Hos. 7

7:1 whenever I want to heal Israel,

the sin of Ephraim is revealed,

and the evil deeds of Samaria are exposed.

For they do what is wrong;

thieves break into houses,

and gangs rob people out in the streets.

2They do not realize

that I remember all their wicked deeds.

Their evil deeds have now surrounded them;

their sinful deeds are always before me.

3The royal advisers delight the king with their evil schemes;

the princes make him glad with their lies.

4They are all like bakers;

they are like a smoldering oven;

they are like a baker who does not stoke the fire

until the kneaded dough is ready for baking.

5At the celebration of their king,

his princes become inflamed with wine;

they conspire with evildoers.

6They approach him, all the while plotting against him.

Their hearts are like an oven;

their anger smolders all night long,

but in the morning it bursts into a flaming fire.

7All of them are blazing like an oven;

they devour their rulers.

All their kings fall,

and none of them call on me!

8Ephraim has mixed itself like flour among the nations;

Ephraim is like a ruined cake of bread that is scorched on one side.

9Foreigners are consuming what his strenuous labor produced,

but he does not recognize it.

His head is filled with gray hair,

but he does not realize it.

10The arrogance of Israel testifies against him,

yet they refuse to return to the Lord their God.

In spite of all this they refuse to seek him.

11Ephraim has been like a dove,

easily deceived and lacking discernment.

They called to Egypt for help;

they turned to Assyria for protection.

12I will throw my bird net over them while they are flying;

I will bring them down like birds in the sky;

I will discipline them when I hear them flocking together.

13Woe to them! For they have fled from me!

Destruction to them! For they have rebelled against me!

I want to deliver them,

but they have lied to me.

14They do not pray to me,

but howl in distress on their beds;

they slash themselves for grain and new wine,

but turn away from me.

15Although I trained and strengthened them,

they plot evil against me!

16They turn to Baal;

they are like an unreliable bow.

Their leaders will fall by the sword

because their prayers to Baal have made me angry.

So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt.

Ps. 72

72:1 For Solomon.

O God, grant the king the ability to make just decisions.

Grant the king’s son the ability to make fair decisions.

2Then he will judge your people fairly

and your oppressed ones equitably.

3The mountains will bring news of peace to the people,

and the hills will announce justice.

4He will defend the oppressed among the people;

he will deliver the children of the poor

and crush the oppressor.

5People will fear you as long as the sun and moon remain in the sky,

for generation after generation.

6He will descend like rain on the mown grass,

like showers that drench the earth.

7During his days the godly will flourish;

peace will prevail as long as the moon remains in the sky.

8May he rule from sea to sea,

and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

9Before him the coastlands will bow down,

and his enemies will lick the dust.

10The kings of Tarshish and the coastlands will offer gifts;

the kings of Sheba and Seba will bring tribute.

11All kings will bow down to him;

all nations will serve him.

12For he will rescue the needy when they cry out for help,

and the oppressed who have no defender.

13He will take pity on the poor and needy;

the lives of the needy he will save.

14From harm and violence he will defend them;

he will value their lives.

15May he live! May they offer him gold from Sheba.

May they continually pray for him.

May they pronounce blessings on him all day long.

16May there be an abundance of grain in the earth;

on the tops of the mountains may it sway.

May its fruit trees flourish like the forests of Lebanon.

May its crops be as abundant as the grass of the earth.

17May his fame endure.

May his dynasty last as long as the sun remains in the sky.

May they use his name when they formulate their blessings.

May all nations consider him to be favored by God.

18The Lord God, the God of Israel, deserves praise.

He alone accomplishes amazing things.

19His glorious name deserves praise forevermore.

May his majestic splendor fill the whole earth.

We agree! We agree!

20This collection of the prayers of David son of Jesse ends here.

Rom. 6:15–23

6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! 16Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to, 18and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. 19(I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.) For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness.

21So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. 22But now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. 23For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.