Hosea 6–7

A CALL TO REPENTANCE

6Come, let’s return to the Lord.^an

For he has torn us,^ao

and he will heal us;^ap

he has wounded us,

and he will bind up our wounds.^aq

²He will revive us after two days,^ar

and on the third day he will raise us up

so we can live in his presence.^as

³Let’s strive to know the Lord.^at

His appearance is as sure as the dawn.^au

He will come to us like the rain,^av

like the spring showers that water the land.

THE LORD’S FIRST LAMENT

⁴What am I going to do with you, Ephraim?^aw

What am I going to do with you, Judah?

Your love is like the morning mist^ax

and like the early dew that vanishes.

⁵This is why I have used the prophets

to cut them down;^Cay

I have killed them with the words from my mouth.

My judgment strikes like lightning.^D

⁶For I desire faithful love and not sacrifice,

the knowledge of God^az rather than burnt offerings.^ba

⁷But they, like Adam,^E have violated the covenant;^a

there they have betrayed me.^b

⁸Gilead is a city of evildoers,^c

tracked with bloody footprints.^d

⁹Like raiders who wait in ambush for someone,^e

a band of priests murders on the road to Shechem.^f

They commit atrocities.^g

¹⁰I have seen something horrible^h in the house of Israel:

Ephraim’s promiscuity is there;ⁱ Israel is defiled.

¹¹A harvest is also appointed for you, Judah.^j

When I return my people from captivity,^k

7when I heal Israel,^l

the iniquity of Ephraim^m and the crimes of Samariaⁿ

will be exposed.

For they practice fraud;^o

a thief breaks in;

a raiding party pillages outside.^p

²But they never consider that I remember all their evil.^q

Now their actions are all around them;^r

they are right in front of my face.

ISRAEL’S CORRUPTION

³They please the king with their evil,^s

the princes with their lies.^t

⁴All of them commit adultery;^u

they are like an oven heated by a baker

who stops stirring the fire

from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.

⁵On the day of our king,

the princes are sick with the heat of wine^v—

there is a conspiracy with traitors.^A

⁶For they—their hearts like an oven—

draw him into their oven.

Their anger smolders all night;

in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

⁷All of them are as hot as an oven,^w

and they consume their rulers.^x

All their kings fall;

not one of them calls on me.^B

⁸Ephraim has allowed himself to get mixed up with the nations.

Ephraim is unturned bread baked on a griddle.

⁹Foreigners consume his strength,^y

but he does not notice.^z

Even his hair is streaked with gray,

but he does not notice.

¹⁰Israel’s arrogance testifies against them,^Caa

yet they do not return to the Lord their God,^ab

and for all this, they do not seek him.

¹¹So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove;^ac

they call to Egypt,^ad and they go to Assyria.^ae

¹²As they are going, I will spread my net over them;^af

I will bring them down like birds of the sky.

I will discipline them in accordance

with the news that reaches^A their assembly.

THE LORD’S SECOND LAMENT

¹³Woe to them,^ag for they fled from me;^ah

destruction to them, for they rebelled against me!

Though I want to redeem them,^ai

they speak lies against me.

¹⁴They do not cry to me from their hearts;

rather, they wail on their beds.

They slash themselves^Baj for grain and new wine;^ak

they turn away from me.

¹⁵I trained and strengthened their arms,^al

but they plot evil against me.^am

¹⁶They turn, but not to what is above;^C

they are like a faulty bow.^an

Their leaders will fall by the sword

because of their insolent tongue.^ao

They will be ridiculed for this in the land of Egypt.^ap