Hosea 10 - 13

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You Have Sinned, O Israel

Israel is a luxuriant vine;

He produces fruit for himself.

The more abundant his fruit,

The more altars he abounded;

The better his land,

The better he made the sacred pillars.

Their heart is faithless;

Now they must bear their guilt.

Yahweh will break down their altars

And destroy their sacred pillars.

Surely now they will say, “We have no king,

For we do not fear Yahweh.

As for the king, what can he do for us?”

They speak mere words;

With worthless oaths they cut covenants;

And judgment flourishes like gall in the furrows of the field.

The dweller of Samaria will fear

For the calf of Beth‑aven.

Indeed, its people will mourn for it,

And its idolatrous priests will cry out over it,

Over its glory, since it has gone into exile from them.

The thing itself will be carried to Assyria

As tribute to King Jareb;

Ephraim will receive shame,

And Israel will be ashamed of its own counsel.

Samaria will be ruined with her king

Like a stick on the surface of the water.

Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be eradicated;

Thorn and thistle will grow on their altars;

Then they will say to the mountains,

“Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel;

There they stand!

Will not the battle against the sons of injustice overtake them in Gibeah?

When it is My desire, I will chastise them;

And the peoples will be gathered against them

When they are bound for their double guilt.

The Trained Heifer

And Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh,

But I will come over her fair neck with a yoke;

I will harness Ephraim;

Judah will plow; Jacob will harrow for himself.

Sow with a view to righteousness,

Reap in accordance with lovingkindness;

Break up your fallow ground,

Indeed, it is time to seek Yahweh

Until He comes and rains righteousness on you.

You have plowed wickedness; you have reaped injustice;

You have eaten the fruit of deception.

Because you have trusted in your way, in your abundant warriors,

Therefore a rumbling will arise among your people,

And all your fortifications will be destroyed,

As Shalman destroyed Beth‑arbel on the day of battle,

When mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.

Thus it will be done to you at Bethel because of your evil of evils.

At dawn the king of Israel will be completely ruined.

The Beloved Son

When Israel was a youth I loved him,

And out of Egypt I called My son.

The more they called them,

The more they went from them;

They kept sacrificing to the Baals

And burning incense to graven images.

Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk;

I took them in My arms;

But they did not know that I healed them.

I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love,

And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws;

And I bent down and fed them.

They will not return to the land of Egypt;

But Assyria—he will be their king

Because they refused to return to Me.

And the sword will whirl against their cities

And will consume their gate bars

And devour them because of their counsels.

So My people are hung up on turning from Me.

Though they call them to the One on high,

None at all exalts Him.

How can I give you up, O Ephraim?

How can I surrender you, O Israel?

How can I give you over to be like Admah?

How can I make you like Zeboiim?

My heart is turned over within Me;

All My compassions are stirred.

I will not execute My burning anger;

I will not make Ephraim a ruin again.

For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst,

And I will not come in wrath.

They will walk after Yahweh;

He will roar like a lion;

Indeed, He will roar,

And His sons will come trembling from the west.

They will come trembling like birds from Egypt

And like doves from the land of Assyria;

And I will settle them in their houses, declares Yahweh.

Ephraim surrounds Me with lies

And the house of Israel with deceit;

And Judah is also unruly against God,

Even against the Holy One who is faithful.

Ephraim feeds on wind

And pursues the east wind continually;

He abounds in falsehood and destruction.

Moreover, he cuts a covenant with Assyria,

And oil is carried to Egypt.

Yahweh’s Contention with Judah

And Yahweh has a contention with Judah

And will punish Jacob according to his ways;

He will cause everything to return to him according to his deeds.

In the womb he took his brother by the heel,

And in his maturity he wrestled with God.

Indeed, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed;

He wept and sought His favor.

He found Him at Bethel,

And there He spoke with us,

Even Yahweh, the God of hosts,

Yahweh is His name of remembrance.

Therefore, return to your God,

Keep lovingkindness and justice,

And hope in your God continually.

A merchant, in whose hands are deceptive balances,

He loves to oppress.

And Ephraim said, “Surely I have become rich;

I have found wealth for myself;

In all my labors they will find in me

No iniquity, which would be sin.”

But I have been Yahweh your God since the land of Egypt;

I will make you settle in tents again,

As in the days of the appointed festival.

And I have spoken to the prophets,

And I made visions abound,

And by the hand of the prophets I gave parables.

Is there wickedness in Gilead?

Surely they are worthless.

In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;

Yes, their altars are like the stone heaps

Beside the furrows of the field.

Now Jacob fled to the field of Aram,

And Israel worked for a wife,

And for a wife he kept sheep.

But by a prophet Yahweh brought Israel up from Egypt,

And by a prophet he was kept.

Ephraim has provoked to bitter anger;

So his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him

And cause his reproach to return to him.

Ephraim’s Idolatry

When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling.

He lifted himself up in Israel,

But through Baal he became guilty and died.

And now they sin more and more

And make for themselves molten images,

Idols made from their silver according to their understanding,

All of them the work of craftsmen.

They are saying of them, “Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves!”

Therefore they will be like the morning cloud

And like dew which soon disappears,

Like chaff which is blown away from the threshing floor

And like smoke from a chimney.

Yet I have been Yahweh your God

Since the land of Egypt;

And you were not to know any god except Me,

And there is no savior besides Me.

I Myself knew you in the wilderness,

In the land of drought.

As they had their pasture, then they became satisfied,

Indeed, they were satisfied, and their heart became raised up;

Therefore they forgot Me.

So I will be like a lion to them;

Like a leopard I will lie in wait by the wayside.

I will encounter them like a bear robbed of her cubs,

And I will tear open the chest enclosing their heart;

There I will also devour them like a lioness,

As a beast of the field would rip them open.

It is your ruin, O Israel,

That you are against Me, against your help.

Where now is your king,

That he may save you in all your cities,

And your judges of whom you said,

“Give me a king and princes”?

I gave you a king in My anger

And took him away in My wrath.

The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;

His sin is stored up.

The pains of childbirth come upon him;

He is not a wise son,

For it is not the time that he should delay at the opening of the womb.

Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?

Shall I redeem them from death?

O Death, where are your thorns?

O Sheol, where is your sting?

Compassion will be hidden from My sight.

Though he is fruitful among the reeds,

An east wind will come,

The wind of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness;

And his fountain will become dry,

And his spring will be dried up;

It will plunder his treasury of every desirable article.

Samaria will be held guilty,

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.

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