Hosea — Legacy Standard Bible

Hosea’s Wife and Children

1The word of ¹Yahweh which came to ^aHosea the son of Beeri, in the days of ^bUzziah, ^cJotham, ^dAhaz, and ^eHezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of ^fJeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

²When Yahweh first spoke through Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, “^aGo, take for yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for ^bthe land commits flagrant harlotry, ¹forsaking Yahweh.” ³So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and ^agave birth to a son for him. ⁴And Yahweh said to him, “Name him ^aJezreel; for yet a little while, and ^bI will visit the bloodshed of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and ^cI will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease. ⁵“And it will be in that day, that I will ^abreak the bow of Israel in the ^bvalley of Jezreel.”

⁶Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And ¹Yahweh said to him, “Name her ²Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer ^ahave compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them. ⁷“But I will have ^acompassion on the house of Judah and ^bsave them by Yahweh their God, and I will not save them by ^cbow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.”

⁸Then she weaned Lo-ruhamah. And she conceived and gave birth to a son. ⁹And ¹Yahweh said, “Name him ²Lo-ammi, for you are not My people, and I am not ³your God.”

¹⁰¹Yet the number of the sons of IsraelWill be like the ^asand of the sea,Which cannot be measured or numbered;And it will be that ^bin the placeWhere it is said to them,“You are ^cnot My people,”It will be said to them,“You are the ^dsons of the living God.”¹¹And the ^asons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be ^bgathered together,And they will set for themselves ^cone head,And they will go up from the land,For great will be the day of Jezreel.

No Compassion for Children of Harlotry

2¹Say to your brothers, “²Ammi,” and to your sisters, “³Ruhamah.”

²“Contend with your mother, ^acontend,For she is ^bnot my wife, and I am not her husband;And let her remove her ^charlotry from her faceAnd her adultery from between her breasts,³Lest I strip her ^anakedAnd set her forth as on the ^bday when she was bornAnd ^cmake her like a wildernessAnd ¹make her like dry landAnd put her to death with ^dthirst.⁴“Also, I will have no compassion on her childrenBecause they are ^achildren of harlotry.⁵“For their mother has ^aplayed the harlot;She who conceived them has acted shamefully.For she said, ‘^bI will go after my lovers,Who ^cgive me my bread and my water,My wool and my flax, my ^doil and my drink.’⁶“Therefore, behold, I will ^ahedge up ¹her way with ^bthorns,And I will build ²a wall against her so that she cannot find her ^cpaths.⁷“So she will ^apursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them;And she will seek them, but will not find them.Then she will say, ‘^bI will go, and I will return to my ^cfirst husband,For it was ^dbetter for me then than now!’⁸“Now she does ^anot know that it was ^bI who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil,And multiplied silver and gold for her,Which they ¹used for Baal.⁹“Therefore, I will ^atake back My grain at ¹harvest timeAnd My new wine in its season.I will also deliver My wool and My flax from themGiven to cover her nakedness.¹⁰“So now I will ^auncover her lewdnessIn the sight of her lovers,And no one will deliver her out of My hand.¹¹“I will also ^acease all her joy,Her ^bfeasts, her ^cnew moons, her sabbaths,And all her appointed times.¹²“And I will ^amake desolate her vines and fig trees,Of which she said, ‘These are my wagesWhich my lovers have given me.’And I will ^bmake them a forest,And the ^cbeasts of the field will devour them.¹³“So I will visit the ^adays of the Baals upon herWhen she used to ¹^,^boffer offerings in smoke to themAnd ^cadorn herself with her ²earrings and jewelryAnd go after her lovers, so that she ^dforgot Me,” declares Yahweh.

Yahweh’s Faithful Betrothal

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I will allure her^aAnd bring her into the wildernessAnd speak to her heart.¹⁵“Then I will give her her ^avineyards from thereAnd ^bthe valley of Achor as a door of hope.And she will ¹^,^csing there as in the days of her youth,As in the ^dday when she came up from the land of Egypt.¹⁶“And it will be in that day,” declares Yahweh,“That you will call Me ¹^,^aIshiAnd will no longer call Me ²Baali.¹⁷“So ^aI will remove the names of the Baals from her mouthSo that they will be remembered by their names no more.¹⁸“And in that day I will cut a covenant for themWith the ^abeasts of the field,The birds of the sky,And the creeping things of the ground.And I will ^bbreak the bow, the sword, and war from the land,And I will make them ^clie down in security.¹⁹“And I will ^abetroth you to Me forever;Indeed, I will betroth you to Me in ^brighteousness and in justice,In lovingkindness and in compassion,²⁰And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.Then you will ^aknow Yahweh.²¹“And it will be in that day, that ^aI will answer,” declares Yahweh.“I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth,²²And the ^aearth will answer the grain, the new wine, and the oil,And they will answer ¹Jezreel.²³“And I will ^asow her for Myself in the land.^bI will also have compassion on ¹her who had not obtained compassion,And ^cI will say to ²those who were ^dnot My people,‘You are My people!’And ³they will say, ‘You are my God!’”

Hosea Marries Again

3Then Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a ¹woman who is loved by her companion and is an adulteress, even ^aas Yahweh loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin ^bcakes.” ²So I ^abargained for her for myself for fifteen ¹shekels of silver and a ²homer and a ³half of barley. ³Then I said to her, “You shall ^astay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a ¹man; so I will also be toward you.” ⁴For the sons of Israel will remain for many days ^awithout king or prince, ^bwithout sacrifice or sacred ^cpillar, and without ^dephod or ¹^,^ehousehold idols. ⁵Afterward the sons of Israel will ^areturn and seek Yahweh their God and ^bDavid their king; and ^cthey will come ¹in dread to Yahweh and to His goodness in the last days.

Yahweh’s Contention with Israel

4^aListen to the word of Yahweh, O sons of Israel,For Yahweh has a ^bcontention against the inhabitants of the land,Because there is ^cno truth or ¹lovingkindnessOr ^dknowledge of God in the land.²There is ^aswearing of oaths, ^bdeception, ^cmurder, ^dstealing, and ^eadultery.They break forth in violence so that ^fbloodshed ¹follows bloodshed.³Therefore the land ^amourns,And everyone who inhabits it languishesAlong with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky,And also the fish of the sea ¹disappear.⁴Yet let no man ^acontend, and let no man offer reproof;Indeed, your people are like those who ^bcontend with the priest.⁵So you will ^astumble by day,And the prophet also will stumble with you by night;And I will destroy your ^bmother.⁶^aMy people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.Because you have ^brejected knowledge,I also will ^creject you from ministering as My priest.Since you have ^dforgotten the ^elaw of your God,I Myself also will forget your children.⁷The more they ^amultiplied, the more they sinned against Me;I will ^bchange their glory into disgrace.⁸They ^aeat the ¹sin of My peopleAnd ^blift up ²their soul toward their iniquity.⁹And it will be like people, ^alike priest;So I will ^bpunish them for their waysAnd cause their deeds to return to them.¹⁰^aThey will eat, but not be satisfied;They will ^bplay the harlot, but not break forth in number,Because they have ¹^,^cforsaken Yahweh to keep harlotry.¹¹Harlotry, ^awine, and new wine take away a heart of wisdom.¹²My people ^aask their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand declares to them;For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray,And they have played the harlot, departing ¹from their God.¹³They offer sacrifices on the ^atops of the mountainsAnd ¹^,^bburn incense on the hills,^cUnder oak, poplar, and terebinthBecause their shade is good.Therefore your daughters play the harlot,And your ²brides commit adultery.¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlotOr your ¹brides when they commit adultery,For the men themselves go apart with harlotsAnd offer sacrifices with ^acult prostitutes;So the people without understanding are ²ruined.¹⁵Though you, Israel, play the harlot,Do not let Judah become guilty;Also do not go to ^aGilgalNor go up to Beth-aven^bAnd swear the oath:“As Yahweh lives!”¹⁶Since Israel is ^astubbornLike a stubborn heifer,¹Can Yahweh now ^bfeed themLike a lamb in a large field?¹⁷Ephraim is joined to ^aidols;^bLet him alone.¹⁸Their drink gone;They play the harlot continually;^aTheir ¹rulers dearly love disgrace.¹⁹^aThe wind binds them up in its wings,And they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

Yahweh Withdraws from Israel

5Hear this, O priests!Give heed, O house of Israel!Give ear, O house of the king!For the judgment is for you,For you have been a ^asnare at MizpahAnd a net spread out on Tabor.²And the ^arevolters have ^bdug deep into slaughtering,But I will chastise all of them.³I ^aknow Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me;For now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot;Israel has defiled itself.⁴Their deeds will not allow themTo return to their God.For a ^aspirit of harlotry is within them,And they ^bdo not know Yahweh.⁵Moreover, the ^apride of Israel answers against him,And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;^bJudah also has stumbled with them.⁶They will ^ago with their flocks and herdsTo seek Yahweh, but they will ^bnot find Him;He has ^cwithdrawn from them.⁷They have ^adealt treacherously against Yahweh,For they have borne ^bchildren of strangers.Now the ^cnew moon will devour them with their portions.⁸^aBlow the horn in ^bGibeah,The trumpet in Ramah.Make a loud shout at Beth-aven:“^cBehind you, Benjamin!”⁹Ephraim will become a ^adesolation in the ^bday of reproof;Among the tribes of Israel I ^cwill make known what is true.¹⁰The princes of Judah have become like those who ^amove a boundary;On them I will ^bpour out My wrath ^clike water.¹¹Ephraim is ^aoppressed, crushed in judgment,^bBecause he was determined to ¹walk after man’s command.¹²Therefore I am like a ^amoth to EphraimAnd like rottenness to the house of Judah.¹³Then Ephraim saw his sickness,And Judah his sore,So Ephraim went to ^aAssyriaAnd sent to ¹^,^bKing Jareb.But he is ^cunable to heal youOr to cure you of your sore.¹⁴For I will be ^alike a lion to EphraimAnd like a young lion to the house of Judah.^bI, even I, will tear to pieces and go away;I will carry away, and there will be ^cnone to deliver.¹⁵I will go away and return to My placeUntil they ¹^,^aacknowledge their guilt and seek My face;In their affliction they will ^bseek Me earnestly.

Israel Chastised

6“^aCome, let us return to Yahweh.For ^bHe has torn us, but ^cHe will heal us;He has struck us, but He will ^dbandage us.²“He will ^amake us alive after two days;He will ^braise us up on the third day,That we may live before Him.³“So let us ^aknow, let us pursue to know Yahweh.His ^bgoing forth is established as the dawn;And He will come to us like the ^crain,Like the ¹late rain watering the earth.”⁴What shall I do with you, O ^aEphraim?What shall I do with you, O Judah?For your lovingkindness is like a ^bmorning cloudAnd like the dew which goes away early.⁵Therefore I have ^ahewn them in pieces by the prophets;I have killed them by the ^bwords of My mouth;And the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth.⁶For ^aI delight in lovingkindness ^brather than sacrifice,And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.⁷But ^alike ¹Adam they have ^btrespassed against the covenant;There they have ^cdealt treacherously against Me.⁸^aGilead is a city of workers of iniquity,With a track of ^bblood.⁹And as ^araiders wait for a man,So a band of priests ^bmurder on the way to Shechem;Surely they have committed ^clewdness.¹⁰In the house of Israel I have seen an ^aappalling thing;Ephraim’s ^bharlotry is there; Israel has defiled itself.¹¹Also, O Judah, there is a ^aharvest set for youWhen I ^brestore the fortunes of My people,7When I ^awould heal Israel,Then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered,And the evil deeds of Samaria,For they work ^bfalsehood;The thief enters in;^cRaiders ¹ransack outside,²And they do not say to their heartsThat I ^aremember all their evil.Now their ^bdeeds are all around them;They are before My face.³^aWith their evil they make the ^bking glad,And the princes with their ^cdeceptions.⁴They are ^aall adulterers,Like an oven heated by the bakerWho ceases to stir up the fireFrom the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.⁵On the ¹day of our king, the princes ^abecame sick with the heat of wine;He stretched out his hand with ^bscoffers,⁶For their hearts are like an ^aovenAs they draw near in their ¹plotting;Their ²anger ³smolders all night;In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.⁷All of them are hot like an oven,And they devour their ^ajudges;All their kings have fallen.^bNone of them calls on Me.⁸Ephraim ^amixes himself with the peoples;Ephraim has become a cake not turned.⁹^aStrangers devour his power,Yet he ^bdoes not know it;Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him,Yet he does not know it.¹⁰So the ^apride of Israel answers against him,Yet ^bthey have not returned to Yahweh their God,Nor have they sought Him, for all this.¹¹So ^aEphraim has become like a silly dove, ^bwithout a heart of wisdom;They call to ^cEgypt; they go to ^dAssyria.¹²When they go, I will ^aspread My net over them;I will bring them down like the birds of the sky.I will ^bchastise them in accordance with the report to their congregation.¹³^aWoe to them, for they have ^bfled from Me!Destruction is theirs, for they have transgressed against Me!And I ^cwould redeem them, but they speak lies against Me.¹⁴And ^athey do not cry out to Me in their heartWhen they wail on their beds;For the sake of grain and new wine they ¹^,^bgather together as sojourners;They ^cdepart from Me.¹⁵Although I disciplined and strengthened their arms,Yet they ^adevise evil against Me.¹⁶They turn, but not ¹upward;They are like a ^adeceitful bow;Their princes will fall by the swordBecause of the ²^,^bindignation of their tongue.This will be their ^cscoffing in the land of Egypt.

Israel Reaps the Whirlwind

8^aPut the trumpet to your ¹mouth!^bLike an eagle the enemy comes ^cagainst the house of YahwehBecause they have ^dtrespassed against My covenantAnd transgressed against My ^elaw.²^aThey cry out to Me,“My God, ^bwe of Israel know You!”³Israel has rejected the good;The enemy will pursue him.⁴^aThey have set up kings, but not by Me;They have appointed princes, but I did not know it.With their ^bsilver and gold they have made idols for themselves,That ¹they might be cut off.⁵¹He has rejected your ^acalf, O Samaria, saying,“My anger burns against them!”How long will they be incapable of ^binnocence?⁶For from Israel is even this!A ^acraftsman made it, so it is not God;Surely the calf of Samaria will be smashed to splinters.⁷For ^athey sow the wind,And they reap the ^bwhirlwind.The standing grain has no growth;It makes ^cno flour.Should it make anything, strangers would swallow it up.⁸Israel is ^aswallowed up;They are now among the nationsLike a ^bvessel in which no one delights.⁹For they have gone up to ^aAssyriaLike ^ba wild donkey all alone;Ephraim has ^chired ¹lovers.¹⁰Even though they hire allies among the nations,Now I will ^agather them up;And they will begin ^bto ¹diminishBecause of the burden of the ^cking of princes.¹¹Since Ephraim has ^amultiplied altars for sin,They have become altars of sinning for him.¹²Though ^aI wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My ^blaw,They are counted as a strange thing.¹³As for My ^asacrificial gifts,They ^bsacrifice the flesh and eat it,But Yahweh has not accepted them.Now He will ^cremember their iniquityAnd ^dpunish them for their sins;They will return to ^eEgypt.¹⁴So Israel has ^aforgotten his Maker and ^bbuilt palaces;And Judah has multiplied fortified cities,But I will send a ^cfire on its cities that it may consume its palatial dwellings.

Days of Punishment Have Come

9^aDo not be glad, O Israel, ¹with rejoicing like the peoples!For you have ^bplayed the harlot, ²forsaking your God.You have loved harlots’ earnings on ³every threshing floor.²Threshing floor and wine press will ^anot feed them,And the new wine will deceive ¹them.³They will not remain in ^athe land of Yahweh,But Ephraim will return to ^bEgypt,And in ^cAssyria they will eat ^dunclean food.⁴They will not pour out drink offerings of ^awine to Yahweh;^bTheir sacrifices will not please Him.Their bread will ¹be like ²mourners’ bread;All who eat of it will be ^cdefiled,For their bread will be for ³themselves alone;It will not enter the house of Yahweh.⁵^aWhat will you do on the day of the appointed festivalAnd on the day of the ^bfeast of Yahweh?⁶For behold, they will go because of destruction;Egypt will gather them up; ^aMemphis will bury them.Weeds will possess their desirable items of silver;^bThorns will be in their tents.⁷The days of ^apunishment have come;The days of ^brecompense have come;¹Let Israel know this!The prophet is an ^cignorant fool,The ²inspired man has ^dmadness,Because of the abundance of your ^einiquityAnd because your hostility has abounded.⁸Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet;Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways,And there is only hostility in the house of his God.⁹They have dug ^adeep ¹in corruptionAs in the days of ^bGibeah;He will ^cremember their iniquity;He will punish their sins.

Grapes in the Wilderness

¹⁰I found Israel like ^agrapes in the wilderness;I saw your fathers as the ^bearliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season.But they came to ^cBaal-peor and devoted themselves to ¹^,^dshame,And they became as ^edetestable as that which they loved.¹¹As for Ephraim, their ^aglory will fly away like a bird—No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!¹²Though they bring up their children,Yet I will bereave them ¹until not a man is left.Surely, ^awoe to them indeed when I depart from them!¹³Ephraim, as I have seen,Is planted in a pasture like ^aTyre;But Ephraim will bring out his children for killing.¹⁴Give them, O Yahweh—what will You give?Give them a ¹^,^amiscarrying womb and dry breasts.¹⁵All their evil is at ^aGilgal;Indeed, I came to hate them there!Because of the ^bevil of their deedsI will drive them out of My house!I will love them no more;All their princes are ^crebels.¹⁶^aEphraim is stricken; their root is dried up;They will bear ^bno fruit.Even though they bear children,I will put to death the ^cdesirable ones of their womb.¹⁷My God will despise themBecause they have ^anot listened to Him;And they will be ^bthose who flee among the nations.

You Have Sinned, O Israel

10Israel is a ¹luxuriant ^avine;He produces fruit for himself.The more abundant his fruit,The more altars he ^babounded;The better his land,The better ²he made the sacred ^cpillars.²Their heart is ¹^,^afaithless;Now they must bear their ^bguilt.²Yahweh will ^cbreak down their altarsAnd destroy their sacred pillars.³Surely now they will say, “We have ^ano king,For we do not fear Yahweh.As for the king, what can he do for us?”⁴They speak mere words;¹With ^aworthless oaths they cut covenants;And ^bjudgment flourishes like gall in the furrows of the field.⁵The dweller of Samaria will fearFor the ¹^,^acalf of ^bBeth-aven.Indeed, its people will mourn for it,And its ^cidolatrous priests ²will cry out over it,Over its ^dglory, since it has gone into exile from them.⁶The thing itself will be carried to ^aAssyriaAs tribute to ¹^,^bKing Jareb;Ephraim will ^creceive shame,And Israel will be ashamed of its ^down counsel.⁷Samaria will be ^aruined with her kingLike a stick on the surface of the water.⁸Also the ^ahigh places of Aven, the ^bsin of Israel, will be ¹eradicated;^cThorn and thistle will grow on their altars;Then they will ^dsay to the mountains,“Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”⁹From 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?¹⁰When it is My ^adesire, I will ¹^,^bchastise them;And ^cthe peoples will be gathered against themWhen they are bound for their double guilt.

The Trained Heifer

¹¹And Ephraim is a trained ^aheifer that loves to thresh,But I will ^bcome over her fair neck with a yoke;I will harness Ephraim;Judah will plow; Jacob will harrow for himself.¹²^aSow with a view to righteousness,Reap in accordance with lovingkindness;^bBreak up your fallow ground,Indeed, it is time to ^cseek YahwehUntil He ^dcomes and ¹^,^erains righteousness on you.¹³You have ^aplowed wickedness; you have reaped injustice;You have eaten the fruit of ^bdeception.Because you have trusted in your way, in your ^cabundant warriors,¹⁴Therefore a rumbling will arise among your people,And all your ^afortifications will be destroyed,As Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle,When ^bmothers were dashed in pieces with their children.¹⁵Thus 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

11When Israel was a youth I loved him,And ^aout of Egypt I ^bcalled My son.²The more ¹^,^athey called them,The more they went from ²them;They kept ^bsacrificing to the BaalsAnd ^cburning incense to graven images.³Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk;¹I ^atook them in My arms;But they did not know that I ^bhealed them.⁴I ^aled them with cords of a man, with bonds of love,And ^bI became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws;And I bent down and ^cfed them.⁵¹They will not return to the land of Egypt;But Assyria—he will be ²their kingBecause they ^arefused to return to Me.⁶And the ^asword will whirl against ¹their citiesAnd will consume ²their gate barsAnd ^bdevour them because of their ^ccounsels.⁷So My people are hung up on ^aturning from Me.Though ¹they call ²them to the One on high,None at all exalts Him.⁸^aHow can I give you up, O Ephraim?How can I surrender you, O Israel?How can I give you over to be like ^bAdmah?How can I make you like ^cZeboiim?My heart is turned over within Me;¹All My compassions are stirred.⁹I will ^anot execute My burning anger;I will not make Ephraim a ruin ^bagain.For ^cI am God and not man, the ^dHoly One in your midst,And I will not come in ¹wrath.¹⁰They will ^awalk after Yahweh;He will ^broar like a lion;Indeed, He will roar,And His sons will come ^ctrembling from the west.¹¹They will come trembling like birds from ^aEgyptAnd like ^bdoves from the land of ^cAssyria;And I will ^dsettle them in their houses, declares Yahweh.¹²¹Ephraim surrounds Me with ²^,^aliesAnd the house of Israel with deceit;And Judah is also unruly against God,Even against the Holy One who is faithful.12¹Ephraim feeds on ^awindAnd pursues the ^beast wind continually;He abounds in falsehood and destruction.Moreover, ²he cuts a covenant with Assyria,And oil is carried to Egypt.

Yahweh’s Contention with Judah

²And Yahweh has a ^acontention with JudahAnd will punish Jacob ^baccording to his ways;He will cause everything to return to him according to his deeds.³In the womb he ^atook his brother by the heel,And in his maturity he ¹^,^bwrestled with God.⁴Indeed, he ¹wrestled with the angel and prevailed;He wept and ^asought His favor.He found Him at ^bBethel,And there He spoke with us,⁵Even Yahweh, the God of hosts,Yahweh is His ¹^,^aname of remembrance.⁶Therefore, ^areturn to your God,^bKeep lovingkindness and justice,And ^chope in your God continually.⁷A ¹merchant, in whose hands are deceptive ^abalances,He loves to oppress.⁸And Ephraim said, “Surely I have become ^arich;I have found wealth for myself;In all my labors they will find in me^bNo iniquity, which would be sin.”⁹But I have been Yahweh your God since the land of Egypt;I will make you ^asettle in tents again,As in the days of the appointed festival.¹⁰And I have spoken to the ^aprophets,And I ¹made visions abound,And by the hand of the prophets I gave ^bparables.¹¹Is there wickedness in Gilead?Surely they are worthless.In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;Yes, ^atheir altars are like the stone heapsBeside the furrows of the field.¹²Now ^aJacob fled to the field of Aram,And ^bIsrael worked for a wife,And for a wife he kept sheep.¹³But by a ^aprophet Yahweh brought Israel up from Egypt,And by a prophet he was kept.¹⁴^aEphraim has provoked to bitter anger;So his Lord will leave his ^bbloodguilt on himAnd cause his ^creproach to return to him.

Ephraim’s Idolatry

13^aWhen Ephraim ¹spoke, there was trembling.He ^blifted himself up in Israel,But through ^cBaal he became guilty and died.²And now they sin more and moreAnd make for themselves ^amolten images,Idols ^bmade from their silver according to their understanding,All of them the ^cwork of craftsmen.They are saying of them, “Let the ¹men who sacrifice kiss the ^dcalves!”³Therefore they will be like the ^amorning cloudAnd like dew which ¹soon disappears,Like ^bchaff which is blown away from the threshing floorAnd like ^csmoke from a ²chimney.⁴Yet I have been ^aYahweh your GodSince the land of Egypt;And you were not to know ^bany god except Me,And there is no savior ^cbesides Me.⁵I Myself ^aknew you in the wilderness,^bIn the land of drought.⁶As they had their pasture, then they became ^asatisfied,Indeed, they were satisfied, and their ^bheart became raised up;Therefore they ^cforgot Me.⁷So I will be ^alike a lion to them;Like a ^bleopard I will ¹lie in wait by the wayside.⁸I will encounter them ^alike a bear robbed of her cubs,And I will tear open ¹the chest enclosing their heart;There I will also ^bdevour them like a lioness,As a beast of the field would rip them open.⁹It is your ruin, O Israel,¹That you are ^aagainst Me, against your ^bhelp.¹⁰Where now is your ^aking,That he may save you in all your cities,And your ^bjudges of whom you said,“Give me a king and princes”?¹¹I ^agave you a king in My angerAnd ^btook him away in My wrath.¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;His sin is ^astored up.¹³The pains of ^achildbirth come upon him;He is ^bnot a wise son,For ¹it is not the time that he should ^cdelay at the opening of the womb.¹⁴Shall I ^aransom them from the ¹power of Sheol?Shall I redeem them from death?^bO Death, where are your thorns?O Sheol, where is your sting?^cCompassion will be hidden from My sight.¹⁵Though he ^ais fruitful among the ¹reeds,An ^beast wind will come,The wind of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness;And his fountain will ^cbecome dry,And his spring will be dried up;It will ^dplunder his treasury of every desirable article.¹⁶¹Samaria will be held ^aguilty,For she has ^brebelled against her God.^cThey will fall by the ^dsword;Their infants will be ^edashed in pieces,And their pregnant ^fwomen will be ripped open.

Yahweh’s Anger Turns Away from Israel

14¹^,^aReturn, O Israel, to Yahweh your God,For you have stumbled in your ^biniquity.²Take words with you and return to Yahweh.Say to Him, “^aForgive all iniquityAnd ¹take what is good,That we may ^bpay in full ²the fruit of our lips.³“Assyria will not save us;We will ^anot ride on horses,Nor will we say again, ‘^bOur god,’To the ^cwork of our hands;For in ^dYou the ¹orphan finds compassion.”⁴I will ^aheal their turning away from Me;I will ^blove them freely,For My anger has ^cturned away from them.⁵I will be like the ^adew to Israel;He will flourish like the ^blily,And he will ¹take root like the cedars of ^cLebanon.⁶His shoots will go forth,And his splendor will be like the ^aolive treeAnd his fragrance like the cedars of ^bLebanon.⁷Those who ^alive in his shadowWill ¹again raise ^bgrain,And they will flourish like the vine.His name of remembrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.⁸O Ephraim, what more have I to do with ^aidols?It is I who answer and look after ¹you.I am like a luxuriant ^bcypress;From ^cMe ²comes your fruit.⁹^aWhoever is wise, so let him discern these things;Whoever is discerning, let him know them.For the ^bways of Yahweh are right,And the ^crighteous will walk in them,But ^dtransgressors will stumble in them.