Font Size
Hosea 11-14
The Message
Hosea 11-14
The Message
Israel Played at Religion with Toy Gods
11 1-9 “When Israel was only a child, I loved him.
I called out, ‘My son!’—called him out of Egypt.
But when others called him,
he ran off and left me.
He worshiped the popular sex gods,
he played at religion with toy gods.
Still, I stuck with him. I led Ephraim.
I rescued him from human bondage,
But he never acknowledged my help,
never admitted that I was the one pulling his wagon,
That I lifted him, like a baby, to my cheek,
that I bent down to feed him.
Now he wants to go back to Egypt or go over to Assyria—
anything but return to me!
That’s why his cities are unsafe—the murder rate skyrockets
and every plan to improve things falls to pieces.
My people are hell-bent on leaving me.
They pray to god Baal for help.
He doesn’t lift a finger to help them.
But how can I give up on you, Ephraim?
How can I turn you loose, Israel?
How can I leave you to be ruined like Admah,
devastated like luckless Zeboim?
I can’t bear to even think such thoughts.
My insides churn in protest.
And so I’m not going to act on my anger.
I’m not going to destroy Ephraim.
And why? Because I am God and not a human.
I’m The Holy One and I’m here—in your very midst.
10-12 “The people will end up following God.
I will roar like a lion—
Oh, how I’ll roar!
My frightened children will come running from the west.
Like frightened birds they’ll come from Egypt,
from Assyria like scared doves.
I’ll move them back into their homes.”
God’s Word!
Soul-Destroying Lies
Ephraim tells lies right and left.
Not a word of Israel can be trusted.
Judah, meanwhile, is no better,
addicted to cheap gods.
* * *
12 1-5 Ephraim, obsessed with god-fantasies,
chases ghosts and phantoms.
He tells lies nonstop,
soul-destroying lies.
Both Ephraim and Judah made deals with Assyria
and tried to get an inside track with Egypt.
God is bringing charges against Israel.
Jacob’s children are hauled into court to be punished.
In the womb, that heel, Jacob, got the best of his brother.
When he grew up, he tried to get the best of God.
But God would not be bested.
God bested him.
Brought to his knees,
Jacob wept and prayed.
God found him at Bethel.
That’s where he spoke with him.
God is God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
God-Revealed, God-Known.
* * *
6 What are you waiting for? Return to your God!
Commit yourself in love, in justice!
Wait for your God,
and don’t give up on him—ever!
7-8 The businessmen engage in wholesale fraud.
They love to rip people off!
Ephraim boasted, “Look, I’m rich!
I’ve made it big!
And look how well I’ve covered my tracks:
not a hint of fraud, not a sign of sin!”
9-11 “But not so fast! I’m God, your God!
Your God from the days in Egypt!
I’m going to put you back to living in tents,
as in the old days when you worshiped in the wilderness.
I speak through the prophets
to give clear pictures of the way things are.
Using prophets, I tell revealing stories.
I show Gilead rampant with religious scandal
and Gilgal teeming with empty-headed religion.
I expose their worship centers as
stinking piles of garbage in their gardens.”
12-14 Are you going to repeat the life of your ancestor Jacob?
He ran off guilty to Aram,
Then sold his soul to get ahead,
and made it big through treachery and deceit.
Your real identity is formed through God-sent prophets,
who led you out of Egypt and served as faithful pastors.
As it is, Ephraim has continually
and inexcusably insulted God.
Now he has to pay for his life-destroying ways.
His Master will do to him what he has done.
Religion Customized to Taste
13 1-3 God once let loose against Ephraim
a terrifying sentence against Israel:
Caught and convicted
in the lewd sex-worship of Baal—they died!
And now they’re back in the sin business again,
manufacturing god-images they can use,
Religion customized to taste. Professionals see to it:
Anything you want in a god you can get.
Can you believe it? They sacrifice live babies to these dead gods—
kill living babies and kiss golden calves!
And now there’s nothing left to these people:
hollow men, desiccated women,
Like scraps of paper blown down the street,
like smoke in a gusty wind.
4-6 “I’m still your God,
the God who saved you out of Egypt.
I’m the only real God you’ve ever known.
I’m the one and only God who delivers.
I took care of you during the wilderness hard times,
those years when you had nothing.
I took care of you, took care of all your needs,
gave you everything you needed.
You were spoiled. You thought you didn’t need me.
You forgot me.
7-12 “I’ll charge them like a lion,
like a leopard stalking in the brush.
I’ll jump them like a sow grizzly robbed of her cubs.
I’ll rip out their guts.
Coyotes will make a meal of them.
Crows will clean their bones.
I’m going to destroy you, Israel.
Who is going to stop me?
Where is your trusty king you thought would save you?
Where are all the local leaders you wanted so badly?
All these rulers you insisted on having,
demanding, ‘Give me a king! Give me leaders!’?
Well, long ago I gave you a king, but I wasn’t happy about it.
Now, fed up, I’ve gotten rid of him.
I have a detailed record of your infidelities—
Ephraim’s sin documented and stored in a safe-deposit box.
13-15 “When birth pangs signaled it was time to be born,
Ephraim was too stupid to come out of the womb.
When the passage into life opened up,
he didn’t show.
Shall I intervene and pull them into life?
Shall I snatch them from a certain death?
Who is afraid of you, Death?
Who cares about your threats, Tomb?
In the end I’m abolishing regret,
banishing sorrow,
Even though Ephraim ran wild,
the black sheep of the family.
15-16 “God’s tornado is on its way,
roaring out of the desert.
It will devastate the country,
leaving a trail of ruin and wreckage.
The cities will be gutted,
dear possessions gone for good.
Now Samaria has to face the charges
because she has rebelled against her God:
Her people will be killed, babies smashed on the rocks,
pregnant women ripped open.”
Come Back! Return to Your God!
14 1-3 O Israel, come back! Return to your God!
You’re down but you’re not out.
Prepare your confession
and come back to God.
Pray to him, “Take away our sin,
accept our confession.
Receive as restitution
our repentant prayers.
Assyria won’t save us;
horses won’t get us where we want to go.
We’ll never again say ‘our god’
to something we’ve made or made up.
You’re our last hope. Is it not true
that in you the orphan finds mercy?”
* * *
4-8 “I will heal their waywardness.
I will love them lavishly. My anger is played out.
I will make a fresh start with Israel.
He’ll burst into bloom like a crocus in the spring.
He’ll put down deep oak tree roots,
he’ll become a forest of oaks!
He’ll become splendid—like a giant sequoia,
his fragrance like a grove of cedars!
Those who live near him will be blessed by him,
be blessed and prosper like golden grain.
Everyone will be talking about them,
spreading their fame as the vintage children of God.
Ephraim is finished with gods that are no-gods.
From now on I’m the one who answers and satisfies him.
I am like a luxuriant fruit tree.
Everything you need is to be found in me.”
* * *
9 If you want to live well,
make sure you understand all of this.
If you know what’s good for you,
you’ll learn this inside and out.
God’s paths get you where you want to go.
Right-living people walk them easily;
wrong-living people are always tripping and stumbling.
Hosea 11-14
New International Version
Hosea 11-14
New International Version
God’s Love for Israel
11 “When Israel was a child,(A) I loved(B) him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.(C)
2 But the more they were called,
the more they went away from me.[a](D)
They sacrificed to the Baals(E)
and they burned incense to images.(F)
3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them by the arms;(G)
but they did not realize
it was I who healed(H) them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with ties of love.(I)
To them I was like one who lifts
a little child to the cheek,
and I bent down to feed(J) them.(K)
5 “Will they not return to Egypt(L)
and will not Assyria(M) rule over them
because they refuse to repent?(N)
6 A sword(O) will flash in their cities;
it will devour(P) their false prophets
and put an end to their plans.
7 My people are determined to turn(Q) from me.(R)
Even though they call me God Most High,
I will by no means exalt them.
8 “How can I give you up,(S) Ephraim?(T)
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I treat you like Admah?
How can I make you like Zeboyim?(U)
My heart is changed within me;
all my compassion(V) is aroused.(W)
9 I will not carry out my fierce anger,(X)
nor will I devastate(Y) Ephraim again.
For I am God, and not a man(Z)—
the Holy One(AA) among you.
I will not come against their cities.
10 They will follow the Lord;
he will roar(AB) like a lion.(AC)
When he roars,
his children will come trembling(AD) from the west.(AE)
11 They will come from Egypt,
trembling like sparrows,
from Assyria,(AF) fluttering like doves.(AG)
I will settle them in their homes,”(AH)
declares the Lord.
Israel’s Sin
12 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,(AI)
Israel with deceit.
And Judah is unruly against God,
even against the faithful(AJ) Holy One.[b](AK)
12 [c]1 Ephraim(AL) feeds on the wind;(AM)
he pursues the east wind all day
and multiplies lies and violence.(AN)
He makes a treaty with Assyria(AO)
and sends olive oil to Egypt.(AP)
2 The Lord has a charge(AQ) to bring against Judah;(AR)
he will punish(AS) Jacob[d] according to his ways
and repay him according to his deeds.(AT)
3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel;(AU)
as a man he struggled(AV) with God.
4 He struggled with the angel and overcame him;
he wept and begged for his favor.
He found him at Bethel(AW)
and talked with him there—
5 the Lord God Almighty,
the Lord is his name!(AX)
6 But you must return(AY) to your God;
maintain love and justice,(AZ)
and wait for your God always.(BA)
7 The merchant uses dishonest scales(BB)
and loves to defraud.
8 Ephraim boasts,(BC)
“I am very rich; I have become wealthy.(BD)
With all my wealth they will not find in me
any iniquity or sin.”
9 “I have been the Lord your God
ever since you came out of Egypt;(BE)
I will make you live in tents(BF) again,
as in the days of your appointed festivals.
10 I spoke to the prophets,
gave them many visions
and told parables(BG) through them.”(BH)
11 Is Gilead wicked?(BI)
Its people are worthless!
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?(BJ)
Their altars will be like piles of stones
on a plowed field.(BK)
12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram[e];(BL)
Israel served to get a wife,
and to pay for her he tended sheep.(BM)
13 The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt,(BN)
by a prophet he cared for him.(BO)
14 But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;
his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed(BP)
and will repay him for his contempt.(BQ)
The Lord’s Anger Against Israel
13 When Ephraim spoke, people trembled;(BR)
he was exalted(BS) in Israel.
But he became guilty of Baal worship(BT) and died.
2 Now they sin more and more;
they make(BU) idols for themselves from their silver,(BV)
cleverly fashioned images,
all of them the work of craftsmen.(BW)
It is said of these people,
“They offer human sacrifices!
They kiss[f](BX) calf-idols!(BY)”
3 Therefore they will be like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears,(BZ)
like chaff(CA) swirling from a threshing floor,(CB)
like smoke(CC) escaping through a window.
4 “But I have been the Lord your God
ever since you came out of Egypt.(CD)
You shall acknowledge(CE) no God but me,(CF)
no Savior(CG) except me.
5 I cared for you in the wilderness,(CH)
in the land of burning heat.
6 When I fed them, they were satisfied;
when they were satisfied, they became proud;(CI)
then they forgot(CJ) me.(CK)
7 So I will be like a lion(CL) to them,
like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
8 Like a bear robbed of her cubs,(CM)
I will attack them and rip them open;
like a lion(CN) I will devour them—
a wild animal will tear them apart.(CO)
9 “You are destroyed, Israel,
because you are against me,(CP) against your helper.(CQ)
10 Where is your king,(CR) that he may save you?
Where are your rulers in all your towns,
of whom you said,
‘Give me a king and princes’?(CS)
11 So in my anger I gave you a king,(CT)
and in my wrath I took him away.(CU)
12 The guilt of Ephraim is stored up,
his sins are kept on record.(CV)
13 Pains as of a woman in childbirth(CW) come to him,
but he is a child without wisdom;
when the time(CX) arrives,
he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb.(CY)
14 “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;(CZ)
I will redeem them from death.(DA)
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?(DB)
“I will have no compassion,
15 even though he thrives(DC) among his brothers.
An east wind(DD) from the Lord will come,
blowing in from the desert;
his spring will fail
and his well dry up.(DE)
His storehouse will be plundered(DF)
of all its treasures.
16 The people of Samaria(DG) must bear their guilt,(DH)
because they have rebelled(DI) against their God.
They will fall by the sword;(DJ)
their little ones will be dashed(DK) to the ground,
their pregnant women(DL) ripped open.”[g]
Repentance to Bring Blessing
14 [h]Return,(DM) Israel, to the Lord your God.
Your sins(DN) have been your downfall!(DO)
2 Take words with you
and return to the Lord.
Say to him:
“Forgive(DP) all our sins
and receive us graciously,(DQ)
that we may offer the fruit of our lips.[i](DR)
3 Assyria cannot save us;(DS)
we will not mount warhorses.(DT)
We will never again say ‘Our gods’(DU)
to what our own hands have made,(DV)
for in you the fatherless(DW) find compassion.”
4 “I will heal(DX) their waywardness(DY)
and love them freely,(DZ)
for my anger has turned away(EA) from them.
5 I will be like the dew(EB) to Israel;
he will blossom like a lily.(EC)
Like a cedar of Lebanon(ED)
he will send down his roots;(EE)
6 his young shoots will grow.
His splendor will be like an olive tree,(EF)
his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.(EG)
7 People will dwell again in his shade;(EH)
they will flourish like the grain,
they will blossom(EI) like the vine—
Israel’s fame will be like the wine(EJ) of Lebanon.(EK)
8 Ephraim, what more have I[j] to do with idols?(EL)
I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a flourishing juniper;(EM)
your fruitfulness comes from me.”
Footnotes
- Hosea 11:2 Septuagint; Hebrew them
- Hosea 11:12 In Hebrew texts this verse (11:12) is numbered 12:1.
- Hosea 12:1 In Hebrew texts 12:1-14 is numbered 12:2-15.
- Hosea 12:2 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives.
- Hosea 12:12 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
- Hosea 13:2 Or “Men who sacrifice / kiss
- Hosea 13:16 In Hebrew texts this verse (13:16) is numbered 14:1.
- Hosea 14:1 In Hebrew texts 14:1-9 is numbered 14:2-10.
- Hosea 14:2 Or offer our lips as sacrifices of bulls
- Hosea 14:8 Or Hebrew; Septuagint What more has Ephraim
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.