voice I cry out to the Lord;

with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord. 2

I pour out my complaint before him;

I tell my trouble before him.
3

When my spirit faints within me,

you know my way!

In the path where I walk

they have hidden a trap for me. 4

Look to the right and see:

there is none who takes notice of me;

no refuge remains to me;

no one cares for my soul.
5

I cry to you, O Lord;

I say, “You are my refuge,

my portion in the land of the living.” 6

Attend to my cry,

for I am brought very low!

Deliver me from my persecutors,

for they are too strong for me! 7

Bring me out of prison,

that I may give thanks to your name!

The righteous will surround me,

for you will deal bountifully with me.