Further Indictment of Jacob's Heirs
12
Jacob fled to the land of Aram.
Israel worked to earn a wife;
he tended flocks for a wife.
13
The
Lord
brought Israel from Egypt by a prophet,
and Israel was tended by a prophet.
14
Ephraim has provoked bitter anger,
so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him
and repay him for his contempt.
Hosea
13
When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
he was exalted in Israel.
But he incurred
•guilt
through
•Baal
and died.
2
Now they continue to sin
and make themselves a cast image,
idols skillfully made from their silver,
all of them the work of craftsmen.
People say about them,
“Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves.”
3
Therefore, they will be like the morning mist,
like the early dew that vanishes,
like chaff blown from a threshing floor,
or like smoke from a window.
Death and Resurrection
4
I have been
•Yahweh
your God
ever since the land of Egypt;
you know no God but Me,
and no Savior exists besides Me.
5
I knew you in the wilderness,
in the land of drought.
6
When they had pasture,
they became satisfied;
they were satisfied,
and their hearts became proud.
Therefore they forgot Me.
7
So I will be like a lion to them;
I will lurk like a leopard on the path.
8
I will attack them
like a bear robbed of her cubs
and tear open the rib cage over their hearts.
I will devour them there like a lioness,
like a wild beast that would rip them open.
9
I will destroy you, Israel;
you have no help but Me.
10
Where now is your king,
that he may save you in all your cities,
and the rulers you demanded, saying,
“Give me a king and leaders”?
11
I give you a king in My anger
and take away a king in My wrath.
12
Ephraim's guilt is preserved;
his sin is stored up.
13
Labor pains come on him.
He is not a wise son;
when the time comes,
he will not be born.
14
I will ransom them from the power of
•Sheol
.
I will redeem them from death.
Death, where are your barbs?
Sheol, where is your sting?
Compassion is hidden from My eyes.
The Coming Judgment
15
Although he flourishes among his brothers,
an east wind will come,
a wind from the
Lord
rising up from the desert.
His water source will fail,
and his spring will run dry.
The wind will plunder the treasury
of every precious item.
16
Samaria will bear her guilt
because she has rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword;
their little ones will be dashed to pieces,
and their pregnant women ripped open.
Hosea
A Plea to Repent
14
Israel, return to
•Yahweh
your God,
for you have stumbled in your sin.
2
Take words of repentance with you
and return to the
Lord
.
Say to Him: “Forgive all our sin
and accept what is good,
so that we may repay You
with praise from our lips.
3
Assyria will not save us,
we will not ride on horses,
and we will no longer proclaim, ‘Our gods! '
to the work of our hands.
For the fatherless receives compassion in You.”
A Promise of Restoration
4
I will heal their apostasy;
I will freely love them,
for My anger will have turned from him.
5
I will be like the dew to Israel;
he will blossom like the lily
and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.
6
His new branches will spread,
and his splendor will be like the olive tree,
his fragrance, like the forest of Lebanon.
7
The people will return and live beneath his shade.
They will grow grain
and blossom like the vine.
His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8
Ephraim, why should I have anything more
to do with idols?
It is I who answer and watch over him.
I am like a flourishing pine tree;
your fruit comes from Me.
9
Let whoever is wise understand these things,
and whoever is insightful recognize them.
For the ways of the
Lord
are right,
and the righteous walk in them,
but the rebellious stumble in them.
Joel
Joel
1
The word of the
Lord
that came to Joel son of Pethuel:
A Plague of Locusts
2
Hear this, you elders;
listen, all you inhabitants of the land.
Has anything like this ever happened in your days
or in the days of your ancestors?
3
Tell your children about it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children the next generation.
4
What the devouring locust has left,
the swarming locust has eaten;
what the swarming locust has left,
the young locust has eaten;
and what the young locust has left,
the destroying locust has eaten.
5
Wake up, you drunkards, and weep;
wail, all you wine drinkers,
because of the sweet wine,
for it has been taken from your mouth.
6
For a nation has invaded My land,
powerful and without number;
its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7
It has devastated My grapevine
and splintered My fig tree.
It has stripped off its bark and thrown it away;
its branches have turned white.
8
Grieve like a young woman dressed in
•sackcloth
,
mourning for the husband of her youth.
9
•Grain
and
•drink
offerings have been cut off
from the house of the
Lord
;
the priests, who are ministers of the
Lord
, mourn.
10
The fields are destroyed;
the land grieves;
indeed, the grain is destroyed;
the new wine is dried up;
and the olive oil fails.
11
Be ashamed, you farmers,
wail, you vinedressers,
over the wheat and the barley,
because the harvest of the field has perished.
12
The grapevine is dried up,
and the fig tree is withered;
the pomegranate, the date palm, and the apple —
all the trees of the orchard — have withered.
Indeed, human joy has dried up.
13
Dress in sackcloth and lament, you priests;
wail, you ministers of the altar.
Come and spend the night in sackcloth,
you ministers of my God,
because grain and drink offerings
are withheld from the house of your God.
14
Announce a sacred fast;
proclaim an assembly!
Gather the elders
and all the residents of the land
at the house of the
Lord
your God,
and cry out to the
Lord
.
The Day of the
Lord
15
Woe because of that day!
For the Day of the
Lord
is near
and will come as devastation from the
•Almighty
.
16
Hasn't the food been cut off
before our eyes,
joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17
The seeds lie shriveled in their casings.
The storehouses are in ruin,
and the granaries are broken down,
because the grain has withered away.
18
How the animals groan!
The herds of cattle wander in confusion
since they have no pasture.
Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.
19
I call to You,
Lord
,
for fire has consumed
the pastures of the wilderness,
and flames have devoured
all the trees of the countryside.
20
Even the wild animals cry out to You,
for the river beds are dried up,
and fire has consumed
the pastures of the wilderness.
Joel
2
Blow the horn in
•Zion
;
sound the alarm on My holy mountain!
Let all the residents of the land tremble,
for the Day of the
Lord
is coming;
in fact, it is near —
2
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and dense overcast,
like the dawn spreading over the mountains;
a great and strong people appears,
such as never existed in ages past
and never will again
in all the generations to come.
3
A fire destroys in front of them,
and behind them a flame devours.
The land in front of them
is like the Garden of Eden,
but behind them,
it is like a desert wasteland;
there is no escape from them.
4
Their appearance is like that of horses,
and they gallop like war horses.
5
They bound on the tops of the mountains.
Their sound is like the sound of chariots,
like the sound of fiery flames consuming stubble,
like a mighty army deployed for war.
6
Nations writhe in horror before them;
all faces turn pale.
7
They attack as warriors attack;
they scale walls as men of war do.
Each goes on his own path,
and they do not change their course.
8
They do not push each other;
each man proceeds on his own path.
They dodge the arrows, never stopping.
9
They storm the city;
they run on the wall;
they climb into the houses;
they enter through the windows like thieves.
10
The earth quakes before them;
the sky shakes.
The sun and moon grow dark,
and the stars cease their shining.
11
The
Lord
raises His voice
in the presence of His army.
His camp is very large;
Those who carry out His command are powerful.
Indeed, the Day of the
Lord
is terrible and dreadful —
who can endure it?
God's Call for Repentance
12
Even now —
this is the
Lord
's declaration —
turn to Me with all your heart,
with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
13
Tear your hearts,
not just your clothes,
and return to the
Lord
your God.
For He is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger, rich in faithful love,
and He relents from sending disaster.
14
Who knows? He may turn and relent
and leave a blessing behind Him,
so you can offer grain and wine
to the
Lord
your God.