Hosea 4:1–12:14
4 Hear the word of Yahweh, O children of Israel,
for Yahweh has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or loyalty,
there is no knowledge of God in the land.
murdering and stealing,
and adultery break out,a
and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
and all those living in it languish
with the animals of the field,
and the birds of the heaven,
and even the fish of the sea
are being swept away.
and let no one accuse,
for with you, O priest, is my contention.b
and the priest also will stumble
with you at night.
And I will destroy your mother;
for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from acting as a priest for me.c
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I will also forget your children.d
7 When they became many, their sin increased against me;
they changede their glory into shame.
8 ⌊They feed on the sin of my people⌋,f
⌊they are greedy⌋g for their iniquity.
9 And it will be like people, like priest;
I will punish themh for theiri ways,
and I will requite themj for theirk deeds.
10 They will eat and not be satisfied;
they will play the whore and not multiply,
because they have forsaken Yahweh ⌊to devote themselves to
11 whoredom⌋.l
Wine and new wine ⌊take away the understanding⌋.m
consult ⌊their wooden idols⌋,n
and their divining rod gives them oracles;
because a spirit of whoredom led them astray,
and they played the whore from under their God.o
13 On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice,
and on the hills they make offerings,
under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
because theirp shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the whore,
and all your daughters-in-lawq commit adultery.
14 ⌊I will not punish your daughters⌋r when they play the whore,
or your daughters-in-laws when they commit adultery;
because they go aside with whores,
and they sacrifice with temple prostitutes,
a people that does not understand comes to ruin.
15 Even though you, O Israel, are playing the whore,
do not let Judah become guilty;
do not enter Gilgal,
or go up to Beth-aven;
and do not swear,
“⌊As Yahweh lives⌋!”t
16 Indeed, like a stubborn heifer,
Israel is stubborn;
Now Yahweh will feed them,
like a lamb in broad pasture.u
17 Ephraim is joined to idols;
let him alone.
18 When their drinking has ended,
they surely indulge in sexual orgies.
They love lewdness more than theirv glory.
19 A wind has wrapped themw in its wings,
and they will be ashamed because of their altars.
5 Hear this, O priests!
Give heed, O house of Israel!
Listen, O house of the king!
Because the judgment applies to you;
because you have been a snare for Mizpah,
and a net spread out on Tabor;
2 they dug a deep pita in Shittim,
but I am a punishment for all of them.
and Israel is not hidden from me;
because now you have played the whore, O Ephraim—
Israel is defiled.
4 Their deeds do not permit them
to return them to God.
Because a spirit of whoredom is in their midst,
they do not know Yahweh.
5 The pride of Israel testifies ⌊against him⌋,b
and Israel and Ephraim stumble in their guilt,
and Judah stumbles with them.
6 With their flocksc and herdsd they will go
to seek Yahweh, but they will not find him;
he has withdrawn from them.
7 They have dealt faithlessly with Yahweh
because they have borne illegitimate children.
Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.
8 Blow the ⌊horn⌋e in Gibeah,
the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound the alarm in Beth-aven;
look behind you, Benjamin.
9 Ephraim will be a desolation
in the day of punishment;
among the tribes of Israel
I will reveal what is true.
10 The princes of Judah have become
like those who remove a landmark;
on them I will pour out
my wrath like water.
crushed in judgment,
because he was determined
to go after filth.f
12 But I am like a maggot to Ephraim
and like rottenness to the house of Judah.
13 And when Ephraim saw his illness,
and Judah his wound,
Ephraim went to Assyria,
he sent to the great king.g
But he was unable to cure you
and heal your wound.
14 Because I will be like a lion to Ephraim
and like a fierce strong lion to the house of Judah.
I myself will tear and I will go;
I will carry off, and there is no one who delivers.
15 ⌊I will return again⌋h to my place
until they acknowledge their guilt
and seek my face;
in their distress they will searchi me.
6 Come, let us return to Yahweh;
because it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
he has struck us down and will bind us up.
2 He will revive us after two days;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live in his presence.a
3 Let us know, let us press on to know Yahweh;
his rising is sure like the dawn.
He will come like the showers to us,
like the spring rain that waters the earth.
4 What will I do with you, O Ephraim?
What will I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes away early in the morning.
5 Therefore, I have hewn them by the prophets;
I have killed them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgmentb goes forth like the light.
6 Because I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
7 But like Adam, they transgressed the covenant;
there they dealt faithlessly with me.
a cunning city because of blood.c
so is a band of priests;
they murder on the road to Shechem;
indeed, they commit a monstrous crime.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen something horrible;
Ephraim’s unfaithfulness is there.
Israel is defiled.
11 For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed,
when I restore the fortunes of my people,
and the corruption of Ephraim is revealed,
and the wicked deeds of Samaria;
because they deal in falsehood,
the thief breaks in,a
and the bandit raids the outside.
2 ⌊But they did not consider⌋b
that I remember all their wickedness.
Now their deeds surround them;
they are before my face.
3 By their wickedness they make the king glad,
and the officials by their treacheries.
4 All of them commit adultery,
like a burning oven
whose baker has stopped from stirring the fire,
and from kneading the dough until it is leavened.
5 On the day of our king, the princes
became sick with the heat of wine;c
he stretched out his hand with mockers.
6 Because they are kindledd like an oven,
their heart burns within them;
all night their anger ⌊smolders⌋,e
in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
7 All of them are hot as an oven,
and they devourf their rulers.
All their kings have fallen;
there is none who calls to me amongst them.
with the nations;
Ephraim is a bread cake
not turned over.
9 Foreigners devourg his strength,
and he does not know it;
⌊mold⌋h is also sprinkled upon him,
and he does not know it.
10 The pride of Israel ⌊testifies against him⌋i—
they do not return to Yahweh their God;
they do not seek him for all of this.j
silly, ⌊without sense⌋;k
they call to Egypt,
they go to Assyria.
12 Just as they go, I will cast my net
over them;
I will bring them down
like the birdsl of the heavens;m
I will discipline them
according to a report to their assembly.n
13 Woe to them, because they have strayed from me!
Destruction to them, because they have rebelled against me!
I myself would redeem them,
but they speak lies against me.
14 They do not cry out to me from their heart,
but they wail on their beds;
because of grain and new wine they lacerateo themselves;
they depart from me.
and strengthened their arms;
but they plan evil against me.
16 They turn, not to the Most High,p
like a slack bow;
their officials will fall by the sword
because of the anger of their tongue.
This is their scornq
in the land of Egypt.
8 Put to your lips the trumpet
like a vulture over the house of Yahweh,
because they have ⌊broken my covenant⌋a
and rebelled against my law.
“My God! We, Israel, know you!”
3 Israel has spurned the good;
the enemy will pursue him.
4 They appointed kings, but not through me;
they made officials, but without my knowledge.
With their silver and gold
they made idols for themselves
for theirb own ⌊destruction⌋.c
5 Your calf is rejected,d O Samaria;
my anger burns against them.
How longe will they be incapable of innocence?
an artisan made it,
it is not a god;
for the calf of Samaria
will be broken to pieces.
they will reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain does not have heads;f
it will not yield flour.
And if it would yield,
strangers would devour it.
now they are among the nations,
like an object that no one desires.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria,
a wild donkey alone to itself;
Ephraim has sold itself for lovers.
10 Even though they have sold themselves to the nations,
now I will gather them.
They will soon writhe
from the burden of kingsg and princes.
11 When Ephraim multiplied altars
to expiate sins,
they became to him altars to sin on.
12 I write for him myriads of my instruction;h
they are regarded as a strange thing.
13 They offer sacrifices of my choicei
and they eat flesh;
Yahweh does not accept them.
Now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins;
they will return to Egypt.
14 Israel has forgotten his maker and built palaces,
and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
but I will send fire on his cities
and it will devour her strongholds.
9 Do not rejoice, O Israel,
do not exult like the nations!
For you played the whore, departing from your God;
you loved a harlot’s wage
on all the threshing floors of grain.
2 Threshing floor and wine vat will not feed them,
and new wine will fail her.a