Thy Strong Word

Hosted by Rev. Will Weedon, LCMS Director of Worship and International Center Chaplain.

With guest Charles Spomer of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Burlington, NC.

Lutheran Heritage Foundation - Underwriter of Thy Strong Word — Underwriter of Thy Strong Word

Hosea 9

The Lord Will Punish Israel

9 Rejoice not, O Israel!
    Exult not like the peoples;
for you have played the whore, forsaking your God.
    You have loved a prostitute’s wages
    on all threshing floors.
²Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,
    and the new wine shall fail them.
³They shall not remain in the land of the Lord,
    but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
    and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

⁴They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,
    and their sacrifices shall not please him.
It shall be like mourners’ bread to them;
    all who eat of it shall be defiled;
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
    it shall not come to the house of the Lord.

⁵What will you do on the day of the appointed festival,
    and on the day of the feast of the Lord?
⁶For behold, they are going away from destruction;
    but Egypt shall gather them;
    Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;
    thorns shall be in their tents.

⁷The days of punishment have come;
    the days of recompense have come;
    Israel shall know it.
The prophet is a fool;
    the man of the spirit is mad,
because of your great iniquity
    and great hatred.
⁸The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God;
yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,
    and hatred in the house of his God.
⁹They have deeply corrupted themselves
    as in the days of Gibeah:
he will remember their iniquity;
    he will punish their sins.

¹⁰Like grapes in the wilderness,
    I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree
    in its first season,
    I saw your fathers.
But they came to Baal-peor
    and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,
    and became detestable like the thing they loved.
¹¹Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—
    no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
¹²Even if they bring up children,
    I will bereave them till none is left.
Woe to them
    when I depart from them!
¹³Ephraim, as I have seen, was like a young palm^[a] planted in a meadow;
    but Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.^[b]
¹⁴Give them, O Lord—
    what will you give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
    and dry breasts.

¹⁵Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal;
    there I began to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
    I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
    all their princes are rebels.

¹⁶Ephraim is stricken;
    their root is dried up;
    they shall bear no fruit.
Even though they give birth,
    I will put their beloved children to death.
¹⁷My God will reject them
    because they have not listened to him;
    they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Footnotes:

Hosea 9:13 Or like Tyre
Hosea 9:13 Hebrew to him who slaughters

Rev. William Weedon

We have the distinct privilege of borrowing LCMS Director of Worship and International Center Chaplain Rev. William Chancellor Weedon for an hour a day to add Host of Thy Strong Word to his list of titles. Native to the central Maryland area just outside of Washington D.C., he enthusiastically enjoys his coffee, playing piano, and singing heartily, as well as spending time in the pool with his wife Cindi, three children and their spouses, and seven grandchildren. He’s one of those people that listens to Christmas music year-round, but we still let him in our studios. You may find him reading a good murder mystery or some writing by Johann Gerhard, Joseph Ratzinger, or Alexander Schmemann while eating a chocolate torte made by his wife Cindi. When he’s read all the books he can manage, he escapes outside to hike, bike, or even run in his Vivobarefoot shoes that Andy Bates, his favorite famous person, told him to buy.