HOSEA 7-10

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7:1

when I would heal Israel,

the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,

and the evil deeds of Samaria,

for they deal falsely;

the thief breaks in,

and the bandits raid outside. 2

But they do not consider

that I remember all their evil.

Now their deeds surround them;

they are before my face. 3

By their evil they make the king glad,

and the princes by their treachery. 4

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. 5

On the day of our king, the princes

became sick with the heat of wine;

he stretched out his hand with mockers. 6

For with hearts like an oven they approach their intrigue;

all night their anger smolders;

in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire. 7

All of them are hot as an oven,

and they devour their rulers.

All their kings have fallen,

and none of them calls upon me.
8

Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples;

Ephraim is a cake not turned. 9

Strangers devour his strength,

and he knows it not;

gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,

and he knows it not. 10

The pride of Israel testifies to his face;

yet they do not return to the Lord their God,

nor seek him, for all this.
11

Ephraim is like a dove,

silly and without sense,

calling to Egypt, going to Assyria. 12

As they go, I will spread over them my net;

I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;

I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation. 13

Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!

Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!

I would redeem them,

but they speak lies against me.
14

They do not cry to me from the heart,

but they wail upon their beds;

for grain and wine they gash themselves;

they rebel against me. 15

Although I trained and strengthened their arms,

yet they devise evil against me. 16

They return, but not upward;

they are like a treacherous bow;

their princes shall fall by the sword

because of the insolence of their tongue.

This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt. Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind8:1

Set the trumpet to your lips!

One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord,

because they have transgressed my covenant

and rebelled against my law. 2

To me they cry,

“My God, we—Israel—know you.” 3

Israel has spurned the good;

the enemy shall pursue him.
4

They made kings, 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

I have spurned your calf, O Samaria.

My anger burns against them.

How long will they be incapable of innocence? 6

For it is from Israel;

a craftsman made it;

it is not God.

The calf of Samaria

shall be broken to pieces.
7

For 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,

strangers would devour it. 8

Israel is swallowed up;

already they are among the nations

as a useless vessel. 9

For they have gone up to Assyria,

a wild donkey wandering alone;

Ephraim has hired lovers. 10

Though they hire allies among the nations,

I will soon gather them up.

And the king and princes shall soon writhe

because of the tribute.
11

Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning,

they have become to him altars for sinning. 12

Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands,

they would be regarded as a strange thing. 13

As for my sacrificial offerings,

they sacrifice meat and eat it,

but the Lord does not accept them.

Now he will remember their iniquity

and punish their sins;

they shall return to Egypt. 14

For Israel has forgotten his Maker

and built palaces,

and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;

so I will send a fire upon his cities,

and it shall devour her strongholds. The Lord Will Punish Israel9:1

Rejoice not, O Israel!

Exult not like the peoples;

for you have played the whore, forsaking your God.

You have loved a prostitute’s wages

on all threshing floors. 2

Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,

and the new wine shall fail them. 3

They shall not remain in the land of the Lord,

but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,

and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.
4

They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,

and their sacrifices shall not please him.

It shall be like mourners’ bread to them;

all who eat of it shall be defiled;

for their bread shall be for their hunger only;

it shall not come to the house of the Lord.
5

What will you do on the day of the appointed festival,

and on the day of the feast of the Lord? 6

For behold, they are going away from destruction;

but Egypt shall gather them;

Memphis shall bury them.

Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;

thorns shall be in their tents.
7

The days of punishment have come;

the days of recompense have come;

Israel shall know it.

The prophet is a fool;

the man of the spirit is mad,

because of your great iniquity

and great hatred. 8

The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God;

yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,

and hatred in the house of his God. 9

They have deeply corrupted themselves

as in the days of Gibeah:

he will remember their iniquity;

he will punish their sins.
10

Like grapes in the wilderness,

I found Israel.

Like the first fruit on the fig tree

in its first season,

I saw your fathers.

But they came to Baal-peor

and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,

and became detestable like the thing they loved. 11

Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—

no birth, no pregnancy, no conception! 12

Even if they bring up children,

I will bereave them till none is left.

Woe to them

when I depart from them! 13

Ephraim, as I have seen, was like a young palm planted in a meadow;

but Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter. 14

Give them, O Lord—

what will you give?

Give them a miscarrying womb

and dry breasts.
15

Every evil of theirs is in 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 their princes are rebels.
16

Ephraim is stricken;

their root is dried up;

they shall bear no fruit.

Even though they give birth,

I will put their beloved children to death. 17

My God will reject them

because they have not listened to him;

they shall be wanderers among the nations.
10:1

Israel is a luxuriant vine

that yields its fruit.

The more his fruit increased,

the more altars he built;

as his country improved,

he improved his pillars. 2

Their heart is false;

now they must bear their guilt.

The Lord will break down their altars

and destroy their pillars.
3

For now they will say:

“We have no king,

for we do not fear the Lord;

and a king—what could he do for us?” 4

They utter mere words;

with empty oaths they make covenants;

so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds

in the furrows of the field. 5

The inhabitants of Samaria tremble

for the calf of Beth-aven.

Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests—

those who rejoiced over it and over its glory—

for it has departed from them. 6

The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria

as tribute to the great king.

Ephraim shall be put to shame,

and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.
7

Samaria’s king shall perish

like a twig on the face of the waters. 8

The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,

shall be destroyed.

Thorn and thistle shall grow up

on their altars,

and they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”

and to the hills, “Fall on us.”
9

From the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel;

there they have continued.

Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah? 10

When I please, I will discipline them,

and nations shall be gathered against them

when they are bound up for their double iniquity.
11

Ephraim was a trained calf

that loved to thresh,

and I spared her fair neck;

but I will put Ephraim to the yoke;

Judah must plow;

Jacob must harrow for himself. 12

Sow for yourselves righteousness;

reap steadfast love;

break up your fallow ground,

for it is the time to seek the Lord,

that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
13

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, 14

therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people,

and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,

as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle;

mothers were dashed in pieces with their children. 15

Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,

because of your great evil.

At dawn the king of Israel

shall be utterly cut off.

MATTHEW 18

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Who Is the Greatest?  18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
    5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, 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 Sin7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! 8 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 the eternal fire. 9 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 hell of fire. The Parable of the Lost Sheep10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. 12 What do you think? 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? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. If Your Brother Sins Against You15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus 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 to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When 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. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”