Hosea 11:12–14:9

¹²Ephraim has encompassed me with lies,

and the house of Israel with deceit;

but Judah is still known by God,

and is faithful to the Holy One.

Chapter 12

¹Ephraim herds the wind,

and pursues the east wind all day long;

they multiply falsehood and violence;

they make a bargain with Assyria,

and oil is carried to Egypt.

²The Lord has an indictment against Judah,

and will punish Jacob according to his ways,

and requite him according to his deeds.

³In the womb he took his brother by the heel,

and in his manhood he strove with God.

⁴He strove with the angel and prevailed,

he wept and sought his favor.

He met God at Bethel,

and there God spoke with him—

⁵the Lord the God of hosts,

the Lord is his name:

⁶“So you, by the help of your God, return,

hold fast to love and justice,

and wait continually for your God.”

⁷A trader, in whose hands are false balances,

he loves to oppress.

⁸Ephraim has said, “Ah, but I am rich,

I have gained wealth for myself”:

but all his riches can never offset

the guilt he has incurred.

⁹I am the Lord your God

from the land of Egypt;

I will again make you dwell in tents,

as in the days of the appointed feast.

¹⁰I spoke to the prophets;

it was I who multiplied visions,

and through the prophets gave parables.

¹¹If there is iniquity in Gilead

they shall surely come to nought;

if in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,

their altars also shall be like stone heaps

on the furrows of the field.

¹²(Jacob fled to the land of Aram,

there Israel did service for a wife,

and for a wife he herded sheep.)

¹³By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt,

and by a prophet he was preserved.

¹⁴Ephraim has given bitter provocation;

so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt upon him,

and will turn back upon him his reproaches.

Chapter 13

¹When Ephraim spoke, men trembled;

he was exalted in Israel;

but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.

²And now they sin more and more,

and make for themselves molten images,

idols skilfully made of their silver,

all of them the work of craftsmen.

Sacrifice to these, they say.

Men kiss calves!

³Therefore they shall be like the morning mist

or like the dew that goes early away,

like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor

or like smoke from a window.

⁴I am the Lord your God

from the land of Egypt;

you know no God but me,

and besides me there is no savior.

⁵It was I who knew you in the wilderness,

in the land of drought;

⁶but when they had fed to the full,

they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;

therefore they forgot me.

⁷So I will be to them like a lion,

like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.

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

I will tear open their breast,

and there I will devour them like a lion,

as a wild beast would rend them.

⁹I will destroy you, O Israel;

who can help you?

¹⁰Where now is your king, to save you;

where are all your princes, to defend you—

those of whom you said,

“Give me a king and princes”?

¹¹I have given you kings in my anger,

and I have taken them away in my wrath.

¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up,

his sin is kept in store.

¹³The pangs of childbirth come for him,

but he is an unwise son;

for now 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 your plagues?

O Sheol, where is your destruction?

Compassion is hid from my eyes.

¹⁵Though he may flourish as the reed plant,

the east wind, the wind of the Lord, shall come,

rising from the wilderness;

and his fountain shall dry up,

his spring shall be parched;

it shall strip his treasury

of every precious thing.

¹⁶Samaria 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.

Chapter 14

¹Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

²Take with you words

and return to the Lord;

say to him,

“Take away all iniquity;

accept that which is good

and we will render

the fruit of our lips.

³Assyria shall not save us,

we will not ride upon horses;

and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’

to the work of our hands.

In thee the orphan finds mercy.”

⁴I will heal their faithlessness;

I will love them freely,

for my anger has turned from them.

⁵I will be as the dew to Israel;

he shall blossom as the lily,

he shall strike root as the poplar;

⁶his shoots shall spread out;

his beauty shall be like the olive,

and his fragrance like Lebanon.

⁷They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow,

they shall flourish as a garden;

they shall blossom as the vine,

their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

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

It is I who answer and look after you.

I am like an evergreen cypress,

from me comes your fruit.

⁹Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;

whoever is discerning, let him know them;

for the ways of the Lord are right,

and the upright walk in them,

but transgressors stumble in them.