Hosea 5:8–7:16

8 aBlow the horn in bGibeah,

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

And sent to 2bKing Jareb.

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.

Chapter 6

The Response to God’s Rebuke

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.

Chapter 7

Ephraim’s Iniquity

1 When I awould heal Israel,

The iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered,

And the evil deeds of Samaria,

For they deal bfalsely;

The thief enters in,

cBandits raid outside,

2 And they do not 1consider in their hearts

That I aremember all their wickedness.

Now their bdeeds are all around them;

They are before My face.

3 aWith their wickedness they make the bking glad,

And the princes with their clies.

4 They are aall adulterers,

Like an oven heated by the baker

Who ceases to stir up the fire

From the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.

5 On the 1day of our king, the princes abecame sick with the heat of wine;

He stretched out his hand with bscoffers,

6 For their hearts are like an aoven

As they approach their 1plotting;

Their 2anger 3smolders all night,

In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.

7 All of them are hot like an oven,

And they consume their arulers;

All their kings have fallen.

bNone of them calls on Me.

8 Ephraim amixes himself with the 1nations;

Ephraim has become a cake not turned.

9 aStrangers devour his strength,

Yet he bdoes not know it;

Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him,

Yet he does not know it.

10 Though the apride of Israel testifies against him,

Yet bthey have not returned to the Lord their God,

Nor have they sought Him, for all this.

11 So aEphraim has become like a silly dove, bwithout 1sense;

They call to cEgypt, they go to dAssyria.

12 When they go, I will aspread My net over them;

I will bring them down like the birds of the sky.

I will bchastise them in accordance with the 1proclamation to their assembly.

13 aWoe to them, for they have bstrayed from Me!

Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me!

I cwould redeem them, but they speak lies against Me.

14 And athey do not cry to Me from their heart

When they wail on their beds;

For the sake of grain and new wine they 1bassemble themselves,

They cturn away from Me.

15 Although I trained and strengthened their arms,

Yet they adevise evil against Me.

16 They turn, but not 1upward,

They are like a adeceitful bow;

Their princes will fall by the sword

Because of the 2binsolence of their tongue.

This will be their cderision in the land of Egypt.