Hos. 10

10:1 Israel was a fertile vine

that yielded fruit.

As his fruit multiplied,

he multiplied altars to Baal.

As his land prospered,

they adorned the fertility pillars.

2Their hearts are slipping;

soon they will be punished for their guilt.

The Lord will break their altars;

he will completely destroy their fertility pillars.

3Very soon they will say, “We have no king

since we did not fear the Lord.

But what can a king do for us anyway?”

4They utter empty words,

taking false oaths and making empty agreements.

Therefore legal disputes sprout up

like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a plowed field.

5The inhabitants of Samaria will lament over the calf idol of Beth Aven.

Its people will mourn over it;

its idolatrous priests will wail over it,

because its splendor will be taken from them into exile.

6Even the calf idol will be carried to Assyria

as tribute for the great king.

Ephraim will be disgraced;

Israel will be put to shame because of its wooden idol.

7Samaria and its king will be carried off

like a twig on the surface of the waters.

8The high places of the “House of Wickedness” will be destroyed;

it is the place where Israel sins.

Thorns and thistles will grow up over its altars.

Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”

and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

9“O Israel, you have sinned since the time of Gibeah,

and there you have remained.

Did not war overtake the evildoers in Gibeah?

10When I please, I will discipline them;

I will gather nations together to attack them,

to bind them in chains for their two sins.

11“Ephraim was a well-trained heifer who loved to thresh grain;

I myself put a fine yoke on her neck.

I will harness Ephraim.

Let Judah plow!

Let Jacob break up the unplowed ground for himself!

12Sow righteousness for yourselves,

reap unfailing love.

Break up the unplowed ground for yourselves,

for it is time to seek the Lord,

until he comes and showers deliverance on you.

13But you have plowed wickedness;

you have reaped injustice;

you have eaten the fruit of deception.

Because you have depended on your chariots;

you have relied on your many warriors.

14“The roar of battle will rise against your people;

all your fortresses will be devastated,

just as Shalman devastated Beth Arbel on the day of battle,

when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children.

15So will it happen to you, O Bethel,

because of your great wickedness!

When that day dawns,

the king of Israel will be destroyed.

Ps. 75

75:1 For the music director, according to the al-tashcheth style; a psalm of Asaph, a song.

We give thanks to you, O God. We give thanks.

You reveal your presence;

people tell about your amazing deeds.

2God says,

“At the appointed times,

I judge fairly.

3When the earth and all its inhabitants dissolve in fear,

I make its pillars secure.” (Selah)

4 I say to the proud, “Do not be proud,”

and to the wicked, “Do not be so confident of victory.

5Do not be so certain you have won.

Do not speak with your head held so high.

6For victory does not come from the east or west,

or from the wilderness.

7For God is the judge.

He brings one down and exalts another.

8For the Lord holds in his hand a cup

full of foaming wine mixed with spices,

and pours it out.

Surely all the wicked of the earth

will slurp it up and drink it to its very last drop.”

9As for me, I will continually tell what you have done;

I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

10God says,

“I will bring down all the power of the wicked;

the godly will be victorious.”

Rom. 8:1–17

8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit. 6For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, 7because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. 8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness. 11Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you.

12So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh 13(for if you live according to the flesh, you will die), but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. 15For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children. 17And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ)—if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.