Hosea 8-14

Hosea 8

¹Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He cometh as an eagle against the house of Jehovah, because they have transgressed my covenant, and rebelled against my law.

²They shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee; we, Israel.

³Israel hath cast off good: the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not; of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

⁵Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will they be incapable of purity?

⁶For from Israel is this also: -- a workman made it, and it is no God: for the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

⁷For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk; should it sprout, it would yield no meal; if so be it yield, strangers shall swallow it up.

⁸Israel is swallowed up: now are they become among the nations as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.

⁹For they are gone up to Assyria as a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

¹⁰Although they hire among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall begin to be straitened under the burden of the king of princes.

¹¹Because Ephraim hath multiplied altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.

¹²I have prescribed unto him the manifold things of my law: they are counted as a strange thing.

¹³They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; Jehovah hath no delight in them. Now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.

¹⁴For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

Hosea 9

¹Rejoice not, Israel, exultingly, as the peoples; for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved harlot's hire upon every corn-floor.

²The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail her.

³They shall not dwell in Jehovah's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and in Assyria shall they eat that which is unclean.

⁴They shall pour out no offerings of wine to Jehovah, neither shall their sacrifices be pleasing unto him: they shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be defiled: for their bread shall be for themselves; it shall not come into the house of Jehovah.

⁵What will ye do in the day of assembly, and in the day of the feast of Jehovah?

⁶For behold, they are gone away because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Moph shall bury them: their pleasant things of silver, nettles shall possess them; thorns shall be in their tents.

⁷The days of visitation are come; the days of recompence are come: Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the inspired man is mad, because of the greatness of thine iniquity, and the great enmity.

⁸Is Ephraim a watchman with my God? nay the prophet is a fowler's snare on all his ways, enmity in the house of his God.

⁹They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

¹⁰I found Israel as grapes in the wilderness; as first-ripe fruit on the fig-tree, I saw your fathers at the beginning: they went to Baal-Peor, and separated themselves unto that shame, and became abominations like their lover.

¹¹As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away as a bird, -- no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!

¹²For even should they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that not a man remain: for woe also to them when I shall have departed from them!

¹³Ephraim, as I saw him, was a Tyre planted in a beautiful place; but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the slayer.

¹⁴Give them, Jehovah -- what wilt thou give? -- give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

¹⁵All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them: because of the wickedness of their doings, I will drive them out of my house, I will love them no more: all their princes are rebellious.

¹⁶Ephraim is smitten: their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit; yea, though they should bring forth, yet will I slay the beloved fruit of their womb.

¹⁷My God hath rejected them, because they hearkened not unto him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Hosea 10

¹Israel is an unpruned vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the abundance of his fruit he hath multiplied altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly statues.

²Their heart is divided; now shall they be found guilty: he will break down their altars, he will destroy their statues.

³For now they will say, We have no king, for we feared not Jehovah; and a king, what can he do for us?

⁴They speak mere words, swearing falsely in making a covenant; therefore shall judgment spring up as hemlock in the furrows of the fields.

⁵The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calf of Beth-aven; for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the idolatrous priests thereof shall tremble for it, for its glory, because it is departed from it.

⁶Yea, it shall be carried unto Assyria as a present for king Jareb: Ephraim shall be seized with shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

⁷As for Samaria her king is cut off as chips upon the face of the waters.

⁸And the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up upon their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us! and to the hills, Fall on us!

⁹From the days of Gibeah hast thou sinned, O Israel: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.

¹⁰At my pleasure will I chastise them; and the peoples shall be assembled against them, when they are bound for their two iniquities.

¹¹And Ephraim is a trained heifer, that loveth to tread out the corn; I have passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to draw; Judah shall plough, Jacob shall break his clods.

¹²Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek Jehovah, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

¹³Ye have ploughed wickedness, reaped iniquity, eaten the fruit of lies; for thou didst confide in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

¹⁴And a tumult shall arise among thy peoples, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces with the children.

¹⁵So shall Bethel do unto you because of the wickedness of your wickedness: at day-break shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.

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.