Hosea 10–14

Chapter 10

Retribution for Israel’s Sin

¹Israel is a ¹luxuriant ^avine;

He produces fruit for himself.

The more his fruit,

The more altars he ^bmade;

The ²richer his land,

The better ³he made the sacred ^cpillars.

²Their heart is ^1afaithless;

Now they must bear their ^bguilt.

²The Lord will ^cbreak down their altars

And destroy their sacred pillars.

³Surely now they will say, “We have ^ano king,

For we do not revere the Lord.

As for the king, what can he do for us?”

⁴They speak mere words,

¹With ^aworthless oaths they make covenants;

And ^bjudgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

⁵The inhabitants of Samaria will fear

For the ^1acalf of ^bBeth-aven.

Indeed, its people will mourn for it,

And its ^cidolatrous priests ²will cry out over it,

Over its ^dglory, since it has departed from it.

⁶The thing itself will be carried to ^aAssyria

As tribute to ^1bKing Jareb;

Ephraim will ²be ^cseized with shame

And Israel will be ashamed of its ^down counsel.

⁷Samaria will be ^acut off with her king

Like a stick on the surface of the water.

⁸Also the ^ahigh places of Aven, the ^bsin of Israel, will be destroyed;

^cThorn and thistle will grow on their altars;

Then they will ^dsay to the mountains,

“Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

⁹From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel;

There they stand!

Will not the battle against the sons of iniquity overtake them in Gibeah?

¹⁰When it is My ^adesire, I will ^1bchastise them;

And ^cthe peoples will be gathered against them

When they are bound for their double guilt.

¹¹Ephraim is a trained ^aheifer that loves to thresh,

But I will ^bcome over her fair neck with a yoke;

I will harness Ephraim,

Judah will plow, Jacob will harrow for himself.

^12aSow with a view to righteousness,

Reap in accordance with ¹kindness;

^bBreak up your fallow ground,

For it is time to ^cseek the Lord

Until He ^dcomes to ^2erain righteousness on you.

¹³You have ^aplowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice,

You have eaten the fruit of ^blies.

Because you have trusted in your way, in your ^cnumerous warriors,

¹⁴Therefore a tumult will arise among your people,

And all your ^afortresses will be destroyed,

As Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle,

When ^bmothers were dashed in pieces with their children.

¹⁵Thus it will be done to you at Bethel because of your great wickedness.

At dawn the king of Israel will be completely cut off.

Chapter 11

God Yearns over His People

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 them;

They kept ^bsacrificing to the Baals

And ^cburning incense to idols.

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.

⁶The ^asword will whirl against ¹their cities,

And will demolish their gate bars

And ^bconsume them because of their ^ccounsels.

⁷So My people are bent 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 ¹make you like ^bAdmah?

How can I treat you like Zeboiim?

My heart is turned over within Me,

²All My compassions are kindled.

⁹I will ^anot execute My fierce anger;

I will not destroy Ephraim ^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 the Lord,

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 Assyria;

And I will ^csettle them in their houses, declares the Lord.

¹²¹Ephraim surrounds Me with ^alies

And the house of Israel with deceit;

Judah is also unruly against God,

Even against the Holy One who is faithful.

Chapter 12

Ephraim Reminded

¹¹Ephraim feeds on ^awind,

And pursues the ^beast wind continually;

He multiplies lies and violence.

Moreover, ²he makes a covenant with Assyria,

And oil is carried to Egypt.

²The Lord also has a ^adispute with Judah,

And will punish Jacob ^baccording to his ways;

He will repay him according to his deeds.

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

And in his maturity he ^bcontended with God.

⁴Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed;

He wept and ^asought His favor.

He found Him at ^bBethel

And there He spoke with us,

⁵Even the Lord, the God of hosts,

The Lord is His ^1aname.

⁶Therefore, ^areturn to your God,

^bObserve ¹kindness and justice,

And ^cwait for your God continually.

⁷A ¹merchant, in whose hands are false ^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 the Lord your God since the land of Egypt;

I will make you ^alive in tents again,

As in the days of the appointed festival.

¹⁰I have also spoken to the ^aprophets,

And I ¹gave numerous visions,

And through the prophets I gave ^bparables.

¹¹Is there iniquity 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 ¹land of Aram,

And ^bIsrael worked for a wife,

And for a wife he kept sheep.

¹³But by a ^aprophet the Lord brought Israel 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 bring back his ^creproach to him.

Chapter 13

Ephraim’s Idolatry

^1aWhen Ephraim ¹spoke, there was trembling.

He ^bexalted himself in Israel,

But through ^cBaal he ²did wrong and died.

²And now they sin more and more,

And make for themselves ^amolten images,

Idols ^1bskillfully made from their silver,

All of them the ^cwork of craftsmen.

They say of them, “Let the ²men who sacrifice kiss the ^dcalves!”

³Therefore they will be like the ^amorning cloud

And like dew which ¹soon disappears,

Like ^bchaff which is blown away from the threshing floor

And like ^csmoke from a ²chimney.

⁴Yet I have been the ^aLord your God

Since the land of Egypt;

And you were not to know ^bany god except Me,

For there is no savior ^cbesides Me.

⁵I ^1acared for you in the wilderness,

^bIn the land of drought.

⁶As they had their pasture, they became ^asatisfied,

And being satisfied, their ^bheart became proud;

Therefore they ^cforgot Me.

⁷So I will be ^alike a lion to them;

Like a ^bleopard I will ¹lie in wait by the wayside.

⁸I will encounter them ^alike a bear robbed of her cubs,

And I will tear open ¹their chests;

There I will also ^bdevour them like a lioness,

As a wild beast would tear them.

⁹It is your destruction, O Israel,

¹That you are ^aagainst Me, against your ^bhelp.

¹⁰Where now is your ^aking

That he may save you in all your cities,

And your ^bjudges of whom you ¹requested,

“Give me a king and princes”?

¹¹I ^agave you a king in My anger

And ^btook him away in My wrath.

¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;

His sin is ^astored up.

¹³The pains of ^achildbirth come upon him;

He is ^bnot a wise son,

For ¹it is not the time that he should ^cdelay at the opening of the womb.

¹⁴Shall I ^aransom them from the ¹power of Sheol?

Shall I redeem them from death?

^bO Death, where are your thorns?

O Sheol, where is your sting?

^cCompassion will be hidden from My sight.

¹⁵Though he ^aflourishes among the ¹reeds,

An ^beast wind will come,

The wind of the Lord coming up from the wilderness;

And his fountain will ^cbecome dry

And his spring will be dried up;

It will ^dplunder his treasury of every precious article.

¹⁶¹Samaria will be held ^aguilty,

For she has ^brebelled against her God.

^cThey will fall by the ^dsword,

Their little ones will be ^edashed in pieces,

And their pregnant ^fwomen will be ripped open.

Chapter 14

Israel’s Future Blessing

^11aReturn, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

For you have stumbled ²because of your ^biniquity.

²Take words with you and return to the Lord.

Say to Him, “^aTake away all iniquity

And ¹receive us graciously,

That we may ^bpresent ²the fruit of our lips.

³“Assyria will not save us,

We will ^anot ride on horses;

Nor will we say again, ‘^bOur god,’

To the ^cwork of our hands;

For in ^dYou the ¹orphan finds mercy.”

⁴I will ^aheal their apostasy,

I will ^blove them freely,

For My anger has ^cturned away from them.

⁵I will be like the ^adew to Israel;

He will blossom like the ^blily,

And he will ¹take root like the cedars of ^cLebanon.

⁶His shoots will ¹sprout,

And his ²beauty will be like the ^aolive tree

And his fragrance like the cedars of ^bLebanon.

⁷Those who ^alive in his shadow

Will ¹again raise ^bgrain,

And they will blossom like the vine.

His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸O Ephraim, what more have I to do with ^aidols?

It is I who answer and look after ¹you.

I am like a luxuriant ^bcypress;

From ^cMe comes your fruit.

^9aWhoever is wise, let him understand these things;

Whoever is discerning, let him know them.

For the ^bways of the Lord are right,

And the ^crighteous will walk in them,

But ^dtransgressors will stumble in them.