Hosea 11-14

Hosea 11

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

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

³Yet I taught Ephraim to go; I took them on my arms; but they knew not that I healed them.

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

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

⁶And the sword shall fall upon his cities, and shall consume his bars, and devour them, because of their own counsels.

⁷And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they call them to him that is on high, none at all will exalt him.

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

⁹I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.

¹⁰They shall walk after the LORD, who shall roar like a lion: for he shall roar, and the children shall come trembling from the west.

¹¹They shall come trembling as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will make them to dwell in their houses, saith the LORD.

¹²Ephraim compasseth me about with falsehood, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the Holy One.

Hosea 12

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

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

³In the womb he took his brother by the heel; and in his manhood he had power with God:

⁴yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him at Beth-el, and there he spake with us;

⁵even the LORD, the God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.

⁶Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.

⁷He is a trafficker, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.

⁸And Ephraim said, Surely I am become rich, I have found me wealth: in all my labours they shall find in me none iniquity that were sin.

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

¹⁰I have also spoken unto the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the ministry of the prophets have I used similitudes.

¹¹Is Gilead iniquity? they are altogether vanity; in Gilgal they sacrifice bullocks: yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field.

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

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

¹⁴Ephraim hath provoked to anger most bitterly: therefore shall his blood be left upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.

Hosea 13

¹When Ephraim spake, there was trembling; he exalted himself in Israel: but when he offended in Baal, he died.

²And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them 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 dew that passeth early away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

⁴Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt; and thou shalt know no god but me, and beside me there is no saviour.

⁵I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.

⁶According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted: therefore have they forgotten me.

⁷Therefore am I unto them as a lion: as a leopard will I watch by the way:

⁸I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart: and there will I devour them like a lion; the wild beast shall tear them.

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

¹⁰Where now 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 have given thee a king in mine anger, and have taken him away in my wrath.

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

¹³The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for it is time he should not tarry in the place of the breaking forth of children.

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

¹⁵Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the breath of the LORD coming 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 the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

²Take with you words, and return unto the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good: so will we render as bullocks the offering of our lips.

³Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for 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 branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

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

⁸Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have answered, and will regard him: I am like a green fir tree; from me is thy fruit found.

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