9 But you are za chosen race, aa royal bpriesthood, ca holy nation, da people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you eout of darkness into fhis marvelous light. 10 gOnce you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you has sojourners and exiles ito abstain from the passions of the flesh, jwhich wage war against your soul. 12 kKeep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, lthey may see your good deeds and glorify God on mthe day of visitation.
19 And I will betroth you to me mforever. nI will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 nI will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And oyou shall know the Lord.
21 “And pin that day qI will answer, declares the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer rJezreel,1
23 and sI will sow her for myself in the land.
And tI uwill have mercy on No Mercy,2
and vI will say to Not My People,3 w‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
Hosea Redeems His Wife
1 And the Lord said to me, x“Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a yhomer and a lethech4 of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must zdwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.”
I Am the Light of the World
12 lAgain Jesus spoke to them, saying, m“I am the light of the world. Whoever nfollows me will not owalk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
