Hosea

11The word of Yahweh that was to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, {and} Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel.

2The beginning of {when} Yahweh spoke through Hosea. And Yahweh said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitutions and children of prostitutions, for prostituting, the land prostitutes {itself} from after Yahweh.”

3So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore a son to him. 4And Yahweh said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for yet a little {while} and I will visit the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and I will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease. 5And it will be on that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

6And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And he said to him, “Call her name Lo Ruhamah, for I will not continue again to have compassion on the house of Israel, but carrying away, I will carry them away. 7But the house of Judah I will have compassion on, and I will save them by Yahweh their God. And I will not save them by bow and by sword and by battle, by horses, and by horsemen.”

8And she weaned Lo Ruhamah, and she conceived and bore a son. 9And he said, “Call his name Lo Ammi, for you {are} not my people, and I {am} not ‘I am’ for you.”

10And it will be {that} the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured and cannot be counted. And it will be {that} in the place where it was said to them, “You {are} not my people,” it will be said to them, “Sons of the living God.” 11And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint for themselves one head, and they will arise from the land, for great {is} the day of Jezreel.

21Say to your brothers, “Ammi,”

and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”

2Contend with your mother, contend,

for she {is} not my wife,

and I {am} not her husband.

And let her remove her prostitutions from her face,

and her adulteries from between her breasts,

3lest I strip her naked,

and place her as {on} the day of her being born,

and I make her like the wilderness, and set her like a land of dryness,

and I kill her with the thirst.

4And I will not have compassion on her children,

for they {are} children of prostitutions.

5For their mother has prostituted {herself};

the one who conceived them has acted shamefully,

for she said, “Let me go after my lovers,

the givers of my bread and my water,

my wool and my linen,

my oil and my drink.”

6Therefore, behold me blocking your way with the thorns,

and I will wall up a wall against her,

and her paths she will not find.

7And she will pursue her lovers,

but she will not overtake them,

and she will seek them,

but she will not find {them}.

And she will say, “Let me go and return

to my first husband,

for {it was} better for me then than now.”

8And she, she did not know that I, I gave to her

the grain and the new wine and the oil,

and silver I multiplied to her,

and gold {which} they made for the Baal.

9Therefore I will return and take my grain in its time,

and my new wine in its appointed time,

and I will snatch away my wool and my linen

{meant} to cover her nakedness.

10And now I will uncover her lewdness

to the eyes of her lovers,

and no man will deliver her from my hand.

11And I will cause all of her joy to cease,

her feast, her new moon, and her Sabbath,

and all of her appointed festivals.

12And I will devastate her vine and her fig tree,

of which she said, “A payment they {are} to me,

which my lovers gave to me.”

And I will make them a forest,

and the beasts of the field will eat them.

13And I will visit on her the days of the Baals,

in which she burned {incense} to them,

and she put on her ring and her jewelry,

and she went after her lovers,

but me she forgot.

—the declaration of Yahweh.

14Therefore, behold, I am alluring her,

and I will lead her {into} the wilderness,

and I will speak on her heart.

15And I will give to her her vineyards from there,

and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope.

And she will answer there as {in} the days of her youth,

and as {on} the day of her going up from the land of Egypt.

16And it will be on that day—the declaration of Yahweh—you will call {me} “My Husband,”

and you will no longer call me “My Baal.”

17And I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth,

and they will no longer be remembered by their name.

18And I will cut a covenant for them on that day,

with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens,

and the creeping things of the ground.

And bow and sword and battle I will break from the land,

and I will make them lie down in safety.

19And I will betroth you to me forever,

and I will betroth you to me

in righteousness and in justice,

and in covenant faithfulness and in compassion.

20And I will betroth you to me in faithfulness,

and you will know Yahweh.

21And it will be on that day,

I will answer—the declaration of Yahweh—I will answer the heavens,

and they, they will answer the earth.

22And the earth will answer the grain and the new wine and the oil,

and they will answer Jezreel.

23And I will sow her for myself on the earth,

and I will have compassion on Lo Ruhamah,

and I will say to Lo Ammi, “You {are} my people,”

and he, he will say, “My God.”

31And Yahweh said to me, “Again go, love a woman loved by a friend and committing adultery, like the love of Yahweh for the sons of Israel, and they turning to other gods and lovers of raisin cakes of grapes.” 2So I bought her for myself for 15 of silver, and a homer of barley, and a lethek of barley. 3And I said to her, “Many days you will dwell with me. You will not prostitute {yourself}, and you will not be to a man, and also I {will be} to you.” 4For many days the sons of Israel will dwell without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without a pillar, and without an ephod, and teraphim. 5Afterward, the sons of Israel will return and will seek Yahweh their God and David their king, and they will tremble toward Yahweh and toward his goodness in the latter days.

41Hear the word of Yahweh, sons of Israel,

for Yahweh has a dispute with the dwellers of the land,

for there is no truth

and there is no covenant faithfulness,

and there is no knowledge of God in the land.

2Swearing and deceiving and murdering and stealing and committing adultery!

They have broken out, and bloodshed touches bloodshed!

3Therefore the land mourns,

and every dweller in it languishes,

along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens,

and even the fish of the sea are gathered away.

4Surely no man may dispute,

and no man may reprove,

but your people {are} like those disputing with a priest!

5And you will stumble by day,

and also the prophet will stumble with you by night,

and I will destroy your mother.

6My people are destroyed from lack of the knowledge.

Because you, you have rejected the knowledge,

I will reject you from being a priest to me.

And you have forgotten the law of your God;

I, I also will forget your sons.

7As they multiplied, so they sinned against me.

I will exchange their glory for dishonor.

8They eat the sin of my people,

and to their iniquity they lift up his soul.

9And it will be like people, like priest.

And I will visit upon him his ways, and I will return his deeds to him.

10And they will eat but not be full.

They prostituted {themselves}, but they will not increase,

for they have forsaken to heed Yahweh.

11Prostitution and wine and new wine take heart.

12My people inquires of his wood,

and his staff declares to him,

for a spirit of prostitutions has led astray,

and they have prostituted {themselves} from under their God.

13On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice,

and on the hills they burn {incense},

under oak and poplar and terebinth,

for its shade {is} good.

Therefore your daughters prostitute {themselves},

and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

14I will not visit upon your daughters when they prostitute {themselves},

and upon your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery,

for the men, they go aside with the prostitutes,

and they sacrifice with the temple prostitutes,

and a people {who} does not understand will be thrown down.

15If you are prostituting {yourself}, Israel,

let not Judah become guilty.

And do not go {to} Gilgal, and do not go up {to} Beth Aven, and do not swear, “{By} the life of Yahweh.”

16For Israel is stubborn like a stubborn cow.

Now will Yahweh pasture them like a lamb in a wide place?

17Ephraim {is} joined to idols.

Leave him alone.

18Their drink has ceased.

Prostituting, they have prostituted {themselves}.

Her shields have loved, loved dishonor.

19A wind has wrapped her in its wings,

and they will have shame from their sacrifices.

51Hear this, priests,

and pay attention, house of Israel,

and give ear, house of the king,

for the judgment {is} for you,

for you have been a snare to Mizpah

and a net spread over Tabor.

2And the revolters have made the slaughter deep,

but I {will} be a reproof to all of them.

3I, I know Ephraim,

and Israel is not hidden from me,

for now you have prostituted {yourself}, Ephraim;

Israel is defiled.

4Their deeds will not allow {them}

to return to their God,

for a spirit of prostitutions {is} in their midst,

and they do not know Yahweh.

5And the pride of Israel testifies against his face,

and Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their sin;

Judah also stumbles with them.

6With their flocks and with their herds

they will go to seek Yahweh,

but they will not find {him}.

He has withdrawn from them.

7They have betrayed Yahweh,

for they have borne strange children.

Now {at} the new moon he will devour them

with their portions.

8Blow a shofar in Gibeah,

a trumpet in Ramah!

Sound the alarm at Beth Aven!

After you, Benjamin!

9Ephraim will become a desolation

in the day of rebuke.

Among the tribes of Israel

I have made known what is certain.

10The princes of Judah have become

like the movers of a boundary.

I will pour out my wrath on them

like water.

11Ephraim is oppressed,

crushed {in} judgment,

because he was determined,

he walked after nonsense.

12So I {am} like a moth to Ephraim,

and like rot to the house of Judah.

13And Ephraim saw his sickness,

and Judah {saw} his wound,

then Ephraim went to Assyria

and sent to the king of Yareb.

But he, he is not able to heal you,

and he will not remove the wound from you.

14For I {will be} like a lion to Ephraim,

and like a young lion to the house of Judah.

I, I, I will tear and go away;

I will carry off,

and there will be no rescuer.

15I will go, I shall return to my place,

until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face.

In their distress

they will earnestly seek me.

61“Come, and let us return to Yahweh,

for he, he has torn, and he will heal us;

he struck, and he will bind us up.

2He will revive us after two days;

on the third day he will raise us up,

and we will live to his face.

3And let us know, let us pursue to know Yahweh.

Like the dawn, {his} going forth is established,

and he will come like the rain to us,

like the latter rain {that} waters the land.”

4What shall I do for you, Ephraim?

What shall I do for you, Judah?

And your covenant faithfulness {is} like a cloud of the morning,

and like the dew rising early {and} going {away.}

5Therefore I have hewn {them} by the prophets;

I have killed them by the words of my mouth,

and your judgments {are as} light {that} goes forth.

6For I desire covenant faithfulness and not sacrifice,

and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

7But they, like Adam, they transgressed {the} covenant;

there they acted treacherously against me.

8Gilead {is} a city of workers of evil,

tracked with blood.

9And, as lying in wait for a man, {are} bands;

a company of priests murder {on} the way toward Shechem,

for they have done villainy.

10In the house of Israel I have seen the horrible;

Ephraim’s prostitution {is} there;

Israel is defiled.

11Also, Judah, he has appointed a harvest for you.

When I restore the fortunes of my people,

71when I would heal Israel,

then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered,

and the evils of Samaria,

for they practice falsehood,

and a thief comes in;

a raiding band strips {them} outside.

2And they do not say to their heart

{that} I remember all of their evil.

Now their deeds surround them;

they are before my face.

3By their evil they make {the} king glad,

and by their lies, {the} princes.

4All of them {are} adulterers,

like an oven burning from a baker;

he ceases from awakening {it},

from the kneading of the dough until leavening it.

5{On} the day of our king,

the princes made {him} sick {with} heat from wine.

He extended his hand with the mockers.

6For they have brought near their heart like an oven

in their ambush.

All the night their baker {is} asleep;

{in} the morning it is burning like a fire of flame.

7All of them are hot like an oven,

and they devour their judges.

All of their kings have fallen;

there is none among them calling to me.

8Ephraim, he mixes himself among the peoples.

Ephraim is a bread cake not turned over.

9Strangers have devoured his strength,

and he does not know {it}.

Moreover, gray hair is sprinkled on him,

and he does not know {it}.

10And the pride of Israel testifies against his face,

and they have not returned to Yahweh their God,

and they have not sought him in all this.

11And Ephraim has been like a dove,

being silly, without heart.

They called {to} Egypt;

they went {to} Assyria.

12Whenever they go, I will spread my net over them;

like birds of the heavens I will bring them down.

I will discipline them

according to the report to their congregation.

13Woe to them, for they have wandered from me!

Destruction to them, for they have revolted against me!

And I, I would redeem them,

but they, they have spoken lies against me.

14And they have not cried out to me in their heart,

but they wail on their beds.

For grain and new wine they sojourn;

they turn away from me.

15And I, I trained,

I strengthened their arms,

but against me they plan evil.

16They turn, {but} not upward;

they are like a deceitful bow.

Their princes will fall by the sword

from the indignation of their tongue.

This {is} their scorn in the land of Egypt.

81“To your palate, a shofar!

Like a vulture over the house of Yahweh,

because they have transgressed my covenant

and against my law they have rebelled.

2To me they cry out,

‘My God, we, Israel, know you.’

3Israel has rejected the good;

an enemy will pursue him.

4They, they have made kings, but not from me.

They have appointed princes, but I did not know.

Their silver and their gold

they have made for themselves {into} idols,

so that he will be cut off.”

5“He has rejected your calf, Samaria.

My nose burns against them.

Until when will they not attain innocence?

6For from Israel {is} even this:

a craftsman made it,

and it {is} not God!

Surely the calf of Samaria

will become broken pieces.

7For they sow wind,

and they will reap a whirlwind;

standing grain on which there is no head.

It will not yield flour.

If perhaps it yields,

strangers will swallow it up.

8Israel is swallowed up.

Now they are among the nations

like a vessel in which there is no delight.

9For they, they have gone up to Assyria,

a wild donkey alone by itself.

Ephraim has hired lovers.

10Even though they hire among the nations,

now I will gather them.

And they will begin {in} a little

from the burden of the king of princes.

11Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin,

they have become for him altars for sin.

12Were I to write for him myriads of my law,

they would be regarded as something strange.

13The sacrifices of my gifts

they sacrifice flesh and they eat.

Yahweh does not accept them.

Now he will remember their iniquity

and punish their sins.

They, they will return to Egypt.

14And Israel forgot his maker

and built palaces.

And Judah has multiplied fortified cities,

but I will send fire on his cities,

and it will devour her citadels.”

91Do not rejoice, Israel,

to joy like the peoples,

for you have prostituted {yourself} from upon your God.

You have loved prostitute-wages

on all the threshing floors of grain.

2The threshing floor and the winepress will not feed them,

and the new wine will fail her.

3They will not dwell in the land of Yahweh,

and Ephraim will return {to} Egypt,

and in Assyria they will eat unclean {food}.

4They will not pour out wine to Yahweh,

and their sacrifices will not be pleasing to him;

like bread of mourning {they will be} to them;

all the eaters of it will be defiled.

For their bread {will} be for their appetite;

it will not enter the house of Yahweh.

5What will you do for the day of meeting,

and for the day of the festival of Yahweh?

6For behold, they go away from destruction,

Egypt will gather them;

Memphis will bury them.

Nettles will possess the precious things of their silver;

thorns {will be} in their tents.

7The days of punishment have come;

the days of retribution have come.

Israel will know {it}!

The prophet {is} a fool;

the man of the Spirit is insane,

because of the abundance of your iniquity

and great hostility.

8The watcher of Ephraim {is} with my God;

{as for} the prophet, a snare of a fowler {is} on all his ways;

hostility {is} in the house of his God.

9They have made deep, they have corrupted {themselves}

as {in} the days of Gibeah.

He will remember their iniquity;

he will punish their sins.

10Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel.

Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its beginning, I saw your fathers.

They, they came to Baal Peor,

and they devoted themselves to the shame,

and they became abominations like {what} they loved.

11Ephraim—like a bird their glory will fly away—

from birth, and from womb, and from conception.

12Even if they raise their children,

I will bereave them from a man.

For indeed, woe to them

when I turn away from them!

13Ephraim—just as I have seen for Tyre,

planted in a meadow,

so Ephraim {is} to bring out his children to the slayer.

14Give to them, Yahweh—what will you give?

Give to them a miscarrying womb

and dry breasts.

15All their evil {is} in Gilgal,

for there I hated them.

Because of the evil of their deeds,

I will drive them out of my house.

I will not continue loving them;

all their princes {are} rebels.

16Ephraim is struck;

their root has dried up;

they will not produce fruit.

Even if they do give birth,

then I will kill the precious ones of their womb.

17My God will reject them,

for they have not listened to him,

so they will be wanderers among the nations.

101Israel {is} an emptying vine;

he places fruit for himself.

According to the abundance of his fruit,

he made abundant altars.

According to the goodness of his land,

they made good pillars.

2Their heart is slippery;

now they will bear guilt.

He, he will break the neck of their altars;

he will destroy their pillars.

3For now they will say,

“There is no king for us,

for we did not fear Yahweh,

and the king—what could he do for us?”

4They have spoken words,

swearing oaths of worthlessness, cutting a covenant,

so judgment sprouts like a poisonous weed

on the furrows of a field.

5The inhabitant of Samaria will be afraid

for the calves of Beth Aven,

for its people will mourn over it,

and its idolatrous priests will shout

over it, over its glory,

for it has departed from it.

6Even it will be carried to Assyria,

a tribute to the king of Yareb.

Ephraim will receive shame,

and Israel will be ashamed of his counsel.

7Samaria—its king will be ended,

like a splinter on the face of the waters.

8And the high places of Aven will be destroyed,

the sin of Israel.

Thorn and thistle will grow up on their altars,

and they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”

and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

9From the days of Gibeah

you have sinned, Israel.

There they have stood.

Will not war overtake them in Gibeah,

against the sons of injustice?

10When it is my desire, I will chastise them,

and peoples will be gathered against them

when they are bound to their two eyes.

11And Ephraim {is} a trained heifer

loving to thresh,

but I, I have passed over upon

the goodness of her neck.

I will harness Ephraim;

Judah will plow;

Jacob will harrow by himself.

12Sow for yourselves for righteousness;

reap to the mouth of covenant faithfulness.

Till for yourselves tillage,

and {it is} time to seek Yahweh,

until he comes

and rains righteousness on you.

13You have plowed wickedness;

you have reaped injustice.

You have eaten the fruit of deception,

for you trusted in your way,

in the multitude of your warriors.

14And a tumult will arise among your people,

and all your fortresses will be destroyed,

as Shalman destroyed Beth Arbel

on the day of battle—

a mother was dashed to pieces

upon {her} sons.

15Thus he will do to you, Bethel,

from the face of the evil of your evil.

At the dawn, the king of Israel being destroyed,

will be destroyed.

111When Israel was a child I loved him,

and out of Egypt I called my son.

2They called to them, thus they went from their faces.

They kept sacrificing to the Baals

and burning to the idols.

3Yet I, I taught Ephraim to walk.

He took them upon his arms,

but they did not know that I healed them.

4I led them with cords of humanity,

with bands of love.

And I was to them like the lifters of a yoke on their jaws,

and I bent down to him; I fed {him}.

5He will not return to the land of Egypt,

but Assyria—he {will be} his king,

because they refused to return.

6The sword will whirl against his cities,

and will destroy his bars,

and will devour because of their plans.

7And my people are bent on turning away from me.

Though they call to him on high,

he will not raise {them} up at all.

8How can I give you up, Ephraim,

surrender you, Israel?

How can I make you like Admah,

set you like Zeboiim?

My heart is turned over within me;

all my compassions are aroused together.

9I will not carry out the burning of my nose; I will not repeat to destroy Ephraim! For I {am} God and not man, the Holy {One} in your midst, and I will not come in wrath. 10They will come after Yahweh;

he will roar like a lion.

When he, he roars,

sons will come trembling from the sea.

11They will come trembling like a bird from Egypt, and like a dove from the land of Assyria. And I will settle them in their homes—the declaration of Yahweh. 12Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit. But Judah still roams with God, and is established with the Holy {One}.

121Ephraim is feeding on wind

and pursuing the east-wind all the day.

He multiplies lies and destruction.

And they cut a covenant with Assyria,

and oil is carried to Egypt.

2And a dispute {is} to Yahweh with Judah,

and to punish Jacob according to his ways;

according to his deeds he will repay to him.

3In the womb he took his brother by the heel,

and in his manhood he struggled with God.

4And he struggled with an angel and prevailed.

He wept and begged favor of him.

At Bethel he found him,

and there he spoke with us.

5And Yahweh, the God of Armies—

Yahweh {is} his memorial name.

6And you, by your God you must return.

Keep covenant faithfulness and justice,

and wait for your God continually.

7A merchant—in his hand {are} scales of deceit—

he loves to oppress.

8And Ephraim said, “Surely I have become rich;

I have found wealth for myself.

All of my labors—they will not find iniquity in me

that {would be} sin.”

9“And I {am} Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt.

I will make you dwell in tents again,

as in the days of the appointed festival.

10And I spoke through the prophets,

and I, I multiplied visions,

and by the hand of the prophets I gave parables.”

11If Gilead {is} iniquity,

surely they have become worthlessness.

In Gilgal, they sacrifice bulls;

even their altars {will be} like heaps

on the furrows of the field.

12And Jacob fled {to} the field of Aram,

and Israel served for a wife,

and for a wife he kept {sheep}.

13And by a prophet Yahweh brought Israel up from Egypt,

and by a prophet he was kept.

14Ephraim has provoked bitternesses,

and his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him

and will return his reproach to him.

131When Ephraim spoke—trembling!

He lifted up himself in Israel.

But he became guilty through Baal

and died.

2And now they continue to sin,

and they have made for themselves a cast image from their silver,

idols according to their skill,

all of it the work of craftsmen.

To them they are saying {things},

the sacrificers of humanity, they kiss calves!

3Therefore they will be like a cloud of the morning

and like the dew rising early, going;

like chaff—it is blown away from the threshing floor—

and like smoke from a window.

4“Yet I {am} Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt,

and you will not know a god except me,

and there is no savior besides me.

5I, I knew you in the wilderness,

in the land of drought.

6According to their pasturage, then they became satisfied;

they were satisfied, and their heart was lifted up.

Therefore they forgot me.

7So I am to them like a lion;

like a leopard along the path I will watch.

8I will encounter them like a bereaved bear,

and I will tear open the enclosure of their heart.

And I will devour them there like a lioness;

the beast of the field will rip them open.

9It has destroyed you, Israel,

that {you are} against me, against your help.

10Where {is} your king now,

that he may save you in all of your cities,

and your judges of whom you said,

‘Give to me a king and princes’?

11I give to you a king in my nose,

and I take {him} away in my wrath.

12The iniquity of Ephraim {is} bound up;

his sin {is} stored up.

13The pains of a woman giving birth will come to him;

he {is} a son not wise,

for {at} the time he does not stand

at the womb opening of sons.

14From the hand of Sheol I would ransom them;

from death I would redeem them!

Where are your plagues, Death?

Where is your destruction, Sheol?

Relenting is hidden from my eyes.

15Although he, among brothers, he bears fruit,

an easterly will come, the wind of Yahweh,

coming up from the wilderness,

and his fountain will be ashamed

and his spring will dry up.

It, it will plunder the treasury

of every vessel of desire.

16Samaria will bear guilt,

for she has rebelled against her God.

By the sword they will fall;

their young children will be dashed to pieces,

and his pregnant women will be ripped open.”

141Return, Israel, to Yahweh your God,

for you have stumbled in your iniquity.

2Take with you words and return to Yahweh.

Say to him, “Take away all iniquity

and accept {what} is good,

and let us repay {with} bulls of our lips.

3Assyria will not save us;

we will not ride on a horse.

And we will not say anymore, ‘Our God,’

to the work of our hands,

who by you the fatherless is shown compassion.”

4“I will heal their turning away;

I will love them freely,

for my nose has turned away from them.

5I will be like the dew to Israel;

he will blossom like the lily,

and he will strike his roots like Lebanon.

6His shoots will go forth,

and his splendor will be like the olive tree,

and the scent of him like Lebanon.”

7They will return, dwellers in his shadow;

they will revive grain

and blossom like the vine.

His remembrance {will be} like the wine of Lebanon.

8“Ephraim, what to me still to idols?

I, I have answered and I will look after him.

I {am} like a luxuriant cypress;

from me your fruit is found.”

9Who {is} wise? Then let him understand these things.

Discerning? Then let him know them.

For the ways of Yahweh {are} right,

and the righteous will walk in them,

but the transgressors will stumble in them.