Hosea 3:5–6:11
5 Afterward the sons of Israel will areturn and seek the Lord their God and bDavid their king; and cthey will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days.
1 aListen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel,
For the Lord has a bcase against the inhabitants of the land,
Because there is cno 1faithfulness or 2kindness
Or dknowledge of God in the land.
2 There is aswearing, bdeception, cmurder, dstealing and eadultery.
They employ violence, so that fbloodshed 1follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land amourns,
And everyone who lives in it languishes
Along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky,
And also the fish of the sea 1disappear.
4 Yet let no one 1afind fault, and let none offer reproof;
For your people are like those who bcontend with the priest.
5 So you will astumble by day,
And the prophet also will stumble with you by night;
And I will destroy your bmother.
6 aMy people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have brejected knowledge,
I also will creject you from being My priest.
Since you have dforgotten the elaw of your God,
I also will forget your children.
7 The more they amultiplied, the more they sinned against Me;
I will bchange their glory into shame.
8 They afeed on the 1sin of My people
And bdirect their desire toward their iniquity.
9 And it will be, like people, alike priest;
So I will bpunish them for their ways
And repay them for their deeds.
10 aThey will eat, but not have enough;
They will bplay the harlot, but not increase,
Because they have 1cstopped giving heed to the Lord.
11 Harlotry, awine and new wine take away the 1understanding.
12 My people aconsult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them;
For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray,
And they have played the harlot, departing 1from their God.
13 They offer sacrifices on the atops of the mountains
And 1bburn incense on the hills,
cUnder oak, poplar and terebinth,
Because their shade is pleasant.
Therefore your daughters play the harlot
And your 2brides commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot
Or your 1brides when they commit adultery,
For the men themselves go apart with harlots
And offer sacrifices with atemple prostitutes;
So the people without understanding are 2ruined.
15 Though you, Israel, play the harlot,
Do not let Judah become guilty;
Also do not go to aGilgal,
Or go up to Beth-aven
bAnd take the oath:
“As the Lord lives!”
16 Since Israel is astubborn
Like a stubborn heifer,
1Can the Lord now bpasture them
Like a lamb in a large field?
17 Ephraim is joined to aidols;
bLet him alone.
They play the harlot continually;
aTheir 1rulers dearly love shame.
19 aThe wind wraps them in its wings,
And they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
1 Hear this, O priests!
Give heed, O house of Israel!
Listen, O house of the king!
For the judgment applies to you,
For you have been a asnare at Mizpah
And a net spread out on Tabor.
2 The arevolters have 1bgone deep in depravity,
But I will chastise all of them.
3 I aknow Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me;
For now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot,
Israel has defiled itself.
4 Their deeds will not allow them
To return to their God.
For a aspirit of harlotry is within them,
And they bdo not know the Lord.
5 Moreover, the apride of Israel testifies against him,
And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;
bJudah also has stumbled with them.
6 They will ago with their flocks and herds
To seek the Lord, but they will bnot find Him;
He has cwithdrawn from them.
7 They have adealt treacherously against the Lord,
For they have borne 1billegitimate children.
Now the cnew moon will devour them with their 2land.
The trumpet in Ramah.
Sound an alarm at Beth-aven:
“cBehind you, Benjamin!”
9 Ephraim will become a adesolation in the bday of rebuke;
Among the tribes of Israel I cdeclare what is sure.
10 The princes of Judah have become like those who amove a boundary;
On them I will bpour out My wrath clike water.
11 Ephraim is aoppressed, crushed in judgment,
bBecause he was determined to 1follow man’s command.
12 Therefore I am like a amoth to Ephraim
And like rottenness to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah his 1wound,
Then Ephraim went to aAssyria
But he is cunable to heal you,
Or to cure you of your 1wound.
14 For I will be alike a lion to Ephraim
And like a young lion to the house of Judah.
bI, even I, will tear to pieces and go away,
I will carry away, and there will be cnone to deliver.
15 I will go away and return to My place
Until they 1aacknowledge their guilt and seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly bseek Me.
1 “aCome, let us return to the Lord.
For bHe has torn us, but cHe will heal us;
He has 1wounded us, but He will dbandage us.
2 “He will arevive us after two days;
He will braise us up on the third day,
That we may live before Him.
3 “So let us aknow, let us press on to know the Lord.
His bgoing forth is as certain as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the crain,
Like the spring rain watering the earth.”
4 What shall I do with you, O aEphraim?
What shall I do with you, O Judah?
For your 1loyalty is like a bmorning cloud
And like the dew which goes away early.
5 Therefore I have ahewn them in pieces by the prophets;
I have slain them by the bwords of My mouth;
And the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth.
6 For aI delight in loyalty brather than sacrifice,
And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
7 But alike 1Adam they have btransgressed the covenant;
There they have cdealt treacherously against Me.
8 aGilead is a city of wrongdoers,
Tracked with bbloody footprints.
9 And as araiders wait for a man,
So a band of priests bmurder on the way to Shechem;
Surely they have committed 1ccrime.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a ahorrible thing;
Ephraim’s bharlotry is there, Israel has defiled itself.
11 Also, O Judah, there is a aharvest appointed for you,
When I brestore the fortunes of My people.