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6  Your throne is God’s throne, for ever; ♦︎
   the sceptre of your kingdom is the sceptre of righteousness.
7  You love righteousness and hate iniquity; ♦︎
   therefore God, your God, has anointed you
      with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
8  All your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes and cassia; ♦︎
   from ivory palaces the music of strings makes you glad.
9  Kings’ daughters are among your honourable women; ♦︎
   at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.
10  Hear, O daughter; consider and incline your ear; ♦︎
   forget your own people and your father’s house.
11  So shall the king have pleasure in your beauty; ♦︎
   he is your lord, so do him honour.
12  The people of Tyre shall bring you gifts; ♦︎
   the richest of the people shall seek your favour.
13  The king’s daughter is all glorious within; ♦︎
   her clothing is embroidered cloth of gold.
14  She shall be brought to the king in raiment of needlework; ♦︎
   after her the virgins that are her companions.
15  With joy and gladness shall they be brought ♦︎
   and enter into the palace of the king.
16  ‘Instead of your fathers you shall have sons, ♦︎
   whom you shall make princes over all the land.
17  ‘I will make your name to be remembered through all generations; ♦︎
   therefore shall the peoples praise you for ever and ever.’

A Plea for Repentance

14Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
   for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
² Take words with you
   and return to the Lord;
say to him,
   ‘Take away all guilt;
accept that which is good,
   and we will offer
   the fruit^* of our lips.
³ Assyria shall not save us;
   we will not ride upon horses;
we will say no more, “Our God”,
   to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.’

Assurance of Forgiveness

⁴ I will heal their disloyalty;
   I will love them freely,
   for my anger has turned from them.
⁵ I will be like the dew to Israel;
   he shall blossom like the lily,
   he shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon.^*
6 His shoots shall spread out;
   his beauty shall be like the olive tree,
   and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.
⁷ They shall again live beneath my^* shadow,
   they shall flourish as a garden;^*
they shall blossom like the vine,
   their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸ O Ephraim, what have I^* to do with idols?
   It is I who answer and look after you.^*
I am like an evergreen cypress;
   your faithfulness^* comes from me.
⁹ Those who are wise understand these things;
   those who are discerning know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
   and the upright walk in them,
   but transgressors stumble in them.

Paul and the False Apostles

11I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! ²I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. ³But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure^* devotion to Christ. ⁴For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough. ⁵I think that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. ⁶I may be untrained in speech, but not in knowledge; certainly in every way and in all things we have made this evident to you.

7 Did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I proclaimed God’s good news^* to you free of charge? ⁸I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. ⁹And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for my needs were supplied by the friends^* who came from Macedonia. So I refrained and will continue to refrain from burdening you in any way. ¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

12 And what I do I will also continue to do, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in what they boast about. ¹³For such boasters are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ¹⁵So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. Their end will match their deeds.