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1The word of Yahweh that came to Hosea the son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
2When Yahweh began to speak with Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea,
“Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution
and have children of prostitution;
for the land commits great adultery,
3So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived and bore him a son.
4Yahweh said to him,
“Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while,
and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel
and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.
5 It will happen in that day that I will break the bow of Israel
in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6She conceived again, and bore a daughter. Then he said to him,
for I will no longer have compassion
that I should at all forgive them.
7 But I will have compassion on the house of Judah,
and will save them by Yahweh their God,
but will not save them by bow, sword, battle,
8Now when she had weaned Lo–Ruhamah, she conceived, and bore a son.
9He said,
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel
will be as the sand of the sea
that cannot be measured nor numbered;
and it will come to pass
that in the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’
11 The children of Judah and the children of Israel
and they will appoint themselves one head,
for great will be the day of Jezreel.”
1 Say to your brothers, “My people!”
and to your sisters, “My loved one!”
2 “Contend with your mother! Contend,
for she is not my wife, nor am I her husband;
and let her put away her prostitution from her face
and her adulteries from between her breasts;
and make her bare as in the day that she was born,
and make her like a wilderness,
and set her like a dry land,
and kill her with thirst.
4 Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy,
for they are children of unfaithfulness;
5 for their mother has prostituted herself.
She who conceived them has done shamefully,
for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
I will hedge up your way with thorns,
and I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her way.
7 She will follow after her lovers,
but she will not overtake them;
and she will seek them,
but will not find them.
Then she will say,
‘I will go and return to my first husband,
for it was better with me then than it is now.’
that I gave her the grain,
the new wine, and the oil,
and multiplied to her silver and gold,
which they used for Baal.
9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time,
and my new wine in its season,
and will pluck away my wool and my flax
that should have covered her nakedness.
10 Now I will uncover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one will deliver her out of my hand.
11 I will also cause all her celebrations to cease:
her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths
and all her appointed festivals.
12 I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees
about which she has said,
‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me.’
I will even make them a forest,
and the animals of the field will eat them.
13 I will visit on her the feast days of the Baals
on which she turned incense into smoke-perfume,
when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels,
and went after her lovers,
and forgot me,
says Yahweh.
14 Therefore behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
15 I will give her vineyards from there,
and the valley of Achor
for a door of hope.
And she will respond there,
as in the days of her youth,
and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
says Yahweh,
that you will call me ‘my husband’
and no longer call me ‘my master.’
17 For I will take away the names of the Baals
out of her mouth,
and they will no longer be mentioned by name.
18 In that day I will cut a covenant for them
with the animals of the field and with the birds of the heavens,
and with the creeping things of the ground.
I will break the bow, the sword,
and the battle out of the land,
and will make them lie down safely.
19 I will betroth you to me forever.
Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness,
in justice, in covenant faithfulness, and in compassion.
20 I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness,
and you will know Yahweh.
21 It will happen in that day, I will respond,
says Yahweh,
I will respond to the heavens,
and they will respond to the earth,
22 and the earth will respond to the grain,
and the new wine, and the oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 I will plant her for myself in the land;
and I will have mercy
on her who had not obtained mercy;
and I will tell those who were not my people,
‘You are my people;’
and they will say, ‘My God!’”
1Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.”
2So I bought her for myself for 15 pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley.
3I said to her, “You must stay with me many days. You are not to act like a prostitute, and you must not be with any other man. I will also be so toward you.”
4For the children of Israel are going to remain many days without a king, and without ruler, and without a sacrifice, and without a standing-stone, and without an ephod or teraphim.a
5Afterward the children of Israel will return and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and will come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.
1 Hear the word of Yahweh, you children of Israel,
against the inhabitants of the land.
Indeed there is no truth, nor covenant faithfulness,
nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing,
and bloodshed causes bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land will mourn,
and everyone who lives in it will waste away,
along with the animals of the field and the birds of the heavens,
yes, the fish of the sea will also die.
4 Yet let no one bring a charge, nor let anyone accuse;
for your people are like those who bring charges against a priest.
5 You will stumble in the day,
and the prophet will also stumble with you in the night,
and I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I will also reject you so that you will not be a priest to me.
Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I will also forget your children.
so they sinned against me.
I will change their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people
and set their heart on their iniquity.
like people, like priest;
and I will punish them for their ways
and will repay them for their deeds.
10 They will eat, and not have enough;
they will prostitute themselves
but will not multiply;
all because they have abandoned Yahweh to give themselves
11 to prostitution; wine, and new wine,
which take away their understanding.
12 My people consult with their wooden idol
and answer to a stick of wood.
Indeed a spirit of prostitution has led them astray,
and they have been unfaithful to their God.
13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains
and turn incense into smoke-perfume on the hills,
under oaks and poplars and terebinths,
because its shade is good.
Therefore your daughters prostitute themselves
and your brides commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters
when they prostitute themselves,
nor your brides
when they commit adultery;
because the men consort with prostitutes
and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes.
So the people without understanding will come to ruin.
15 Though you, Israel, prostitute yourself
do not let Judah become guilty!;
and do not swear an oath, saying, “As Yahweh lives.”
16 For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly,
like a stubborn heifer.
Then how will Yahweh feed them
like a lamb in a meadow.
17 Ephraim is joined to idols.
Leave him alone!
18 Their drink has become sour.
They prostitute themselves continually.
Her rulers dearly love their shameful way.
19 The wind has wrapped her up in its wings,
and they will be disappointed because of their sacrifices.
1 Listen to this, you priests!
Listen, house of Israel,
and give ear, house of the king!
For the judgment is against you;
for you have been a snare at Mizpah,
and a net spread on Tabor.
2 The rebels are deeply involved in slaughter,
but I will discipline all of them.
and Israel is not hidden from me.
For now, O Ephraim,
you have committed prostitution.
Israel has defiled itself.
4 Their deeds will not allow them
to return to their God;
for the spirit of prostitution is inside them,
and they do not know Yahweh.
5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face;
therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble
in their iniquity.
Judah also will stumble with them.
6 They will go with their flocks and with their herds
He has withdrawn himself from them.
7 They are unfaithful to Yahweh,
for they have borne illegitimate children.
Now the new moon will devour them
Sound a battle cry at Beth Aven!
9 Ephraim will become a desolation
in the day of rebuke.
Among the tribes of Israel,
I have made known what will surely be.
10 The officials of Judah are like those
who remove a landmark.
I will pour out my wrath on them like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment,
because he is determined to pursue worthless idols.
12 Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim,
and like rot to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness
and Judah his wound,
then Ephraim went to Assyria,
and sent to the great king;
but he is not able to heal you,
neither can he cure you of your wound.
14 For I will be to Ephraim like a lion,
and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I myself will tear them in pieces and go away.
I will carry them off,
and there will be no one to rescue them.
15 I will depart and return to my place
until they acknowledge their offense and seek my face.
In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.”
1 “Come and let us return to Yahweh;
for he has torn us to pieces,
but he will heal us;
he has injured us,
but he will bind up our wounds.
2 After two days he will revive us.
On the third day he will raise us up,
Let us press on to know Yahweh.
As surely as the sun rises, Yahweh will appear.
He will come to us like the rain,
like the spring rain that waters the earth.”
4 Ephraim, what am I going to do with you?
Judah, what am I going to do with you?
For your covenant loyalty is like a morning cloud,
and like the dew that disappears early.
5 Therefore I have cut them to pieces
I killed them by the words of my mouth,
for my judgments go forth like the light of dawn.
6 For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,
and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 But they, at Adam, have broken the covenant.
They have dealt deceitfully with me there.
8 Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity;
9 As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man,
so a band of priests murder on the road to Shechem,
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing.
There is prostitution in Ephraim. Israel is defiled.
11 Also, O Judah, there is a harvest of judgment appointed for you!
When I restore the fortunes of my people,
then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered,
also the wickedness of Samaria.
For they commit falsehood,
and a thief comes in,
and the bandits raid outside.
2 They do not consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness.
Now their own deeds are all around them;
they are before my face.
3 They make the king glad with their wickedness,
and the officials with their lies.
They are burning like an oven
whose fire the baker stops stirring,
from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.
the officials made themselves sick with the heat of wine.
He joined his hand with mockers.
6 For they have prepared their heart like an oven
while they lie in wait.
Their anger smolders all night;
in the morning it burns as a flaming fire.
7 They are all hot as an oven,
and they devour their judges.
All their kings have fallen.
There is no one among them who calls to me.
8 Ephraim mixes himself among the nations.
Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over.
9 Strangers have devoured his strength,
and he does not realize it.
Indeed, gray hairs are here and there on him,
and he does not realize it.
10 The pride of Israel testifies to his face,
yet they do not return to Yahweh their God,
nor have they sought him for all this.
11 Ephraim is like an easily deceived dove without understanding.
They call to Egypt. They go to Assyria.
12 When they go, I will spread my net on them.
I will bring them down like the birds of heaven.
I will chastise them,
as their congregation has heard.
13 Woe to them! For they have wandered from me.
Destruction to them, for they have trespassed against me!
I would redeem them,
but they speak lies against me.
14 They do not cry out to me with their heart
They slash themselves for grain and new wine.
15 Though I have taught and strengthened their arms,
yet they plot evil against me.
16 They turn, but not to the Most High.
They are like a faulty bow.
Their officials will fall by the sword
because of the insolence of their tongue.
This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.
1 Put the shofar to your lips!
because they have broken my covenant
“My God, we Israel acknowledge you!”
3 Israel has cast off what is good.
The enemy will pursue him.
With their silver and their gold
they have made idols for themselves,
5 Let Samaria throw out their calf idol!
My anger burns against them!
How long will it be until they are capable of purity?
6 For this calf is even from Israel!
The craftsman has made it, and it is not God;
indeed, the calf of Samaria will be broken in pieces.
and they will reap the whirlwind.
He has no standing grain.
The stalk will yield no head;
if it does yield,
strangers will swallow it up.
Now they are among the nations
like a worthless thing.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria,
like a wild donkey wandering alone.
Ephraim has hired lovers for himself.
10 But although they sold themselves among the nations,
I will now gather them;
and they begin to waste away
because of the oppression of the king of mighty ones.
11 Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning,
they became for him altars for sinning.
the many things of my law,
but they were regarded as a strange thing.
13 As for the sacrifices of my offerings,
they sacrifice flesh and eat it,
but Yahweh does not accept them.
Now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins.
They will return to Egypt.
14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces,
and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
but I will send a fire on his cities,
and it will devour its fortresses.
1 Do not rejoice, Israel, with jubilation like the nations!
For you have prostituted yourself, forsaking your God.
You love the wages of a prostitute
2 The threshing floor and the winepress will not feed them,
and the new wine will fail her.
3 They will not live in Yahweh’s land,
but Ephraim will return to Egypt,
and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.
nor will they be pleasing to him.
Their sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners;
all who eat of it will be polluted,
for their bread will be for their appetite.
It will not come into the house of Yahweh.
5 What will you do in the day of solemn assembly,
and in the day of the feast of Yahweh?
6 For behold, even if they have fled from destruction,
Egypt will gather them up. Memphis will bury them.
Nettles will possess their pleasant things of silver.
Thorns will be in their tents.
7 The days of visitation have come.
The days of reckoning have come.
Israel will know this! The prophet is a fool,
and the man who is moved by the spirit is insane,
because of the abundance of your sins
and because your hatred is great.
8 The prophet is a watchman over Ephraim on behalf of my God.
But a fowler’s snare is on all of his paths,
and hostility in the house of his God.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves,
He will remember their iniquity.
He will punish them for their sins.
like grapes in the wilderness.
as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season;
and consecrated themselves to Shame,
11 As for Ephraim, their Glory will fly away like a bird.
There will be no birth, none with child, and no conception.
12 Though they bring up their children,
yet I will bereave them,
so that not a man will be left.
Indeed, woe also to them when I depart from them!
13 I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre,
but Ephraim will bring out his children
14 Give them, Yahweh—what will you give?
Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
15 All their wickedness is in Gilgal,
for there I hated them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of my house!
I will love them no more.
All their officials are rebels.
Their root has dried up.
They will bear no fruit.
Even though they bring forth,
yet I will kill the beloved ones of their womb.
17 My God will cast them away,
because they did not listen to him;
and they will be wanderers among the nations.
According to the abundance of his fruit
they have adorned their standing-stones.
now they will be found guilty.
He will demolish their altars.
He will destroy their standing-stones.
“We have no king,
for we do not fear Yahweh;
and the king, what can he do for us?”
swearing falsely in making covenants.
Therefore lawsuits spring up
like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria will be afraid
Indeed, its people will mourn over it,
and so do its priests who rejoiced over it,
because it will be taken from them into exile.
6 It also will be carried to Assyria
for a present to a great king.
Ephraim will receive shame,
and Israel will be ashamed of his own counsel.
7 Samaria and her king float away
like a twig on the water.
8 The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel,
will be destroyed.
The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars.
They will tell the mountains, “Cover us!”
and the hills, “Fall on us!”
Will not the battle against the sons of iniquity
10 When it is my desire, I will chastise them,
and the nations will be gathered against them
when they are bound
to their two transgressions.
11 Ephraim is a trained heifer
that loves to thresh;
so I will put a yoke on her beautiful neck.
I will set a rider on Ephraim;
Judah will plow;
Jacob will break his clods.
12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness,
for it is time to seek Yahweh,
until he comes and rains righteousness on you.
13 You have plowed wickedness. You have reaped iniquity.
You have eaten the fruit of lies,
for you trusted in your way,
in the multitude of your mighty men.
14 Therefore a battle roar will arise among your people,
and all your fortresses will be destroyed,
as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel
in the day of battle.
The mother was dashed in pieces
with her children.
because of your great wickedness.
At daybreak the king of Israel will be destroyed.
1 “When Israel was a child, then I loved him,
and called my son out of Egypt.
so they went from them.
They sacrificed to the Baals
and turned incense into smoke-perfume to idols.
3 Yet I taught Ephraim to walk.
I took them by his arms,
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I drew them with cords of a man,
with ties of love,
and I was to them
like those who lift up the yoke on their necks;
and I bent down to him and I fed him.
5 They will not return into the land of Egypt,
but the Assyrian will be their king,
because they refused to repent.
6 The sword will fall on their cities
and will destroy the bars of their gates,
and will put an end to their plans.
7 My people are determined to turn from me.
Though they call to the Most High,
he certainly will not exalt them.
8 How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I make you like Zeboiim?
My heart is turned within me,
my compassion is aroused.
9 I will not execute the fierceness of my anger.
I will not return to destroy Ephraim;
for I am God, and not man,
the Holy One in the midst of you,
and I will not come in wrath.
10 They will walk after Yahweh,
who will roar like a lion;
for he will roar,
and the children will come trembling from the west.
11 They will come trembling like a bird out of Egypt,
and like a dove out of the land of Assyria,
and I will settle them in their houses,
says Yahweh.
12 Ephraim surrounds me with falsehood,
and the house of Israel with deceit.
And Judah is unruly against God,
even the Holy One, who is faithful.
and chases after the east wind.
He continually multiplies lies and desolation.
They cut a covenant with Assyria,
and oil is carried into Egypt.
2 Yahweh also has a lawsuit with Judah,
and will punish Jacob according to his ways;
according to his deeds he will repay him.
3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel,
and as an adult he fought with God.
4 Indeed, he struggled with the angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought his favor.
He found him at Bethel,
and there he spoke with us,
5 even Yahweh, the God of Armies;
Yahweh is his name of renown!
Keep kindness and justice,
and wait continually for your God.
7 A merchant has dishonest balances in his hand;
“Surely I have become rich,
I have found myself wealth.
In all my wealth
they will not find in me any iniquity
that is sin.”
from the land of Egypt.
I will yet again make you dwell in tents,
as in the days of the solemn feast.
10 I have also spoken to the prophets
and I have multiplied visions;
and by the ministry of the prophets I have used parables.
surely they are worthless.
In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls.
Indeed, their altars are like heaps
in the furrows of the field.
12 Jacob fled into the country of Aram,
and Israel served to get a wife,
and for a wife he tended flocks and herds.
13 By a prophet Yahweh brought Israel up out of Egypt,
and by a prophet he was preserved.
14 Ephraim has aroused bitter anger.
Therefore his bloodguilt will be left on him,
and his Lord will repay his contempt.
1 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling.
but when he became guilty through Baal, he died.
2 And now they sin more and more,
and have made cast metal images for themselves from their silver,
even idols according to their own understanding,
all of them the work of the craftsmen.
People say about them,
“Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves.”
3 Therefore they will be like the morning mist,
and like the dew that passes away early,
like the chaff that is driven by the storm-wind from the threshing floor
and like the smoke that goes out of the window.
from the land of Egypt,
and you will acknowledge no god but me,
and besides me there is no savior.
5 I knew you in the wilderness,
in the land of great drought.
so were they filled.
They were filled,
and their heart was exalted,
so they forgot me.
7 Therefore I am like a lion to them.
Like a leopard, I will lurk by the path.
like a bear that is robbed of her cubs,
and will tear the covering of their heart.
I will devour them there like a lioness.
The wild animal will tear them.
because you are against me,
against your help.
that he may save you in all your cities?
And your judges, of whom you said,
“Give me a king and officials?”
11 I have given you a king in my anger,
and have taken him away in my wrath.
12 The guilt of Ephraim is stored up.
His sin is stored up.
13 The sorrows of a travailing woman will come on him.
He is an unwise son;
for when it is time,
he does not come to the opening of the womb.
14 I will ransom them from the power of Sheol.
I will redeem them from death!
Death, where are your plagues?
Sheol, where is your destruction?
Compassion will be hidden from my eyes.
15 Though he is fruitful among his brothers,
an east wind will come,
the breath of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness;
and his spring will become dry,
and his fountain will be dried up.
He will plunder the storehouse of treasure.
16 Samaria will bear her guilt,
for she has rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword.
Their infants will be dashed in pieces,
and their pregnant women will be ripped open.
1 Israel, return to Yahweh your God;
for you have fallen because of your sin.
and return to Yahweh.
Tell him, “Forgive all our sins,
and accept what is good,
so we offer our lips like bulls.
We will not ride on horses,
nor will we say any more
to the work of our hands, ‘Our gods!’
for in you the fatherless one finds mercy.”
4 I will heal their waywardness.
I will love them freely,
for my anger is turned away from him.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel.
He will blossom like the lily
and send down his roots like Lebanon.
and his beauty will be like the olive tree,
and his fragrance like Lebanon.
7 Men will dwell in his shade.
They will revive like the grain
and blossom like the vine.
Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols?
I answer, and will take care of him.
I am like a green fir tree;
from me your fruit is found.
9 Who is wise, that he may understand these things?
Who is prudent, that he may know them?
For the ways of Yahweh are right,
and the righteous walk in them,
but the rebellious stumble in them.
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