Along The Way (December 29th - January 4th, 2024)

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  • Hosea 10 & 11

    Israel’s Sin and Captivity

    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.

    Their heart is false;

    now they must bear their guilt.

    The Lord will break down their altars

    and destroy their pillars.

    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?”

    They utter mere words;

    with empty oaths they make covenants;

    so litigation springs up like poisonous weeds

    in the furrows of the field.

    The inhabitants of Samaria tremble

    for the calf of Beth-aven.

    Its people shall mourn for it,

    and its idolatrous priests shall wail over it,

    over its glory that has departed from it.

    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.

    Samaria’s king shall perish

    like a chip on the face of the waters.

    The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,

    shall be destroyed.

    Thorn and thistle shall grow up

    on their altars.

    They shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”

    and to the hills, “Fall on us.”

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

    there they have continued.

    Shall not war overtake them in Gibeah?

    I will come against the wayward people to punish them,

    and nations shall be gathered against them

    when they are punished for their double iniquity.

    Ephraim was a trained heifer

    that loved to thresh,

    and I spared her fair neck,

    but I will make Ephraim break the ground;

    Judah must plow;

    Jacob must harrow for himself.

    Sow for yourselves righteousness;

    reap steadfast love;

    break up your fallow ground,

    for it is time to seek the Lord,

    that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

    You have plowed wickedness;

    you have reaped injustice;

    you have eaten the fruit of lies.

    Because you have trusted in your chariots,

    in the multitude of your warriors,

    therefore the tumult of war shall rise against your people,

    and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,

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

    when mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.

    Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,

    because of your great wickedness.

    At dawn the king of Israel

    shall be utterly cut off.

    God’s Compassion Despite Israel’s Ingratitude

    When Israel was a child, I loved him,

    and out of Egypt I called my son.

    The more I called them,

    the more they went from me;

    they kept sacrificing to the Baals

    and offering incense to idols.

    Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;

    I took them up in my arms,

    but they did not know that I healed them.

    I led them with cords of human kindness,

    with bands of love.

    I was to them like those

    who lift infants to their cheeks.

    I bent down to them and fed them.

    They shall return to the land of Egypt,

    and Assyria shall be their king,

    because they have refused to return to me.

    The sword rages in their cities;

    it consumes their oracle priests

    and devours because of their schemes.

    My people are bent on turning away from me.

    To the Most High they call,

    but he does not raise them up at all.

    How can I give you up, Ephraim?

    How can I hand you over, O Israel?

    How can I make you like Admah?

    How can I treat you like Zeboiim?

    My heart recoils within me;

    my compassion grows warm and tender.

    I will not execute my fierce anger;

    I will not again destroy Ephraim,

    for I am God and no mortal,

    the Holy One in your midst,

    and I will not come in wrath.

    They shall go after the Lord,

    who roars like a lion;

    when he roars,

    his children shall come trembling from the west.

    They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt

    and like doves from the land of Assyria,

    and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord.

    Ephraim has surrounded me with lies

    and the house of Israel with deceit,

    but Judah still walks with God

    and is faithful to the Holy One.

  • Hosea 12, 13 & 14

    Ephraim herds the wind

    and pursues the east wind all day long;

    they multiply falsehood and violence;

    they make a treaty with Assyria,

    and oil is carried to Egypt.

    The Long History of Rebellion

    The Lord has an indictment against Judah

    and will punish Jacob according to his ways

    and repay him according to his deeds.

    In the womb he tried to supplant his brother,

    and in his manhood he strove with God.

    He strove with the angel and prevailed;

    he wept and sought his favor;

    he met him at Bethel,

    and there he spoke with him.

    The Lord the God of hosts,

    the Lord is his name!

    But as for you, return to your God;

    hold fast to love and justice,

    and wait continually for your God.

    A trader in whose hands are false balances,

    he loves to oppress.

    Ephraim has said, “Ah, I am rich;

    I have gained wealth for myself;

    in all of my gain

    no offense has been found in me

    that would be sin.”

    I am the Lord your God

    from the land of Egypt;

    I will make you live in tents again,

    as in the days of the appointed festival.

    I spoke to the prophets;

    it was I who multiplied visions,

    and through the prophets I will bring destruction.

    In Gilead there is iniquity;

    they shall surely come to nothing.

    In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,

    so their altars shall be like stone heaps

    on the furrows of the field.

    Jacob fled to the land of Aram;

    there Israel served for a wife,

    and for a wife he guarded sheep.

    By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt,

    and by a prophet he was guarded.

    Ephraim has given bitter offense,

    so his Lord will bring his crimes down on him

    and pay him back for his insults.

    Relentless Judgment on Israel

    When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;

    he was exalted in Israel,

    but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.

    And now they keep on sinning

    and make a cast image for themselves,

    idols of silver made according to their understanding,

    all of them the work of artisans.

    “Sacrifice to these,” they say.

    People are kissing calves!

    Therefore they shall be like the morning mist

    or like the dew that goes away early,

    like chaff that swirls from the threshing floor

    or like smoke from a window.

    Yet I have been the Lord your God

    ever since the land of Egypt;

    you know no God but me,

    and besides me there is no savior.

    It was I who fed you in the wilderness,

    in the land of drought.

    When I fed them, they were satisfied;

    they were satisfied, and their heart was proud;

    therefore they forgot me.

    So I will become like a lion to them;

    like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.

    I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs

    and will tear open the covering of their heart;

    there I will devour them like a lion,

    as a wild animal would mangle them.

    I will destroy you, O Israel;

    who can help you?

    Where now is your king, that he may save you?

    Where in all your cities are your rulers,

    of whom you said,

    “Give me a king and rulers”?

    I gave you a king in my anger,

    and I took him away in my wrath.

    Ephraim’s iniquity is bound up;

    his sin is kept in store.

    The pangs of childbirth come for him,

    but he is an unwise son,

    for at the proper time he does not present himself

    at the mouth of the womb.

    Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?

    Shall I redeem them from Death?

    O Death, where are your plagues?

    O Sheol, where is your destruction?

    Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

    Although he may flourish among rushes,

    the east wind shall come, a blast from the Lord,

    rising from the wilderness,

    and his fountain shall dry up;

    his spring shall be parched.

    It shall strip his treasury

    of every precious thing.

    Samaria shall bear her guilt

    because she has rebelled against her God;

    they shall fall by the sword;

    their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,

    and their pregnant women ripped open.

    A Plea for Repentance

    Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

    for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

    Take words with you

    and return to the Lord;

    say to him,

    “Take away all guilt;

    accept that which is good,

    and we will offer

    the fruit of our lips.

    Assyria shall not save us;

    we will not ride upon horses;

    we will say no more, ‘Our God,’

    to the work of our hands.

    In you the orphan finds mercy.”

    Assurance of Forgiveness

    I will heal their disloyalty;

    I will love them freely,

    for my anger has turned from them.

    I will be like the dew to Israel;

    he shall blossom like the lily;

    he shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon.

    His shoots shall spread out;

    his beauty shall be like the olive tree

    and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.

    They shall again live beneath my shadow;

    they shall flourish as a garden;

    they shall blossom like the vine;

    their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

    O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?

    It is I who answer and look after you.

    I am like an evergreen cypress;

    your fruit comes from me.

    Those who are wise understand these things;

    those who are discerning know them.

    For the ways of the Lord are right,

    and the upright walk in them,

    but transgressors stumble in them.

  • Joel 1

    The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel:

    Lament over the Ruin of the Country

    Hear this, O elders;

    give ear, all inhabitants of the land!

    Has such a thing happened in your days

    or in the days of your ancestors?

    Tell your children of it,

    and let your children tell their children,

    and their children another generation.

    What the cutting locust left,

    the swarming locust has eaten;

    what the swarming locust left,

    the hopping locust has eaten;

    and what the hopping locust left,

    the destroying locust has eaten.

    Wake up, you drunkards, and weep,

    and wail, all you wine drinkers,

    over the sweet wine,

    for it is cut off from your mouth.

    For a nation has invaded my land,

    powerful and innumerable;

    its teeth are lions’ teeth,

    and it has the fangs of a lioness.

    It has laid waste my vines

    and splintered my fig trees;

    it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;

    their branches have turned white.

    Lament like a virgin dressed in sackcloth

    for the husband of her youth.

    The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off

    from the house of the Lord.

    The priests mourn,

    the ministers of the Lord.

    The fields are devastated,

    the ground mourns,

    for the grain is destroyed,

    the wine dries up,

    the oil fails.

    Be dismayed, you farmers;

    wail, you vinedressers,

    over the wheat and the barley,

    for the crops of the field are ruined.

    The vine withers;

    the fig tree droops.

    Pomegranate, palm, and apple —

    all the trees of the field are dried up;

    surely, joy withers away

    among the people.

    A Call to Repentance and Prayer

    Put on sackcloth and lament, you priests;

    wail, you ministers of the altar.

    Come, pass the night in sackcloth,

    you ministers of my God!

    Grain offering and drink offering

    are withheld from the house of your God.

    Consecrate a fast;

    call a solemn assembly.

    Gather the elders

    and all the inhabitants of the land

    to the house of the Lord your God,

    and cry out to the Lord.

    Alas for the day!

    For the day of the Lord is near,

    and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.

    Is not the food cut off

    before our eyes,

    joy and gladness

    from the house of our God?

    The seed shrivels under the clods;

    the storehouses are desolate;

    the granaries are ruined

    because the grain has withered.

    How the animals groan!

    The herds of cattle wander about

    because there is no pasture for them;

    even the flocks of sheep are perishing.

    To you, O Lord, I cry,

    for fire has devoured

    the pastures of the wilderness,

    and flames have burned

    all the trees of the field.

    Even the wild animals cry to you

    because the watercourses are dried up,

    and fire has devoured

    the pastures of the wilderness.

  • Joel 2 - 3

    Blow the trumpet in Zion;

    sound the alarm on my holy mountain!

    Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

    for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near —

    a day of darkness and gloom,

    a day of clouds and thick darkness!

    Like blackness spread upon the mountains,

    a great and powerful army comes;

    their like has never been from of old,

    nor will be again after them

    in ages to come.

    Fire devours in front of them,

    and behind them a flame burns.

    Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,

    but after them a desolate wilderness,

    and nothing escapes them.

    They have the appearance of horses,

    and like war horses they charge.

    As with the rumbling of chariots,

    they leap on the tops of the mountains,

    like the crackling of a flame of fire

    devouring the stubble,

    like a powerful army

    drawn up for battle.

    Before them peoples are in anguish;

    all faces grow pale.

    Like warriors they charge;

    like soldiers they scale the wall.

    Each keeps to its own course;

    they do not swerve from their paths.

    They do not jostle one another;

    each keeps to its own track;

    they burst through the weapons

    and are not halted.

    They leap upon the city;

    they run upon the walls;

    they climb up into the houses;

    they enter through the windows like a thief.

    The earth quakes before them;

    the heavens tremble.

    The sun and the moon are darkened,

    and the stars withdraw their shining.

    The Lord utters his voice

    at the head of his army;

    how vast is his host!

    Numberless are those who obey his command.

    Truly the day of the Lord is great,

    terrible indeed — who can endure it?

    Yet even now, says the Lord,

    return to me with all your heart,

    with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

    rend your hearts and not your clothing.

    Return to the Lord your God,

    for he is gracious and merciful,

    slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,

    and relenting from punishment.

    Who knows whether he will not turn and relent

    and leave a blessing behind him,

    a grain offering and a drink offering

    for the Lord your God?

    Blow the trumpet in Zion;

    consecrate a fast;

    call a solemn assembly;

    gather the people.

    Consecrate the congregation;

    assemble the aged;

    gather the children,

    even infants at the breast.

    Let the bridegroom leave his room

    and the bride her canopy.

    Between the vestibule and the altar,

    let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.

    Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord,

    and do not make your heritage a mockery,

    a byword among the nations.

    Why should it be said among the peoples,

    ‘Where is their God?’ ”

    God’s Response and Promise

    Then the Lord became jealous for his land

    and had pity on his people.

    In response to his people the Lord said:

    “I am sending you

    grain, wine, and oil,

    and you will be satisfied;

    and I will no more make you

    a mockery among the nations.

    I will remove the northern army far from you

    and drive it into a parched and desolate land,

    its front into the eastern sea

    and its rear into the western sea;

    its stench and foul smell will rise up.”

    Surely he has done great things!

    Do not fear, O soil;

    be glad and rejoice,

    for the Lord has done great things!

    Do not fear, you animals of the field,

    for the pastures of the wilderness are green;

    the tree bears its fruit;

    the fig tree and vine give their full yield.

    O children of Zion, be glad,

    and rejoice in the Lord your God,

    for he has given the early rain for your vindication;

    he has poured down for you abundant rain,

    the early and the later rain, as before.

    The threshing floors shall be full of grain;

    the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

    I will repay you for the years

    that the swarming locust has eaten,

    the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,

    my great army that I sent against you.

    You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied

    and praise the name of the Lord your God,

    who has dealt wondrously with you.

    And my people shall never again be put to shame.

    You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel

    and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other.

    And my people shall never again be put to shame.

    God’s Spirit Poured Out

    Then afterward

    I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;

    your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

    your old men shall dream dreams,

    and your young men shall see visions.

    Even on the male and female slaves,

    in those days I will pour out my spirit.

    I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

    For then, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgment with them there, on account of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations. They have divided my land and cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes and sold girls for wine and drunk it down.

    What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads swiftly and speedily. For you have taken my silver and my gold and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, removing them far from their own border. But now I will rouse them to leave the places to which you have sold them, and I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads. I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.

    Judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat

    Proclaim this among the nations:

    Consecrate yourselves for war;

    stir up the warriors.

    Let all the soldiers draw near;

    let them come up.

    Beat your plowshares into swords

    and your pruning hooks into spears;

    let the weakling say, “I am a warrior.”

    Come quickly,

    all you nations all around;

    gather yourselves there.

    Bring down your warriors, O Lord.

    Let the nations rouse themselves

    and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat,

    for there I will sit to judge

    all the neighboring nations.

    Put in the sickle,

    for the harvest is ripe.

    Go in, tread,

    for the winepress is full.

    The vats overflow,

    for their wickedness is great.

    Multitudes, multitudes,

    in the valley of decision!

    For the day of the Lord is near

    in the valley of decision.

    The sun and the moon are darkened,

    and the stars withdraw their shining.

    The Lord roars from Zion

    and utters his voice from Jerusalem,

    and the heavens and the earth shake.

    But the Lord is a refuge for his people,

    a stronghold for the people of Israel.

    The Glorious Future of Judah

    So you shall know that I, the Lord your God,

    dwell in Zion, my holy mountain.

    And Jerusalem shall be holy,

    and strangers shall never again pass through it.

    In that day

    the mountains shall drip sweet wine,

    the hills shall flow with milk,

    and all the streambeds of Judah

    shall flow with water;

    a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord

    and water the Wadi Shittim.

    Egypt shall become a desolation

    and Edom a desolate wilderness,

    because of the violence done to the people of Judah,

    in whose land they have shed innocent blood.

    But Judah shall be inhabited forever

    and Jerusalem to all generations.

    I will avenge their blood, and I will not clear the guilty,

    for the Lord dwells in Zion.

  • Amos 1

    The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and in the days of King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

    Judgment on Israel’s Neighbors

    And he said:

    The Lord roars from Zion

    and utters his voice from Jerusalem;

    the pastures of the shepherds wither,

    and the top of Carmel dries up.

    Thus says the Lord:

    For three transgressions of Damascus,

    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

    because they have threshed Gilead

    with threshing sledges of iron.

    So I will send a fire on the house of Hazael,

    and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.

    I will break the gate bars of Damascus

    and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven

    and the one who holds the scepter from Beth-eden,

    and the people of Aram shall go into exile to Kir,

    says the Lord.

    Thus says the Lord:

    For three transgressions of Gaza,

    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

    because they carried into exile entire communities,

    to hand them over to Edom.

    So I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza,

    and it shall devour its strongholds.

    I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod

    and the one who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;

    I will turn my hand against Ekron,

    and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,

    says the Lord God.

    Thus says the Lord:

    For three transgressions of Tyre,

    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

    because they delivered entire communities over to Edom

    and did not remember the covenant of kinship.

    So I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre,

    and it shall devour its strongholds.

    Thus says the Lord:

    For three transgressions of Edom,

    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

    because he pursued his brother with the sword

    and cast off all pity;

    he maintained his anger perpetually

    and kept his wrath forever.

    So I will send a fire on Teman,

    and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.

    Thus says the Lord:

    For three transgressions of the Ammonites,

    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

    because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead

    in order to enlarge their territory.

    So I will kindle a fire against the wall of Rabbah,

    and it shall devour its strongholds,

    with shouting on the day of battle,

    with a storm on the day of the whirlwind;

    then their king shall go into exile,

    he and his officials together,

    says the Lord.

  • Amos 2 & 3

    Thus says the Lord:

    For three transgressions of Moab,

    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

    because he burned to lime

    the bones of the king of Edom.

    So I will send a fire on Moab,

    and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth,

    and Moab shall die amid uproar,

    amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;

    I will cut off the ruler from its midst

    and will kill all its officials with him,

    says the Lord.

    Judgment on Judah

    Thus says the Lord:

    For three transgressions of Judah,

    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

    because they have rejected the instruction of the Lord

    and have not kept his statutes,

    but they have been led astray by the same lies

    after which their ancestors walked.

    So I will send a fire on Judah,

    and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.

    Judgment on Israel

    Thus says the Lord:

    For three transgressions of Israel,

    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

    because they sell the righteous for silver

    and the needy for a pair of sandals —

    they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth

    and push the afflicted out of the way;

    father and son go in to the same young woman,

    so that my holy name is profaned;

    they lay themselves down beside every altar

    on garments taken in pledge;

    and in the house of their God they drink

    wine bought with fines they imposed.

    Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them,

    whose height was like the height of cedars

    and who was as strong as oaks;

    I destroyed his fruit above

    and his roots beneath.

    Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt

    and led you forty years in the wilderness,

    to possess the land of the Amorite.

    And I raised up some of your children to be prophets

    and some of your youths to be nazirites.

    Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?

    says the Lord.

    But you made the nazirites drink wine

    and commanded the prophets,

    saying, “You shall not prophesy.”

    So, I will press you down in your place,

    just as a cart presses down

    when it is full of sheaves.

    Flight shall perish from the swift,

    and the strong shall not retain their strength,

    nor shall the mighty save their lives;

    those who handle the bow shall not stand,

    and those who are swift of foot shall not save themselves,

    nor shall those who ride horses save their lives;

    and those who are stout of heart among the mighty

    shall flee away naked on that day,

    says the Lord.

    Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

    Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:

    You only have I known

    of all the families of the earth;

    therefore I will punish you

    for all your iniquities.

    Do two walk together

    unless they have made an appointment?

    Does a lion roar in the forest

    when it has no prey?

    Does a young lion cry out from its den

    if it has caught nothing?

    Does a bird fall into a snare on the earth

    when there is no trap for it?

    Does a snare spring up from the ground

    when it has taken nothing?

    Is a trumpet blown in a city,

    and the people are not afraid?

    Does disaster befall a city

    unless the Lord has done it?

    Surely the Lord God does nothing

    without revealing his secret

    to his servants the prophets.

    The lion has roared;

    who will not fear?

    The Lord God has spoken;

    who can but prophesy?

    Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod

    and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt,

    and say, “Assemble yourselves on Mount Samaria,

    and see what great tumults are within it

    and what oppressions are in its midst.”

    They do not know how to do right, says the Lord,

    those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.

    Therefore thus says the Lord God:

    An adversary shall surround the land

    and strip you of your defense,

    and your strongholds shall be plundered.

    Thus says the Lord: As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who live in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.

    Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,

    says the Lord God, the God of hosts:

    On the day I punish Israel for its transgressions,

    I will punish the altars of Bethel,

    and the horns of the altar shall be cut off

    and fall to the ground.

    I will tear down the winter house as well as the summer house,

    and the houses of ivory shall perish,

    and the great houses shall come to an end,

    says the Lord.

  • Amos 4 & 5

    Hear this word, you cows of Bashan

    who are on Mount Samaria,

    who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,

    who say to their husbands, “Bring something to drink!”

    The Lord God has sworn by his holiness:

    The time is surely coming upon you

    when they shall take you away with hooks,

    even the last of you with fishhooks.

    Through breaches in the wall you shall leave,

    each one straight ahead,

    and you shall be flung out into Harmon,

    says the Lord.

    Come to Bethel — and transgress;

    to Gilgal — and multiply transgression;

    bring your sacrifices every morning,

    your tithes every three days;

    bring a thank offering of leavened bread

    and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them;

    for so you love to do, O people of Israel!

    says the Lord God.

    Israel Rejects Correction

    I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities

    and lack of bread in all your places;

    yet you did not return to me,

    says the Lord.

    And I also withheld the rain from you

    when there were still three months to the harvest;

    I would send rain on one city

    and send no rain on another city;

    one field would be rained upon,

    and the field on which it did not rain withered;

    so two or three towns wandered to one town

    to drink water and were not satisfied;

    yet you did not return to me,

    says the Lord.

    I struck you with blight and mildew;

    I laid waste your gardens and your vineyards;

    the locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees;

    yet you did not return to me,

    says the Lord.

    I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt;

    I killed your young men with the sword;

    I carried away your horses;

    and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;

    yet you did not return to me,

    says the Lord.

    I overthrew some of you

    as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

    and you were like a brand snatched from the fire;

    yet you did not return to me,

    says the Lord.

    Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;

    because I will do this to you,

    prepare to meet your God, O Israel!

    For the one who forms the mountains, creates the wind,

    reveals his thoughts to mortals,

    makes the morning darkness,

    and treads on the heights of the earth —

    the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

    A Lament for Israel’s Sin

    Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:

    Fallen, no more to rise,

    is maiden Israel;

    forsaken on her land,

    with no one to raise her up.

    For thus says the Lord God:

    The city that marched out a thousand

    shall have a hundred left,

    and that which marched out a hundred

    shall have ten left.

    For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:

    Seek me and live,

    but do not seek Bethel,

    and do not enter into Gilgal

    or cross over to Beer-sheba,

    for Gilgal shall surely go into exile,

    and Bethel shall come to nothing.

    Seek the Lord and live,

    or he will break out against the house of Joseph like fire,

    and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it.

    Ah, you who turn justice to wormwood

    and bring righteousness to the ground!

    The one who made the Pleiades and Orion

    and turns deep darkness into the morning

    and darkens the day into night,

    who calls for the water of the sea

    and pours it out on the surface of the earth,

    the Lord is his name,

    who makes destruction flash out against the strong,

    so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

    They hate the one who reproves in the gate,

    and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.

    Therefore because you trample on the poor

    and take from them levies of grain,

    you have built houses of hewn stone,

    but you shall not live in them;

    you have planted pleasant vineyards,

    but you shall not drink their wine.

    For I know how many are your transgressions

    and how great are your sins —

    you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe

    and push aside the needy in the gate.

    Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time,

    for it is an evil time.

    Seek good and not evil,

    that you may live,

    and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,

    just as you have said.

    Hate evil and love good,

    and establish justice in the gate;

    it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,

    will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

    Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord:

    In all the squares there shall be wailing,

    and in all the streets they shall say, “Alas! Alas!”

    They shall call the farmers to mourning

    and those skilled in lamentation to wailing;

    in all the vineyards there shall be wailing,

    for I will pass through the midst of you,

    says the Lord.

    The Day of the Lord a Dark Day

    Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!

    Why do you want the day of the Lord?

    It is darkness, not light,

    as if someone fled from a lion

    and was met by a bear

    or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall

    and was bitten by a snake.

    Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light,

    and gloom with no brightness in it?

    I hate, I despise your festivals,

    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

    Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

    I will not accept them,

    and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals

    I will not look upon.

    Take away from me the noise of your songs;

    I will not listen to the melody of your harps.

    But let justice roll down like water

    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

    Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You shall take up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, your images, which you made for yourselves; therefore I will take you into exile beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

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Weekly Greeting - December 31st, 2023

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Bethlehem News - December 29th, 2023