Today is the 8th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It's great to be here with you today as we continue forward on our journey through the Scriptures this year.

We are in the portion of the year where things get more busy in our lives, right? We're in the holiday season moving toward Christmas, but we're also in a portion of the Scriptures where we're moving through territory very rapidly, most every day between now and the end of the year, we'll have a brand new book to jump into and we'll talk about all of them as we move through.

And speaking of moving through, we've been moving through the book of Hosea, we will conclude the book of Hosea today in the Old Testament.

And then when we get to the New Testament, we have brand new territory. We concluded 3 John yesterday. We will read in its entirety the book of Jude today.

And so we'll talk about that when we arrive there. But first, let's move toward the end of the book of Hosea. Or reading from the New Living Translation this week, Hosea chapters 10 through 14 today.

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.

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.

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?

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.

The people of Samaria tremble in fear for their calf idol at Bat Aven, and they mourn for it. Though its priests rejoice over it, its glory will be stripped away.

This idol will be carted away to a Syria, a gift to the great king there.

Ephraim will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed because its people have trusted in this idol.

Samaria and its king will be cut off. They will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave. And the pagan shrines of Aven, the place of Israel's sin will crumble.

Forns and tissels will grow up around their altars. They will beg the mountains, bury us and plead with the hills, fall on us.

The Lord says, always rail. Ever since Ghibia, there has been only sin and more sin. You have made no progress whatsoever.

Was it not right that the wicked men of Ghibia were attacked? 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.

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 plough and Israel to break up the hard ground.

I said, plant the good seeds of righteousness and you will harvest a crop of love.

Plough 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.

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 nations safe.

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