Hosea 8-14

New International Version

⁷ “They sow the wind
    and reap the whirlwind.^(M)
The stalk has no head;
    it will produce no flour.^(N)
Were it to yield grain,
    foreigners would swallow it up.^(O)
8 Israel is swallowed up;^(P)
    now she is among the nations
    like something no one wants.^(Q)
9 For they have gone up to Assyria^(R)
    like a wild donkey^(S) wandering alone.
    Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.^(T)
10 Although they have sold themselves among the nations,
    I will now gather them together.^(U)
They will begin to waste away^(V)
    under the oppression of the mighty king.

¹¹ “Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings,
    these have become altars for sinning.^(W)
12 I wrote for them the many things of my law,
    but they regarded them as something foreign.^(X)
13 Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to me,
    and though they eat^(Y) the meat,
    the Lord is not pleased with them.^(Z)
Now he will remember^(AA) their wickedness
    and punish their sins:^(AB)
    They will return to Egypt.^(AC)
14 Israel has forgotten^(AD) their Maker^(AE)
    and built palaces;
    Judah has fortified many towns.
But I will send fire on their cities
    that will consume their fortresses.”^(AF)

⁵ What will you do^(AS) on the day of your appointed festivals,^(AT)
    on the feast days of the Lord?
⁶ Even if they escape from destruction,
    Egypt will gather them,^(AU)
    and Memphis^(AV) will bury them.^(AW)
Their treasures of silver^(AX) will be taken over by briers,
    and thorns^(AY) will overrun their tents.
⁷ The days of punishment^(AZ) are coming,
    the days of reckoning^(BA) are at hand.
    Let Israel know this.
Because your sins^(BB) are so many
    and your hostility so great,
the prophet is considered a fool,^(BC)
    the inspired person a maniac.^(BD)
8 The prophet, along with my God,
    is the watchman over Ephraim,^[a]
yet snares^(BE) await him on all his paths,
    and hostility in the house of his God.^(BF)
9 They have sunk deep into corruption,^(BG)
    as in the days of Gibeah.^(BH)
God will remember^(BI) their wickedness
    and punish them for their sins.^(BJ)

¹⁰ “When I found Israel,
    it was like finding grapes in the desert;
when I saw your ancestors,
    it was like seeing the early fruit^(BK) on the fig^(BL) tree.
But when they came to Baal Peor,^(BM)
    they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol^(BN)
    and became as vile as the thing they loved.
¹¹ Ephraim’s glory^(BO) will fly away like a bird^(BP)—
    no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.^(BQ)
12 Even if they rear children,
    I will bereave^(BR) them of every one.
Woe^(BS) to them
    when I turn away from them!^(BT)
13 I have seen Ephraim,^(BU) like Tyre,
    planted in a pleasant place.^(BV)
But Ephraim will bring out
    their children to the slayer.”^(BW)

¹⁴ Give them, Lord—
    what will you give them?
Give them wombs that miscarry
    and breasts that are dry.^(BX)

¹⁵ “Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal,^(BY)
    I hated them there.
Because of their sinful deeds,^(BZ)
    I will drive them out of my house.
I will no longer love them;^(CA)
    all their leaders are rebellious.^(CB)
16 Ephraim^(CC) is blighted,
    their root is withered,
    they yield no fruit.^(CD)
Even if they bear children,
    I will slay^(CE) their cherished offspring.”

¹⁷ My God will reject^(CF) them
    because they have not obeyed^(CG) him;
    they will be wanderers among the nations.^(CH)

10 Israel was a spreading vine;^(CI)
    he brought forth fruit for himself.
As his fruit increased,
    he built more altars;^(CJ)
as his land prospered,^(CK)
    he adorned his sacred stones.^(CL)
2 Their heart is deceitful,^(CM)
    and now they must bear their guilt.^(CN)
The Lord will demolish their altars^(CO)
    and destroy their sacred stones.^(CP)

³ Then they will say, “We have no king
    because we did not revere the Lord.
But even if we had a king,
    what could he do for us?”
⁴ They make many promises,
    take false oaths^(CQ)
    and make agreements;^(CR)
therefore lawsuits spring up
    like poisonous weeds^(CS) in a plowed field.
⁵ The people who live in Samaria fear
    for the calf-idol^(CT) of Beth Aven.^[b](CU)
Its people will mourn over it,
    and so will its idolatrous priests,^(CV)
those who had rejoiced over its splendor,
    because it is taken from them into exile.^(CW)
6 It will be carried to Assyria^(CX)
    as tribute^(CY) for the great king.^(CZ)
Ephraim will be disgraced;^(DA)
    Israel will be ashamed^(DB) of its foreign alliances.
⁷ Samaria’s king will be destroyed,^(DC)
    swept away like a twig on the surface of the waters.
⁸ The high places^(DD) of wickedness^[c](DE) will be destroyed—
    it is the sin of Israel.
Thorns^(DF) and thistles will grow up
    and cover their altars.^(DG)
Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”^(DH)
    and to the hills, “Fall on us!”^(DI)

⁹ “Since the days of Gibeah,^(DJ) you have sinned,^(DK) Israel,
    and there you have remained.^[d]
Will not war again overtake
    the evildoers in Gibeah?
¹⁰ When I please, I will punish^(DL) them;
    nations will be gathered against them
    to put them in bonds for their double sin.
¹¹ Ephraim is a trained heifer
    that loves to thresh;
so I will put a yoke^(DM)
    on her fair neck.
I will drive Ephraim,
    Judah must plow,
    and Jacob must break up the ground.
¹² Sow^(DN) righteousness^(DO) for yourselves,
    reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;^(DP)
    for it is time to seek^(DQ) the Lord,
until he comes
    and showers his righteousness^(DR) on you.
¹³ But you have planted wickedness,
    you have reaped evil,^(DS)
    you have eaten the fruit of deception.^(DT)
Because you have depended on your own strength
    and on your many warriors,^(DU)
14 the roar of battle will rise against your people,
    so that all your fortresses will be devastated^(DV)—
as Shalman^(DW) devastated Beth Arbel on the day of battle,
    when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children.^(DX)
15 So will it happen to you, Bethel,
    because your wickedness is great.
When that day dawns,
    the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.^(DY)

⁵ “Will they not return to Egypt^(EK)
    and will not Assyria^(EL) rule over them
    because they refuse to repent?^(EM)
6 A sword^(EN) will flash in their cities;
    it will devour^(EO) their false prophets
    and put an end to their plans.
⁷ My people are determined to turn^(EP) from me.^(EQ)
    Even though they call me God Most High,
    I will by no means exalt them.

⁸ “How can I give you up,^(ER) Ephraim?^(ES)
    How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I treat you like Admah?
    How can I make you like Zeboyim?^(ET)
My heart is changed within me;
    all my compassion^(EU) is aroused.^(EV)
9 I will not carry out my fierce anger,^(EW)
    nor will I devastate^(EX) Ephraim again.
For I am God, and not a man^(EY)—
    the Holy One^(EZ) among you.
    I will not come against their cities.
¹⁰ They will follow the Lord;
    he will roar^(FA) like a lion.^(FB)
When he roars,
    his children will come trembling^(FC) from the west.^(FD)
11 They will come from Egypt,
    trembling like sparrows,
    from Assyria,^(FE) fluttering like doves.^(FF)
I will settle them in their homes,”^(FG)
    declares the Lord.

⁷ The merchant uses dishonest scales^(GA)
    and loves to defraud.
⁸ Ephraim boasts,^(GB)
    “I am very rich; I have become wealthy.^(GC)
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;^(GD)
I will make you live in tents^(GE) again,
    as in the days of your appointed festivals.
¹⁰ I spoke to the prophets,
    gave them many visions
    and told parables^(GF) through them.”^(GG)

¹¹ Is Gilead wicked?^(GH)
    Its people are worthless!
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?^(GI)
    Their altars will be like piles of stones
    on a plowed field.^(GJ)
12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram^[i];^(GK)
    Israel served to get a wife,
    and to pay for her he tended sheep.^(GL)
13 The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt,^(GM)
    by a prophet he cared for him.^(GN)
14 But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;
    his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed^(GO)
    and will repay him for his contempt.^(GP)

⁴ “But I have been the Lord your God
    ever since you came out of Egypt.^(HC)
You shall acknowledge^(HD) no God but me,^(HE)
    no Savior^(HF) except me.
⁵ I cared for you in the wilderness,^(HG)
    in the land of burning heat.
⁶ When I fed them, they were satisfied;
    when they were satisfied, they became proud;^(HH)
    then they forgot^(HI) me.^(HJ)
7 So I will be like a lion^(HK) to them,
    like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
⁸ Like a bear robbed of her cubs,^(HL)
    I will attack them and rip them open;
like a lion^(HM) I will devour them—
    a wild animal will tear them apart.^(HN)

⁹ “You are destroyed, Israel,
    because you are against me,^(HO) against your helper.^(HP)
10 Where is your king,^(HQ) that he may save you?
    Where are your rulers in all your towns,
of whom you said,
    ‘Give me a king and princes’?^(HR)
11 So in my anger I gave you a king,^(HS)
    and in my wrath I took him away.^(HT)
12 The guilt of Ephraim is stored up,
    his sins are kept on record.^(HU)
13 Pains as of a woman in childbirth^(HV) come to him,
    but he is a child without wisdom;
when the time^(HW) arrives,
    he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb.^(HX)

¹⁴ “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;^(HY)
    I will redeem them from death.^(HZ)
Where, O death, are your plagues?
    Where, O grave, is your destruction?^(IA)

“I will have no compassion,
¹⁵     even though he thrives^(IB) among his brothers.
An east wind^(IC) from the Lord will come,
    blowing in from the desert;
his spring will fail
    and his well dry up.^(ID)
His storehouse will be plundered^(IE)
    of all its treasures.
¹⁶ The people of Samaria^(IF) must bear their guilt,^(IG)
    because they have rebelled^(IH) against their God.
They will fall by the sword;^(II)
    their little ones will be dashed^(IJ) to the ground,
    their pregnant women^(IK) ripped open.”^[k]

⁴ “I will heal^(IW) their waywardness^(IX)
    and love them freely,^(IY)
    for my anger has turned away^(IZ) from them.
⁵ I will be like the dew^(JA) to Israel;
    he will blossom like a lily.^(JB)
Like a cedar of Lebanon^(JC)
    he will send down his roots;^(JD)
6     his young shoots will grow.
His splendor will be like an olive tree,^(JE)
    his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.^(JF)
7 People will dwell again in his shade;^(JG)
    they will flourish like the grain,
they will blossom^(JH) like the vine—
    Israel’s fame will be like the wine^(JI) of Lebanon.^(JJ)
8 Ephraim, what more have I^[n] to do with idols?^(JK)
    I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a flourishing juniper;^(JL)
    your fruitfulness comes from me.”

⁹ Who is wise?^(JM) Let them realize these things.
    Who is discerning? Let them understand.^(JN)
The ways of the Lord are right;^(JO)
    the righteous walk^(JP) in them,
    but the rebellious stumble in them.