Hosea 5-8

21st Century King James Version

5 “Hear ye this, O priests! And hearken, ye house of Israel! And give ye ear, O house of the king! For judgment is against you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

² And the revolters are deep in slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all.

³ I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from Me; for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled.

⁴ “They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God; for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord.

⁵ And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face; therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.

⁶ They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord, but they shall not find Him; He hath withdrawn Himself from them.

⁷ They have dealt treacherously against the Lord, for they have begotten strange children. Now shall a month devour them with their portions.

⁸ “Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah! Cry aloud at Bethaven! After thee, O Benjamin!

⁹ Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke; among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.

¹⁰ The princes of Judah were like them that remove the landmarks; therefore I will pour out My wrath upon them like water.

¹¹ Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.

¹² Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.

¹³ “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to King Jareb. Yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.

¹⁴ For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah; I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.

¹⁵ I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offense and seek My face; in their affliction they will seek Me early.”

6 Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up.

² After two days will He revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.

³ Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord; His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

⁴ “O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.

⁵ Therefore have I hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.

⁶ For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

⁷ But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant; there have they dealt treacherously against Me.

⁸ Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood.

⁹ And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder on the way by consent; for they commit lewdness.

¹⁰ I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel; there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

¹¹ Also, O Judah, he hath set a harvest for thee, when I returned My people from captivity.

7 “When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, and the wickedness of Samaria. For they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers despoileth without.

² And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own doings have beset them about; they are before My face.

³ They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.

⁴ They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened.

⁵ In the day of our king, the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.

⁶ For they have made ready their heart like an oven, while theylie in wait; their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.

⁷ They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen; there is none among them that calleth unto Me.

⁸ “Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.

⁹ Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not; yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.

¹⁰ And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face; and they do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek Him for all this.

¹¹ “Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart; they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

¹² When they shall go, I will spread My net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.

¹³ Woe unto them, for they have fled from Me! Destruction unto them, because they have transgressed against Me! Though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against Me.

¹⁴ And they have not cried unto Me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds; they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against Me.

¹⁵ Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they contrive evil against Me.

¹⁶ They return, but not to the Most High; they are like a deceitful bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue; this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

8 “Set the trumpet to thy mouth! He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed My covenant, and trespassed against My law.

² Israel shall cry unto Me, ‘My God, we know Thee!’

³ Israel hath cast off the thing that is good; the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴ They have set up kings, but not by Me; they have made princes, and I knew it not. Of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

⁵ “Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; Mine anger is kindled against them. How long will it be ere they attain to innocency?

⁶ For from Israel was it also: the workman made it, therefore it is not God; but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

⁷ For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. It hath no stalk; the bud shall yield no meal. If so it shall yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.

⁸ “Israel is swallowed up; now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.

⁹ For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself; Ephraim hath hired lovers.

¹⁰ Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.

¹¹ “Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.

¹² I have written to him the great things of My law, but they were counted as a strange thing.

¹³ They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of Mine offerings, and eat it; but the Lord accepteth them not. Now will He remember their iniquity and visit their sins; they shall return to Egypt.

¹⁴ For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fortified cities. But I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.”