7
Indeed, they sow the wind
and reap the whirlwind.
There is no standing grain;
what sprouts fails to yield flour.
Even if they did,
foreigners would swallow it up.
8
Israel is swallowed up!
Now they are among the nations
like discarded pottery.
9
For they have gone up to Assyria
like a wild donkey going off on its own.
Ephraim has paid for love.
10
Even though they hire lovers among the nations,
I will now round them up,
and they will begin to decrease in number
under the burden of the king and leaders.
11
When Ephraim multiplied his altars for sin,
they became his altars for sinning.
12
Though I were to write out for him
ten thousand points of My instruction,
they would be regarded as something strange.
13
Though they offer sacrificial gifts
and eat the flesh,
the
Lord
does not accept them.
Now He will remember their
•guilt
and punish their sins;
they will return to Egypt.
14
Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces;
Judah has also multiplied fortified cities.
I will send fire on their cities,
and it will consume their citadels.
Hosea
The Coming Exile
9
Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do,
for you have acted promiscuously, leaving your God.
You have loved the wages of a prostitute
on every grain-threshing floor.
2
Threshing floor and wine vat will not sustain them,
and the new wine will fail them.
3
They will not stay in the land of the
Lord
.
Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt,
and they will eat
•unclean
food in Assyria.
4
They will not pour out
their wine offerings to the
Lord
,
and their sacrifices will not please Him.
Their food will be like the bread of mourners;
all who eat it become defiled.
For their bread will be for their appetites alone;
it will not enter the house of the
Lord
.
5
What will you do on a festival day,
on the day of the
Lord
's feast?
6
For even if they flee from devastation,
Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them.
Thistles will take possession of their precious silver;
thorns will invade their tents.
7
The days of punishment have come;
the days of retribution have come.
Let Israel recognize it!
The prophet is a fool,
and the inspired man is insane,
because of the magnitude
of your
•guilt
and hostility.
8
Ephraim's watchman is with my God.
The prophet encounters a fowler's snare
on all his ways.
Hostility is in the house of his God!
9
They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah.
He will remember their guilt;
He will punish their sins.
Ephraim Bereaved of Offspring
10
I discovered Israel
like grapes in the wilderness.
I saw your fathers
like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to Baal-peor,
consecrated themselves to Shame,
and became detestable,
like the thing they loved.
11
Ephraim's glory will fly away like a bird:
no birth, no gestation, no conception.
12
Even if they raise children,
I will bereave them of each one.
Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!
13
I have seen Ephraim like Tyre,
planted in a meadow,
so Ephraim will bring out his children
to the executioner.
14
Give them,
Lord
—
What should You give?
Give them a womb that miscarries
and breasts that are dry!
15
All their evil appears at Gilgal,
for there I came to hate them.
I will drive them from My house
because of their evil, wicked actions.
I will no longer love them;
all their leaders are rebellious.
16
Ephraim is struck down;
their roots are withered;
they cannot bear fruit.
Even if they bear children,
I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs.
17
My God will reject them
because they have not listened to Him;
they will become wanderers among the nations.
Hosea
The Vine and the Calf
10
Israel is a lush vine;
it yields fruit for itself.
The more his fruit increased,
the more he increased the altars.
The better his land produced,
the better they made the sacred pillars.
2
Their hearts are devious;
now they must bear their
•guilt
.
The
Lord
will break down their altars
and demolish their sacred pillars.
3
In fact, they are now saying,
“We have no king!
For we do not
•fear
the
Lord
.
What can a king do for us? ”
4
They speak mere words,
taking false oaths while making covenants.
So lawsuits break out
like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.
5
The residents of Samaria will have anxiety
over the calf of Beth-aven.
Indeed, its idolatrous priests rejoiced over it;
the people will mourn over it,
over its glory.
It will certainly depart from them.
6
The calf itself will be taken to Assyria
as an offering to the great king.
Ephraim will experience shame;
Israel will be ashamed of its counsel.
7
Samaria's king will disappear
like foam on the surface of the water.
8
The
•high
places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
will be destroyed;
thorns and thistles will grow over their altars.
They will say to the mountains, “Cover us! ”
and to the hills, “Fall on us! ”
Israel's Defeat because of Sin
9
Israel, you have sinned
since the days of Gibeah;
they have taken their stand there.
Will not war against the unjust
overtake them in Gibeah?
10
I will discipline them at My discretion;
nations will be gathered against them
to put them in bondage
for their two crimes.
11
Ephraim is a well-trained calf
that loves to thresh,
but I will place a yoke on her fine neck.
I will harness Ephraim;
Judah will plow;
Jacob will do the final plowing.
12
Sow righteousness for yourselves
and reap faithful love;
break up your unplowed ground.
It is time to seek the
Lord
until He comes and sends righteousness
on you like the rain.
13
You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice;
you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your own way
and in your large number of soldiers,
14
the roar of battle will rise against your people,
and all your fortifications will be demolished
in a day of war,
like Shalman's destruction of Beth-arbel.
Mothers will be dashed to pieces
along with their children.
15
So it will be done to you, Bethel,
because of your extreme evil.
At dawn the king of Israel will be totally destroyed.
Hosea
The
Lord
's Love for Israel
11
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called My son.
2
The more they called them,
the more they departed from Me.
They kept sacrificing to the
•Baals
and burning offerings to idols.
3
It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them in My arms,
but they never knew that I healed them.
4
I led them with human cords,
with ropes of love.
To them I was like one
who eases the yoke from their jaws;
I bent down to give them food.
5
Israel will not return to the land of Egypt
and Assyria will be his king,
because they refused to repent.
6
A sword will whirl through his cities;
it will destroy and devour the bars of his gates,
because of their schemes.
7
My people are bent on turning from Me.
Though they call to Him on high,
He will not exalt them at all.
8
How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I surrender you, Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
I have had a change of heart;
My compassion is stirred!
9
I will not vent the full fury of My anger;
I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim.
For I am God and not man,
the Holy One among you;
I will not come in rage.
10
They will follow the
Lord
;
He will roar like a lion.
When He roars,
His children will come trembling from the west.
11
They will be roused like birds from Egypt
and like doves from the land of Assyria.
Then I will settle them in their homes.
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
12
Ephraim surrounds me with lies,
the house of Israel, with deceit.
Judah still wanders with God
and is faithful to the holy ones.
Hosea
God's Case against Jacob's Heirs
12
Ephraim chases the wind
and pursues the east wind.
He continually multiplies lies and violence.
He makes a covenant with Assyria,
and olive oil is carried to Egypt.
2
The
Lord
also has a dispute with Judah.
He is about to punish Jacob according to his ways;
He will repay him based on his actions.
3
In the womb he grasped his brother's heel,
and as an adult he wrestled with God.
4
Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought His favor.
He found him at Bethel,
and there He spoke with him.
5
•Yahweh
is the God of
•Hosts
;
Yahweh is His name.
6
But you must return to your God.
Maintain love and justice,
and always put your hope in God.
7
A merchant loves to extort
with dishonest scales in his hands.
8
But Ephraim says:
“How rich I have become;
I made it all myself.
In all my earnings,
no one can find any crime in me
that I can be punished for! ”
Judgment on Apostate Israel
9
I have been Yahweh your God
ever since the land of Egypt.
I will make you live in tents again,
as in the festival days.
10
I spoke through the prophets
and granted many visions;
I gave parables through the prophets.
11
Since Gilead is full of evil,
they will certainly come to nothing.
They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal;
even their altars will be like heaps of rocks
on the furrows of a field.