Hosea 13–14

Relentless Judgment on Israel

¹³When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;

he was exalted in Israel,

but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.^*

²And now they keep on sinning

and make a cast image for themselves,

idols of silver made according to their understanding,

all of them the work of artisans.

“Sacrifice to these,” they say.^k

People are kissing calves!^*

³Therefore they shall be like the morning mist

or like the dew that goes away early,

like chaff that swirls from the threshing floor

or like smoke from a window.^*

⁴Yet I have been the Lord your God

ever since the land of Egypt;

you know no God but me,

and besides me there is no savior.^*

⁵It was I who fed^l you in the wilderness,

in the land of drought.^*

⁶When I fed^m them, they were satisfied;

they were satisfied, and their heart was proud;

therefore they forgot me.^*

⁷So I will become like a lion to them;

like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.^*

⁸I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs

and will tear open the covering of their heart;

there I will devour them like a lion,

as a wild animal would mangle them.

⁹I will destroy you, O Israel;

who can help you?ⁿ

¹⁰Where now is^o your king, that he may save you?

Where in all your cities are your rulers,

of whom you said,

“Give me a king and rulers”?^*

¹¹I gave you a king in my anger,

and I took him away in my wrath.^*

¹²Ephraim’s iniquity is bound up;

his sin is kept in store.^*

¹³The pangs of childbirth come for him,

but he is an unwise son,

for at the proper time he does not present himself

at the mouth of the womb.^*

¹⁴Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?

Shall I redeem them from Death?

O Death, where are^p your plagues?

O Sheol, where is^q your destruction?

Compassion is hidden from my eyes.^*

¹⁵Although he may flourish among rushes,^r

the east wind shall come, a blast from the Lord,

rising from the wilderness,

and his fountain shall dry up;

his spring shall be parched.

It shall strip his treasury

of every precious thing.^*

^16sSamaria shall bear her guilt

because she has rebelled against her God;

they shall fall by the sword;

their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,

and their pregnant women ripped open.^*

A Plea for Repentance

¹⁴Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.^*

²Take words with you

and return to the Lord;

say to him,

“Take away all guilt;

accept that which is good,

and we will offer

the fruit^t of our lips.^*

³Assyria shall not save us;

we will not ride upon horses;

we will say no more, ‘Our God,’

to the work of our hands.

In you the orphan finds mercy.”^*

Assurance of Forgiveness

⁴I will heal their disloyalty;

I will love them freely,

for my anger has turned from them.^*

⁵I will be like the dew to Israel;

he shall blossom like the lily;

he shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon.^u*

⁶His shoots shall spread out;

his beauty shall be like the olive tree

and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.^*

⁷They shall again live beneath my^v shadow;

they shall flourish as a garden;^w

they shall blossom like the vine;

their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.^*

⁸O Ephraim, what have I^x to do with idols?

It is I who answer and look after you.^y

I am like an evergreen cypress;

your fruit comes from me.^*

⁹Those who are wise understand these things;

those who are discerning know them.

For the ways of the Lord are right,

and the upright walk in them,

but transgressors stumble in them.^*