Hosea 10–14

Chapter 10

¹Israel is an unpruned vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the abundance of his fruit he hath multiplied altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly statues. ²Their heart is divided; now shall they be found guilty: he will break down their altars, he will destroy their statues. ³For now they will say, We have no king, for we feared not Jehovah; and a king, what can he do for us? ⁴They speak mere words, swearing falsely in making a covenant; therefore shall judgment spring up as hemlock in the furrows of the fields. ⁵The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calf of Beth-aven; for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the idolatrous priests thereof shall tremble for it, for its glory, because it is departed from it. ⁶Yea, it shall be carried unto Assyria as a present for king Jareb: Ephraim shall be seized with shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel. ⁷As for Samaria her king is cut off as chips upon the face of the waters. ⁸And the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up upon their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us! and to the hills, Fall on us!

⁹From the days of Gibeah hast thou sinned, O Israel: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them. ¹⁰At my pleasure will I chastise them; and the peoples shall be assembled against them, when they are bound for their two iniquities. ¹¹And Ephraim is a trained heifer, that loveth to tread out the corn; I have passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to draw; Judah shall plough, Jacob shall break his clods. ¹²Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek Jehovah, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. ¹³Ye have ploughed wickedness, reaped iniquity, eaten the fruit of lies; for thou didst confide in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. ¹⁴And a tumult shall arise among thy peoples, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces with the children. ¹⁵So shall Bethel do unto you because of the wickedness of your wickedness: at day-break shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.

Chapter 11

¹When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. ²As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto the Baals, and burned incense to graven images. ³And I it was that taught Ephraim to walk, —He took them upon his arms, —but they knew not that I healed them. ⁴I drew them with bands of a man, with cords of love; and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I gently caused them to eat. ⁵He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king; for they refused to return to me; ⁶and the sword shall turn about in his cities, and shall consume his bars, and devour them, because of their own counsels. ⁷Yea, my people are bent upon backsliding from me: though they call them to the Most High, none at all exalteth him.

⁸How shall I give thee over, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee up, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? My heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. ⁹I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am •God, and not man, —the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not come in anger. ¹⁰They shall walk after Jehovah; he shall roar like a lion; when he shall roar, then the children shall hasten from the west: ¹¹they shall hasten as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria; and I will cause them to dwell in their houses, saith Jehovah. ¹²Ephraim encompasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah yet walketh with •God, and with the holy things of truth.

Chapter 12

¹Ephraim feedeth on wind, and pursueth after the east wind: all day long he multiplieth lies and desolation; and they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt. ²Jehovah hath also a controversy with Judah, and he will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him. ³He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and in his strength he wrestled with God. ⁴Yea, he wrestled with the Angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us, ⁵—even Jehovah, the God of hosts, —Jehovah is his memorial. ⁶And thou, return unto thy God: keep loving-kindness and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.

⁷He is a merchant, balances of deceit are in his hand; he loveth to oppress. ⁸And Ephraim saith, Nevertheless I am become rich, I have found me out substance; in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin. ⁹But I that am Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt will again make thee to dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast. ¹⁰And I have spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and by means of the prophets have I used similitudes. ¹¹If Gilead is iniquity, surely they are but vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields. ¹²And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep. ¹³And by a prophet Jehovah brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved. ¹⁴Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly; and his Lord shall leave his blood upon him, and recompense unto him his reproach.

Chapter 13

¹When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he exalted himself in Israel: but he trespassed through Baal, and he died. ²And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. ³Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the lattice. ⁴Yet I am Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou hast known no God but me; and there is no saviour besides me.

⁵I knew thee in the wilderness, in the land of drought. ⁶According to their pasture, they became full; they became full, and their heart was exalted: therefore have they forgotten me. ⁷And I will be unto them as a lion; as a leopard I will lurk for them by the way; ⁸I will meet them as a bear bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the covering of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lioness: the beast of the field shall tear them.

⁹It is thy destruction, O Israel, that thou art against me, against thy help. ¹⁰Where then is thy king, that he may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? — ¹¹I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. ¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is laid by in store. ¹³The pangs of a woman in travail shall come upon him: he is a son not wise; for at the time of the breaking forth of children, he was not there. ¹⁴I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death: where, O death, are thy plagues? where, O Sheol, is thy destruction? Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. ¹⁵Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, a wind of Jehovah that cometh up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels. ¹⁶Samaria shall bear her guilt; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

Chapter 14

¹O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. ²Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah; say unto him, Forgive all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips. ³Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Thou art our God; because in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

⁴I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him. ⁵I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. ⁶His shoots shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon. ⁷They shall return and sit under his shadow; they shall revive as corn, and blossom as the vine: the renown thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

⁸Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? (I answer him, and I will observe him.) I am like a green fir-tree. —From me is thy fruit found. ⁹Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? intelligent, and he shall know them? For the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein.