Hosea 10–14

1Israel was a luxuriant vine, yielding fruit for himself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better he made the sacred pillars.

2Their hearts are devious; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and demolish their sacred pillars.

3Surely now they will say, “We have no king, for we do not revere the LORD. What can a king do for us?”

4They speak mere words; with false oaths they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.

5The people of Samaria will fear for the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn over it with its idolatrous priests— those who rejoiced in its glory— for it has been taken from them into exile.

6Yes, it will be carried to Assyria as tribute to the great king. Ephraim will be seized with shame; Israel will be ashamed of its wooden idols.

7Samaria will be carried off with her king like a twig on the surface of the water.

8The high places of Aven will be destroyed— it is the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

9Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel, and there you have remained. Did not the battle in Gibeah overtake the sons of iniquity?

10I will chasten them when I please; nations will be gathered against them to put them in bondage for their double transgression.

11Ephraim is a well-trained heifer that loves to thresh; but I will place a yoke on her fair neck. I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, and Jacob will break the hard ground.

12Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of loving devotion; break up your unplowed ground. For it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness upon you like rain.

13You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your mighty men,

14the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be demolished as Shalman devastated Beth-arbel in the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to pieces along with their children.

15Thus it will be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great wickedness. When the day dawns, the king of Israel will be utterly cut off.

1When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.

2But the more I called Israel, the farther they departed from Me. They sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to carved images.

3It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms, but they never realized that it was I who healed them.

4I led them with cords of kindness, with ropes of love; I lifted the yoke from their necks and bent down to feed them.

5Will they not return to the land of Egypt and be ruled by Assyria because they refused to repent?

6A sword will flash through their cities; it will destroy the bars of their gates and consume them in their own plans.

7My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call to the Most High, He will by no means exalt them.

8How could I give you up, O Ephraim? How could I surrender you, O Israel? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassion is stirred!

9I will not execute the full fury of My anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not man— the Holy One among you— and I will not come in wrath.

10They will walk after the LORD; He will roar like a lion. When He roars, His children will come trembling from the west.

11They will come trembling like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria. Then I will settle them in their homes, declares the LORD.

12Ephraim surrounds Me with lies, the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One.

1Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; he multiplies lies and violence; he makes a covenant with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.

2The LORD has a charge to bring against Judah. He will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds.

3In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel, and in his vigor he wrestled with God.

4Yes, he struggled with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor; he found Him at Bethel and spoke with Him there —

5the LORD God of Hosts, the LORD is His name of renown.

6But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and always wait on your God.

7A merchant loves to defraud with dishonest scales in his hands.

8And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become! I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors, they can find in me no iniquity that is sinful.”

9But I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt. I will again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast.

10I spoke through the prophets and multiplied their visions; I gave parables through the prophets.

11Is there iniquity in Gilead? They will surely come to nothing. Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Indeed, their altars will be heaps of stones in the furrows of the field.

12Jacob fled to the land of Aram and Israel worked for a wife— for a wife he tended sheep.

13But by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.

14Ephraim has provoked bitter anger, so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt upon him and repay him for his contempt.

1When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel. But he incurred guilt through Baal, and he died.

2Now they sin more and more and make for themselves cast images, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. People say of them, “They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves!”

3Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window.

4Yet I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt; you know no God but Me, for there is no Savior besides Me.

5I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

6When they had pasture, they became satisfied; when they were satisfied, their hearts became proud, and as a result they forgot Me.

7So like a lion I will pounce on them; like a leopard I will lurk by the path.

8Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them, and I will tear open their chests. There I will devour them like a lion, like a wild beast tearing them apart.

9You are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against Me— against your helper.

10Where is your king now to save you in all your cities, and the rulers to whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”?

11So in My anger I gave you a king, and in My wrath I took him away.

12The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is stored up.

13Labor pains come upon him, but he is an unwise son. When the time arrives, he fails to present himself at the opening of the womb.

14I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from Death. Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O Sheol, is your sting? Compassion is hidden from My eyes.

15Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come— a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder his treasury of every precious article.

16Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

1Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.

2Bring your confessions and return to the LORD. Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.

3Assyria will not save us, nor will we ride on horses. We will never again say, ‘Our gods!’ to the work of our own hands. For in You the fatherless find compassion.”

4I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger has turned away from them.

5I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.

6His shoots will sprout, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.

7They will return and dwell in his shade; they will grow grain and blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

8O Ephraim, what have I to do anymore with idols? It is I who answer and watch over him. I am like a flourishing cypress; your fruit comes from Me.

9Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them but the rebellious stumble in them.