Hosea 11–14

The Lord Loves Israel

11The Lord continues,

“When Israel was a young nation, I loved them.

I chose to bring my son out of Egypt.

²But the more I called out to Israel,

the further they went away from me.

They brought sacrifices to the statues of the gods

that were named after Baal.

And they burned incense to them.

³I taught Israel to walk.

I took them up in my arms.

But they did not realize

I was the one who took care of them.

⁴I led them with kindness and love.

I did not lead them with ropes.

I lifted the heavy loads from their shoulders.

I bent down and fed them.

⁵“But they refuse to turn away from their sins.

So they will return to Egypt.

And Assyria will rule over them.

⁶Swords will flash in their cities.

The heavy metal bars on their gates will be destroyed.

Their plans will come to an end.

⁷My people have made up their minds

to turn away from me.

Even if they call out to me,

I will certainly not honor them.

I am the Most High God.”

⁸The Lord continues,

“People of Ephraim, how can I give you up?

Israel, how can I hand you over to your enemies?

Can I destroy you as I did the town of Admah?

Can I treat you like Zeboiim?

My heart is stirred inside me.

It is filled with pity for you.

⁹My anger will not burn against you anymore.

I will not completely destroy you.

After all, I am God.

I am not a mere man.

I am the Holy One among you.

My burning anger will not come against you.

¹⁰I will roar like a lion against my enemies.

You will follow me.

When I roar, my children will come home trembling with fear.

You will return from the west.

¹¹You will come trembling like birds from Egypt.

You will return like doves from Assyria.

I will settle you again in your homes,”

announces the Lord.

Israel Has Sinned

¹²The people of Ephraim tell nothing but lies.

Israel has not been honest with me.

And Judah continues to wander away from God.

They have deserted the faithful Holy One.

12The people of Ephraim look to others for help.

It’s like chasing the wind.

The wind they keep chasing

is hot and dry.

They tell more and more lies.

They are always hurting others.

They make a peace treaty with Assyria.

They send olive oil to Egypt to get help.

²The Lord is bringing charges against Judah.

He will punish Jacob’s people

because of how they act.

He’ll pay them back

for the evil things they’ve done.

³Even before Jacob was born,

he was holding on to his brother’s heel.

When he became a man,

he struggled with God.

⁴At Peniel he struggled with the angel and won.

He sobbed and begged for his blessing.

God also met with him at Bethel.

He talked with him there.

⁵He is the Lord God who rules over all.

He wants us to remember

that his name is The Lord.

⁶People of Jacob, you must return to your God.

You must hold on to love and do what is fair.

You must trust in your God always.

⁷You are like a trader who uses dishonest scales.

You love to cheat others.

⁸People of Ephraim, you brag,

“We are very rich.

We’ve become wealthy.

And no one can prove we sinned

to gain all of this wealth.”

⁹The Lord says,

“I am the Lord your God.

I brought you out of Egypt.

But I will make you live in tents again.

That is what you did when you celebrated

the Feast of Booths in the desert.

¹⁰I spoke to the prophets.

They saw many visions.

I gave you warnings through them.”

¹¹The people of Gilead are evil!

They aren’t worth anything!

Gilgal’s people sacrifice bulls to other gods.

Their altars will become like piles of stones

on a plowed field.

¹²Jacob ran away to the country of Aram.

There Israel served Laban to get a wife.

He took care of sheep to pay for her.

¹³The prophet Moses brought Israel up from Egypt.

The Lord used him to take care of them.

¹⁴But Ephraim’s people have made the Lord very angry.

Their Lord will hold them accountable for the blood they’ve spilled.

He’ll pay them back for the shameful things they’ve done.

The Lord Is Angry With Israel

13When the tribe of Ephraim spoke,

the other tribes trembled with fear.

Ephraim was honored in Israel.

But its people sinned by worshiping Baal.

So they were as good as dead.

²Now they sin more and more.

They use their silver

to make statues of gods for themselves.

The statues come from their own clever ideas.

Skilled workers make all of them.

The people pray to those gods.

They offer human sacrifices to them.

They kiss the gods that look like calves.

³So those people will vanish like the morning mist.

They will soon disappear like the early dew.

They will be like straw

that the wind blows around on a threshing floor.

They will be like smoke

that escapes through a window.

⁴The Lord says,

“People of Israel, I am the Lord your God.

I brought you out of Egypt.

You must not recognize any God but me.

You must not have any Savior except me.

⁵I took care of you in the desert.

It was a land of burning heat.

⁶I fed you until you were satisfied.

Then you became proud.

You forgot all about me.

⁷So I will leap on you like a lion.

I will hide and wait

beside the road like a leopard.

⁸I will attack you like a bear

that is robbed of her cubs.

I will rip you wide open.

Like a lion I will eat you up.

Like a wild animal I will tear you apart.

⁹“Israel, you will be destroyed.

I helped you. But you turned against me.

¹⁰Where is your king?

Wasn’t he supposed to save you?

Where are the rulers in all of your towns?

You said, ‘Give us a king and princes.’

¹¹So I became angry and gave you a king.

Then I took him away from you.

¹²Ephraim, your guilt is piling up.

I am keeping a record of all of your sins.

¹³You will suffer pain like a woman having a baby.

You are like a foolish child.

It is time for you to be born.

But you refuse to come out of your mother’s body.

¹⁴“I will set you free from the power of the grave.

I will save you from death.

Death, where are your plagues?

Grave, where is your power to destroy?

“Ephraim, I will no longer pity you.

¹⁵Even though you are doing well among the other tribes,

trouble will come to you.

I will send a hot and dry wind from the east.

It will blow in from the desert.

Your springs will not have any water.

Your wells will dry up.

All of your treasures

will be taken out of your storerooms.

¹⁶People of Samaria, you must pay for your sins.

You have refused to obey me.

You will be killed with swords.

Your little children will be smashed on the ground.

Your pregnant women will be ripped wide open.”

The Lord Blesses Those Who Turn Away From Sin

14Israel, return to the Lord your God.

Your sins have destroyed you!

²Tell the Lord you are turning away from your sins.

Return to him.

Say to him,

“Forgive us for all of our sins.

Please be kind to us.

Welcome us back to you.

Then our lips will offer you our praise.

³Assyria can’t save us.

We won’t trust in our war horses.

Our own hands have made statues of gods.

But we will never call them our gods again.

We are like children whose fathers have died.

But you show us your tender love.”

⁴Then the Lord will answer,

“My people always wander away from me.

But I will put an end to that.

My anger has turned away from them.

Now I will love them freely.

⁵I will be like the dew to Israel.

They will bloom like a lily.

They will send their roots down deep

like a cedar tree in Lebanon.

⁶They will spread out like new branches.

They will be as beautiful as an olive tree.

They will smell as sweet as the cedar trees in Lebanon.

⁷Once again my people will live

in the safety of my shade.

They will grow like grain.

They will bloom like vines.

And they will be as famous

as wine from Lebanon.

⁸Ephraim will have nothing more to do with other gods.

I will answer the prayers of my people.

I will take good care of them.

I will be like a green pine tree to them.

All of the fruit they bear will come from me.”

⁹If you are wise, you will realize

that what I’ve said is true.

If you have understanding,

you will know what it means.

The ways of the Lord are right.

People who are right with God live the way he wants them to.

But those who refuse to obey him trip and fall.