Hosea 12:1–14:10

Ephraim feedeth on the wind, and followeth the burning heat: all the day long he multiplied lies and desolation: and he hath made a covenant with the Assyrians, and carried oil into Egypt.

²Therefore there is a judgment of the Lord with Juda, and a visitation for Jacob: he will render to him according to his ways, and according to his devices.

³In the womb he supplanted his brother: and by his strength he had success with an angel.

⁴And he prevailed over the angel, and was strengthened: he wept, and made supplication to him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us.

⁵Even the Lord God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial.

⁶Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and hope in thy God always.

⁷He is like Chanaan, there is a deceitful balance in his hand, he hath loved oppression.

⁸And Ephraim said: But yet I am become rich, I have found me an idol: all my labours shall not find me the iniquity that I have committed.

⁹And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, will yet cause thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the feast.

¹⁰And I have spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and I have used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets.

¹¹If Galaad be an idol, then in vain were they in Galgal offering sacrifices with bullocks: for their altars also are as heaps in the furrows of the field.

¹²Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and was a keeper for a wife.

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

¹⁴Ephraim hath provoked me to wrath with his bitterness, and his blood shall come upon him, and his Lord will render his reproach unto him.

Chapter 13

When Ephraim spoke, a horror seized Israel: and he sinned in Baal, and died.

²And now they have sinned more and more: and they have made to themselves a molten thing of their silver as the likeness of idols: the whole is the work of craftsmen: to these that say: Sacrifice men, ye that adore calves.

³Therefore they shall be as a morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the dust that is driven with a whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

⁴But I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt: and thou shalt know no God but me, and there is no saviour beside me.

⁵I knew thee in the desert, in the land of the wilderness.

⁶According to their pastures they were filled, and were made full: and they lifted up their heart, and have forgotten me.

⁷And I will be to them as a lioness, as a leopard in the way of the Assyrians.

⁸I will meet them as a bear that is robbed of her whelps, and I will rend the inner parts of their liver: and I will devour them there as a lion, the beast of the field shall tear them.

⁹Destruction is thy own, O Israel: thy help is only in me.

¹⁰Where is thy king? now especially let him save thee in all thy cities: and thy judges, of whom thou saidst: Give me kings and princes.

¹¹I will give thee a king in my wrath, and will take him away in my indignation.

¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is hidden.

¹³The sorrows of a woman in labour shall come upon him, he is an unwise son: for now he shall not stand in the breach of the children.

¹⁴I will deliver them out of the hand of death. I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy death; O hell, I will be thy bite: comfort is hidden from my eyes.

¹⁵Because he shall make a separation between brothers: the Lord will bring a burning wind that shall rise from the desert, and it shall dry up his springs, and shall make his fountain desolate, and he shall carry off the treasure of every desirable vessel.

Chapter 14

Let Samaria perish, because she hath stirred up her God to bitterness: let them perish by the sword, let their little ones be dashed, and let the women with child be ripped up.

²Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God: for thou hast fallen down by thy iniquity.

³Take with you words, and return to the Lord, and say to him: Take away all iniquity, and receive the good: and we will render the calves of our lips.

⁴Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more: The works of our hands are our gods: for thou wilt have mercy on the fatherless that is in thee.

⁵I will heal their breaches, I will love them freely: for my wrath is turned away from them.

⁶I will be as the dew, Israel shall spring as the lily, and his root shall shoot forth as that of Libanus.

⁷His branches shall spread, and his glory shall be as the olive tree: and his smell as that of Libanus.

⁸They shall be converted that sit under his shadow: they shall live upon wheat, and they shall blossom as a vine: his memorial shall be as the wine of Libanus.

⁹Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I will hear him, and I will make him flourish like a green fir tree: from me is thy fruit found.

¹⁰Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know these things? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall in them.