Hosea 4-7

Hosea 4

¹‘Hear a word of Jehovah, sons of Israel, For a strife is to Jehovah with inhabitants of the land, For there is no truth, nor kindness, Nor knowledge of God, in the land,

²Swearing, and lying, and murdering, And stealing, and committing adultery -- have increased, And blood against blood hath touched.

³Therefore mourn doth the land, And weak is every dweller in it, With the beast of the field, And with the fowl of the heavens, And the fishes of the sea -- they are removed.

⁴Only, let no one strive, nor reprove a man, And thy people are as those striving with a priest.

⁵And thou hast stumbled in the day, And stumbled hath also a prophet with thee in the night, And I have cut off thy mother.

⁶Cut off have been My people for lack of knowledge, Because thou knowledge hast rejected, I reject thee from being priest to Me, And thou forgettest the law of thy God, I forget thy sons, I also!

⁷According to their abundance so they sinned against Me, Their honour into shame I change.

⁸The sin of My people they do eat, And unto their iniquity lift up their soul.

⁹And it hath been, like people, like priest, And I have charged on it its ways, And its habitual doings I return to it.

¹⁰And they have eaten, and are not satisfied, They have gone a-whoring, and increase not, For they have left off taking heed to Jehovah.

¹¹Whoredom, and wine, and new wine, take the heart,

¹²My people at its staff asketh and its rod declareth to it, For a spirit of whoredoms hath caused to err, And they go a-whoring from under their God.

¹³On tops of the mountains they do sacrifice, And on the hills they make perfume, Under oak, and poplar, and terebinth, For good is its shade.

¹⁴Therefore commit whoredom do your daughters, And your spouses commit adultery, I do not see after your daughters when they commit whoredom, And after your spouses when they commit adultery, For they with the harlots are separated, And with the whores they do sacrifice, A people that doth not understand kicketh.

¹⁵Though a harlot thou art, O Israel, Let not Judah become guilty, And come not ye in to Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-Aven, Nor swear ye, Jehovah liveth.

¹⁶For as a refractory heifer hath Israel turned aside, Now doth Jehovah feed them as a lamb in a large place.

¹⁷Joined to idols is Ephraim, let him alone.

¹⁸Sour is their drink, They have gone diligently a-whoring, Her protectors have loved shame thoroughly.

¹⁹Distressed her hath wind with its wings, And they are ashamed of their sacrifices!

Hosea 5

¹‘Hear this, O priests, and attend, O house of Israel, And, O house of the king, give ear, For the judgment is for you, For, a snare ye have been on Mizpah, And a net spread out on Tabor.

²And to slaughter sinners have gone deep, And I am a fetter to them all.

³I have known Ephraim, And Israel hath not been hid from me, For now thou hast gone a-whoring, Ephraim, Defiled is Israel.

⁴They give not up their habitual doings, To turn back unto their God, For a spirit of whoredoms is in their midst, And Jehovah they have not known.

⁵And humbled hath been the excellency of Israel to his face, And Israel and Ephraim stumble by their iniquity, Stumbled also hath Judah with them.

⁶With their flock and with their herd, They go to seek Jehovah, and do not find, He hath withdrawn from them.

⁷Against Jehovah they dealt treacherously, For strange sons they have begotten, Now consume them doth a month with their portions.

⁸Blow ye a cornet in Gibeah, a trumpet in Ramah, Shout, O Beth-Aven, after thee, O Benjamin.

⁹Ephraim is for a desolation in a day of reproof, Among the tribes of Israel I have made known a sure thing.

¹⁰Princes of Judah have been as those removing a border, On them I do pour out as water My wrath.

¹¹Oppressed is Ephraim, broken in judgment, When he pleased he went after the command.

¹²And I am as a moth to Ephraim, And as a rotten thing to the house of Judah.

¹³And see doth Ephraim his sickness, and Judah his wound, And Ephraim goeth unto Asshur, And sendeth unto a warlike king, And he is not able to give healing to you, Nor doth he remove from you a scar.

¹⁴For I am as a lion to Ephraim, And as a young lion to the house of Judah, I -- I tear and go, I bear away, and there is no deliverer.

¹⁵I go -- I turn back unto My place, Till that they are desolate, and have sought My face. In their distress they do seek Me speedily!'

Hosea 6

¹‘Come, and we turn back unto Jehovah, For He hath torn, and He doth heal us, He doth smite, and He bindeth us up.

²He doth revive us after two days, In the third day He doth raise us up, And we live before Him.

³And we know -- we pursue to know Jehovah, As the dawn prepared is His going forth, And He cometh in as a shower to us, As gathered rain -- sprinkling earth.'

⁴What do I do to thee, O Ephraim? What do I do to thee, O Judah? Your goodness is as a cloud of the morning, And as dew rising early -- going.

⁵Therefore I have hewed by prophets, I have slain them by sayings of My mouth, And My judgments to the light goeth forth.

⁶For kindness I desired, and not sacrifice, And a knowledge of God above burnt-offerings.

⁷And they, as Adam, transgressed a covenant, There they dealt treacherously against me.

⁸Gilead is a city of workers of iniquity, Slippery from blood.

⁹And as bands do wait for a man, A company of priests do murder -- the way to Shechem, For wickedness they have done.

¹⁰In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing, There is the whoredom of Ephraim -- defiled is Israel.

¹¹Also, O Judah, appointed is a harvest to thee, In My turning back to the captivity of My people!

Hosea 7

¹‘When I give healing to Israel, Then revealed is the iniquity of Ephraim, And the wickedness of Samaria, For they have wrought falsehood, And a thief doth come in, Stript off hath a troop in the street,

²And they do not say to their heart, That all their evil I have remembered, Now compassed them have their doings, Over-against My face they have been.

³With their wickedness they make glad a king, And with their lies -- princes.

⁴All of them are adulterers, Like a burning oven of a baker, He ceaseth from stirring up after kneading the dough, till its leavening.

⁵A day of our king! Princes have polluted themselves with the poison of wine, He hath drawn out his hand with scorners.

⁶For they have drawn near, As an oven is their heart, In their lying in wait all the night sleep doth their baker, Morning! he is burning as a flaming fire.

⁷All of them are warm as an oven, And they have devoured their judges, All their kings have fallen, There is none calling unto Me among them.

⁸Ephraim! among peoples he mixeth himself, Ephraim hath been a cake unturned.

⁹Devoured have strangers his power, And he hath not known, Also old age hath sprinkled itself on him, And he hath not known.

¹⁰And humbled hath been the excellency of Israel to his face, And they have not turned back unto Jehovah their God, Nor have they sought Him for all this.

¹¹And Ephraim is as a simple dove without heart, Egypt they called on -- to Asshur they have gone.

¹²When they go I spread over them My net, As the fowl of the heavens I bring them down, I chastise them as their company hath heard.

¹³Wo to them, for they wandered from Me, Destruction to them, for they transgressed against Me, And I -- I ransom them, and they have spoken lies against Me,

¹⁴And have not cried unto Me with their heart, but howl on their beds, For corn and new wine they assemble themselves, They turn aside against Me.

¹⁵And I instructed -- I strengthened their arms, And concerning Me they think evil!

¹⁶They turn back -- not to the Most High, They have been as a deceitful bow, Fall by sword do their princes, From the insolence of their tongue, This is their derision in the land of Egypt!