If you have recently decided to follow Christ or re-dedicate your life to him, then we would like to celebrate with you as you make your faith in Christ public through Water Baptism! Baptism Sunday is the first Sunday of each month and if you want to be baptized, please click the button below and fill out the form to let us know you're interested.

On Sunday, June 23rd through Thursday, June 27th from 6:30-8pm we’re hosting Vacation Bible School for kids ages 4 through 12 right here at the church. We’ll create a remarkable experience for every kid that you definitely won’t want to miss!  You can find more information about the event by clicking the button below. We’re looking for people to serve at the event, so whether you’d like to lead a group of kids around to the different stations, or you’d like to help us decorating the church before hand; we’ve got a spot for you! Register your kids as soon as possible, and invite your friends and family to register as well! Can’t wait to see you here!

If you have recently decided to follow Christ or re-dedicate your life to him, then we would like to celebrate with you as you make your faith in Christ public through Water Baptism! Baptism Sunday is the first Sunday of each month and if you want to be baptized, please click the button below and fill out the form to let us know you're interested.

On Sunday, June 23rd through Thursday, June 27th from 6:30-8pm we’re hosting Vacation Bible School for kids ages 4 through 12 right here at the church. We’ll create a remarkable experience for every kid that you definitely won’t want to miss!  You can find more information about the event by clicking the button below. We’re looking for people to serve at the event, so whether you’d like to lead a group of kids around to the different stations, or you’d like to help us decorating the church before hand; we’ve got a spot for you! Register your kids as soon as possible, and invite your friends and family to register as well! Can’t wait to see you here!

If you have recently decided to follow Christ or re-dedicate your life to him, then we would like to celebrate with you as you make your faith in Christ public through Water Baptism! Baptism Sunday is the first Sunday of each month and if you want to be baptized, please click the button below and fill out the form to let us know you're interested.

On Sunday, June 23rd through Thursday, June 27th from 6:30-8pm we’re hosting Vacation Bible School for kids ages 4 through 12 right here at the church. We’ll create a remarkable experience for every kid that you definitely won’t want to miss!  You can find more information about the event by clicking the button below. We’re looking for people to serve at the event, so whether you’d like to lead a group of kids around to the different stations, or you’d like to help us decorating the church before hand; we’ve got a spot for you! Register your kids as soon as possible, and invite your friends and family to register as well! Can’t wait to see you here!

If you have recently decided to follow Christ or re-dedicate your life to him, then we would like to celebrate with you as you make your faith in Christ public through Water Baptism! Baptism Sunday is the first Sunday of each month and if you want to be baptized, please click the button below and fill out the form to let us know you're interested.

On Sunday, June 23rd through Thursday, June 27th from 6:30-8pm we’re hosting Vacation Bible School for kids ages 4 through 12 right here at the church. We’ll create a remarkable experience for every kid that you definitely won’t want to miss!  You can find more information about the event by clicking the button below. We’re looking for people to serve at the event, so whether you’d like to lead a group of kids around to the different stations, or you’d like to help us decorating the church before hand; we’ve got a spot for you! Register your kids as soon as possible, and invite your friends and family to register as well! Can’t wait to see you here!

If you have recently decided to follow Christ or re-dedicate your life to him, then we would like to celebrate with you as you make your faith in Christ public through Water Baptism! Baptism Sunday is the first Sunday of each month and if you want to be baptized, please click the button below and fill out the form to let us know you're interested.

If you have recently decided to follow Christ or re-dedicate your life to him, then we would like to celebrate with you as you make your faith in Christ public through Water Baptism! Baptism Sunday is the first Sunday of each month and if you want to be baptized, please click the button below and fill out the form to let us know you're interested.

If you have recently decided to follow Christ or re-dedicate your life to him, then we would like to celebrate with you as you make your faith in Christ public through Water Baptism! Baptism Sunday is the first Sunday of each month and if you want to be baptized, please click the button below and fill out the form to let us know you're interested.

If you have recently decided to follow Christ or re-dedicate your life to him, then we would like to celebrate with you as you make your faith in Christ public through Water Baptism! Baptism Sunday is the first Sunday of each month and if you want to be baptized, please click the button below and fill out the form to let us know you're interested.

Every Wednesday night, Renown Youth meets to discuss a book of the Bible. We are currently studying the book of Galatians. If you are interested in joining us, you can download the study guide, including useful verse-by-verse commentary and weekly discussions questions to pre-answer before arriving on Wednesday Night.

Discipleship Wednesday happens every Wednesday night from 7:15PM-8:30PM in the Renown Youth Room.

Bring your bible, discussion questions for that session, and a notebook to take notes.

- Pastor David  

If you have recently decided to follow Christ or re-dedicate your life to him, then we would like to celebrate with you as you make your faith in Christ public through Water Baptism! Baptism Sunday is the first Sunday of each month and if you want to be baptized, please click the button below and fill out the form to let us know you're interested.

¹ Masters, be just and fair to your slaves. Remember that you also have a Master—in heaven.

An Encouragement for Prayer

² Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. ³ Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. ⁴ Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should.

⁵ Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. ⁶ Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.

Paul’s Final Instructions and Greetings

⁷ Tychicus will give you a full report about how I am getting along. He is a beloved brother and faithful helper who serves with me in the Lord’s work. ⁸ I have sent him to you for this very purpose—to let you know how we are doing and to encourage you. ⁹ I am also sending Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, one of your own people. He and Tychicus will tell you everything that’s happening here.

¹⁰ Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, sends you his greetings, and so does Mark, Barnabas’s cousin. As you were instructed before, make Mark welcome if he comes your way. ¹¹ Jesus (the one we call Justus) also sends his greetings. These are the only Jewish believers among my co-workers; they are working with me here for the Kingdom of God. And what a comfort they have been!

¹² Epaphras, a member of your own fellowship and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. He always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident that you are following the whole will of God. ¹³ I can assure you that he prays hard for you and also for the believers in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

¹⁴ Luke, the beloved doctor, sends his greetings, and so does Demas. ¹⁵ Please give my greetings to our brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church that meets in her house.

¹⁶ After you have read this letter, pass it on to the church at Laodicea so they can read it, too. And you should read the letter I wrote to them.

¹⁷ And say to Archippus, “Be sure to carry out the ministry the Lord gave you.”

¹⁸ HERE IS MY GREETING IN MY OWN HANDWRITING—PAUL.

Remember my chains.

May God’s grace be with you.

Living the New Life

¹ Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. ² Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. ³ For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

⁵ So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. ⁶ Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. ⁷ You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. ⁸ But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. ⁹ Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. ¹⁰ Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. ¹¹ In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

¹² Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³ Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. ¹⁴ Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

¹⁶ Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Instructions for Christian Households

¹⁸ Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord.

¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly.

²⁰ Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord. ²¹ Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged.

²² Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. ²³ Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. ²⁴ Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. ²⁵ But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favorites.

¹I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally. ² I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. ³ In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

⁴ I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments. ⁵ For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong.

Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ

⁶ And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. ⁷ Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

⁸ Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. ⁹ For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. ¹⁰ So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

¹¹ When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. ¹² For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.

¹³ You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. ¹⁴ He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

¹⁶ So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. ¹⁷ For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. ¹⁸ Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, ¹⁹ and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.

²⁰ You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, ²¹ “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? ²² Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. ²³ These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.

If you have recently decided to follow Christ or re-dedicate your life to him, then we would like to celebrate with you as you make your faith in Christ public through Water Baptism! Baptism Sunday is the first Sunday of each month and if you want to be baptized, please click the button below and fill out the form to let us know you're interested.

Greetings from Paul

¹ This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.

² We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.

May God our Father give you grace and peace.

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer

³ We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, ⁵ which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.

⁶ This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

⁷ You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf. ⁸ He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.

⁹ So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰ Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

¹¹ We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, ¹² always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, ¹⁴ who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

Christ Is Supreme

¹⁵ Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
    He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
¹⁶ for through him God created everything
    in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
    and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
    Everything was created through him and for him.
¹⁷ He existed before anything else,
    and he holds all creation together.
¹⁸ Christ is also the head of the church,
    which is his body.
He is the beginning,
    supreme over all who rise from the dead.
    So he is first in everything.
¹⁹ For God in all his fullness
    was pleased to live in Christ,
²⁰ and through him God reconciled
    everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
    by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
²¹ This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. ²² Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

²³ But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.

Paul’s Work for the Church

²⁴ I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. ²⁵ God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. ²⁶ This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. ²⁷ For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

²⁸ So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. ²⁹ That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

Judgment against Enemy Nations

¹ “At the time of those events,” says the Lord,
    “when I restore the prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem,
² I will gather the armies of the world
    into the valley of Jehoshaphat.
There I will judge them
    for harming my people, my special possession,
for scattering my people among the nations,
    and for dividing up my land.
³ They threw dice to decide which of my people
    would be their slaves.
They traded boys to obtain prostitutes
    and sold girls for enough wine to get drunk.
⁴ “What do you have against me, Tyre and Sidon and you cities of Philistia? Are you trying to take revenge on me? If you are, then watch out! I will strike swiftly and pay you back for everything you have done. ⁵ You have taken my silver and gold and all my precious treasures, and have carried them off to your pagan temples. ⁶ You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, so they could take them far from their homeland.

⁷ “But I will bring them back from all the places to which you sold them, and I will pay you back for everything you have done. ⁸ I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the people of Arabia, a nation far away. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

⁹ Say to the nations far and wide:
    “Get ready for war!
Call out your best warriors.
    Let all your fighting men advance for the attack.
¹⁰ Hammer your plowshares into swords
    and your pruning hooks into spears.
    Train even your weaklings to be warriors.
¹¹ Come quickly, all you nations everywhere.
    Gather together in the valley.”
And now, O Lord, call out your warriors!
¹² “Let the nations be called to arms.
    Let them march to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
There I, the Lord, will sit
    to pronounce judgment on them all.
¹³ Swing the sickle,
    for the harvest is ripe.
Come, tread the grapes,
    for the winepress is full.
The storage vats are overflowing
    with the wickedness of these people.”
¹⁴ Thousands upon thousands are waiting in the valley of decision.
    There the day of the Lord will soon arrive.
¹⁵ The sun and moon will grow dark,
    and the stars will no longer shine.
¹⁶ The Lord’s voice will roar from Zion
    and thunder from Jerusalem,
    and the heavens and the earth will shake.
But the Lord will be a refuge for his people,
    a strong fortress for the people of Israel.

Blessings for God’s People

¹⁷ “Then you will know that I, the Lord your God,
    live in Zion, my holy mountain.
Jerusalem will be holy forever,
    and foreign armies will never conquer her again.
¹⁸ In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine,
    and the hills will flow with milk.
Water will fill the streambeds of Judah,
    and a fountain will burst forth from the Lord’s Temple,
    watering the arid valley of acacias.
¹⁹ But Egypt will become a wasteland
    and Edom will become a wilderness,
because they attacked the people of Judah
    and killed innocent people in their land.
²⁰ “But Judah will be filled with people forever,
    and Jerusalem will endure through all generations.
²¹ I will pardon my people’s crimes,
    which I have not yet pardoned;
and I, the Lord, will make my home
    in Jerusalem with my people.”

Locusts Invade like an Army

¹ Sound the trumpet in Jerusalem!
    Raise the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let everyone tremble in fear
    because the day of the Lord is upon us.
² It is a day of darkness and gloom,
    a day of thick clouds and deep blackness.
Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains,
    a great and mighty army appears.
Nothing like it has been seen before
    or will ever be seen again.
³ Fire burns in front of them,
    and flames follow after them.
Ahead of them the land lies
    as beautiful as the Garden of Eden.
Behind them is nothing but desolation;
    not one thing escapes.
⁴ They look like horses;
    they charge forward like warhorses.
⁵ Look at them as they leap along the mountaintops.
    Listen to the noise they make—like the rumbling of chariots,
like the roar of fire sweeping across a field of stubble,
    or like a mighty army moving into battle.
⁶ Fear grips all the people;
    every face grows pale with terror.
⁷ The attackers march like warriors
    and scale city walls like soldiers.
Straight forward they march,
    never breaking rank.
⁸ They never jostle each other;
    each moves in exactly the right position.
They break through defenses
    without missing a step.
⁹ They swarm over the city
    and run along its walls.
They enter all the houses,
    climbing like thieves through the windows.
¹⁰ The earth quakes as they advance,
    and the heavens tremble.
The sun and moon grow dark,
    and the stars no longer shine.
¹¹ The Lord is at the head of the column.
    He leads them with a shout.
This is his mighty army,
    and they follow his orders.
The day of the Lord is an awesome, terrible thing.
    Who can possibly survive?

A Call to Repentance

¹² That is why the Lord says,
    “Turn to me now, while there is time.
Give me your hearts.
    Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
¹³ Don’t tear your clothing in your grief,
    but tear your hearts instead.”
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is merciful and compassionate,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
    He is eager to relent and not punish.
¹⁴ Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve,
    sending you a blessing instead of this curse.
Perhaps you will be able to offer grain and wine
    to the Lord your God as before.
¹⁵ Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem!
    Announce a time of fasting;
call the people together
    for a solemn meeting.
¹⁶ Gather all the people—
    the elders, the children, and even the babies.
Call the bridegroom from his quarters
    and the bride from her private room.
¹⁷ Let the priests, who minister in the Lord’s presence,
    stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar.
Let them pray, “Spare your people, Lord!
    Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery.
Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say,
    ‘Has the God of Israel left them?’”

The Lord’s Promise of Restoration

¹⁸ Then the Lord will pity his people
    and jealously guard the honor of his land.
¹⁹ The Lord will reply,
“Look! I am sending you grain and new wine and olive oil,
    enough to satisfy your needs.
You will no longer be an object of mockery
    among the surrounding nations.
²⁰ I will drive away these armies from the north.
    I will send them into the parched wastelands.
Those in the front will be driven into the Dead Sea,
    and those at the rear into the Mediterranean.
The stench of their rotting bodies will rise over the land.”
Surely the Lord has done great things!
²¹     Don’t be afraid, O land.
Be glad now and rejoice,
    for the Lord has done great things.
²² Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field,
    for the wilderness pastures will soon be green.
The trees will again be filled with fruit;
    fig trees and grapevines will be loaded down once more.
²³ Rejoice, you people of Jerusalem!
    Rejoice in the Lord your God!
For the rain he sends demonstrates his faithfulness.
    Once more the autumn rains will come,
    as well as the rains of spring.
²⁴ The threshing floors will again be piled high with grain,
    and the presses will overflow with new wine and olive oil.
²⁵ The Lord says, “I will give you back what you lost
    to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts,
the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts.
    It was I who sent this great destroying army against you.
²⁶ Once again you will have all the food you want,
    and you will praise the Lord your God,
who does these miracles for you.
    Never again will my people be disgraced.
²⁷ Then you will know that I am among my people Israel,
    that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other.
    Never again will my people be disgraced.

The Lord’s Promise of His Spirit

²⁸ “Then, after doing all those things,
    I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
    Your old men will dream dreams,
    and your young men will see visions.
²⁹ In those days I will pour out my Spirit
    even on servants—men and women alike.
³⁰ And I will cause wonders in the heavens and on the earth—
    blood and fire and columns of smoke.
³¹ The sun will become dark,
    and the moon will turn blood red
    before that great and terrible day of the Lord arrives.
³² But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
    will be saved,
for some on Mount Zion in Jerusalem will escape,
    just as the Lord has said.
These will be among the survivors
    whom the Lord has called.

¹ The Lord gave this message to Joel son of Pethuel.

Mourning over the Locust Plague

² Hear this, you leaders of the people.
    Listen, all who live in the land.
In all your history,
    has anything like this happened before?
³ Tell your children about it in the years to come,
    and let your children tell their children.
    Pass the story down from generation to generation.
⁴ After the cutting locusts finished eating the crops,
    the swarming locusts took what was left!
After them came the hopping locusts,
    and then the stripping locusts, too!
⁵ Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
    Wail, all you wine-drinkers!
All the grapes are ruined,
    and all your sweet wine is gone.
⁶ A vast army of locusts has invaded my land,
    a terrible army too numerous to count.
Its teeth are like lions’ teeth,
    its fangs like those of a lioness.
⁷ It has destroyed my grapevines
    and ruined my fig trees,
stripping their bark and destroying it,
    leaving the branches white and bare.
⁸ Weep like a bride dressed in black,
    mourning the death of her husband.
⁹ For there is no grain or wine
    to offer at the Temple of the Lord.
So the priests are in mourning.
    The ministers of the Lord are weeping.
¹⁰ The fields are ruined,
    the land is stripped bare.
The grain is destroyed,
    the grapes have shriveled,
    and the olive oil is gone.
¹¹ Despair, all you farmers!
    Wail, all you vine growers!
Weep, because the wheat and barley—
    all the crops of the field—are ruined.
¹² The grapevines have dried up,
    and the fig trees have withered.
The pomegranate trees, palm trees, and apple trees—
    all the fruit trees—have dried up.
    And the people’s joy has dried up with them.
¹³ Dress yourselves in burlap and weep, you priests!
    Wail, you who serve before the altar!
Come, spend the night in burlap,
    you ministers of my God.
For there is no grain or wine
    to offer at the Temple of your God.
¹⁴ Announce a time of fasting;
    call the people together for a solemn meeting.
Bring the leaders
    and all the people of the land
into the Temple of the Lord your God,
    and cry out to him there.
¹⁵ The day of the Lord is near,
    the day when destruction comes from the Almighty.
    How terrible that day will be!
¹⁶ Our food disappears before our very eyes.
    No joyful celebrations are held in the house of our God.
¹⁷ The seeds die in the parched ground,
    and the grain crops fail.
The barns stand empty,
    and granaries are abandoned.
¹⁸ How the animals moan with hunger!
    The herds of cattle wander about confused,
because they have no pasture.
    The flocks of sheep and goats bleat in misery.
¹⁹ Lord, help us!
The fire has consumed the wilderness pastures,
    and flames have burned up all the trees.
²⁰ Even the wild animals cry out to you
    because the streams have dried up,
    and fire has consumed the wilderness pastures.

The Lord’s Anger against Israel

¹ When the tribe of Ephraim spoke,
    the people shook with fear,
    for that tribe was important in Israel.
But the people of Ephraim sinned by worshiping Baal
    and thus sealed their destruction.
² Now they continue to sin by making silver idols,
    images shaped skillfully with human hands.
“Sacrifice to these,” they cry,
    “and kiss the calf idols!”
³ Therefore, they will disappear like the morning mist,
    like dew in the morning sun,
like chaff blown by the wind,
    like smoke from a chimney.
⁴ “I have been the Lord your God
    ever since I brought you out of Egypt.
You must acknowledge no God but me,
    for there is no other savior.
⁵ I took care of you in the wilderness,
    in that dry and thirsty land.
⁶ But when you had eaten and were satisfied,
    you became proud and forgot me.
⁷ So now I will attack you like a lion,
    like a leopard that lurks along the road.
⁸ Like a bear whose cubs have been taken away,
    I will tear out your heart.
I will devour you like a hungry lioness
    and mangle you like a wild animal.
⁹ “You are about to be destroyed, O Israel—
    yes, by me, your only helper.
¹⁰ Now where is your king?
    Let him save you!
Where are all the leaders of the land,
    the king and the officials you demanded of me?
¹¹ In my anger I gave you kings,
    and in my fury I took them away.
¹² “Ephraim’s guilt has been collected,
    and his sin has been stored up for punishment.
¹³ Pain has come to the people
    like the pain of childbirth,
but they are like a child
    who resists being born.
The moment of birth has arrived,
    but they stay in the womb!
¹⁴ “Should I ransom them from the grave?
    Should I redeem them from death?
O death, bring on your terrors!
    O grave, bring on your plagues!
    For I will not take pity on them.
¹⁵ Ephraim was the most fruitful of all his brothers,
    but the east wind—a blast from the Lord—
    will arise in the desert.
All their flowing springs will run dry,
    and all their wells will disappear.
Every precious thing they own
    will be plundered and carried away.
¹⁶ The people of Samaria
    must bear the consequences of their guilt
    because they rebelled against their God.
They will be killed by an invading army,
    their little ones dashed to death against the ground,
    their pregnant women ripped open by swords.”

Healing for the Repentant

14 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
    for your sins have brought you down.
² Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord.
    Say to him,
“Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us,
    so that we may offer you our praises.
³ Assyria cannot save us,
    nor can our warhorses.
Never again will we say to the idols we have made,
    ‘You are our gods.’
No, in you alone
    do the orphans find mercy.”
⁴ The Lord says,
“Then I will heal you of your faithlessness;
    my love will know no bounds,
    for my anger will be gone forever.
⁵ I will be to Israel
    like a refreshing dew from heaven.
Israel will blossom like the lily;
    it will send roots deep into the soil
    like the cedars in Lebanon.
⁶ Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees,
    as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon.
⁷ My people will again live under my shade.
    They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines.
    They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon.
⁸ “O Israel, stay away from idols!
    I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you.
I am like a tree that is always green;
    all your fruit comes from me.”
⁹ Let those who are wise understand these things.
    Let those with discernment listen carefully.
The paths of the Lord are true and right,
    and righteous people live by walking in them.
    But in those paths sinners stumble and fall.

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The Lord’s Love for Israel

¹ “When Israel was a child, I loved him,
    and I called my son out of Egypt.
² But the more I called to him,
    the farther he moved from me,
offering sacrifices to the images of Baal
    and burning incense to idols.
³ I myself taught Israel how to walk,
    leading him along by the hand.
But he doesn’t know or even care
    that it was I who took care of him.
⁴ I led Israel along
    with my ropes of kindness and love.
I lifted the yoke from his neck,
    and I myself stooped to feed him.
⁵ “But since my people refuse to return to me,
    they will return to Egypt
    and will be forced to serve Assyria.
⁶ War will swirl through their cities;
    their enemies will crash through their gates.
They will destroy them,
    trapping them in their own evil plans.
⁷ For my people are determined to desert me.
They call me the Most High,
    but they don’t truly honor me.
⁸ “Oh, how can I give you up, Israel?
    How can I let you go?
How can I destroy you like Admah
    or demolish you like Zeboiim?
My heart is torn within me,
    and my compassion overflows.
⁹ No, I will not unleash my fierce anger.
    I will not completely destroy Israel,
for I am God and not a mere mortal.
    I am the Holy One living among you,
    and I will not come to destroy.
¹⁰ For someday the people will follow me.
    I, the Lord, will roar like a lion.
And when I roar,
    my people will return trembling from the west.
¹¹ Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt.
    Trembling like doves, they will return from Assyria.
And I will bring them home again,”
    says the Lord.
Charges against Israel and Judah

¹² Israel surrounds me with lies and deceit,
    but Judah still obeys God
    and is faithful to the Holy One.

12 The people of Israel feed on the wind;
    they chase after the east wind all day long.
They pile up lies and violence;
    they are making an alliance with Assyria
    while sending olive oil to buy support from Egypt.
² Now the Lord is bringing charges against Judah.
    He is about to punish Jacob for all his deceitful ways,
    and pay him back for all he has done.
³ Even in the womb,
    Jacob struggled with his brother;
when he became a man,
    he even fought with God.
⁴ Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won.
    He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him.
There at Bethel he met God face to face,
    and God spoke to him—
⁵ the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,
    the Lord is his name!
⁶ So now, come back to your God.
    Act with love and justice,
    and always depend on him.
⁷ But no, the people are like crafty merchants
    selling from dishonest scales—
    they love to cheat.
⁸ Israel boasts, “I am rich!
    I’ve made a fortune all by myself!
No one has caught me cheating!
    My record is spotless!”
⁹ “But I am the Lord your God,
    who rescued you from slavery in Egypt.
And I will make you live in tents again,
    as you do each year at the Festival of Shelters.
¹⁰ I sent my prophets to warn you
    with many visions and parables.”
¹¹ But the people of Gilead are worthless
    because of their idol worship.
And in Gilgal, too, they sacrifice bulls;
    their altars are lined up like the heaps of stone
    along the edges of a plowed field.
¹² Jacob fled to the land of Aram,
    and there he earned a wife by tending sheep.
¹³ Then by a prophet
    the Lord brought Jacob’s descendants out of Egypt;
and by that prophet
    they were protected.
¹⁴ But the people of Israel
    have bitterly provoked the Lord,
so their Lord will now sentence them to death
    in payment for their sins.

The Lord’s Judgment against Israel

¹ How prosperous Israel is—
    a luxuriant vine loaded with fruit.
But the richer the people get,
    the more pagan altars they build.
The more bountiful their harvests,
    the more beautiful their sacred pillars.
² The hearts of the people are fickle;
    they are guilty and must be punished.
The Lord will break down their altars
    and smash their sacred pillars.
³ Then they will say, “We have no king
    because we didn’t fear the Lord.
But even if we had a king,
    what could he do for us anyway?”
⁴ They spout empty words
    and make covenants they don’t intend to keep.
So injustice springs up among them
    like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field.
⁵ The people of Samaria tremble in fear
    for their calf idol at Beth-aven,
    and they mourn for it.
Though its priests rejoice over it,
    its glory will be stripped away.
⁶ This idol will be carted away to Assyria,
    a gift to the great king there.
Ephraim will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed,
    because its people have trusted in this idol.
⁷ Samaria and its king will be cut off;
    they will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave.
⁸ And the pagan shrines of Aven, the place of Israel’s sin, will crumble.
    Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars.
They will beg the mountains, “Bury us!”
    and plead with the hills, “Fall on us!”
⁹ The Lord says, “O Israel, ever since Gibeah,
    there has been only sin and more sin!
You have made no progress whatsoever.
    Was it not right that the wicked men of Gibeah were attacked?
¹⁰ Now whenever it fits my plan,
    I will attack you, too.
I will call out the armies of the nations
    to punish you for your multiplied sins.
¹¹ “Israel is like a trained heifer treading out the grain—
    an easy job she loves.
    But I will put a heavy yoke on her tender neck.
I will force Judah to pull the plow
    and Israel to break up the hard ground.
¹² I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness,
    and you will harvest a crop of love.
Plow up the hard ground of your hearts,
    for now is the time to seek the Lord,
that he may come
    and shower righteousness upon you.’
¹³ “But you have cultivated wickedness
    and harvested a thriving crop of sins.
You have eaten the fruit of lies—
    trusting in your military might,
believing that great armies
    could make your nation safe.
¹⁴ Now the terrors of war
    will rise among your people.
All your fortifications will fall,
    just as when Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel.
Even mothers and children
    were dashed to death there.
¹⁵ You will share that fate, Bethel,
    because of your great wickedness.
When the day of judgment dawns,
    the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.

Hosea Announces Israel’s Punishment

¹ O people of Israel,
    do not rejoice as other nations do.
For you have been unfaithful to your God,
    hiring yourselves out like prostitutes,
    worshiping other gods on every threshing floor.
² So now your harvests will be too small to feed you.
    There will be no grapes for making new wine.
³ You may no longer stay here in the Lord’s land.
    Instead, you will return to Egypt,
and in Assyria you will eat food
    that is ceremonially unclean.
⁴ There you will make no offerings of wine to the Lord.
    None of your sacrifices there will please him.
They will be unclean, like food touched by a person in mourning.
    All who present such sacrifices will be defiled.
They may eat this food themselves,
    but they may not offer it to the Lord.
⁵ What then will you do on festival days?
    How will you observe the Lord’s festivals?
⁶ Even if you escape destruction from Assyria,
    Egypt will conquer you, and Memphis will bury you.
Nettles will take over your treasures of silver;
    thistles will invade your ruined homes.
⁷ The time of Israel’s punishment has come;
    the day of payment is here.
    Soon Israel will know this all too well.
Because of your great sin and hostility,
    you say, “The prophets are crazy
    and the inspired men are fools!”
⁸ The prophet is a watchman over Israel for my God,
    yet traps are laid for him wherever he goes.
    He faces hostility even in the house of God.
⁹ The things my people do are as depraved
    as what they did in Gibeah long ago.
God will not forget.
    He will surely punish them for their sins.
¹⁰ The Lord says, “O Israel, when I first found you,
    it was like finding fresh grapes in the desert.
When I saw your ancestors,
    it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season.
But then they deserted me for Baal-peor,
    giving themselves to that shameful idol.
Soon they became vile,
    as vile as the god they worshiped.
¹¹ The glory of Israel will fly away like a bird,
    for your children will not be born
or grow in the womb
    or even be conceived.
¹² Even if you do have children who grow up,
    I will take them from you.
It will be a terrible day when I turn away
    and leave you alone.
¹³ I have watched Israel become as beautiful as Tyre.
    But now Israel will bring out her children for slaughter.”
¹⁴ O Lord, what should I request for your people?
    I will ask for wombs that don’t give birth
    and breasts that give no milk.
¹⁵ The Lord says, “All their wickedness began at Gilgal;
    there I began to hate them.
I will drive them from my land
    because of their evil actions.
I will love them no more
    because all their leaders are rebels.
¹⁶ The people of Israel are struck down.
    Their roots are dried up,
    and they will bear no more fruit.
And if they give birth,
    I will slaughter their beloved children.”
¹⁷ My God will reject the people of Israel
    because they will not listen or obey.
They will be wanderers,
    homeless among the nations.

Israel Harvests the Whirlwind

¹ “Sound the alarm!
    The enemy descends like an eagle on the people of the Lord,
for they have broken my covenant
    and revolted against my law.
² Now Israel pleads with me,
    ‘Help us, for you are our God!’
³ But it is too late.
The people of Israel have rejected what is good,
    and now their enemies will chase after them.
⁴ The people have appointed kings without my consent,
    and princes without my approval.
By making idols for themselves from their silver and gold,
    they have brought about their own destruction.
⁵ “O Samaria, I reject this calf—
    this idol you have made.
My fury burns against you.
    How long will you be incapable of innocence?
⁶ This calf you worship, O Israel,
    was crafted by your own hands!
It is not God!
    Therefore, it must be smashed to bits.
⁷ “They have planted the wind
    and will harvest the whirlwind.
The stalks of grain wither
    and produce nothing to eat.
And even if there is any grain,
    foreigners will eat it.
⁸ The people of Israel have been swallowed up;
    they lie among the nations like an old discarded pot.
⁹ Like a wild donkey looking for a mate,
    they have gone up to Assyria.
The people of Israel[a] have sold themselves—
    sold themselves to many lovers.
¹⁰ But though they have sold themselves to many allies,
    I will now gather them together for judgment.
Then they will writhe
    under the burden of the great king.
¹¹ “Israel has built many altars to take away sin,
    but these very altars became places for sinning!
¹² Even though I gave them all my laws,
    they act as if those laws don’t apply to them.
¹³ The people love to offer sacrifices to me,
    feasting on the meat,
    but I do not accept their sacrifices.
I will hold my people accountable for their sins,
    and I will punish them.
    They will return to Egypt.
¹⁴ Israel has forgotten its Maker and built great palaces,
    and Judah has fortified its cities.
Therefore, I will send down fire on their cities
    and will burn up their fortresses.”

A Call to Repentance

¹ “Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces;
    now he will heal us.
He has injured us;
    now he will bandage our wounds.
² In just a short time he will restore us,
    so that we may live in his presence.
³ Oh, that we might know the Lord!
    Let us press on to know him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
    or the coming of rains in early spring.”
⁴ “O Israel and Judah,
    what should I do with you?” asks the Lord.
“For your love vanishes like the morning mist
    and disappears like dew in the sunlight.
⁵ I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces—
    to slaughter you with my words,
    with judgments as inescapable as light.
⁶ I want you to show love,
    not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me
    more than I want burnt offerings.
⁷ But like Adam, you broke my covenant
    and betrayed my trust.
⁸ “Gilead is a city of sinners,
    tracked with footprints of blood.
⁹ Priests form bands of robbers,
    waiting in ambush for their victims.
They murder travelers along the road to Shechem
    and practice every kind of sin.
¹⁰ Yes, I have seen something horrible in Ephraim and Israel:
    My people are defiled by prostituting themselves with other gods!
¹¹ “O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you,
    though I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people.

Israel’s Love for Wickedness

7 “I want to heal Israel, but its sins are too great.
    Samaria is filled with liars.
Thieves are on the inside
    and bandits on the outside!
² Its people don’t realize
    that I am watching them.
Their sinful deeds are all around them,
    and I see them all.
³ “The people entertain the king with their wickedness,
    and the princes laugh at their lies.
⁴ They are all adulterers,
    always aflame with lust.
They are like an oven that is kept hot
    while the baker is kneading the dough.
⁵ On royal holidays, the princes get drunk with wine,
    carousing with those who mock them.
⁶ Their hearts are like an oven
    blazing with intrigue.
Their plot smolders through the night,
    and in the morning it breaks out like a raging fire.
⁷ Burning like an oven,
    they consume their leaders.
They kill their kings one after another,
    and no one cries to me for help.
⁸ “The people of Israel mingle with godless foreigners,
    making themselves as worthless as a half-baked cake!
⁹ Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength,
    but they don’t even know it.
Their hair is gray,
    but they don’t realize they’re old and weak.
¹⁰ Their arrogance testifies against them,
    yet they don’t return to the Lord their God
    or even try to find him.
¹¹ “The people of Israel have become like silly, witless doves,
    first calling to Egypt, then flying to Assyria for help.
¹² But as they fly about,
    I will throw my net over them
and bring them down like a bird from the sky.
    I will punish them for all the evil they do.
¹³ “What sorrow awaits those who have deserted me!
    Let them die, for they have rebelled against me.
I wanted to redeem them,
    but they have told lies about me.
¹⁴ They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts.
    Instead, they sit on their couches and wail.
They cut themselves, begging foreign gods for grain and new wine,
    and they turn away from me.
¹⁵ I trained them and made them strong,
    yet now they plot evil against me.
¹⁶ They look everywhere except to the Most High.
    They are as useless as a crooked bow.
Their leaders will be killed by their enemies
    because of their insolence toward me.
Then the people of Egypt
    will laugh at them.