Hosea 12:1–13:16

The People of Israel Ignored What the Lord Had Done for Them

¹The people of Ephraim try to catch the wind 

and try to chase the east wind all day. 

They are very violent and destructive. 

They make treaties with Assyria and take olive oil to Egypt. 

²The Lord brings charges against Judah and punishes Jacob 

because of the way their people act. 

He will pay them back for what they have done. 

³Their ancestor Jacob held on to his brother’s heel 

while the two of them were in their mother’s womb. 

When Jacob became a man, he struggled with God. 

⁴He struggled with the Messenger and won. 

Jacob cried and pleaded with him. 

Jacob found him at Bethel, 

and he talked with him there. 

⁵The Lord is the God of Armies. 

The Lord is the name by which he is remembered. 

⁶Return to your God. 

Be loyal and fair, and always wait with hope for your God. 

⁷⸤The Lord says,⸥ “The merchants use dishonest scales. 

They love to cheat people. 

⁸The people of Ephraim say, ‘We’re rich. We’ve made a fortune. 

With all this wealth, no one will find us guilty of any sin.’ 

⁹I am the Lord your God. 

I brought you out of Egypt. 

I will make you live in tents again 

as you did during your appointed festivals. 

¹⁰I spoke to the prophets and gave them many visions. 

I taught lessons through the prophets.”^b

¹¹The people of Gilead are evil. 

They are worthless. 

They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal. 

But their altars will become like piles of rubble 

beside a plowed field. 

¹²Jacob fled to the country of Syria. 

Israel worked to get a wife; he took care of sheep to pay for her. 

¹³The Lord used a prophet to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt. 

He used a prophet to take care of them. 

¹⁴The people of Ephraim made the Lord bitter. 

He will hold them guilty of murder. 

The Lord will pay them back for their insults. 

13TH CHAPTER

The People of Israel Will Be Punished for Their Idolatry

¹When the tribe of Ephraim spoke, people trembled. 

The people of Ephraim were important in Israel. 

Then they became guilty of worshiping Baal, 

so they must die. 

²They keep on sinning more and more. 

They make idols from silver for themselves. 

These idols are skillfully made. 

All of them are the work of craftsmen. 

People say this about the Israelites: “They offer human sacrifices 

and kiss calf-shaped idols.” 

³That is why they will be like fog in the morning 

and like morning dew that disappears quickly. 

They will be like straw blown away from threshing floors.^a

They will be like smoke rising from chimneys. 

⁴“I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt. 

You have known no god besides me. 

There is no savior except me. 

⁵I took care of you^bin the desert, in a dry land. 

⁶When I fed you, you were full. 

When you were full, you became arrogant. 

That is why you forgot me. 

⁷So I will be like a lion. 

Like a leopard I will wait by the road to ambush you. 

⁸Like a bear that has lost her cubs, I will attack you. 

I will rip you open. 

Like a lion I will devour you. 

Like a wild animal I will tear you apart. 

⁹You are destroying yourself, Israel. 

You are against me, your helper. 

¹⁰“Where, now, is your king, the one who is supposed to save you? 

Where in all your cities are your judges? 

You said, ‘Give us kings and officials!’ 

¹¹I gave you a king when I was angry, 

and I took him away when I was furious. 

¹²“Ephraim’s wickedness is on record. 

The record of the people’s sins is safely stored away. 

¹³They have the opportunity to live again, 

but they are not smart enough to take it. 

They are like a baby who is about to be born 

but won’t come out of its mother’s womb. 

¹⁴“I want to free them from the power of the grave. 

I want to reclaim them from death. 

Death, I want to be a plague to you. 

Grave, I want to destroy you.^c

I won’t even think of changing my plans.” 

¹⁵The people of Ephraim have become important among their relatives. 

However, the Lord’s scorching wind will come from the east. 

It will blow out of the desert. 

Then their springs will run dry, 

and their wells will dry up. 

The wind will destroy every precious thing in their storehouses.^d

¹⁶The people of Samaria are guilty as charged 

because they rebelled against their God. 

They will be killed in war, 

their children will be smashed to death, 

and their pregnant women will be ripped open.