Hos. 6

6:1 Come on! Let’s return to the Lord.

He himself has torn us to pieces,

but he will heal us!

He has injured us,

but he will bandage our wounds!

2He will restore us in a very short time;

he will heal us in a little while,

so that we may live in his presence.

3So let us search for him!

Let us seek to know the Lord!

He will come to our rescue as certainly as the appearance of the dawn,

as certainly as the winter rain comes,

as certainly as the spring rain that waters the land.

4What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim?

What am I going to do with you, O Judah?

For your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist;

it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew.

5Therefore, I will certainly cut you into pieces at the hands of the prophets;

I will certainly kill you in fulfillment of my oracles of judgment,

for my judgment will come forth like the light of the dawn.

6For I delight in faithfulness, not simply in sacrifice;

I delight in acknowledging God, not simply in whole burnt offerings.

7At Adam they broke the covenant;

Oh how they were unfaithful to me!

8Gilead is a city full of evildoers;

its streets are stained with bloody footprints!

9The company of priests is like a gang of robbers,

lying in ambush to pounce on a victim.

They commit murder on the road to Shechem;

they have done heinous crimes!

10I have seen a disgusting thing in the house of Israel:

There Ephraim commits prostitution with other gods,

and Israel defiles itself.

11I have appointed a time to reap judgment for you also, O Judah!

Whenever I want to restore the fortunes of my people,

Ps. 71

71:1 In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter.

Never let me be humiliated.

2Vindicate me by rescuing me.

Listen to me. Deliver me.

3Be my protector and refuge,

a stronghold where I can be safe.

For you are my high ridge and my stronghold.

4My God, rescue me from the power of the wicked,

from the hand of the cruel oppressor.

5For you are my hope;

O Sovereign Lord, I have trusted in you since I was young.

6I have leaned on you since birth;

you pulled me from my mother’s womb.

I praise you continually.

7Many are appalled when they see me,

but you are my secure shelter.

8I praise you constantly

and speak of your splendor all day long.

9Do not reject me in my old age.

When my strength fails, do not abandon me.

10For my enemies talk about me;

those waiting for a chance to kill me plot my demise.

11They say, “God has abandoned him.

Run and seize him, for there is no one who will rescue him.”

12O God, do not remain far away from me.

My God, hurry and help me.

13May my accusers be humiliated and defeated.

May those who want to harm me be covered with scorn and disgrace.

14As for me, I will wait continually,

and will continue to praise you.

15I will tell about your justice,

and all day long proclaim your salvation,

though I cannot fathom its full extent.

16I will come and tell about the mighty acts of the Sovereign Lord.

I will proclaim your justice—yours alone.

17O God, you have taught me since I was young,

and I am still declaring your amazing deeds.

18Even when I am old and gray,

O God, do not abandon me,

until I tell the next generation about your strength

and those coming after me about your power.

19Your justice, O God, extends to the skies above;

you have done great things.

O God, who can compare to you?

20Though you have allowed me to experience much trouble and distress,

revive me once again.

Bring me up once again from the depths of the earth.

21Raise me to a position of great honor.

Turn and comfort me.

22I will express my thanks to you with a stringed instrument,

praising your faithfulness, O my God.

I will sing praises to you accompanied by a harp,

O Holy One of Israel.

23My lips will shout for joy. Yes, I will sing your praises.

I will praise you when you rescue me.

24All day long my tongue will also tell about your justice,

for those who want to harm me will be embarrassed and ashamed.

Rom. 6:1–14

6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase? 2Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life.

5For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection. 6We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7(For someone who has died has been freed from sin.)

8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, 13and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness. 14For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.