Day 347 of 730

¹Ephraim feeds on wind, and chases the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and desolation. They make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt.

²The Lord also has a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his deeds he will repay him.

³In the womb he took his brother by the heel; and in his manhood he contended with God.

⁴Indeed, he struggled with the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication to him. He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us,

⁵even the Lord, the God of Hosts; The Lord is his name of renown!

⁶Therefore turn to your God. Keep kindness and justice, and wait continually for your God.

⁷A merchant has dishonest scales in his hand. He loves to defraud.

⁸Ephraim said, "Surely I have become rich, I have found myself wealth. In all my wealth they won't find in me any iniquity that is sin."

⁹"But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt. I will yet again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast.

¹⁰I have also spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the ministry of the prophets I have used parables.

¹¹If Gilead is wicked, surely they are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the field.

¹²Jacob fled into the country of Aram, and Israel served to get a wife, and for a wife he tended flocks and herds.

¹³By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.

¹⁴Ephraim has bitterly provoked anger. Therefore his blood will be left on him, and his Lord will repay his contempt.

¹When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He exalted himself in Israel, but when he became guilty in Baal, he died.

²Now they sin more and more, and have made themselves molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, 'They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves.'

³Therefore they will be like the morning mist, and like the dew that passes away early, like the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing floor, and like the smoke out of the chimney.

⁴"Yet I am the Lord your God [that establishes the heaven, and creates the earth, whose hands have framed the whole host of heaven. But I did not show them to you that you should go after them, but I brought you up] from the land of Egypt; and you shall acknowledge no god but me, and besides me there is no savior.

⁵I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.

⁶According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me.

⁷Therefore I am like a lion to them. Like a leopard, I will lurk by the path.

⁸I will meet them like a bear that is bereaved of her cubs, and will tear the covering of their heart. There I will devour them like a lioness. The wild animal will tear them.

⁹You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, against your help.

¹⁰Where is your king now, that he may save you in all your cities? And your judges, of whom you said, 'Give me a king and princes?'

¹¹I have given you a king in my anger, and have taken him away in my wrath.

¹²The guilt of Ephraim is stored up. His sin is stored up.

¹³The sorrows of a travailing woman will come on him. He is an unwise son; for when it is time, he doesn't come to the opening of the womb.

¹⁴I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your sting? "Compassion will be hidden from my eyes.

¹⁵Though he is fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of the Lord coming up from the wilderness; and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up. He will plunder the storehouse of treasure.

¹⁶Samaria will bear her guilt; for she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open."

¹Oh clap your hands, all you nations. Shout to God with the voice of triumph!

²For the Lord Most High is awesome. He is a great King over all the earth.

³He subdues nations under us, and peoples under our feet.

⁴He chooses our inheritance for us, the glory of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.

⁵God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

⁶Sing praise to God, sing praises. Sing praises to our King, sing praises.

⁷For God is the King of all the earth. Sing praises with understanding.

⁸God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne.

⁹The princes of the peoples are gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God. He is greatly exalted!

¹My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger;

²You are trapped by the words of your mouth. You are ensnared with the words of your mouth.

³Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, seeing you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor.

⁴Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;

⁷which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

⁸provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.

⁹How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

¹¹so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.

¹²A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth;

¹³who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who motions with his fingers;

¹⁴in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.

¹⁵Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.

¹⁶There are six things which the Lord hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him:

¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood;

¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,

¹⁹a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

²⁰My son, keep your father's commandment, and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

²¹Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you.

²³For the commandment is a lamp, and the Law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

²⁴to keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife's tongue.

²⁵Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.

²⁶For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.

²⁷Can a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Or can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?

²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.

³⁰Men do not despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry:

³¹but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house.

³²He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul.

³³He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won't spare in the day of vengeance.

³⁵He won't regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.