Part 449

13:2. And now they have sinned more and more: and they have made to themselves a molten thing of their silver as the likeness of idols: the whole is the work of craftsmen: to these that say: Sacrifice men, ye that adore calves.

13:3. Therefore they shall be as a morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the dust that is driven with a whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

13:4. But I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt: and thou shalt know no God but me, and there is no saviour beside me.

13:5. I knew thee in the desert, in the land of the wilderness.

13:6. According to their pastures they were filled, and were made full: and they lifted up their heart, and have forgotten me.

13:7. And I will be to them as a lioness, as a leopard in the way of the Assyrians.

13:8. I will meet them as a bear that is robbed of her whelps, and I will rend the inner parts of their liver: and I will devour them there as a lion, the beast of the field shall tear them.

13:9. Destruction is thy own, O Israel: thy help is only in me.

13:10. Where is thy king? now especially let him save thee in all thy cities: and thy judges, of whom thou saidst: Give me kings and princes.

13:11. I will give thee a king in my wrath, and will take him away in my indignation.

13:12. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is hidden.

13:13. The sorrows of a woman in labour shall come upon him, he is an unwise son: for now he shall not stand in the breach of the children.

13:14. I will deliver them out of the hand of death. I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy death; O hell, I will be thy bite: comfort is hidden from my eyes.

13:15. Because he shall make a separation between brothers: the Lord will bring a burning wind that shall rise from the desert, and it shall dry up his springs, and shall make his fountain desolate, and he shall carry off the treasure of every desirable vessel.

Osee Chapter 14

Samaria shall be destroyed. An exhortation to repentance: God's favour through Christ to the penitent.

14:1. Let Samaria perish, because she hath stirred up her God to bitterness: let them perish by the sword, let their little ones be dashed, and let the women with child be ripped up.

Perish, because she hath stirred up her God to bitterness. . .It is not a curse or imprecation, but a prophecy of what should come to pass.

14:2. Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God: for thou hast fallen down by thy iniquity.

14:3. Take with you words, and return to the Lord, and say to him: Take away all iniquity, and receive the good: and we will render the calves of our lips.

14:4. Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more: The works of our hands are our gods: for thou wilt have mercy on the fatherless that is in thee.

14:5. I will heal their breaches, I will love them freely: for my wrath is turned away from them.

14:6. I will be as the dew, Israel shall spring as the lily, and his root shall shoot forth as that of Libanus.

14:7. His branches shall spread, and his glory shall be as the olive tree: and his smell as that of Libanus.

14:8. They shall be converted that sit under his shadow: they shall live upon wheat, and they shall blossom as a vine: his memorial shall be as the wine of Libanus.

14:9. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I will hear him, and I will make him flourish like a green fir tree: from me is thy fruit found.

14:10. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know these things? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall in them.

THE PROPHECY OF JOEL