Day 349 reading

Wisdom·Proverbs 26:18–28

¹⁸Like a madman shooting firebrands and deadly arrows, ¹⁹so is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I was only joking!” ²⁰Without wood, a fire goes out; without gossip, a conflict ceases. ²¹Like charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. ²²The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being. ²³Like glaze covering an earthen vessel are burning lips and a wicked heart. ²⁴A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart. ²⁵When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. ²⁶Though his hatred is concealed by deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. ²⁷He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him. ²⁸A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth causes ruin.

New Testament·Revelation 2:15–29

¹⁵In the same way, some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth. ¹⁷He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it. ¹⁸To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like a blazing fire and whose feet are like polished bronze. ¹⁹I know your deeds—your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance—and your latter deeds are greater than your first. ²⁰But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols. ²¹Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling. ²²Behold, I will cast her onto a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds. ²³Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. ²⁴But I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned the so-called deep things of Satan: I will place no further burden upon you. ²⁵Nevertheless, hold fast to what you have until I come. ²⁶And to the one who overcomes and continues in My work until the end, I will give authority over the nations. ²⁷He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery —just as I have received authority from My Father. ²⁸And I will give him the morning star. ²⁹He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Old Testament·Hosea 10–13

¹Israel was a luxuriant vine, yielding fruit for himself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better he made the sacred pillars. ²Their hearts are devious; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and demolish their sacred pillars. ³Surely now they will say, “We have no king, for we do not revere the LORD. What can a king do for us?” ⁴They speak mere words; with false oaths they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field. ⁵The people of Samaria will fear for the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn with its idolatrous priests— those who rejoiced in its glory— for it has been taken from them into exile. ⁶Yes, it will be carried to Assyria as tribute to the great king. Ephraim will be seized with shame; Israel will be ashamed of its wooden idols. ⁷Samaria will be carried off with her king like a twig on the surface of the water. ⁸The high places of Aven will be destroyed— it is the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!” ⁹Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel, and there you have remained. Did not the battle in Gibeah overtake the sons of iniquity? ¹⁰I will chasten them when I please; nations will be gathered against them to put them in bondage for their double transgression. ¹¹Ephraim is a well-trained heifer that loves to thresh; but I will place a yoke on her fair neck. I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, and Jacob will break the hard ground. ¹²Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of loving devotion; break up your unplowed ground. For it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness upon you like rain. ¹³You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your mighty men, ¹⁴the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be demolished as Shalman devastated Beth-arbel in the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to pieces along with their children. ¹⁵Thus it will be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great wickedness. When the day dawns, the king of Israel will be utterly cut off.

11When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. ²But the more I called Israel, the farther they departed from Me. They sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to carved images. ³It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them in My arms, but they never realized that it was I who healed them. ⁴I led them with cords of kindness, with ropes of love; I lifted the yoke from their necks and bent down to feed them. ⁵Will they not return to the land of Egypt and be ruled by Assyria because they refused to repent? ⁶A sword will flash through their cities; it will destroy the bars of their gates and consume them in their own plans. ⁷My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call to the Most High, He will by no means exalt them. ⁸How could I give you up, O Ephraim? How could I surrender you, O Israel? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassion is stirred! ⁹I will not execute the full fury of My anger; I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man— the Holy One among you— and I will not come in wrath. ¹⁰They will walk after the LORD; He will roar like a lion. When He roars, His children will come trembling from the west. ¹¹They will come trembling like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria. Then I will settle them in their homes, declares the LORD. ¹²Ephraim surrounds Me with lies, the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One.

12Ephraim chases the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; he multiplies lies and violence; he makes a covenant with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt. ²The LORD also brings a charge against Judah. He will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds. ³In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel, and in his vigor he wrestled with God. ⁴Yes, he struggled with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor; he found Him at Bethel and spoke with Him there — ⁵the LORD is the God of Hosts— the LORD is His name of renown. ⁶But you must return to your God, maintaining love and justice, and always waiting on your God. ⁷A merchant loves to defraud with dishonest scales in his hands. ⁸And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become! I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors, they can find in me no iniquity that is sinful.” ⁹But I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt. I will again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast. ¹⁰I spoke through the prophets and multiplied their visions; I gave parables through the prophets. ¹¹Is there iniquity in Gilead? They will surely come to nothing. Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Indeed, their altars will be heaps of stones in the furrows of the field. ¹²Jacob fled to the land of Aram and Israel worked for a wife— for a wife he tended sheep. ¹³But by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved. ¹⁴Ephraim has provoked bitter anger, so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt upon him and repay him for his contempt.

13When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel. But he incurred guilt through Baal, and he died. ²Now they sin more and more and make for themselves cast images, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. People say of them, “They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves!” ³Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window. ⁴Yet I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt; you know no God but Me, for there is no Savior besides Me. ⁵I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought. ⁶When they had pasture, they became satisfied; when they were satisfied, their hearts became proud, and as a result they forgot Me. ⁷So like a lion I will pounce on them; like a leopard I will lurk by the path. ⁸Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them, and I will tear open their chests. There I will devour them like a lion, like a wild beast would tear them apart. ⁹You are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against Me— against your helper. ¹⁰Where is your king now to save you in all your cities, and the rulers to whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”? ¹¹So in My anger I gave you a king, and in My wrath I took him away. ¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is stored up. ¹³Labor pains come upon him, but he is an unwise son. When the time arrives, he fails to present himself at the opening of the womb. ¹⁴I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from Death. Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O Sheol, is your sting? Compassion is hidden from My eyes. ¹⁵Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come— a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder his treasury of every precious article. ¹⁶Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.