Hosea 11:12-13:16

New International Version

Israel’s Sin

¹²Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,^(A)
Israel with deceit.
And Judah is unruly against God,
even against the faithful^(B) Holy One.^[a]^(C)

12 ^[b]¹Ephraim^(D) feeds on the wind;^(E)
    he pursues the east wind all day
    and multiplies lies and violence.^(F)
He makes a treaty with Assyria^(G)
    and sends olive oil to Egypt.^(H)
²The Lord has a charge^(I) to bring against Judah;^(J)
    he will punish^(K) Jacob^[c] according to his ways
    and repay him according to his deeds.^(L)
³In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel;^(M)
    as a man he struggled^(N) with God.
⁴He struggled with the angel and overcame him;
    he wept and begged for his favor.
He found him at Bethel^(O)
    and talked with him there—
⁵the Lord God Almighty,
    the Lord is his name!^(P)
⁶But you must return^(Q) to your God;
    maintain love and justice,^(R)
    and wait for your God always.^(S)

⁷The merchant uses dishonest scales^(T)
    and loves to defraud.
⁸Ephraim boasts,^(U)
    “I am very rich; I have become wealthy.^(V)
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;^(W)
I will make you live in tents^(X) again,
    as in the days of your appointed festivals.
¹⁰I spoke to the prophets,
    gave them many visions
    and told parables^(Y) through them.”^(Z)

¹¹Is Gilead wicked?^(AA)
    Its people are worthless!
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?^(AB)
    Their altars will be like piles of stones
    on a plowed field.^(AC)
¹²Jacob fled to the country of Aram^[d];^(AD)
    Israel served to get a wife,
    and to pay for her he tended sheep.^(AE)
¹³The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt,^(AF)
    by a prophet he cared for him.^(AG)
¹⁴But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;
    his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed^(AH)
    and will repay him for his contempt.^(AI)

The Lord’s Anger Against Israel

13 When Ephraim spoke, people trembled;^(AJ)
    he was exalted^(AK) in Israel.
    But he became guilty of Baal worship^(AL) and died.
²Now they sin more and more;
    they make^(AM) idols for themselves from their silver,^(AN)
cleverly fashioned images,
    all of them the work of craftsmen.^(AO)
It is said of these people,
    “They offer human sacrifices!
    They kiss^[e]^(AP) calf-idols!^(AQ)”
³Therefore they will be like the morning mist,
    like the early dew that disappears,^(AR)
    like chaff^(AS) swirling from a threshing floor,^(AT)
    like smoke^(AU) escaping through a window.

⁴“But I have been the Lord your God
    ever since you came out of Egypt.^(AV)
You shall acknowledge^(AW) no God but me,^(AX)
    no Savior^(AY) except me.
⁵I cared for you in the wilderness,^(AZ)
    in the land of burning heat.
⁶When I fed them, they were satisfied;
    when they were satisfied, they became proud;^(BA)
    then they forgot^(BB) me.^(BC)
⁷So I will be like a lion^(BD) to them,
    like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
⁸Like a bear robbed of her cubs,^(BE)
    I will attack them and rip them open;
like a lion^(BF) I will devour them—
    a wild animal will tear them apart.^(BG)

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

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

“I will have no compassion,
¹⁵    even though he thrives^(BU) among his brothers.
An east wind^(BV) from the Lord will come,
    blowing in from the desert;
his spring will fail
    and his well dry up.^(BW)
His storehouse will be plundered^(BX)
    of all its treasures.
¹⁶The people of Samaria^(BY) must bear their guilt,^(BZ)
    because they have rebelled^(CA) against their God.
They will fall by the sword;^(CB)
    their little ones will be dashed^(CC) to the ground,
    their pregnant women^(CD) ripped open.”^[f]

Footnotes

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.

Psalm 122

New International Version

Psalm 122

A song of ascents. Of David.

¹I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
²Our feet are standing
in your gates, Jerusalem.

³Jerusalem is built like a city
    that is closely compacted together.
⁴That is where the tribes go up—
    the tribes of the Lord—
to praise the name of the Lord
    according to the statute given to Israel.
⁵There stand the thrones for judgment,
    the thrones of the house of David.

⁶Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
    “May those who love^(A) you be secure.
⁷May there be peace^(B) within your walls
    and security within your citadels.^(C)”
⁸For the sake of my family and friends,
    I will say, “Peace be within you.”
⁹For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
    I will seek your prosperity.^(D)