<t /><p class="bodytext">When the <sc>Lordsc> first spoke<n id="1" /> through<n id="2" /> Hosea, he<n id="3" /> said to him,<n id="4" /> &#8220;Go marry<n id="5" /> a prostitute<n id="6" /> who will bear illegitimate children conceived through prostitution,<n id="7" /> because the nation<n id="8" /> continually commits spiritual prostitution<n id="9" /> by turning away from<n id="10" /> the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">&#8220;If thieves came to rob you<n id="1" /> during the night,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">they would steal only as much as they wanted!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">If grape pickers came to harvest your vineyards,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">they would leave some behind for the poor!<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">But you will be totally destroyed!<n id="6" />p>

And the <sc>Lordsc> God<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;Who told you that you were naked?<n id="2" /> Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?&#8221;<n id="3" />

When you try to cultivate<n id="1" /> thep> <p class="bodytext">ground it will no longer yield<n id="2" /> its best<n id="3" /> for you. You will be a homeless wanderer<n id="4" /> on the earth.&#8221;

Make<n id="1" /> for yourself an ark of cypress<n id="2" /> wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover<n id="3" /> it with pitch inside and out.

You must take with you seven<n id="1" /> of every kind of clean animal,<n id="2" /> the male and its mate,<n id="3" /> two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate,

that I will take nothing<n id="1" /> belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal. That way you can never say, &#8216;It is I<n id="2" /> who made Abram rich.&#8217;

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said<n id="1" /> to him, &#8220;I am the <sc>Lordsc><n id="2" /> who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans<n id="3" /> to give you this land to possess.&#8221;

I will confirm<n id="1" /> my covenant as a perpetual<n id="2" /> covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you.<n id="3" />

I will give the whole land of Canaan &#8211; the land where you are now residing<n id="1" /> &#8211; to you and your descendants after you as a permanent<n id="2" /> possession. I will be their God.&#8221;p>

I will bless her and will give you a son through her. I will bless her and she will become a mother of nations.<n id="1" /> Kings of countries<n id="2" /> will come from her!&#8221;p>

But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">To Sarah he said, &#8220;Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver<n id="1" /> to your &#8216;brother.&#8217;<n id="2" /> This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

You will be free from your oath<n id="1" /> if you go to my relatives and they will not give her to you. Then you will be free from your oath.&#8217;

Go to the flock and get me two of the best young goats. I&#8217;ll prepare<n id="1" /> them in a tasty way for your father, just the way he loves them.

Esau said to his father, &#8220;Do you have only that one blessing, my father? Bless me too!&#8221;<n id="1" /> Then Esau wept loudly.<n id="2" />p>

Then this stone<n id="1" /> that I have set up as a sacred stone will be the house of God, and I will surely<n id="2" /> give you back a tenth of everything you give me.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

Complete my older daughter&#8217;s bridal week.<n id="1" /> Then we will give you the younger one<n id="2" /> too, in exchange for seven more years of work.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

Indeed,<n id="1" /> you had little before I arrived,<n id="2" /> but now your possessions have increased many times over.<n id="3" /> The <sc>Lordsc> has blessed you wherever I worked.<n id="4" /> But now, how long must it be before I do something for my own family too?&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and warned him,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Be careful<n id="2" /> that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>