The Book of
HOSEA
-- Literal Translation of the Holy Bible - Copyright © 1976 - 2000 --

Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |

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Hosea 1
1 ¶ The Word of Jehovah that was to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel.
2 ¶ The beginning of the speaking of Jehovah by Hosea. And Jehovah said to Hosea, Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry, and children of harlotry. For the land has utterly gone lusting away from Jehovah.
3 And he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, who conceived and bore him a son.
4 And Jehovah said to him, Call his name God Will Sow, for yet in a little while I will call to account the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.
5 And it shall be in that day, I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And He said to him, Call her name No Mercy, for I will not again still have mercy on the house of Israel; but I will completely take them away.
7 And I will have mercy on the house of Judah and will save them by Jehovah their God. And I will not save them by bow or by sword, or by battle, by horses, or by horsemen.
8 ¶ And she having weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son.
9 Then He said, Call his name Not My People, for you are not My people, and I will not be for you.
10 Yet the number of the sons of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which is not measured nor numbered. And it shall be, in the place where it is said to them, You are not My people, it shall be said to them, Sons of the Living God.
11 And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together, and shall set over themselves one head. And they shall go up out of the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

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Hosea 2
1 ¶ Say to your brothers, A people; and to your sisters, Mercy.
2 Strive! Strive with your mother, for she is not My wife, and I am not her husband. Therefore, let her put away her harlotries from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts,
3 that I not strip her naked and set her out as in the day that she was born, and make her as the wilderness, and place her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst.
4 And I will not have pity for her sons, for they are the sons of harlotries.
5 For their mother has prostituted herself; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, I will go after my lovers who give my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.
6 ¶ Therefore, behold, I will hedge your way with thorns, and I will wall up her wall, that she shall not find her paths.
7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them. And she shall look for them, but she shall not find them. Then she shall say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now.
8 For she did not know that I gave her grain and wine and oil, and I multiplied her silver and the gold they prepared for Baal.
9 So I will return and take My grain in its time, and My wine in its season. And I will take back My wool and My flax she uses to cover her nakedness.
10 And now I will reveal her shamefulness to the eyes of her lovers, and a man shall not deliver her out of My hand.
11 I will also cause all her joy to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, They are my rewards that my lovers have given me. And I will set them for a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13 And I will visit on her the days of the Baals in which she burned incense to them. Yea, she adorned herself with her nose rings, and her jewels, and she went after her lovers and forgot Me, says Jehovah.
14 ¶ Therefore, behold, I will lure her and bring her to the wilderness, and speak to her heart.
15 And from there I will give her vineyards to her, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope. And she shall answer there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
16 And at that day, says Jehovah, you shall call Me, My husband; and you shall no more call Me, My Baal.
17 For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth; and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
18 And in that day I will cut a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and the creepers of the ground. And I will break the bow and the sword, and the battle out of the earth, and I will make them to lie down safely.
19 And I will betroth you to Me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in mercy, and in compassions.
20 I will even betroth you to Me in faithfulness. And you shall know Jehovah.
21 And it shall be in that day, I will answer, says Jehovah. I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth.
22 And the earth shall hear the grain, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.
23 And I will sow her to Me in the earth. And I will have mercy on No Mercy. And I will say to Not My People, You are My people! And they shall say, My God!

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Hosea 3
1 ¶ And Jehovah said to me, Go again, love a woman loved by a friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of Jehovah toward the sons of Israel, who turn to other gods, and love raisin cakes of grapes.
2 So I bought her for myself with fifteen pieces of silver, and for a homer of barley, and a half of barley.
3 And I said to her, You shall remain with me many days. You shall not be a harlot, and not be to a man, and I also will be for you.
4 For the sons of Israel shall remain many days with no king and no ruler, and with no sacrifice, and no pillars, and no ephod or teraphim.
5 Afterward the sons of Israel shall return and seek Jehovah their God and David their king. And they shall fear Jehovah and His goodness in the ends of the days.

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Hosea 4
1 ¶ Sons of Israel, hear the Word of Jehovah, for Jehovah has a quarrel with those living in the land; for there is no truth, and no mercy, and no knowledge of God in the land.
2 Swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and the committing of adultery increase. And blood touches against blood.
3 On account of this the land shall mourn, and every one living in it shall droop, with the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven; yes, also the fish of the sea shall be removed.
4 Yet let not a man strive with nor reprove a man. For your people are as a priest striven with.
5 And you shall stumble in the day, and the prophet also shall stumble with you at night, and I will cut off your mother.
6 ¶ My people are cut off for lack of knowledge. Because you rejected the knowledge, I also rejected you from being priest to Me. Since you have forgotten the Law of your God, I will forget your sons, even I.
7 As they were increased, so they sinned against Me. I will change their glory into shame.
8 They eat up the sin of My people, and they lift their vitality to their iniquity.
9 And it will be, Like people, like priest. And I will visit their ways on them and repay them for their deeds.
10 For they shall eat and not have enough. They shall fornicate and not increase, because they have ceased heeding Jehovah.
11 Fornication and wine and new wine take away the heart.
12 ¶ My people seek advice by their wooden idols, and their rod declares to them. For the spirit of harlotry has led them astray, and they fornicated from under their God.
13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn incense on the hills, under oak and poplar and terebinth, because its shade is good. On account of this, your daughters shall prostitute, and your brides shall commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they fornicate, nor your brides when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go aside with harlots, and they sacrifice with temple prostitutes. The people who do not understand are thrust down.
15 Israel, though you fornicate, do not let Judah become guilty. And do not come to Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, nor swear, As Jehovah lives.
16 For Israel rebels, like a rebellious heifer. Now Jehovah will feed them as a lamb in a roomy place.
17 Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone.
18 Their drink is sour. They are continually fornicating. Her shields dearly love shame.
19 The wind binds her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

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Hosea 5
1 ¶ Hear this, O priests, and attend, house of Israel. And give ear, house of the king. For the judgment is toward you, because you have been a snare to Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor.
2 And revolters have gone deep in slaughtering, and I chasten all of them.
3 I know Ephraim, and Israel has not hidden from me. For now, O Ephraim, you have fornicated; Israel is defiled.
4 Their doings will not give them to turn to their God. For the spirit of fornication is in their midst, and they do not know Jehovah.
5 And the pride of Israel answers to his face. So Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in their iniquity. Judah shall also stumble with them.
6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Jehovah, but they shall not find; He has withdrawn Himself from them.
7 They have acted treacherously against Jehovah, for they have brought forth strange sons. Now a new moon shall devour them with their portions.
8 ¶ Blow a horn in Gibeah, a trumpet in Ramah. Cry aloud, Beth-aven; after you, O Benjamin.
9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of correction. Among the tribes of Israel, I have made known that which is confirmed.
10 The rulers of Judah were as movers of a border; I will pour out My wrath on them like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment; because he was pleased, he walked after the command.
12 Therefore, I am as a moth to Ephraim, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to King Jareb. Yet he could not heal you, nor did he cure you of your wound.
14 For I am to Ephraim as the lion, and as the young lion to the house of Judah; I, even I, tear and go; I take away, and no one rescues.
15 I will go; I will return to My place until they confess their guilt and seek My face. In their affliction they will seek Me diligently.

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Hosea 6
1 ¶ Come and let us return to Jehovah. For He has torn, and He will heal us. He has stricken, and He will bind us up.
2 After two days He will bring us to life. In the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him.
3 Then we shall know, we who follow on to know Jehovah. His going forth is established as the dawn. And He shall come to us as the rain, as the latter and former rain to the earth.
4 ¶ O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your goodness is like a morning cloud, and it goes away like the early dew.
5 So I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the Words of My mouth; and your judgments have been as the light that goes forth.
6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 But, like Adam, they have broken the covenant; they have acted like traitors against Me there.
8 Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity, slippery with blood marks.
9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, the company of priests murder in the way to Shechem; for they have done wickedness.
10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: the fornication of Ephraim is there; Israel is defiled.
11 Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed to you, when I return the captivity of My people.

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Hosea 7
1 ¶ When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, and the evil of Samaria. For they have worked falsehood; and a thief comes; a troop of robbers plunders outside.
2 And they do not say within their hearts that I remember all their evil. Now their own doings have hemmed them in. They are before My face.
3 They make the king glad with their evil, and the rulers with their lies.
4 They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by the baker; he ceases from stirring, from kneading the dough until it is leavened.
5 In the day of our king, the rulers have sickened themselves with the heat of wine. He stretches out his hand with scorners.
6 For they have brought their heart near like an oven, while they lie in wait. Their baker sleeps all night; in the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
7 They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges. All their kings have fallen; not one among them calls to Me.
8 ¶ Ephraim mixed himself among the peoples. Ephraim is a cake not turned.
9 Strangers have eaten up his strength, yet he does not know. Yea, gray hairs are sprinkled here and there on him, yet he does not know.
10 And the pride of Israel testifies to his face. And they do not return to Jehovah their God, nor seek Him in all this.
11 Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart; they call to Egypt; they go to Assyria.
12 When they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like the birds of the heavens; I will chastise them, as a report to their congregation.
13 Woe to them! For they have fled from Me. Ruin to them! For they have transgressed against Me. Though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against Me.
14 And they have not cried to Me with their heart, when they howled on their beds. They gather themselves for grain and wine; they turn against Me.
15 Though I bound, I made their arms strong; yet they think evil against Me.
16 They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a treacherous bow. Their rulers shall fall by the sword from the rage of the tongue. This shall be their scorn in the land of Egypt.

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Hosea 8
1 ¶ Put a horn to your mouth. He comes like an eagle against the house of Jehovah, because they have broken My covenant and have sinned against My Law.
2 Israel shall cry to Me, My God, we know You.
3 Israel has thrown off good; the enemy shall pursue him.
4 They have set up kings, but not by Me. They have made rulers, but I did not know. They made idols for themselves with their silver and their gold, so that they may be cut off.
5 O Samaria, your calf has cast you off. My anger is kindled against them. Until when will they not attain purity?
6 For it also came from Israel: The craftsman made it, but it is not God. For the calf of Samaria shall be splinters.
7 For they sow the wind, and they reap the whirlwind. He has no stalk; the bud shall make no flour. If it does make it, strangers will swallow it up.
8 ¶ Israel is swallowed up. They are now among the nations as a vessel in which is no pleasure.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself. Ephraim has hired lovers.
10 Also, though they have hired among the nations, now I will gather them. And they began to be few, from the burden of the king of rulers.
11 Because Ephraim has made many altars to sin, they are altars to him to sin.
12 I will write the great things of My Law for him. They were counted as a strange thing.
13 They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of My offerings, and they eat. Jehovah did not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. They shall return to Egypt.
14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and builds temples. And Judah has multiplied fortified cities. But I will send a fire on his cities, and it shall burn up her palaces.

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Hosea 9
1 ¶ O Israel, do not rejoice for joy, like the peoples. For you have gone lusting away from your God. You have loved a reward on all threshing-floors of grain.
2 The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.
3 They shall not live in the land of Jehovah. But Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
4 They shall not offer wine to Jehovah. They shall not be pleasing to Him. Their sacrifices shall be like the bread of sorrows to them; all who eat it shall be defiled, for their bread is for their person; it shall not come into the house of Jehovah.
5 What will you do in the day of meeting, and in the day of the feast of Jehovah?
6 For, lo, they have gone from destruction. Egypt shall gather them; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess the desirable things of their silver; thorns shall be in their tents.
7 ¶ The days of her visitation have come; the days of retribution have come. Israel shall know. The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and your great hatred.
8 Ephraim is a watchman with my God. The prophet is a snare of a fowler on all his ways; hatred is in the house of his God.
9 They have deeply corrupted, as in days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity; He will punish their sins.
10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the firstfruit in the fig tree at her first time. They came to Baal-peor and set themselves apart to a shameful thing. And they became hateful like that which they loved.
11 ¶ Ephraim is like a bird; their glory shall fly away, from birth, and from the womb, and from conception.
12 Though they multiply their sons, yet I will make them childless, without a man. Yea, woe also to them when I turn away from them!
13 As when I looked toward Tyre, Ephraim was planted in a pleasant place. But Ephraim shall bring forth his sons to the slayer.
14 O Jehovah, give them. What will you give them? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
15 All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them. I will drive them out of My house for the wickedness of their doings, I will not add to love them; all their rulers are revolters.
16 Ephraim is stricken; their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Yea, though they bear, yet I will kill the beloved ones of their womb.
17 My God shall reject them because they did not listen to Him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

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Hosea 10
1 ¶ Israel is a luxuriant vine; he bears fruit for himself. According to the plenty of his fruit he has increased the altars. They have made beautiful images according to the goodness of his land.
2 Their heart is divided. Now they shall be guilty. He will break down their altars; He will spoil their pillars.
3 For now they shall say, We have no king, because we did not fear Jehovah. What then should a king do for us?
4 They have spoken words, swearing vanity to cut a covenant. So judgment springs up like hemlock in the furrows of the field.
5 The people of Samaria shall dread because of the calves of Beth-aven. For its people shall mourn over it; also its priests who rejoiced on it for its glory, because it has departed from it.
6 It shall also be carried to Assyria, a present to King Jareb. Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
7 Samaria is cut off; her king is as a bough on the face of the water.
8 Also, the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars. And they shall say to the mountains, Cover us! and to the hills, Fall on us!
9 ¶ O Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah. There they stood. The battle against the sons of iniquity did not overtake them in Gibeah.
10 When I desire, I shall bind them; and the peoples shall be gathered against them, when they bind themselves to their two perversities.
11 And Ephraim is a trained heifer, loving to tread out. But I passed over on the goodness of her neck; I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow; Jacob shall break clods for him.
12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap as kindness. Break up your fallow ground. For it is time to seek Jehovah, until He comes and rains righteousness on you.
13 You have plowed wickedness; you have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies because you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men.
14 And an uproar shall rise up among your peoples. And all your strongholds shall be spoiled, as the ruin of Beth-arbel in the day of battle. The mother was dashed in pieces on her sons.
15 So He does to you, Bethel, because of your great evil. In the dawn, the king of Israel shall be completely cut off.

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Hosea 11
1 ¶ When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and I called My son out of Egypt.
2 As they called to them, so they went from their face. They sacrifice to the Baals, and burn incense to graven images.
3 I also taught Ephraim to go; He took them on His arms. But they did not know that I healed them.
4 I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love. And I was to them as those who lift off the yoke on their jaws; and I extended food to him.
5 He shall not return to the land of Egypt, but he of Assyria shall be his king, because they refused to return.
6 And the sword shall whirl in his cities, and shall bring to an end his bars, and shall consume, because of their own counsels.
7 And My people are bent on backsliding from Me. And they call him to the Most High; no one at all would exalt Him.
8 ¶ How shall I give you up, Ephraim? Shall I deliver you, Israel? How shall I make you like Admah? Shall I set you as Zeboim? My heart has turned within Me; My compassions are kindled together.
9 I will not execute the heat of My anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not a man, the Holy One in your midst. And I will not enter into the city.
10 They shall walk after Jehovah; He shall roar as a lion. When He roars, then sons shall tremble from the west.
11 They trembled like a bird from Egypt, and like a dove from the land of Assyria. And I will make them live in their houses, says Jehovah.
12 Ephraim circles around Me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah still rules with God and is faithful with the saints.

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Hosea 12
1 ¶ Ephraim feeds on wind, and follows after the east wind; all the day he multiplies lies and ruin. And they cut a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt.
2 Jehovah also has a quarrel with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; He will repay him according to his deeds.
3 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he contended with God.
4 Yes, he wept and pleaded to Him, and he contended with the Angel and overcame. He found us at Bethel, and He spoke with us there,
5 even Jehovah, the God of Hosts. Jehovah is His memorial.
6 For this reason, you return to your God; keep kindness and judgment, and call on your God continually.
7 ¶ He is a merchant; the scales of deceit are in his hand; he loves to oppress.
8 And Ephraim said, I am rich; I have found much wealth for myself. In all my labors they shall find in me no iniquity that is sin.
9 And I am Jehovah, your God from the land of Egypt; yet I will make you live in tents, as in the days of meeting.
10 I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the hand of the prophets use parables.
11 Is Gilead evil? Surely they have been vanity. They sacrificed bulls in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field.
12 And Jacob fled into the field of Syria, and Israel served for a wife; yea, he shepherded for a wife.
13 And by a prophet Jehovah brought up Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was kept safe.
14 Ephraim has provoked Me to anger most bitterly. And He shall leave his blood to him, and his Lord shall turn his reproach to him.

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Hosea 13
1 ¶ When Ephraim spoke trembling, he was lifted up in Israel. But he offended in Baal, and he died.
2 And now they sin more and more, and they have made themselves a molten image of their silver, idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen. They say to them, Let men, those who sacrifice, kiss calves.
3 So they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passes away, as chaff storm driven from the threshing floor, and as the smoke out of the window.
4 Yet I am Jehovah, your God from the land of Egypt; and you shall know no other gods than Me. For there is no Savior besides Me.
5 ¶ I have known you in the wilderness, in the land of great dryness.
6 According to their pasture, so they were filled. They were filled, and their heart was lifted up. On account of this they have forgotten Me.
7 Now I am as a lion to them; I will watch by the way like a leopard.
8 I will meet them like a bereaved bear, and I will tear the lining of their heart; and as a lion, I will devour them there; the beast of the field shall tear them.
9 ¶ O Israel, you are destroyed, but your help is in Me.
10 Where is your king now, that he may save you in all your cities? And where are your judges of whom you said, Give to me a king and rulers?
11 I gave to you a king in My anger, and took him away in My fury.
12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hidden.
13 The pangs of one giving birth shall come to him; he is not a wise son, for he cannot stand still in the time of the breaking forth of sons.
14 I will ransom them from the hand of Sheol; I will redeem them from death. O death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your ruin? Repentance is hidden from My eyes.
15 Though he is fruitful among brothers, an east wind shall come. The wind of Jehovah shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall be ashamed, and his fountain shall be dried up. He shall plunder the treasure of all desirable vessels.
16 Samaria shall be desolate, for she has rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword, their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women shall be ripped up.

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Hosea 14
1 ¶ O Israel, return to Jehovah your God, for you have fallen by your sin.
2 Take words with you and return to Jehovah. Say to Him, Lift up all iniquity and receive us well, that we may repay with the calves of our lips.
3 Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses. We shall not say any more to the work of our hands, Our gods! For in You the fatherless finds mercy.
4 ¶ I will heal their backslidings; I will love them freely; for My anger has turned away from him.
5 I will be as the dew to Israel; he shall blossom as the lily and cast out his roots like Lebanon.
6 His branches shall go out, and his beauty shall be like the olive tree, and his scent as Lebanon to him.
7 They who live under his shadow shall return; they shall live like the grain, and blossom like the vine; their memorial shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
8 ¶ Ephraim shall say, What is to me any more with idols? I answered him, and I regarded him. I am as a green cypress tree; your fruit is found from Me.
9 Who is wise and discerns these things? Who is discerning and knows them? For the ways of Jehovah are right, and the righteous shall walk in them; but transgressors shall stumble in them.

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Scripture taken from the Literal Translation of the Holy Bible
Copyright © 1976 - 2000
By Jay P. Green, Sr.
Used by permission of the copyright holder

[Policy for Reprint & Quoting from the Literal Translation]