“I will commit myself to you in righteousness and justice, in steadfast love and tender compassion. I will commit myself to you in faithfulness; then you will acknowledge the Lord.”
“The Lord said to me, ‘Go, show love to your wife again, even though she loves another man and continually commits adultery. Likewise, the Lord loves the Israelites although they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.’”
“Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites! For the Lord has a covenant lawsuit against the people of Israel. For there is neither faithfulness nor loyalty in the land, nor do they acknowledge God.”
“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! He will restore us in a very short time; he will heal us in a little while, so that we may live in his presence. So let us acknowledge him! Let us seek to acknowledge 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.”
“For I delight in faithfulness, not simply in sacrifice; I delight in acknowledging God, not simply in whole burnt offerings. At Adam they broke the covenant; Oh how they were unfaithful to me!”
“Woe 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. They 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. Although I trained and strengthened them.”
“O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly like the nations, for you are unfaithful to your God. You love to receive a prostitute's wages on all the floors where you thresh your grain.”
“When Israel was a young man, I loved him like a son, and I summoned my son out of Egypt. But the more I summoned them, the farther they departed from me. They sacrificed to the Baal idols and burned incense to images. Yet it was I who led Ephraim, I took them by the arm; but they did not acknowledge that I had healed them.”
“How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? I have had a change of heart! All my tender compassions are aroused! I cannot carry out my fierce anger! I cannot totally destroy Ephraim! Because I am God, and not man – the Holy One among you – I will not come in wrath!”
“Ephraim has surrounded me with lies; the house of Israel has surrounded me with deceit. But Judah still roams about with God; he remains faithful to the Holy One.”
“But you must return to your God, by maintaining love and justice, and by waiting for your God to return to you.”
“Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for your sin has been your downfall! Return to the Lord and repent! Say to him: “Completely forgive our iniquity; accept our penitential prayer, that we may offer the praise of our lips as sacrificial bulls. Assyria cannot save us; we will not ride warhorses. We will never again say, ‘Our gods’ to what our own hands have made. For only you will show compassion to Orphan Israel!’ “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger will turn away from them.”
“Who is wise? Let him discern these things! Who is discerning? Let him understand them! For the ways of the Lord are right; the godly walk in them, but in them the rebellious stumble.”
(Hosea 2:19-20, 3:1, 4:1, 6:1-3, 6:6-7, 7:13-15, 9:1, 11:1-3, 11:8-9, 11:12, 12:6, 14:1-4, 14:9)
[For a more complete context of these passages taken from Hosea read Ezekiel 16, which is fittingly entitled "God's Unfaithful Bride" in the NET.]
“But they rebelled and grieved his holy Spirit” (Isaiah 63:10).
“Then he said to them, ‘Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or evil, to save a life or destroy it?’ But they were silent. After looking around at them in anger, grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored” (Mark 3:4).
“I am afraid that when I come again, my God may humiliate me before you, and I will grieve for many of those who previously sinned and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and licentiousness that they have practiced” (II Corinthians 12:21).
“You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. You must put away every kind of bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and evil, slanderous talk. Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you” (Ephesians 4:29-32).
All Translation Taken From the New English Translation (NET) [www.bible.org]
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