Hosea 6-9

New King James Version

⁷ “But like ^[d]men they transgressed the covenant;
There they dealt treacherously with Me.
^8 (M)Gilead is a city of evildoers
And ^[e]defiled with blood.
⁹ As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man,
So the company of ^(N)priests ^(O)murder on the way to Shechem;
Surely they commit ^(P)lewdness.
¹⁰ I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:
There is the ^[f]harlotry of Ephraim;
Israel is defiled.
¹¹ Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you,
When I return the captives of My people.

⁴ “They^(U) are all adulterers.
Like an oven heated by a baker—
He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough,
Until it is leavened.
⁵ In the day of our king
Princes have made him sick, ^[i]inflamed with ^(V)wine;
He stretched out his hand with scoffers.
⁶ They prepare their heart like an oven,
While they lie in wait;
^[j]Their baker sleeps all night;
In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
⁷ They are all hot, like an oven,
And have devoured their judges;
All their kings have fallen.
^(W)None among them calls upon Me.

⁸ “Ephraim ^(X)has mixed himself among the peoples;
Ephraim is a cake unturned.
^9 (Y)Aliens have devoured his strength,
But he does not know it;
Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him,
Yet he does not know it.
¹⁰ And the ^(Z)pride of Israel testifies to his face,
But ^(AA)they do not return to the Lord their God,
Nor seek Him for all this.

¹³ “Woe to them, for they have fled from Me!
Destruction to them,
Because they have transgressed against Me!
Though ^(AG)I redeemed them,
Yet they have spoken lies against Me.
^14 (AH)They did not cry out to Me with their heart
When they wailed upon their beds.

“They ^[l]assemble together for grain and new ^(AI)wine,
^[m]They rebel against Me;
¹⁵ Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms,
Yet they devise evil against Me;
¹⁶ They return, but not ^[n]to the Most High;
^(AJ)They are like a treacherous bow.
Their princes shall fall by the sword
For the ^(AK)cursings of their tongue.
This shall be their derision ^(AL)in the land of Egypt.

⁴ “They^(AP) set up kings, but not by Me;
They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.
From their silver and gold
They made idols for themselves—
That they might be cut off.
⁵ Your ^[p]calf ^[q]is rejected, O Samaria!
My anger is aroused against them—
^(AQ)How long until they attain to innocence?
⁶ For from Israel is even this:
A ^(AR)workman made it, and it is not God;
But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

⁷ “They^(AS) sow the wind,
And reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no bud;
It shall never produce meal.
If it should produce,
^(AT)Aliens would swallow it up.
^8 (AU)Israel is swallowed up;
Now they are among the Gentiles
^(AV)Like a vessel in which is no pleasure.
⁹ For they have gone up to Assyria,
Like ^(AW)a wild donkey alone by itself;
Ephraim ^(AX)has hired lovers.
¹⁰ Yes, though they have hired among the nations,
Now ^(AY)I will gather them;
And they shall ^[r]sorrow a little,
Because of the ^[s]burden of ^(AZ)the king of princes.

¹¹ “Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin,
They have become for him altars for sinning.
¹² I have written for him ^(BA)the great things of My law,
But they were considered a strange thing.
¹³ For the sacrifices of My offerings ^(BB)they sacrifice flesh and eat it,
^(BC)But the Lord does not accept them.
^(BD)Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
They shall return to Egypt.

¹⁴ “For^(BE) Israel has forgotten ^(BF)his Maker,
And has built ^[t]temples;
Judah also has multiplied ^(BG)fortified cities;
But ^(BH)I will send fire upon his cities,
And it shall devour his ^[u]palaces.”

³ They shall not dwell in ^(BK)the Lord’s land,
^(BL)But Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
And ^(BM)shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
⁴ They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord,
Nor ^(BN)shall their ^(BO)sacrifices be pleasing to Him.
It shall be like bread of mourners to them;
All who eat it shall be defiled.
For their bread shall be for their own life;
It shall not come into the house of the Lord.

⁵ What will you do in the appointed day,
And in the day of the feast of the Lord?
⁶ For indeed they are gone because of destruction.
Egypt shall gather them up;
Memphis shall bury them.
^(BP)Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver;
Thorns shall be in their tents.

⁷ The ^(BQ)days of punishment have come;
The days of recompense have come.
Israel knows!
The prophet is a ^(BR)fool,
^(BS)The spiritual man is insane,
Because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity.
⁸ The ^(BT)watchman of Ephraim is with my God;
But the prophet is a ^[v]fowler’s snare in all his ways—
Enmity in the house of his God.
^9 (BU)They are deeply corrupted,
As in the days of ^(BV)Gibeah.
He will remember their iniquity;
He will punish their sins.

¹⁰ “I found Israel
Like grapes in the ^(BW)wilderness;
I saw your fathers
As the ^(BX)firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to ^(BY)Baal Peor,
And ^[w]separated themselves to that shame;
^(BZ)They became an abomination like the thing they loved.
¹¹ As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird—
No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!
¹² Though they bring up their children,
Yet I will bereave them to the last man.
Yes, ^(CA)woe to them when I depart from them!
¹³ Just ^(CB)as I saw Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place,
So Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer.”

¹⁴ Give them, O Lord—
What will You give?
Give them ^(CC)a miscarrying womb
And dry breasts!

¹⁵ “All their wickedness is in ^(CD)Gilgal,
For there I hated them.
Because of the evil of their deeds
I will drive them from My house;
I will love them no more.
^(CE)All their princes are rebellious.
¹⁶ Ephraim is ^(CF)stricken,
Their root is dried up;
They shall bear no fruit.
Yes, were they to bear children,
I would kill the darlings of their womb.”

¹⁷ My God will ^(CG)cast them away,
Because they did not obey Him;
And they shall be ^(CH)wanderers among the nations.