Hosea 6:4–9:17
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
in the land of Yahweh.
But Ephraim will return to Egypt,
and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.
4 They will not pour drink offerings of wine to Yahweh,
and their sacrifices will not please him.
They are like mourners’ bread for them;
all those who eat it will be defiled.
For their bread will be ⌊for their hunger⌋;b
it will not come to the house of Yahweh.
5 What will you do on the day of the appointed time,
and on the day of the festival of Yahweh?
6 For look! If they flee from the destruction,
Egypt will gather them;
Memphisc will bury them.
Nettles will possess
their precious things of silver;
thorns will be in their tents.
7 The days of punishment have come;
the days of retribution have come;
Israel knows!
The prophet is a fool,
the man of the spirit is acting like a madman.
Because of the greatness of your sin,
your hostility is great.
8 The prophet keeps watch over Ephraim for my God;
the snare of a fowler is on all his ways,
and hostility in the house of his God.
9 ⌊They deeply corrupted themselves⌋d
as in the days of Gibeah;
he will remember their sin,
he will punish their sins.
10 Like the grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel.
Like early ripened fruit on the fig tree in the first season,e
I saw your ancestors.f
They themselves came to Baal Peor,
and they consecrated themselves to shame.
And they became detestable things,
like ⌊the thing they love⌋.g
11 Ephraim’s glory is like a bird;
it will fly away—
no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.
12 Even though they bring up their children,
I will bereave them before maturity.h
Woe to them indeed,
when I depart from them!
is like a palm in a meadow;
but Ephraim must bring out
his children to the slayer.
what will you give them?
Give them a miscarrying womb
and dry breasts.
15 Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal,
so I began to hate them there;
because of the evil of their deeds
I will drive them out from my house.
I will love them no more;
all their officials are rebels.
their root is dried up,
they shall not bear fruit.
Even if they give birth,
I will kill the cherished offspring of their womb.
because they did not listen to him,
and they will be wanderers among the nations.