Day 282 – October 9, 2022

Hosea 3-5

​¹ Then the Lord said to me, “Go yet again and love a woman that loves evil things, an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, for they look after strange gods and love raisin cakes.” ² So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver, a homer of barley, and a jar of wine. ³ I said to her, “You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not commit fornication, neither shall you be for another man; but I will be for you.” ⁴ For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, without a prince, without a sacrifice, without an altar, without a priesthood, and without symbols of revelation. ⁵ Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king; and they shall be amazed at the Lord and at His good things in the latter days.

God’s Judgment on Israel

​¹ Hear the word of the Lord,

You children of Israel,

For the Lord has a judgment for the inhabitants of the land:

“There is no truth or mercy

Or knowledge of God in the land.

² Cursing and lying, murder and theft

And adultery gushed forth in the land,

And blood is mingled with blood.

³ Therefore the land shall mourn

And be diminished with all the things that dwell in it:

The wild beasts of the field, the reptiles of the earth,

And the birds of the sky,

And the fish of the sea shall come to an end;

⁴ That neither may anyone judge, nor analyze another;

But my people are as a priest who is spoken against.

⁵ “Thus you shall be weak by day,

And the prophet shall be weak with you;

I have compared your mother to the night.

⁶ My people are like as those who have no knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I will also reject you from being a priest to Me;

And because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

⁷ According to their multitude,

So they sinned against Me;

I will turn their glory into dishonor.

⁸ They will eat the sins of My people

And take away their lives because of their wrongdoings.

⁹ The priest shall also be as the people;

So I will punish him for his ways

And repay him for his counsels.

¹⁰ They shall eat and not be satisfied;

They have gone a-whoring and shall by no means prosper,

Because they have abandoned holding fast to the Lord.

  Israel’s Idolatry

¹¹ “The heart of My people has gladly engaged

In fornication, wine, and strong drink.

¹² They asked counsel by means of signs

And they reported answers to them by their staves.

They have gone astray in a spirit of whoredom

And grievously gone a-whoring from their God.

¹³ They have sacrificed on the tops of the mountains,

And on the hills they have sacrificed

Under the oak and poplar

And under the shady tree,

Because their shade was good.

Therefore your daughters shall go a-whoring,

And your daughters-in-law shall commit adultery.

¹⁴ But I will not show care for your daughters

When they commit fornication,

Nor your daughters-in-law

When they commit adultery;

For they mingled themselves with harlots

And sacrificed with the initiated ones;

And the people who understood

Entangled themselves with a harlot.

¹⁵ “But you, O Israel, be not ignorant,

And do not go, men of Judah, to Gilgal;

And do not go up to Beth Aven

Nor swear by the living Lord.

¹⁶ For Israel was maddened like a mad heifer;

Now the Lord will feed them

Like a lamb in a wide place.

¹⁷ Ephraim, joined with idols,

Has laid stumbling blocks in his own way.

¹⁸ He has chosen the Canaanites;

They have grievously gone a-whoring;

They have loved dishonor through her rudeness.

¹⁹ You are a blast of wind in her wings,

And they shall be ashamed because of their altars.

Warnings for Israel and Judah

​¹ “Hear these things, O priests,

And attend, O house of Israel!

Listen, O house of the king!

For judgment is with you

Because you have been a snare in Mizpah

And a net spread on Tabor,

² Which they that hunt the prey have fixed;

But I will be your instructor.

³ I know Ephraim, and Israel is not far from Me;

For now Ephraim has gone grievously a-whoring;

Israel is defiled.

⁴ “Their deliberations did not allow them

To return to their God,

For a spirit of fornication is in them,

And they have not gotten to know the Lord.

⁵ The arrogance of Israel

Shall be brought low before His face,

And Israel and Ephraim shall become weak

  Due to their wrongdoings;

And Judah also shall become weak with them.

⁶ “They shall go with sheep and calves

Diligently to seek the Lord;

But they shall not find Him,

For He has withdrawn Himself from them.

⁷ For they have forsaken the Lord

Because strange children have been born to them.

Now the rust shall devour them along with their heritages.

⁸ “Blow the trumpet on the hills,

Sound aloud on the heights,

Proclaim in Beth Aven:

‘Benjamin is confused.’

⁹ Ephraim has vanished in the days of reproof;

Among the tribes of Israel I have shown faithful things.

¹⁰ “The princes of Judah became as those

Who remove the boundaries;

I will pour out my fury upon them as water.

¹¹ Ephraim oppressed his adversary;

He trod over judgment,

For he began to go after vanities.

¹² Therefore I will be as a confusion to Ephraim

And as a sting to the house of Judah.

¹³ “Ephraim saw his disease

And Judah his pain;

Then Ephraim went to the Assyrians

And sent ambassadors to King Jareb.

But he could not heal you,

And your pain shall in no way cease from you.

¹⁴ Wherefore I am as a panther to Ephraim

And as a lion to the house of Judah.

So I will grasp and go away;

And I will take, and there shall be none to rescue.

¹⁵ I will go and return to My place

Until they are destroyed,

And then they shall seek My face.

In their affliction they will seek Me early, saying:

Psalm 83

​¹ For the End, concerning the winepresses; a psalm for the sons of Korah.

² How beloved are Your dwellings, O Lord of hosts.

³ My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord;

My heart and my flesh greatly rejoice in the living God.

⁴ For even the sparrow found a house for herself,

And the turtledove a nest for herself, where she will lay her young,

Your altars, O Lord of hosts,

My King and my God.

⁵ Blessed are those who dwell in Your house;

They shall praise You unto ages of ages.

(Pause)

⁶ Blessed is the man whose help is from You, O Lord;

He purposed ascents in his heart

⁷ In the valley of weeping, into the place he appointed;

For there the lawgiver shall give blessings.

⁸ They shall go from strength to strength;

The God of gods shall be seen in Zion.

⁹ O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;

Give ear, O God of Jacob.

(Pause)

¹⁰ O God, our protector, behold,

And look upon the face of Your anointed.

¹¹ For one day in Your courts is better than a thousand;

I chose to be an outcast in the house of my God,

Rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners.

¹² For the Lord God loves mercy and truth;

He will give grace and glory;

The Lord’s hand will not remove good things from those who walk in innocence.

¹³ O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who hopes in You.

Proverbs 17:21–25

²¹ He who loves sin rejoices in quarrels,

And the hard-hearted man does not assemble with good men.

²² A changeable man will fall into evils with his tongue,

And a heart without discernment is grief to the one possessing it.

²³ A father does not delight in an uninstructed son;

But a son with discernment gladdens his mother.

²⁴ A cheerful heart makes a man healthy,

But the bones of a sorrowful man dry him up.

²⁵ The ways of a man who receives gifts unrighteously do not prosper,

And the ungodly man shuns the ways of righteousness.

Philippians 4:2–23

² I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.

³ And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

⁵ Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Meditate on These Things

⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

⁹ The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippian Generosity

¹⁰ But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity.

¹¹ Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:

¹² I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

¹³ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

¹⁴ Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress.

¹⁵ Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only.

¹⁶ For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities.

¹⁷ Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.

¹⁸ Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.

¹⁹ And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

²⁰ Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Greeting and Blessing

²¹ Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you.

²² All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar’s household.²³ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.