Come back to Yahweh

Notes from meeting on 11 February 2014

Genesis 9 v 8 - 17

8 God spoke as follows to Noah and his sons, 9 'I am now establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants to come, 10 and with every living creature that was with you: birds, cattle and every wild animal with you; everything that came out of the ark, every living thing on earth. 11 And I shall maintain my covenant with you: that never again shall all living things be destroyed by the waters of a flood, nor shall there ever again be a flood to devastate the earth.' 12 'And this', God said, 'is the sign of the covenant which I now make between myself and you and every living creature with you for all ages to come: 13 I now set my bow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I gather the clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, 15 I shall recall the covenant between myself and you and every living creature, in a word all living things, and never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all living things. 16 When the bow is in the clouds I shall see it and call to mind the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth, that is, all living things.' 17 'That', God told Noah, 'is the sign of the covenant I have established between myself and all living things on earth.'

Hosea 14 v 2-10

2 Israel, come back to Yahweh your God your guilt was the cause of your downfall. 3 Provide yourself with words and come back to Yahweh. Say to him, 'Take all guilt away and give us what is good, instead of bulls we will dedicate to you our lips. 4 Assyria cannot save us, we will not ride horses any more, or say, "Our God!" to our own handiwork, for you are the one in whom orphans find compassion.' 5 I shall cure them of their disloyalty, I shall love them with all my heart, for my anger has turned away from them. 6 I shall fall like dew on Israel, he will bloom like the lily and thrust out roots like the cedar of Lebanon; 7 he will put out new shoots, he will have the beauty of the olive tree and the fragrance of Lebanon. 8 They will come back to live in my shade; they will grow wheat again, they will make the vine flourish, their wine will be as famous as Lebanon's. 9 What has Ephraim to do with idols any more when I hear him and watch over him? I am like an evergreen cypress, you owe your fruitfulness to me. 10 Let the wise understand these words, let the intelligent grasp their meaning, for Yahweh's ways are straight and the upright will walk in them, but sinners will stumble.