HOSEA 4

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God’s Controversy with Israel4:1 Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel,

For the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land,

Because there is no faithfulness or kindness

Or knowledge of God in the land.

2 There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery.

They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.

3 Therefore the land mourns,

And everyone who lives in it languishes

Along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky,

And also the fish of the sea disappear.

4 Yet let no one find fault, and let none offer reproof;

For your people are like those who contend with the priest.

5 So you will stumble by day,

And the prophet also will 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 also will reject you from being My priest.

Since you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

7 The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me;

I will change their glory into shame.

8 They feed on the sin of My people

And direct their desire toward their iniquity.

9 And it will be, like people, like priest;

So I will punish them for their ways

And repay them for their deeds.

10 They will eat, but not have enough;

They will play the harlot, but not increase,

Because they have stopped giving heed to the LORD.

11 Harlotry, wine and new wine take away the understanding.

12 My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them;

For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray,

And they have played the harlot, departing from their God.

13 They offer sacrifices on the tops of the mountains

And burn incense on the hills,

Under oak, poplar and terebinth,

Because their shade is pleasant.

Therefore your daughters play the harlot

And your brides commit adultery.

14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot

Or your brides when they commit adultery,

For the men themselves go apart with harlots

And offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes;

So the people without understanding are ruined.

15 Though you, Israel, play the harlot,

Do not let Judah become guilty;

Also do not go to Gilgal,

Or go up to Beth-aven

And take the oath:

“As the LORD lives!”

16 Since Israel is stubborn

Like a stubborn heifer,

Can the LORD now pasture them

Like a lamb in a large field?

17 Ephraim is joined to idols;

Let him alone.

18 Their liquor gone,

They play the harlot continually;

Their rulers dearly love shame.

19 The wind wraps them in its wings,

And they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

HOSEA 5

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The People’s Apostasy Rebuked5:1 Hear this, O priests!

Give heed, O house of Israel!

Listen, O house of the king!

For the judgment applies to you,

For you have been a snare at Mizpah

And a net spread out on Tabor.

2 The revolters have gone deep in depravity,

But I will chastise all of them.

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

For now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot,

Israel has defiled itself.

4 Their deeds will not allow them

To return to their God.

For a spirit of harlotry is within them,

And they do not know the LORD.

5 Moreover, the pride of Israel testifies against him,

And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;

Judah also has stumbled with them.

6 They will go with their flocks and herds

To seek the LORD, but they will not find Him;

He has withdrawn from them.

7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD,

For they have borne illegitimate children.

Now the new moon will devour them with their land.

8 Blow the horn in Gibeah,

The trumpet in Ramah.

Sound an alarm at Beth-aven:

“Behind you, Benjamin!”

9 Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke;

Among the tribes of Israel I declare what is sure.

10 The princes of Judah have become like those who move a boundary;

On them I will pour out My wrath like water.

11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,

Because he was determined to follow man’s command.

12 Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim

And like rottenness to the house of Judah.

13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,

And Judah his wound,

Then Ephraim went to Assyria

And sent to King Jareb.

But he is unable to heal you,

Or to cure you of 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 to pieces and go away,

I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver.

15 I will go away and return to My place

Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face;

In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.

PROVERBS 1

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The Usefulness of Proverbs  1:1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

2 To know wisdom and instruction,

To discern the sayings of understanding,

3 To receive instruction in wise behavior,

Righteousness, justice and equity;

4 To give prudence to the naive,

To the youth knowledge and discretion,

5 A wise man will hear and increase in learning,

And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,

6 To understand a proverb and a figure,

The words of the wise and their riddles.

7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;

Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The Enticement of Sinners8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction

And do not forsake your mother’s teaching;

9 Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head

And ornaments about your neck.

10 My son, if sinners entice you,

Do not consent.

11 If they say, “Come with us,

Let us lie in wait for blood,

Let us ambush the innocent without cause;

12 Let us swallow them alive like Sheol,

Even whole, as those who go down to the pit;

13 We will find all kinds of precious wealth,

We will fill our houses with spoil;

14 Throw in your lot with us,

We shall all have one purse,”

15 My son, do not walk in the way with them.

Keep your feet from their path,

16 For their feet run to evil

And they hasten to shed blood.

17 Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net

In the sight of any bird;

18 But they lie in wait for their own blood;

They ambush their own lives.

19 So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence;

It takes away the life of its possessors.

Wisdom Warns20 Wisdom shouts in the street,

She lifts her voice in the square;

21 At the head of the noisy streets she cries out;

At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings:

22 “How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded?

And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing

And fools hate knowledge?

23 “Turn to my reproof,

Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you;

I will make my words known to you.

24 “Because I called and you refused,

I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention;

25 And you neglected all my counsel

And did not want my reproof;

26 I will also laugh at your calamity;

I will mock when your dread comes,

27 When your dread comes like a storm

And your calamity comes like a whirlwind,

When distress and anguish come upon you.

28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;

They will seek me diligently but they will not find me,

29 Because they hated knowledge

And did not choose the fear of the LORD.

30 “They would not accept my counsel,

They spurned all my reproof.

31 “So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way

And be satiated with their own devices.

32 “For the waywardness of the naive will kill them,

And the complacency of fools will destroy them.

33 “But he who listens to me shall live securely

And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

PSALM 141

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An Evening Prayer for Sanctification and Protection.A 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 May my prayer be counted as incense before You;

The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.

3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;

Keep watch over the door of my lips.

4 Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,

To practice deeds of wickedness

With men who do iniquity;

And do not let me eat of their delicacies.

5 Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me;

It is oil upon the head;

Do not let my head refuse it,

For still my prayer is against their wicked deeds.

6 Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock,

And they hear my words, for they are pleasant.

7 As when one plows and breaks open the earth,

Our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

8 For my eyes are toward You, O GOD, the Lord;

In You I take refuge; do not leave me defenseless.

9 Keep me from the jaws of the trap which they have set for me,

And from the snares of those who do iniquity.

10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,

While I pass by safely.

PSALM 142

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Prayer for Help in Trouble.Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.
142:1 I cry aloud with my voice to the LORD;

I make supplication with my voice to the LORD.

2 I pour out my complaint before Him;

I declare my trouble before Him.

3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,

You knew my path.

In the way where I walk

They have hidden a trap for me.

4 Look to the right and see;

For there is no one who regards me;

There is no escape for me;

No one cares for my soul.

5 I cried out to You, O LORD;

I said, “You are my refuge,

My portion in the land of the living.

6 “Give heed to my cry,

For I am brought very low;

Deliver me from my persecutors,

For they are too strong for me.

7 “Bring my soul out of prison,

So that I may give thanks to Your name;

The righteous will surround me,

For You will deal bountifully with me.”