Hosea 6-8

English Standard Version

Israel and Judah Are Unrepentant

6 “Come, let us ^(A)return to the Lord;
    for ^(B)he has torn us, that he may heal us;
    he has struck us down, and ^(C)he will bind us up.
²After two days ^(D)he will revive us;
    on the third day he will raise us up,
    that we may live before him.
³^(E)Let us know; ^(F)let us press on to know the Lord;
    ^(G)his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us ^(H)as the showers,
    ^(I)as the spring rains that water the earth.”

⁴What shall I do with you, ^(J)O ^(K)Ephraim?
    What shall I do with you, O ^(L)Judah?
Your love is ^(M)like a morning cloud,
    ^(N)like the dew that goes early away.
⁵Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
    I have slain them ^(O)by the words of my mouth,
    and my judgment goes forth as the light.
⁶For ^(P)I desire steadfast love^[a] and not sacrifice,
    ^(Q)the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

⁷But ^(R)like Adam they ^(S)transgressed the covenant;
    ^(T)there they dealt faithlessly with me.
⁸^(U)Gilead is a city of evildoers,
    ^(V)tracked with blood.
⁹As robbers ^(W)lie in wait for a man,
    so the priests band together;
they murder on the way to ^(X)Shechem;
    they commit villainy.
¹⁰In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
    ^(Y)Ephraim's whoredom is there; ^(Z)Israel is defiled.

¹¹For you also, O ^(AA)Judah, ^(AB)a harvest is appointed.

When ^(AC)I restore the fortunes of my people,
7 ^(AD)when I would heal Israel,
    the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,
    and the evil deeds of ^(AE)Samaria,
for ^(AF)they deal falsely;
    the thief breaks in,
    and the bandits raid outside.
²But they do not consider
    that ^(AG)I remember all their evil.
Now ^(AH)their deeds surround them;
    ^(AI)they are before my face.
³By their evil ^(AJ)they make ^(AK)the king glad,
    and the princes by their treachery.
⁴^(AL)They are all adulterers;
    they are like a heated oven
whose baker ceases to stir the fire,
    from the kneading of the dough
    until it is leavened.
⁵On the day of ^(AM)our king, the princes
    became sick with the heat of wine;
    he stretched out his hand with mockers.
⁶For with hearts like an oven ^(AN)they approach their intrigue;
    all night their anger smolders;
    in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
⁷All of them are hot as an oven,
    and they devour their rulers.
All ^(AO)their kings ^(AP)have fallen,
    and none of them calls upon me.

⁸Ephraim ^(AQ)mixes himself with the peoples;
    Ephraim is a cake not turned.
⁹^(AR)Strangers devour his strength,
    and ^(AS)he knows it not;
gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,
    and ^(AT)he knows it not.
¹⁰^(AU)The pride of Israel testifies to his face;^[b]
    ^(AV)yet they do not return to the Lord their God,
    nor seek him, for all this.

¹¹Ephraim is like a dove,
    ^(AW)silly and without sense,
    calling to ^(AX)Egypt, going to ^(AY)Assyria.
¹²As they go, ^(AZ)I will spread over them my net;
    I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;
    ^(BA)I will discipline them ^(BB)according to the report made to their congregation.
¹³^(BC)Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!
    Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!
^(BD)I would redeem them,
    but ^(BE)they speak lies against me.

¹⁴^(BF)They do not cry to me from the heart,
    but ^(BG)they wail upon their beds;
for grain and wine they gash themselves;
    they rebel against me.
¹⁵Although ^(BH)I trained and strengthened their arms,
    yet they devise evil against me.
¹⁶They ^(BI)return, but not upward;^[c]
    they are ^(BJ)like a treacherous bow;
their princes shall fall by the sword
    because of ^(BK)the insolence of their tongue.
This shall be their derision ^(BL)in the land of Egypt.

Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind

8 Set ^(BM)the trumpet to your lips!
    One ^(BN)like a vulture is over the house of the Lord,
because ^(BO)they have transgressed my covenant
    and rebelled against my law.
²To me they cry,
    ^(BP)“My God, we—Israel—know you.”
³Israel has spurned the good;
    the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴^(BQ)They made kings, ^(BR)but not through me.
    They set up princes, but I knew it not.
With their silver and gold they made idols
    for their own destruction.
⁵^(BS)I have^[d] spurned your calf, O Samaria.
    My anger burns against them.
^(BT)How long will they be incapable of innocence?
⁶For it is from Israel;
a craftsman made it;
    it is not God.
^(BU)The calf of Samaria
    ^(BV)shall be broken to pieces.^[e]

⁷For ^(BW)they sow the wind,
    and they shall reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain has no heads;
    it shall yield no flour;
if it were to yield,
    ^(BX)strangers would devour it.
⁸^(BY)Israel is swallowed up;
    already they are among the nations
    as ^(BZ)a useless vessel.
⁹For ^(CA)they have gone up to Assyria,
    ^(CB)a wild donkey wandering alone;
    Ephraim has hired lovers.
¹⁰Though they hire allies among the nations,
    I will soon gather them up.
And ^(CC)the king and princes ^(CD)shall soon writhe
    because of the tribute.

¹¹Because Ephraim ^(CE)has multiplied altars for sinning,
    they have become to him altars for sinning.
¹²^(CF)Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands,
    they would be regarded as a strange thing.
¹³As for my sacrificial offerings,
    ^(CG)they sacrifice meat and eat it,
    but the Lord does not accept them.
^(CH)Now he will remember their iniquity
    and punish their sins;
    ^(CI)they shall return to Egypt.
¹⁴For ^(CJ)Israel has forgotten ^(CK)his Maker
    and ^(CL)built palaces,
and ^(CM)Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
    so ^(CN)I will send a fire upon his cities,
    and it shall devour her strongholds.