Hosea 6–7

CHAPTER 6

Israel Chastised

¹“^aCome, let us return to Yahweh.

For ^bHe has torn us, but ^cHe will heal us;

He has struck us, but He will ^dbandage us.

²“He will ^amake us alive after two days;

He will ^braise us up on the third day,

That we may live before Him.

³“So let us ^aknow, let us pursue to know Yahweh.

His ^bgoing forth is established as the dawn;

And He will come to us like the ^crain,

Like the ¹late rain watering the earth.”

⁴What shall I do with you, O ^aEphraim?

What shall I do with you, O Judah?

For your lovingkindness is like a ^bmorning cloud

And like the dew which goes away early.

⁵Therefore I have ^ahewn them in pieces by the prophets;

I have killed them by the ^bwords of My mouth;

And the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth.

⁶For ^aI delight in lovingkindness ^brather than sacrifice,

And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

⁷But ^alike ¹Adam they have ^btrespassed against the covenant;

There they have ^cdealt treacherously against Me.

^8aGilead is a city of workers of iniquity,

With a track of ^bblood.

⁹And as ^araiders wait for a man,

So a band of priests ^bmurder on the way to Shechem;

Surely they have committed ^clewdness.

¹⁰In the house of Israel I have seen an ^aappalling thing;

Ephraim’s ^bharlotry is there; Israel has defiled itself.

¹¹Also, O Judah, there is a ^aharvest set for you

When I ^brestore the fortunes of My people,

CHAPTER 7

¹when I ^awould heal Israel,

Then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered,

And the evil deeds of Samaria,

For they work ^bfalsehood;

The thief enters in;

^cRaiders ¹ransack outside,

²And they do not say to their hearts

That I ^aremember all their evil.

Now their ^bdeeds are all around them;

They are before My face.

^3aWith their evil they make the ^bking glad,

And the princes with their ^cdeceptions.

⁴They are ^aall adulterers,

Like an oven heated by the baker

Who ceases to stir up the fire

From the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.

⁵On the ¹day of our king, the princes ^abecame sick with the heat of wine;

He stretched out his hand with ^bscoffers,

⁶For their hearts are like an ^aoven

As they draw near in their ¹plotting;

Their ²anger ³smolders all night;

In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.

⁷All of them are hot like an oven,

And they devour their ^ajudges;

All their kings have fallen.

^bNone of them calls on Me.

⁸Ephraim ^amixes himself with the peoples;

Ephraim has become a cake not turned.

^9aStrangers devour his power,

Yet he ^bdoes not know it;

Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him,

Yet he does not know it.

¹⁰So the ^apride of Israel answers against him,

Yet ^bthey have not returned to Yahweh their God,

Nor have they sought Him, for all this.

¹¹So ^aEphraim has become like a silly dove, ^bwithout a heart of wisdom;

They call to ^cEgypt; they go to ^dAssyria.

¹²When they go, I will ^aspread My net over them;

I will bring them down like the birds of the sky.

I will ^bchastise them in accordance with the report to their congregation.

^13aWoe to them, for they have ^bfled from Me!

Destruction is theirs, for they have transgressed against Me!

And I ^cwould redeem them, but they speak lies against Me.

¹⁴And ^athey do not cry out to Me in their heart

When they wail on their beds;

For the sake of grain and new wine they ^1bgather together as sojourners;

They ^cdepart from Me.

¹⁵Although I disciplined and strengthened their arms,

Yet they ^adevise evil against Me.

¹⁶They turn, but not ¹upward;

They are like a ^adeceitful bow;

Their princes will fall by the sword

Because of the ^2bindignation of their tongue.

This will be their ^cscoffing in the land of Egypt.