Hosea 11-14

Hosea 11

¹When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

²As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto the Baals, and burned incense to graven images.

³And I it was that taught Ephraim to walk, -- He took them upon his arms, -- but they knew not that I healed them.

⁴I drew them with bands of a man, with cords of love; and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I gently caused them to eat.

⁵He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king; for they refused to return to me;

⁶and the sword shall turn about in his cities, and shall consume his bars, and devour them, because of their own counsels.

⁷Yea, my people are bent upon backsliding from me: though they call them to the Most High, none at all exalteth him.

⁸How shall I give thee over, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee up, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? My heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.

⁹I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God, and not man, -- the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not come in anger.

¹⁰They shall walk after Jehovah; he shall roar like a lion; when he shall roar, then the children shall hasten from the west:

¹¹they shall hasten as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria; and I will cause them to dwell in their houses, saith Jehovah.

¹²Ephraim encompasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah yet walketh with God, and with the holy things of truth.

Hosea 12

¹Ephraim feedeth on wind, and pursueth after the east wind: all day long he multiplieth lies and desolation; and they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt.

²Jehovah hath also a controversy with Judah, and he will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.

³He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and in his strength he wrestled with God.

⁴Yea, he wrestled with the Angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us,

⁵-- even Jehovah, the God of hosts, -- Jehovah is his memorial.

⁶And thou, return unto thy God: keep loving-kindness and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.

⁷He is a merchant, balances of deceit are in his hand; he loveth to oppress.

⁸And Ephraim saith, Nevertheless I am become rich, I have found me out substance; in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.

⁹But I that am Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt will again make thee to dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast.

¹⁰And I have spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and by means of the prophets have I used similitudes.

¹¹If Gilead is iniquity, surely they are but vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.

¹²And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.

¹³And by a prophet Jehovah brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.

¹⁴Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly; and his Lord shall leave his blood upon him, and recompense unto him his reproach.

Hosea 13

¹When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he exalted himself in Israel: but he trespassed through Baal, and he died.

²And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.

³Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the lattice.

⁴Yet I am Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou hast known no God but me; and there is no saviour besides me.

⁵I knew thee in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

⁶According to their pasture, they became full; they became full, and their heart was exalted: therefore have they forgotten me.

⁷And I will be unto them as a lion; as a leopard I will lurk for them by the way;

⁸I will meet them as a bear bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the covering of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lioness: the beast of the field shall tear them.

⁹It is thy destruction, O Israel, that thou art against me, against thy help.

¹⁰Where then is thy king, that he may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? --

¹¹I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.

¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is laid by in store.

¹³The pangs of a woman in travail shall come upon him: he is a son not wise; for at the time of the breaking forth of children, he was not there.

¹⁴I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death: where, O death, are thy plagues? where, O Sheol, is thy destruction? Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

¹⁵Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, a wind of Jehovah that cometh up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels.

¹⁶Samaria shall bear her guilt; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

Hosea 14

¹O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

²Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah; say unto him, Forgive all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips.

³Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Thou art our God; because in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

⁴I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him.

⁵I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

⁶His shoots shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

⁷They shall return and sit under his shadow; they shall revive as corn, and blossom as the vine: the renown thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

⁸Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? (I answer him, and I will observe him.) I am like a green fir-tree. -- From me is thy fruit found.

⁹Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? intelligent, and he shall know them? For the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein.