WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.840 Nancy: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience. 00:00:02.920 --> 00:00:04.340 Day 200 and 46 00:00:07.609 --> 00:00:09.019 immersed in Hosea. 00:00:10.909 --> 00:00:14.029 Amos was not the only prophet who was rebuffed by the people of 00:00:14.029 --> 00:00:15.649 the Northern Kingdom of Israel. 00:00:16.489 --> 00:00:21.709 Toward the end of Ome the Second's Reign, a man named Hosea also tried 00:00:21.709 --> 00:00:25.129 to bring a warning from God against their injustice and idolatry. 00:00:26.044 --> 00:00:30.484 The people called him crazy and a fool, and they plotted against him. 00:00:31.324 --> 00:00:35.404 Despite this strong hostility and opposition, Hosea's messages 00:00:35.404 --> 00:00:39.274 and prophecies were recorded and collected, and they have come 00:00:39.274 --> 00:00:40.954 down to us today in this book. 00:00:41.264 --> 00:00:43.864 The book of Hosea has two parts. 00:00:44.234 --> 00:00:49.204 The first is said during the stable and prosperous years of Gerome II's rain. 00:00:49.984 --> 00:00:54.724 Hosea refers to the grain, wine, olive oil, silver, and gold. 00:00:55.144 --> 00:00:56.974 That were abundant in those years. 00:00:57.844 --> 00:01:02.704 The second and longer part of a book describes the three chaotic decades 00:01:02.704 --> 00:01:07.714 following Ome II's death when four of the Final six Northern Kings 00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:12.874 were assassinated, creating social instability, economic distress, and 00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:15.094 shifting dependence on foreign powers. 00:01:16.264 --> 00:01:19.744 But both parts of the book deliver the same message, which is both 00:01:19.744 --> 00:01:22.414 ominous and hopeful at the same time. 00:01:23.764 --> 00:01:28.684 Israel has strayed so far from God plunging into immoral idol worship 00:01:29.074 --> 00:01:32.464 and violating the requirements of justice from the law of Moses. 00:01:33.004 --> 00:01:37.564 Nothing but a fresh start will restore its covenant relationship with the Lord. 00:01:38.374 --> 00:01:42.634 And so the people must be taken into exile so that in their isolation, they 00:01:42.634 --> 00:01:48.604 may come to know God once again, in the first part of the book, this scenario 00:01:48.609 --> 00:01:50.794 is dramatized in hosea's own life. 00:01:51.574 --> 00:01:55.384 God tells Hosea to marry a woman who will be unfaithful to him. 00:01:56.164 --> 00:02:00.904 Just as the Israelites have been unfaithful to their covenant God, but 00:02:00.904 --> 00:02:05.044 even though his wife abandons him, Hosea is told to take her back again. 00:02:05.824 --> 00:02:09.334 He has to buy her back from slavery in order to accomplish this. 00:02:10.144 --> 00:02:14.524 After a season of abstinence, Hosea then acts as her husband again. 00:02:15.334 --> 00:02:19.804 In the same way, God will reclaim his role as Israel's true husband. 00:02:20.764 --> 00:02:24.394 I will win her back Once again, I will lead her into the desert 00:02:24.664 --> 00:02:25.984 and speak tenderly to her. 00:02:25.984 --> 00:02:30.214 There she will give herself to me there, as she did long ago, 00:02:30.219 --> 00:02:34.354 when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt. 00:02:35.614 --> 00:02:38.764 The second part of the book opens with a stunning presentation 00:02:39.124 --> 00:02:40.734 of a classic covenant lawsuit. 00:02:41.824 --> 00:02:43.854 First Israel is called a court. 00:02:44.854 --> 00:02:47.464 Hear the word of the Lord, oh people of Israel. 00:02:47.944 --> 00:02:50.044 The Lord has brought charges against you. 00:02:51.064 --> 00:02:52.834 Next, the charges are brought. 00:02:53.734 --> 00:02:58.564 There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land. 00:02:59.224 --> 00:03:01.054 You make vows and break them. 00:03:01.534 --> 00:03:04.264 You kill and steal and commit adultery. 00:03:04.774 --> 00:03:06.304 There is violence everywhere. 00:03:06.394 --> 00:03:08.194 One murder after another. 00:03:09.394 --> 00:03:10.774 Then the sentence is pronounced. 00:03:11.584 --> 00:03:15.964 That is why your land is in mourning and everyone is wasting away. 00:03:16.714 --> 00:03:20.614 Even the wild animals, the birds of the sky and the fish 00:03:20.614 --> 00:03:22.024 of the sea are disappearing. 00:03:23.314 --> 00:03:27.244 The people of Israel have failed to remain faithful in their covenant relationship 00:03:27.244 --> 00:03:32.104 with God, and the consequences include the undoing of creation itself. 00:03:33.004 --> 00:03:36.574 Part of Israel's failure involved embracing the Debauched 00:03:36.574 --> 00:03:37.684 fertility cult of Baal. 00:03:38.689 --> 00:03:41.479 Which the people had unfortunately become addicted to. 00:03:42.409 --> 00:03:46.909 Instead of looking elsewhere for life and prosperity, the people should 00:03:46.909 --> 00:03:51.229 have looked only to the creator himself as the true source of life. 00:03:52.279 --> 00:03:55.639 But now in their disobedience, they would experience the 00:03:55.644 --> 00:03:58.099 desert of exile and destruction. 00:03:59.329 --> 00:04:02.659 Hosea highlights key events of Israel's earlier covenant 00:04:02.659 --> 00:04:05.089 history, especially the Exodus. 00:04:05.524 --> 00:04:09.904 To inspire the people to renew their relationship with God and begin 00:04:09.904 --> 00:04:11.644 living out their story in the present. 00:04:12.724 --> 00:04:17.134 At one point, Hosea takes a step back from delivering prophecies in God's name. 00:04:17.434 --> 00:04:21.454 In order to appeal personally to his fellow Israelites, come 00:04:21.724 --> 00:04:23.554 let us return to the Lord. 00:04:24.364 --> 00:04:28.564 If the people would return, then the Lord's promises of restoration given 00:04:28.564 --> 00:04:31.234 through Hosea would be realized. 00:04:32.344 --> 00:04:34.564 I will heal you of your faithfulness. 00:04:35.119 --> 00:04:40.309 My love will know no bounds for my anger will be gone forever. 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:46.789 The prophet Hosea, 00:04:49.939 --> 00:04:54.649 the Lord, gave this message to Hosea son of Be I during the years 00:04:54.649 --> 00:05:01.129 when Aya Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings of Judah and Jira. 00:05:01.129 --> 00:05:03.409 Boem son of Jehovah was king of Israel. 00:05:06.064 --> 00:05:10.024 When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said 00:05:10.024 --> 00:05:14.734 to him, go and marry a prostitute so that some of her children will 00:05:14.734 --> 00:05:16.684 be conceived in prostitution. 00:05:17.344 --> 00:05:22.144 This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against 00:05:22.144 --> 00:05:24.544 the Lord and worshiping other gods. 00:05:25.594 --> 00:05:29.824 So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Dib, Liam, and she became 00:05:29.829 --> 00:05:31.864 pregnant and gave Hosea a son. 00:05:32.434 --> 00:05:37.114 The Lord said, name the child Jezreel for I am about to punish 00:05:37.114 --> 00:05:41.434 King Gee Hughes Dynasty to avenge the murders he committed at Jezreel. 00:05:41.944 --> 00:05:45.454 In fact, I will bring an end to Israel's independence. 00:05:45.844 --> 00:05:49.054 I will break its military power in the Jezreel Valley. 00:05:50.224 --> 00:05:55.414 Soon Gomer became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter, and the Lord said 00:05:55.414 --> 00:05:58.504 to Hosea, name your daughter, lo Ruhama. 00:05:58.849 --> 00:06:00.349 Not loved for. 00:06:00.349 --> 00:06:05.359 I will no longer show love to the people of Israel or forgive them, but I 00:06:05.359 --> 00:06:07.249 will show love to the people of Judah. 00:06:07.909 --> 00:06:12.319 I will free them from their enemies, not with weapons and armies or 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:17.269 horses and charioteers, but by my power as the Lord their God. 00:06:18.589 --> 00:06:23.149 After Gomer had weaned lo Ruhama, she again became pregnant and 00:06:23.149 --> 00:06:24.799 gave birth to a second son. 00:06:25.369 --> 00:06:27.889 And the Lord said, name him low. 00:06:27.894 --> 00:06:34.459 Am I not my people for Israel is not my people and I am not their God. 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:39.079 Yet the time will come when Israel's people will be like 00:06:39.084 --> 00:06:40.549 the sands of the seashore. 00:06:40.819 --> 00:06:41.839 Too many to count. 00:06:42.679 --> 00:06:46.219 Then at the place where they were told, you are not my people. 00:06:46.459 --> 00:06:49.879 It will be said, you are children of the living God. 00:06:50.494 --> 00:06:53.524 Then the people of Judah and Israel will unite together. 00:06:54.154 --> 00:06:58.984 They will choose one leader for themselves and they will return from exile together. 00:06:59.614 --> 00:07:04.504 What a day that will be the day of Jezreel, when God will again 00:07:04.504 --> 00:07:06.694 plant his people in his land. 00:07:07.684 --> 00:07:11.554 In that day, you will call your brothers, am I my people? 00:07:12.004 --> 00:07:16.444 And you will call your sisters Ruhama, the ones I love. 00:07:17.764 --> 00:07:23.464 Now bring charges against Israel, your mother for She is no longer My 00:07:23.464 --> 00:07:26.434 wife and I am no longer her husband. 00:07:27.244 --> 00:07:30.964 Tell her to remove the prostitute's makeup from her face and the 00:07:30.964 --> 00:07:33.094 clothing that exposes her breasts. 00:07:33.754 --> 00:07:37.864 Otherwise, I will strip her as naked as she was on the day she was born. 00:07:38.554 --> 00:07:43.174 I will leave her to die of thirst as in a dry and barren wilderness, 00:07:43.774 --> 00:07:45.454 and I will not love her children. 00:07:45.859 --> 00:07:47.869 For they were conceived in prostitution. 00:07:48.559 --> 00:07:53.239 Their mother is a shameless prostitute and became pregnant in a shameful way. 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:58.669 She said, I'll run after other lovers and sell myself to them for food 00:07:58.669 --> 00:08:04.249 and water, for clothing of wool and linen, and for olive oil and drinks. 00:08:05.359 --> 00:08:08.329 For this reason, I will fence her in with thorn bushes. 00:08:08.899 --> 00:08:12.589 I will block her path with a wall to make her lose her way. 00:08:13.354 --> 00:08:16.954 When she runs after her lovers, she won't be able to catch them. 00:08:17.704 --> 00:08:20.374 She will search for them, but not find them. 00:08:21.154 --> 00:08:24.874 Then she will think I might as well return to my husband for I was 00:08:24.874 --> 00:08:26.794 better off with him than I am now. 00:08:27.964 --> 00:08:31.174 She doesn't realize it was I who gave her everything. 00:08:31.204 --> 00:08:35.524 She has the grain, the new wine, the olive oil. 00:08:36.034 --> 00:08:41.164 I even gave her silver and gold, but she gave all my gifts to Baal. 00:08:42.994 --> 00:08:47.404 Now I will take back the ripened grain and new wine I generously 00:08:47.404 --> 00:08:49.084 provided Each harvest season. 00:08:49.864 --> 00:08:53.014 I will take away the wool and linen clothing I gave 00:08:53.014 --> 00:08:54.694 her to cover her nakedness. 00:08:55.384 --> 00:08:59.074 I will strip her naked in public while all her lovers look on. 00:08:59.854 --> 00:09:02.674 No one will be able to rescue her from my hands. 00:09:03.424 --> 00:09:07.984 I will put an end to her annual festivals, her new moon celebrations, and her 00:09:07.984 --> 00:09:10.864 Sabbath days, all her appointed festivals. 00:09:11.569 --> 00:09:15.019 I will destroy her grape vines and fig trees, things she 00:09:15.049 --> 00:09:16.909 claims her lovers gave her. 00:09:17.629 --> 00:09:20.719 I will let them grow into tangled thickets where only 00:09:20.719 --> 00:09:22.639 wild animals will eat the fruit. 00:09:23.479 --> 00:09:28.099 I will punish her for all those times when she burned incense to her images 00:09:28.099 --> 00:09:32.749 of Baal when she put on her earrings and jewels and out to look for her lovers, 00:09:32.899 --> 00:09:40.759 but forgot all about me, says the Lord, but then I will win her back once again. 00:09:41.629 --> 00:09:45.289 I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. 00:09:45.289 --> 00:09:50.149 There I will return her vineyards to her and transform the valley 00:09:50.149 --> 00:09:52.789 of trouble into a gateway of hope. 00:09:53.599 --> 00:09:58.399 She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago, when she was young, when 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:00.829 I freed her from her captivity in Egypt. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:06.289 When that day comes, says the Lord, you will call me my 00:10:06.289 --> 00:10:09.109 husband instead of my master. 00:10:10.384 --> 00:10:14.944 Israel, I will wipe the many names of Baal from your lips, and you 00:10:14.944 --> 00:10:16.414 will never mention them again. 00:10:17.284 --> 00:10:21.574 On that day, I will make a covenant with all the wild animals and the birds of 00:10:21.574 --> 00:10:26.434 the sky and the animals that scurry along the ground so they will not harm you. 00:10:27.274 --> 00:10:32.524 I will remove all weapons of war from the land, all swords and bows, so you 00:10:32.524 --> 00:10:35.374 can live unafraid in peace and safety. 00:10:36.184 --> 00:10:40.774 I will make you my wife forever showing you righteousness and justice, 00:10:41.074 --> 00:10:43.084 unfailing love and compassion. 00:10:43.894 --> 00:10:47.464 I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will 00:10:47.464 --> 00:10:49.324 finally know me as the Lord. 00:10:50.314 --> 00:10:53.824 In that day, I will answer says the Lord. 00:10:54.424 --> 00:10:58.144 I will answer the sky as it pleads for clouds and the sky 00:10:58.144 --> 00:11:00.064 will answer the earth with rain. 00:11:00.604 --> 00:11:04.804 Then the earth will answer the thirsty cries of the grain, the grapevines, 00:11:04.804 --> 00:11:10.774 and the olive trees, and they in turn will answer Jezreel God plants. 00:11:11.524 --> 00:11:16.744 At that time, I will plant a crop of Israelites and raise them for myself. 00:11:17.554 --> 00:11:22.894 I will show love to those I called not loved, and to those I called 00:11:22.924 --> 00:11:28.984 not my people, I will say, now you are my people, and they will reply. 00:11:29.674 --> 00:11:31.564 You are our God. 00:11:33.034 --> 00:11:37.714 Then the Lord said to me, go and love your wife again, even though she 00:11:37.714 --> 00:11:39.454 commits adultery with another lover. 00:11:40.084 --> 00:11:44.014 This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though 00:11:44.014 --> 00:11:47.034 the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them. 00:11:48.344 --> 00:11:52.894 So I bought her back for 15 pieces of silver and five bushels of 00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:54.934 barley and a measure of wine. 00:11:55.819 --> 00:11:59.659 Then I said to her, you must live in my house for many days 00:11:59.659 --> 00:12:01.309 and stop your prostitution. 00:12:01.879 --> 00:12:02.839 During this time. 00:12:02.989 --> 00:12:06.289 You will not have sexual relations with anyone, not even with me. 00:12:07.369 --> 00:12:11.509 This shows that Israel will go a long time without a king or prince, 00:12:11.839 --> 00:12:16.579 and without sacrifices, sacred pillars, priests, or even idols. 00:12:17.389 --> 00:12:22.429 But afterward, the people will return and devote themselves to the Lord their God, 00:12:22.519 --> 00:12:24.919 and to David's descendant, their king. 00:12:25.939 --> 00:12:30.889 In the last days, they will tremble in awe of the Lord and of his goodness. 00:12:33.409 --> 00:12:35.869 Hear the word of the Lord, oh people of Israel. 00:12:36.379 --> 00:12:40.189 The Lord has brought charges against you saying there is no 00:12:40.189 --> 00:12:44.389 faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land. 00:12:45.019 --> 00:12:46.879 You make vows and break them. 00:12:47.299 --> 00:12:49.909 You kill and steal and commit adultery. 00:12:50.569 --> 00:12:52.459 There is violence everywhere. 00:12:52.609 --> 00:12:54.409 One murder after another. 00:12:55.174 --> 00:12:59.044 That is why your land is in mourning and everyone is wasting away. 00:12:59.764 --> 00:13:02.794 Even the wild animals, the birds of the sky and the fish 00:13:02.794 --> 00:13:04.294 of the sea are disappearing. 00:13:05.224 --> 00:13:09.154 Don't point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame. 00:13:09.874 --> 00:13:15.844 My complaint, you priests is with you, so you will stumble in broad daylight and 00:13:15.844 --> 00:13:20.884 your false prophets will fall with you in the night and I will destroy Israel. 00:13:20.884 --> 00:13:21.484 Your mother. 00:13:22.579 --> 00:13:26.569 My people are being destroyed because they don't know me. 00:13:27.019 --> 00:13:32.569 Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. 00:13:33.049 --> 00:13:38.749 Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children. 00:13:39.439 --> 00:13:42.679 The more priests there are, the more they sin against me. 00:13:43.189 --> 00:13:48.139 They have exchanged the glory of God for the shame of idols when the 00:13:48.139 --> 00:13:49.879 people bring their sin offerings. 00:13:50.179 --> 00:13:51.709 The priests get fed. 00:13:52.309 --> 00:13:56.389 So the priests are glad when the people sin and what the 00:13:56.389 --> 00:13:58.819 priests do, the people also do. 00:13:59.659 --> 00:14:04.219 So now I will punish both priests and people for their wicked deeds. 00:14:04.909 --> 00:14:06.949 They will eat and still be hungry. 00:14:07.429 --> 00:14:11.359 They will play the prostitute and gain nothing from it for they have deserted 00:14:11.359 --> 00:14:17.149 the Lord to worship other Gods wine has robbed my people of their understanding. 00:14:18.424 --> 00:14:20.944 They ask a piece of wood for advice. 00:14:21.334 --> 00:14:23.974 They think a stick can tell them the future. 00:14:24.694 --> 00:14:27.724 Longing after idols has made them foolish. 00:14:28.324 --> 00:14:32.884 They have played the prostitute serving other gods and deserting their God. 00:14:33.664 --> 00:14:36.784 They offer sacrifices to idols on the mountaintops. 00:14:37.174 --> 00:14:40.654 They go up into the hills to burn incense in the pleasant shade of 00:14:40.654 --> 00:14:43.504 oaks, poplars and Tarin trees. 00:14:44.239 --> 00:14:48.229 That is why your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters in 00:14:48.229 --> 00:14:53.149 law commit adultery, but why should I punish them for their prostitution? 00:14:53.149 --> 00:14:58.279 And adultery for your men are doing the same thing, sitting with 00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:00.409 whores and shrine prostitutes. 00:15:01.069 --> 00:15:06.289 Oh, foolish people you refuse to understand so you will be destroyed. 00:15:07.579 --> 00:15:13.849 Though you Israel are a prostitute, may Judah not be guilty of such things. 00:15:14.659 --> 00:15:19.729 Do not join the false worship at Gilgal or Beth Haven and do not 00:15:19.729 --> 00:15:21.919 take oaths there in the Lord's name. 00:15:22.669 --> 00:15:25.549 Israel is stubborn like a stubborn heifer. 00:15:26.119 --> 00:15:31.729 So should the Lord feed her like a lamb in lush pasture, leave Israel alone 00:15:31.909 --> 00:15:33.739 because she is married to idolatry. 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:37.969 When the rulers of Israel finish their drinking off, they 00:15:37.969 --> 00:15:39.889 go to find some prostitutes. 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:42.439 They love shame more than honor. 00:15:43.129 --> 00:15:45.499 So a mighty wind will sweep them away. 00:15:46.009 --> 00:15:50.929 Their sacrifices to idols will bring them Shame here. 00:15:50.929 --> 00:15:53.689 This you priests pay attention. 00:15:53.809 --> 00:15:53.989 You. 00:15:53.989 --> 00:15:54.979 Leaders of Israel. 00:15:55.519 --> 00:16:00.829 Listen, you, members of the Royal Family Judgment has been handed down against you. 00:16:01.579 --> 00:16:07.099 For you have led the people into a snare by worshiping the idols at MPA and Tabor. 00:16:07.579 --> 00:16:11.509 You have dug a deep pit to trap them at Acacia Grove. 00:16:12.049 --> 00:16:14.899 But I will settle with you for what you have done. 00:16:15.649 --> 00:16:17.779 I know what you are like O efram. 00:16:18.259 --> 00:16:20.509 You cannot hide yourself from me. 00:16:20.569 --> 00:16:24.469 O Israel, you have left me as a prostitute. 00:16:24.469 --> 00:16:25.399 Leaves her husband. 00:16:26.029 --> 00:16:27.949 You are utterly defiled. 00:16:28.729 --> 00:16:31.369 Your deeds won't let you return to your God. 00:16:31.879 --> 00:16:37.189 You are a prostitute through and through, and you do not know the Lord. 00:16:38.359 --> 00:16:43.489 The arrogance of Israel testifies against her Israel and Efraim will 00:16:43.494 --> 00:16:45.289 stumble under their load of guilt. 00:16:46.009 --> 00:16:51.109 Judah too will fall with them when they come with their flocks and herds 00:16:51.109 --> 00:16:52.969 to offer sacrifices to the Lord. 00:16:53.359 --> 00:16:56.599 They will not find him because he has withdrawn from them. 00:16:57.709 --> 00:17:01.939 They have betrayed the honor of the Lord bearing children that are not his 00:17:02.659 --> 00:17:07.459 now, their false religion will devour them along with their wealth sound. 00:17:07.459 --> 00:17:10.849 The alarm in gibbon blow the trumpet in Rama. 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:13.609 Raise the battle cry in Beth Aven. 00:17:14.149 --> 00:17:17.059 Lead on into battle a warriors of Benjamin. 00:17:17.869 --> 00:17:21.829 One thing is certain Israel, on your day of punishment, you 00:17:21.834 --> 00:17:23.839 will become a heap of rubble. 00:17:24.664 --> 00:17:28.834 The leaders of Judah have become like thieves, so I will pour my 00:17:28.834 --> 00:17:30.634 anger on them like a waterfall. 00:17:31.834 --> 00:17:36.004 The people of Israel will be crushed and broken by my judgment because 00:17:36.004 --> 00:17:38.254 they are determined to worship idols. 00:17:38.914 --> 00:17:42.484 I will destroy Israel as a moth consumes wool. 00:17:43.084 --> 00:17:45.784 I will make Judah as weak as rotten wood. 00:17:47.194 --> 00:17:52.384 When Israel and Judah saw how sick they were, Israel turned to Assyria 00:17:52.594 --> 00:17:55.954 to the great King there, but he could neither help nor cure them. 00:17:56.824 --> 00:18:01.594 I will be like a lion to Israel, like a strong young lion to Judah. 00:18:02.194 --> 00:18:04.234 I will tear them to pieces. 00:18:04.774 --> 00:18:08.194 I will carry them off and no one will be left to rescue them. 00:18:09.214 --> 00:18:14.074 Then I will return to my place until they admit their guilt and turn to me. 00:18:14.944 --> 00:18:18.604 For as soon as trouble comes, they will earnestly search for me. 00:18:20.299 --> 00:18:23.239 Come let us return to the Lord. 00:18:23.899 --> 00:18:25.729 He has torn us to pieces. 00:18:26.119 --> 00:18:28.009 Now He will heal us. 00:18:28.609 --> 00:18:30.049 He has injured us. 00:18:30.259 --> 00:18:32.689 Now he will bandage our wounds. 00:18:33.679 --> 00:18:38.539 In just a short time, he will restore us so that we may live in his presence. 00:18:39.559 --> 00:18:41.569 Oh, that we might know the Lord. 00:18:42.124 --> 00:18:44.044 Let us press on to know him. 00:18:44.524 --> 00:18:49.054 He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the 00:18:49.054 --> 00:18:51.394 coming of rains in early spring. 00:18:52.594 --> 00:18:56.134 Oh, Israel and Judah, what should I do with you? 00:18:56.524 --> 00:18:59.224 Asks the Lord for your love. 00:18:59.229 --> 00:19:03.184 Vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight. 00:19:04.174 --> 00:19:06.874 I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces. 00:19:07.234 --> 00:19:11.704 To slaughter you with my words, with judgments as inescapable as light. 00:19:12.634 --> 00:19:15.994 I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. 00:19:16.624 --> 00:19:23.494 I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings, but like Adam, you 00:19:23.499 --> 00:19:26.464 broke my covenant and betrayed my trust. 00:19:27.484 --> 00:19:32.044 Gilead is a city of sinners tracked with footprints of blood. 00:19:32.989 --> 00:19:37.129 Priests form bans of robbers waiting in ambush for their victims. 00:19:37.789 --> 00:19:42.709 They murder travelers along the road to shek him and practice every kind of sin. 00:19:43.699 --> 00:19:47.809 Yes, I have seen something horrible in Efraim in Israel. 00:19:48.409 --> 00:19:53.029 My people are defiled by prostituting themselves with other gods. 00:19:54.169 --> 00:19:59.299 Oh, Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you though I wanted 00:19:59.299 --> 00:20:01.669 to restore the fortunes of my people. 00:20:02.389 --> 00:20:06.439 I want to heal Israel, but its sins are too great. 00:20:07.159 --> 00:20:09.259 Samaria is filled with liars. 00:20:09.799 --> 00:20:13.189 Thieves are on the inside and bandits on the outside. 00:20:13.669 --> 00:20:16.369 Its people don't realize that I am watching them. 00:20:16.849 --> 00:20:19.879 Their sinful deeds are all around them, and I see them. 00:20:19.939 --> 00:20:24.499 All the people entertain the king with their wickedness, and 00:20:24.499 --> 00:20:26.389 the princes laugh at their lies. 00:20:27.049 --> 00:20:28.519 They're all adulterers. 00:20:28.549 --> 00:20:30.319 Always a flame with lust. 00:20:30.949 --> 00:20:34.999 They're like an oven that has kept hot while the baker is kneading the dough. 00:20:35.869 --> 00:20:39.739 On royal holidays, the princes get drunk with wine carousing 00:20:39.739 --> 00:20:40.879 with those who mock them. 00:20:41.539 --> 00:20:44.689 Their hearts are like an oven blazing with intrigue. 00:20:45.199 --> 00:20:49.309 Their plot smolders through the night and in the morning it breaks out like 00:20:49.309 --> 00:20:52.519 a raging fire, burning like an oven. 00:20:52.519 --> 00:20:56.899 They consume their leaders, they kill their kings one after another, 00:20:57.169 --> 00:20:59.809 and no one cries to me for help. 00:21:01.009 --> 00:21:05.719 The people of Israel mingle with godless foreigners making themselves 00:21:05.719 --> 00:21:08.269 as worthless as a half-baked cake. 00:21:09.049 --> 00:21:13.849 Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength, but they don't even know it. 00:21:14.779 --> 00:21:19.339 Their hair is gray, but they don't realize they're old and weak. 00:21:20.029 --> 00:21:24.139 Their arrogance testifies against them, yet they don't return to the 00:21:24.139 --> 00:21:26.539 Lord their God or even try to find him. 00:21:27.634 --> 00:21:31.444 The people of Israel have become like silly witless doves. 00:21:31.864 --> 00:21:35.764 First calling to Egypt, then flying to Assyria for help. 00:21:36.754 --> 00:21:41.014 But as they fly about, I will throw my net over them and bring them 00:21:41.014 --> 00:21:42.934 down like a bird from the sky. 00:21:43.774 --> 00:21:46.204 I will punish them for all the evil they do. 00:21:47.734 --> 00:21:48.004 What? 00:21:48.004 --> 00:21:52.624 Sorrow awaits, those who have deserted me, let them die for 00:21:52.624 --> 00:21:54.064 they have rebelled against me. 00:21:54.934 --> 00:21:59.224 I wanted to redeem them that they have told lies about me. 00:22:00.124 --> 00:22:03.004 They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts. 00:22:03.274 --> 00:22:05.794 Instead, they sit on their couches and wail. 00:22:06.274 --> 00:22:10.234 They cut themselves begging foreign gods for grain and new 00:22:10.234 --> 00:22:13.054 wine, and they turn away from me. 00:22:14.284 --> 00:22:19.054 I trained them and made them strong, yet now they plot evil against me. 00:22:19.894 --> 00:22:22.804 They look everywhere except to the most high. 00:22:23.749 --> 00:22:25.939 They are as useless as a crooked bow. 00:22:26.569 --> 00:22:29.179 Their leaders will be killed by their enemies because 00:22:29.179 --> 00:22:30.769 of their insense toward me. 00:22:31.729 --> 00:22:34.039 Then the people of Egypt will laugh at them. 00:22:35.329 --> 00:22:36.499 Sound the alarm. 00:22:36.889 --> 00:22:41.389 The enemy descends like an eagle on the people of the Lord, for they have broken 00:22:41.389 --> 00:22:44.059 my covenant and revolted against my law. 00:22:44.959 --> 00:22:46.729 Now Israel pleads with me. 00:22:46.849 --> 00:22:51.889 Help us for you are our God, but it is too late. 00:22:52.999 --> 00:22:56.479 The people of Israel have rejected what is good, and now their 00:22:56.479 --> 00:22:58.129 enemies will chase after them. 00:22:58.969 --> 00:23:03.949 The people have appointed kings without my consent and princes without my approval. 00:23:04.669 --> 00:23:08.629 By making idols for themselves from their silver and gold, they have 00:23:08.634 --> 00:23:11.329 brought about their own destruction. 00:23:12.529 --> 00:23:20.419 Oh, Samaria, I reject this calf, this idol you have made my fury burns against you. 00:23:21.109 --> 00:23:23.839 How long will you be incapable of innocence? 00:23:24.379 --> 00:23:30.199 This calf you worship O Israel was crafted by your own hands. 00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:32.749 It is not God. 00:23:33.439 --> 00:23:36.589 Therefore it must be smashed to bits. 00:23:37.339 --> 00:23:42.529 They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind, the stalks of 00:23:42.529 --> 00:23:45.199 grain, wither, and produce nothing to eat. 00:23:46.069 --> 00:23:49.759 And even if there is any grain, foreigners will eat it. 00:23:51.469 --> 00:23:53.539 The people of Israel have been swallowed up. 00:23:54.049 --> 00:23:58.009 They lie among the nations, like an old discarded pot, like a 00:23:58.009 --> 00:23:59.959 wild donkey looking for a mate. 00:24:00.019 --> 00:24:01.609 They have gone up to Assyria. 00:24:02.449 --> 00:24:06.469 The people of Israel have sold themselves, sold themselves to many 00:24:06.469 --> 00:24:11.869 lovers, but though they have sold themselves to many allies, I will now 00:24:11.869 --> 00:24:13.639 gather them together for judgment. 00:24:14.509 --> 00:24:17.539 Then they will rise under the burden of the Great King. 00:24:18.844 --> 00:24:22.714 Israel has built many altars to take away sin, but these very 00:24:22.714 --> 00:24:25.054 altars became places for sinning. 00:24:25.804 --> 00:24:30.814 Even though I gave them all my laws, they act as if those laws don't apply to them. 00:24:31.504 --> 00:24:36.334 The people love to offer sacrifices to me, feasting on the meat, but 00:24:36.334 --> 00:24:38.404 I do not accept their sacrifices. 00:24:39.274 --> 00:24:43.924 I will hold my people accountable for their sins, and I will punish them. 00:24:44.674 --> 00:24:46.144 They will return to Egypt. 00:24:47.509 --> 00:24:52.099 Israel has forgotten its maker and built great palaces, and 00:24:52.099 --> 00:24:54.499 Judah has fortified its cities. 00:24:55.399 --> 00:25:00.799 Therefore, I will send down fire on their cities and will burn up their fortresses. 00:25:02.089 --> 00:25:06.289 Oh, people of Israel do not rejoice as other nations do. 00:25:06.949 --> 00:25:09.229 For you have been unfaithful to your God. 00:25:09.229 --> 00:25:12.829 Hiring yourselves out like prostitutes, worshiping other 00:25:12.829 --> 00:25:14.899 gods on every threshing floor. 00:25:15.844 --> 00:25:19.234 So now your harvests will be too small to feed you. 00:25:19.864 --> 00:25:22.534 There will be no grapes for making new wine. 00:25:23.434 --> 00:25:26.074 You may no longer stay here in the Lord's land. 00:25:26.674 --> 00:25:29.164 Instead you will return to Egypt. 00:25:29.524 --> 00:25:33.424 And in Assyria you will eat food that is ceremonially unclean. 00:25:34.384 --> 00:25:37.654 There you will make no offerings of wine to the Lord. 00:25:38.344 --> 00:25:40.654 None of your sacrifices there will please him. 00:25:41.494 --> 00:25:47.224 They will be unclean like food touched by a person in mourning all who present 00:25:47.224 --> 00:25:49.054 such sacrifices will be defiled. 00:25:50.104 --> 00:25:54.424 They may eat this food themselves, but they may not offer it to the Lord. 00:25:55.534 --> 00:25:57.694 What then will you do on festival days? 00:25:58.774 --> 00:26:01.204 How will you observe the Lord's festivals? 00:26:01.894 --> 00:26:05.794 Even if you escape destruction from Assyria, Egypt will conquer 00:26:05.794 --> 00:26:07.774 you, and Memphis will bury you. 00:26:08.854 --> 00:26:10.084 Nettles will take over. 00:26:10.084 --> 00:26:14.404 Your treasures of silver thistles will invade your ruined homes. 00:26:15.904 --> 00:26:18.274 The time of Israel's punishment has come. 00:26:18.994 --> 00:26:22.024 The day of payment is here soon. 00:26:22.024 --> 00:26:27.334 Israel will know this all too well because of your great sin and hostility. 00:26:27.334 --> 00:26:31.384 You say the prophets are crazy and the inspired manner Fools. 00:26:32.494 --> 00:26:35.734 The prophet is a watchman over Israel for my God. 00:26:36.469 --> 00:26:38.119 Yet traps are laid for him. 00:26:38.119 --> 00:26:42.619 Wherever he goes, he faces hostility even in the house of God. 00:26:43.579 --> 00:26:47.989 The things my people do are as depraved as what they did in Gibby long ago. 00:26:49.009 --> 00:26:50.359 God will not forget. 00:26:51.379 --> 00:26:53.209 He will surely punish them for their sins. 00:26:53.879 --> 00:26:58.109 This concludes today's immerse reading experience. 00:26:58.479 --> 00:26:59.549 Thank you for joining us.