18 Who is a God like you, forgiving sin

and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance?

He does not retain his anger forever,

for he delights in loyal love.

1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loyal love.

According to your abundant mercies,

blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and from my sin cleanse me.

6 Remember your compassion, O Yahweh,

and your acts of loyal love,

because they are from of old.

7 Do not remember

the sins of my youth or my transgressions.

According to your loyal love remember me if you will,

for the sake of your goodness, O Yahweh.

1 Out of the depths I call to you, O Yahweh.

2 "O Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive

to the voice of my supplications.

11 As for you, O Yahweh, do not withhold your mercies from me.

Let your loyal love and your faithfulness

continually preserve me.

6 Surely goodness and loyal love will pursue me

all the days of my life,

and I will stay* in the house* of Yahweh

for a very long time.*

13 As a father pities* his children,

so Yahweh pities* those who fear him.

15 But the gift is not like the trespass*, for if by the trespass of the one, the many died, by much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, multiply to the many.

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 5 and we being dead in trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved),

9 And he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, because the* power is perfected in weakness." Therefore rather I will boast most gladly in my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may reside in me.

13 He who conceals his transgression will not prosper,

but he who confesses and forsakes will obtain mercy.

7 Let the wicked forsake his way,

and the man of sin his thoughts.

And let him return to Yahweh, that* he may take pity on him,

and to our God, for he will forgive manifold.*

18 Therefore Yahweh waits to be gracious to you,

and therefore he will rise up to show you mercy,

for Yahweh is a God of justice;

blessed are all those who wait for him.

13 But go and* learn what it means, "I want mercy and not sacrifice."* For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

21 Then Peter came up to him and* said,* "Lord, how many times will my brother sin against me and I will forgive him? Up to seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven!*

14 For if you forgive people their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

31 But in your great compassions you did not put an end to them, and you did not abandon them. For you are a gracious and compassionate God.

5 It goes well for a man who is gracious and lends,

who conducts his business properly.*

17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,

and establish for us the work of our hands,

yes, the work of our hands, establish it.

16 Therefore let us approach with confidence to the throne of grace, in order that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers, through the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

16 For in this way God loved the world, so that he gave his one and only Son, in order that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life.

29 because to you has been graciously granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on behalf of him,

1 Then Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and he also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, to come to the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem to make a Passover feast to Yahweh the God of Israel. 2 Now the king and his princes, and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to make the Passover feast in the second month—3 but they were not able to make it at that time, for the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient numbers,* and the people had not been assembled in Jerusalem—4 and the plan seemed right in the eyes of the king and in the eyes of all the assembly. 5 So they let the decree stand, to make a proclamation* throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, to come to make a Passover feast to Yahweh the God of Israel. 6 And the runners went with the letter from the hand of the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah according to the command of the king, saying, "O sons of Israel, return to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. 7 Do not be like your fathers and like your brothers, who acted unfaithfully before Yahweh, the God of their ancestors,* so that he made them as a desolation, as you see. 8 Now, do not stiffen your neck as your fathers,* but give a hand to Yahweh and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve Yahweh your God that his fierce anger may turn away from you. 9 For when you return to Yahweh, your brothers and your children will find compassion before their captors and return to this land, for Yahweh your God is gracious and compassionate, and he will not turn away his face from you if you return to him."

10 And it happened that the runners were passing from city to city in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and up to Zebulun, but they were laughing at them and mocking them. 11 Only men from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. 12 The hand of God was also upon Judah, to give them one heart to obey the command of the king and the princes concerning the word of Yahweh.

13 So many people gathered in Jerusalem to hold the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month; it was a very great assembly. 14 And they rose up and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem. And they removed all the incense altars and threw them away in the Wadi* Kidron. 15 And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were disgraced, so they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of Yahweh. 16 Then they stood at their positions according to custom, according to the law of Moses the man of God. The priests were sprinkling the blood from the hand of the Levites. 17 For there were many in the assembly who did not consecrate themselves, so the Levites were over the killing of the Passover sacrifices for all who were not clean, to consecrate them to Yahweh. 18 For a majority of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves. But they ate the Passover sacrifice otherwise than prescribed,* but Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, "May the good Yahweh make atonement unto 19 everyone whose heart is set to seek God, Yahweh the God of his ancestors,* though not according to the cleansing for the sanctuary." 20 And Yahweh listened to Hezekiah, and he healed the people. 21 And the Israelites* who were found in Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great joy. And the Levites and the priests were offering praise to Yahweh day by day, with powerful instruments to Yahweh. 22 And Hezekiah spoke to the heart of all the Levites who were skilled at service* to Yahweh. So they ate the feast seven days, offering peace offerings and giving thanks to Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.*

23 Then the whole assembly decided to make seven more days of feasting, so they made seven more days with joy, 24 for Hezekiah the king of Judah had provided* one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for the assembly, and the princes provided* one thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep for the assembly. And many priests consecrated themselves. 25 And the whole assembly of Judah, the priests and the Levites, all the assembly who had come from the land of Israel, and those living in Judah rejoiced. 26 And there was great joy in Jerusalem, for from the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there was nothing such as this in Jerusalem. 27 Then the priests and the Levites arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came to his holy dwelling place in the heavens.

1 A saying:* ‘Look, if a man divorces his wife,

and she goes from him and she becomes another man’s wife,*

will he return to her again?’

Will not that land be greatly defiled?

And you have prostituted yourself with many lovers,

would you now return to me?" declares* Yahweh.

2 "Lift up your eyes at the barren heights,

and see where you have not been ravished.

Beside the roads you sat for them like an Arab in the desert,*

and you have defiled the land

with your fornication

and with your wickedness.

3 Therefore rain showers have been withheld,

and the spring rain has not come.

Yet you have* the forehead of a woman prostitute,

you refuse to be ashamed.

4 Have you not just now called to me,

‘My father, you are the close friend of my youth?

5 Will he be angry forever?*

Will he maintain it always’?*

Look, you have spoken,

but you have done all the evil that you could."*

6 Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah, the king, "Have you seen what apostate* Israel has done? She has gone on every high hill and under every leafy tree and she has prostituted herself there. 7 And I thought, ‘After her doing all these things to me she will return,’ but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.*8 And I saw that for this very reason, that* on account of apostate* Israel committing adultery I divorced her and gave the letter of divorce to her. Yet her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid and she went and prostituted herself also. 9 And it was because of the frivolity of her fornication that she defiled the land and committed adultery with the stone and with the tree. 10 Yet even in all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only* in pretense,"* declares* Yahweh.

11 Then Yahweh said to me, "Apostate* Israel has proved herself more upright* than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,

‘Return, apostate* Israel,’ declares* Yahweh.

‘I will not cause my anger* to fall on you.

For I am loyal,’ declares* Yahweh.

‘I will not be angry forever.*

13 Only acknowledge your guilt,

that against Yahweh your God you have rebelled,

and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every leafy tree,

and you have not obeyed my voice,’ declares* Yahweh."

14 "Return, apostate* children," declares* Yahweh. "For I am your master,* and I will take you one from a city and two from a clan,* and I will bring you to Zion. 15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart and they will feed you knowledge and insight. 16 And it will be when you have multiplied and become fruitful in the land in those days," declares* Yahweh, "they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh.’ And it will not come to mind,* nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it,* nor will it be made again. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of Yahweh,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem, and they will no longer go after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk along with the house of Israel and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave as an inheritance to your ancestors.*

19 Then I thought, ‘How I would set you among the children,

and I would give you a land of desire,

an inheritance of the glory of the hosts of nations.’

And I thought, ‘You would call me, "My father,"

and you would not turn back from behind* me.’

20 However, as a wife departs treacherously from her lover,

so you have dealt treacherously with me,

O house of Israel," declares* Yahweh.

21 "A voice is heard on the barren heights,

the weeping of the pleas for mercy of the children of Israel,

because they have perverted their way,

they have forgotten Yahweh their God.

22 Return, O apostate* children,

I will heal your backsliding.

‘Look, we come to you,

for you are Yahweh our God.

23 Surely, an illusion comes from the hills,

the turmoil on the mountains.

Surely, in Yahweh our God

is the salvation of Israel.

24 But the shameful thing has devoured

the labor of our ancestors* from our youth,

their flocks, and their cattle,

their sons and their daughters.

25 Let us lie down in our shame,

and let our disgrace cover us.

For against Yahweh our God we have sinned,

we and our ancestors,*

from our youth and until this day.

and we have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.’