Hosea 6–7

A Call to Yahweh

6Come, 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.

²He will revive us after two days;

on the third day he will raise us up,

that we may live in his presence.^a

³Let 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.

⁴What 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.

⁵Therefore, I have hewn them by the prophets;

I have killed them by the words of my mouth,

and my judgment^b goes forth like the light.

⁶Because I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,

and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

⁷But like Adam, they transgressed the covenant;

there they dealt faithlessly with me.

⁸Gilead is a city of evil,

a cunning city because of blood.^c

⁹Like bandits lying in wait,

so is a band of priests;

they murder on the road to Shechem;

indeed, they commit a monstrous crime.

¹⁰In the house of Israel I have seen something horrible;

Ephraim’s unfaithfulness is there.

Israel is defiled.

Ephraim’s Guilt

¹¹For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed,

when I restore the fortunes of my people,

7when I would heal Israel,

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.

²But they did not consider^b

that I remember all their wickedness.

Now their deeds surround them;

they are before my face.

³By their wickedness they make the king glad,

and the officials by their treacheries.

⁴All 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.

⁵On the day of our king, the princes

became sick with the heat of wine;^c

he stretched out his hand with mockers.

⁶Because they are kindled^d like an oven,

their heart burns within them;

all night their anger smolders,^e

in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

⁷All of them are hot as an oven,

and they devour^f their rulers.

All their kings have fallen;

there is none who calls to me amongst them.

⁸Ephraim mixes himself

with the nations;

Ephraim is a bread cake

not turned over.

⁹Foreigners devour^g his strength,

and he does not know it;

mold^h is also sprinkled upon him,

and he does not know it.

¹⁰The pride of Israel testifies against himⁱ—

they do not return to Yahweh their God;

they do not seek him for all of this.^j

¹¹Ephraim was like a dove,

silly, without sense;^k

they call to Egypt,

they go to Assyria.

¹²Just as they go, I will cast my net

over them;

I will bring them down

like the birds^l of the heavens;^m

I will discipline them

according to a report to their assembly.ⁿ

¹³Woe 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.

¹⁴They do not cry out to me from their heart,

but they wail on their beds;

because of grain and new wine they lacerate^o themselves;

they depart from me.

¹⁵And I myself trained

and strengthened their arms;

but they plan evil against me.

¹⁶They 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 scorn^q

in the land of Egypt.