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¹⁵ I will return again to my place
   until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face.
   In their distress they will beg my favour:

A Call to Repentance

6‘Come, let us return to the Lord;
   for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
   he has struck down, and he will bind us up.
² After two days he will revive us;
   on the third day he will raise us up,
   that we may live before him.
³ Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord;
   his appearing is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like the showers,
   like the spring rains that water the earth.’

Impenitence of Israel and Judah

⁴ What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
   What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
   like the dew that goes away early.
⁵ Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
   I have killed them by the words of my mouth,
   and my^* judgement goes forth as the light.
⁶ For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
   the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings.

7  Hear, O my people, and I will speak: ♦︎
   ‘I will testify against you, O Israel;
      for I am God, your God.
8  ‘I will not reprove you for your sacrifices, ♦︎
   for your burnt offerings are always before me.
9  ‘I will take no bull out of your house, ♦︎
   nor he-goat out of your folds,
10  ‘For all the beasts of the forest are mine, ♦︎
   the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11  ‘I know every bird of the mountains ♦︎
   and the insect of the field is mine.
12  ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you, ♦︎
   for the whole world is mine and all that fills it.
13  ‘Do you think I eat the flesh of bulls, ♦︎
   or drink the blood of goats?
14  ‘Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving ♦︎
   and fulfil your vows to God Most High.
15  ‘Call upon me in the day of trouble; ♦︎
   I will deliver you and you shall honour me.’

God’s Promise Realized through Faith

13 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

16 For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, ¹⁷as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. ¹⁸Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations’, according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’ ¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already^* as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. ²²Therefore his faith^* ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ ²³Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him’, were written not for his sake alone, ²⁴but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

The Calling of Matthew

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

10 And as he sat at dinner^* in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting^* with him and his disciples. ¹¹When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ ¹²But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

18 While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue^* came in and knelt before him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.’ ¹⁹And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. ²⁰Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, ²¹for she said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.’ ²²Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well. ²³When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a commotion, ²⁴he said, ‘Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. ²⁵But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. ²⁶And the report of this spread throughout that district.