Bibliorum

 

Hosea 3

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1 And the Lord said to me: Go yet again, and love a woman beloved of her friend, and an adulteress : as the Lord loveth the children of Israel, and they look to strange gods, and love the husks of the grapes.

2 And I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for a core of barley, and for half a core of barley.

3 And I said to her: Thou shalt wait for me many days: thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt be no man's, and I also will wait for thee.

4 For the children of Israel shall sit many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without altar, and without ephod, and without theraphim.

5 And after this the children of Israel shall return, and shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king: and they shall fear the Lord, and his goodness in the last days.

   

Commentarius

 

Restore

  

Everyone knows the phrase "the natural order of things." It means that everything is in its proper place, occupying the niche it is meant to fill. There is also the phrase "the spiritual order of things," meaning that every spiritual thing is in its proper spiritual place, occupying the spiritual niche it is meant to fill. This is, of course, what the Lord intends for us, and happens when we accept life and love from Him by willing what is good and acting according to truth. Of course, things are frequently out of order, because even the best of us indulge in unhealthy self-obsession and attachment to the material world. Ideally, we will repeatedly turn to the Lord and ask for His help with the cleanup, putting things back where they belong in the "spiritual order of things." This is what is meant when the Bible talks about restoring things -- it means putting them back into their proper spiritual place.

Bibliorum

 

Joel 3

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1 "For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided my land,

3 and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

4 "Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you repay me? And if you repay me, I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head.

5 Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my finest treasures into your temples,

6 and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border.

7 Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head;

8 and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a faraway nation, for Yahweh has spoken it."

9 Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up.

10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'

11 Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together." Cause your mighty ones to come down there, Yahweh.

12 "Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

13 Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the winepress is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great."

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh is near, in the valley of decision.

15 The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

16 Yahweh will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but Yahweh will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.

17 "So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more.

18 It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters, and a fountain will come forth from the house of Yahweh, and will water the valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt will be a desolation, and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

20 But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 I will cleanse their blood, that I have not cleansed: for Yahweh dwells in Zion."