Hosea 10-14

Revised Standard Version

³ For now they will say:
    “We have no king,
for we fear not the Lord,
    and a king, what could he do for us?”
⁴ They utter mere words;
    with empty oaths they make covenants;
so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds
    in the furrows of the field.
⁵ The inhabitants of Samar′ia tremble
    for the calf^[b] of Beth-a′ven.
Its people shall mourn for it,
    and its idolatrous priests shall wail^[c] over it,
    over its glory which has departed from it.
⁶ Yea, the thing itself shall be carried to Assyria,
    as tribute to the great king.^[d]
E′phraim shall be put to shame,
    and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.^[e]

⁷ Samar′ia’s king shall perish,
    like a chip on the face of the waters.
⁸ The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
    shall be destroyed.
Thorn and thistle shall grow up
    on their altars;
and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us,
    and to the hills, Fall upon us.

⁹ From the days of Gib′e-ah, you have sinned, O Israel;
    there they have continued.
    Shall not war overtake them in Gib′e-ah?
¹⁰ I will come^[f] against the wayward people to chastise them;
    and nations shall be gathered against them
    when they are chastised^[g] for their double iniquity.

¹¹ E′phraim was a trained heifer
    that loved to thresh,
    and I spared her fair neck;
but I will put E′phraim to the yoke,
    Judah must plow,
    Jacob must harrow for himself.
¹² Sow for yourselves righteousness,
    reap the fruit^[h] of steadfast love;
    break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the Lord,
    that he may come and rain salvation upon you.

¹³ You have plowed iniquity,
    you have reaped injustice,
    you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your chariots^[i]
    and in the multitude of your warriors,
¹⁴ therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people,
    and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,
as Shalman destroyed Beth-ar′bel on the day of battle;
    mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
¹⁵ Thus it shall be done to you, O house of Israel,^[j]
    because of your great wickedness.
In the storm^[k] the king of Israel
    shall be utterly cut off.

³ Yet it was I who taught E′phraim to walk,
    I took them up in my^[n] arms;
    but they did not know that I healed them.
⁴ I led them with cords of compassion,^[o]
    with the bands of love,
and I became to them as one
    who eases the yoke on their jaws,
    and I bent down to them and fed them.

⁵ They shall return to the land of Egypt,
    and Assyria shall be their king,
    because they have refused to return to me.
⁶ The sword shall rage against their cities,
    consume the bars of their gates,
    and devour them in their fortresses.^[p]
7 My people are bent on turning away from me;^[q]
    so they are appointed to the yoke,
    and none shall remove it.

⁸ How can I give you up, O E′phraim!
    How can I hand you over, O Israel!
How can I make you like Admah!
    How can I treat you like Zeboi′im!
My heart recoils within me,
    my compassion grows warm and tender.
⁹ I will not execute my fierce anger,
    I will not again destroy E′phraim;
for I am God and not man,
    the Holy One in your midst,
    and I will not come to destroy.^[r]

¹⁰ They shall go after the Lord,
    he will roar like a lion;
yea, he will roar,
    and his sons shall come trembling from the west;
¹¹ they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt,
    and like doves from the land of Assyria;
    and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord.
^12 [s] E′phraim has encompassed me with lies,
    and the house of Israel with deceit;
but Judah is still known by^[t] God,
    and is faithful to the Holy One.

12 E′phraim herds the wind,
and pursues the east wind all day long;
they multiply falsehood and violence;
    they make a bargain with Assyria,
    and oil is carried to Egypt.

⁷ A trader, in whose hands are false balances,
    he loves to oppress.
⁸ E′phraim has said, “Ah, but I am rich,
    I have gained wealth for myself”;
but all his riches can never offset^[v]
    the guilt he has incurred.
⁹ I am the Lord your God
    from the land of Egypt;
I will again make you dwell in tents,
    as in the days of the appointed feast.

¹⁰ I spoke to the prophets;
    it was I who multiplied visions,
    and through the prophets gave parables.
¹¹ If there is iniquity in Gilead
    they shall surely come to nought;
if in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,
    their altars also shall be like stone heaps
    on the furrows of the field.
¹² (Jacob fled to the land of Aram,
    there Israel did service for a wife,
    and for a wife he herded sheep.)
¹³ By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt,
    and by a prophet he was preserved.
¹⁴ E′phraim has given bitter provocation;
    so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt upon him,
    and will turn back upon him his reproaches.

⁴ I am the Lord your God
    from the land of Egypt;
you know no God but me,
    and besides me there is no saviour.
⁵ It was I who knew you in the wilderness,
    in the land of drought;
⁶ but when they had fed^[x] to the full,
    they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;
    therefore they forgot me.
⁷ So I will be to them like a lion,
    like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
⁸ I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs,
    I will tear open their breast,
and there I will devour them like a lion,
    as a wild beast would rend them.

⁹ I will destroy you, O Israel;
    who^[y] can help you?
¹⁰ Where^[z] now is your king, to save you;
    where are all^[aa] your princes,^[ab] to defend you^[ac]—
those of whom you said,
    “Give me a king and princes”?
¹¹ I have given you kings in my anger,
    and I have taken them away in my wrath.

¹² The iniquity of E′phraim is bound up,
    his sin is kept in store.
¹³ The pangs of childbirth come for him,
    but he is an unwise son;
for now he does not present himself
    at the mouth of the womb.

¹⁴ Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?
    Shall I redeem them from Death?
O Death, where^[ad] are your plagues?
    O Sheol, where^[ae] is your destruction?
    Compassion is hid from my eyes.

¹⁵ Though he may flourish as the reed plant,^[af]
    the east wind, the wind of the Lord, shall come,
    rising from the wilderness;
and his fountain shall dry up,
    his spring shall be parched;
it shall strip his treasury
    of every precious thing.
^16 [ag] Samar′ia shall bear her guilt,
    because she has rebelled against her God;
they shall fall by the sword,
    their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,
    and their pregnant women ripped open.

⁸ O E′phraim, what have I to do with idols?
    It is I who answer and look after you.^[al]
I am like an evergreen cypress,
    from me comes your fruit.

⁹ Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
    whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the Lord are right,
    and the upright walk in them,
    but transgressors stumble in them.