Hosea 11–12

CHAPTER 11

The Beloved Son

¹When Israel was a youth I loved him,

And ^aout of Egypt I ^bcalled My son.

²The more ^1athey called them,

The more they went from ²them;

They kept ^bsacrificing to the Baals

And ^cburning incense to graven images.

³Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk;

¹I ^atook them in My arms;

But they did not know that I ^bhealed them.

⁴I ^aled them with cords of a man, with bonds of love,

And ^bI became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws;

And I bent down and ^cfed them.

⁵¹They will not return to the land of Egypt;

But Assyria—he will be ²their king

Because they ^arefused to return to Me.

⁶And the ^asword will whirl against ¹their cities

And will consume ²their gate bars

And ^bdevour them because of their ^ccounsels.

⁷So My people are hung up on ^aturning from Me.

Though ¹they call ²them to the One on high,

None at all exalts Him.

^8aHow can I give you up, O Ephraim?

How can I surrender you, O Israel?

How can I give you over to be like ^bAdmah?

How can I make you like ^cZeboiim?

My heart is turned over within Me;

¹All My compassions are stirred.

⁹I will ^anot execute My burning anger;

I will not make Ephraim a ruin ^bagain.

For ^cI am God and not man, the ^dHoly One in your midst,

And I will not come in ¹wrath.

¹⁰They will ^awalk after Yahweh;

He will ^broar like a lion;

Indeed, He will roar,

And His sons will come ^ctrembling from the west.

¹¹They will come trembling like birds from ^aEgypt

And like ^bdoves from the land of ^cAssyria;

And I will ^dsettle them in their houses, declares Yahweh.

¹²¹Ephraim surrounds Me with ^2alies

And the house of Israel with deceit;

And Judah is also unruly against God,

Even against the Holy One who is faithful.

CHAPTER 12

¹¹Ephraim feeds on ^awind

And pursues the ^beast wind continually;

He abounds in falsehood and destruction.

Moreover, ²he cuts a covenant with Assyria,

And oil is carried to Egypt.

Yahweh’s Contention with Judah

²And Yahweh has a ^acontention with Judah

And will punish Jacob ^baccording to his ways;

He will cause everything to return to him according to his deeds.

³In the womb he ^atook his brother by the heel,

And in his maturity he ^1bwrestled with God.

⁴Indeed, he ¹wrestled with the angel and prevailed;

He wept and ^asought His favor.

He found Him at ^bBethel,

And there He spoke with us,

⁵Even Yahweh, the God of hosts,

Yahweh is His ^1aname of remembrance.

⁶Therefore, ^areturn to your God,

^bKeep lovingkindness and justice,

And ^chope in your God continually.

⁷A ¹merchant, in whose hands are deceptive ^abalances,

He loves to oppress.

⁸And Ephraim said, “Surely I have become ^arich;

I have found wealth for myself;

In all my labors they will find in me

^bNo iniquity, which would be sin.”

⁹But I have been Yahweh your God since the land of Egypt;

I will make you ^asettle in tents again,

As in the days of the appointed festival.

¹⁰And I have spoken to the ^aprophets,

And I ¹made visions abound,

And by the hand of the prophets I gave ^bparables.

¹¹Is there wickedness in Gilead?

Surely they are worthless.

In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;

Yes, ^atheir altars are like the stone heaps

Beside the furrows of the field.

¹²Now ^aJacob fled to the field of Aram,

And ^bIsrael worked for a wife,

And for a wife he kept sheep.

¹³But by a ^aprophet Yahweh brought Israel up from Egypt,

And by a prophet he was kept.

^14aEphraim has provoked to bitter anger;

So his Lord will leave his ^bbloodguilt on him

And cause his ^creproach to return to him.