Israel Unrepentant

“Come, let us return(A) to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces(B)
    but he will heal us;(C)
he has injured us
    but he will bind up our wounds.(D)
After two days he will revive us;(E)
    on the third day(F) he will restore(G) us,
    that we may live in his presence.
Let us acknowledge the Lord;
    let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
    he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,(H)
    like the spring rains that water the earth.(I)

“What can I do with you, Ephraim?(J)
    What can I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like the morning mist,
    like the early dew that disappears.(K)
Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets,
    I killed you with the words of my mouth(L)
    then my judgments go forth like the sun.[a](M)
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,(N)
    and acknowledgment(O) of God rather than burnt offerings.(P)
As at Adam,[b] they have broken the covenant;(Q)
    they were unfaithful(R) to me there.
Gilead is a city of evildoers,(S)
    stained with footprints of blood.
As marauders lie in ambush for a victim,(T)
    so do bands of priests;
they murder(U) on the road to Shechem,
    carrying out their wicked schemes.(V)
10 I have seen a horrible(W) thing in Israel:
    There Ephraim is given to prostitution,
    Israel is defiled.(X)

11 “Also for you, Judah,
    a harvest(Y) is appointed.

“Whenever I would restore the fortunes(Z) of my people,

whenever I would heal Israel,
the sins of Ephraim are exposed
    and the crimes of Samaria revealed.(AA)
They practice deceit,(AB)
    thieves break into houses,(AC)
    bandits rob in the streets;(AD)
but they do not realize
    that I remember(AE) all their evil deeds.(AF)
Their sins engulf them;(AG)
    they are always before me.

“They delight the king with their wickedness,
    the princes with their lies.(AH)
They are all adulterers,(AI)
    burning like an oven
whose fire the baker need not stir
    from the kneading of the dough till it rises.
On the day of the festival of our king
    the princes become inflamed with wine,(AJ)
    and he joins hands with the mockers.(AK)
Their hearts are like an oven;(AL)
    they approach him with intrigue.
Their passion smolders all night;
    in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
All of them are hot as an oven;
    they devour their rulers.
All their kings fall,(AM)
    and none of them calls(AN) on me.

“Ephraim mixes(AO) with the nations;
    Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over.
Foreigners sap his strength,(AP)
    but he does not realize it.
His hair is sprinkled with gray,
    but he does not notice.
10 Israel’s arrogance testifies against him,(AQ)
    but despite all this
he does not return(AR) to the Lord his God
    or search(AS) for him.

11 “Ephraim is like a dove,(AT)
    easily deceived and senseless—
now calling to Egypt,(AU)
    now turning to Assyria.(AV)
12 When they go, I will throw my net(AW) over them;
    I will pull them down like the birds in the sky.
When I hear them flocking together,
    I will catch them.
13 Woe(AX) to them,
    because they have strayed(AY) from me!
Destruction to them,
    because they have rebelled against me!
I long to redeem them
    but they speak about me(AZ) falsely.(BA)
14 They do not cry out to me from their hearts(BB)
    but wail on their beds.
They slash themselves,[c] appealing to their gods
    for grain and new wine,(BC)
    but they turn away from me.(BD)
15 I trained(BE) them and strengthened their arms,
    but they plot evil(BF) against me.
16 They do not turn to the Most High;(BG)
    they are like a faulty bow.(BH)
Their leaders will fall by the sword
    because of their insolent(BI) words.
For this they will be ridiculed(BJ)
    in the land of Egypt.(BK)

Israel to Reap the Whirlwind

“Put the trumpet(BL) to your lips!
    An eagle(BM) is over the house of the Lord
because the people have broken my covenant(BN)
    and rebelled against my law.(BO)
Israel cries out to me,
    ‘Our God, we acknowledge you!’
But Israel has rejected what is good;
    an enemy will pursue him.(BP)
They set up kings without my consent;
    they choose princes without my approval.(BQ)
With their silver and gold
    they make idols(BR) for themselves
    to their own destruction.
Samaria, throw out your calf-idol!(BS)
    My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of purity?(BT)
    They are from Israel!
This calf—a metalworker has made it;
    it is not God.(BU)
It will be broken in pieces,
    that calf(BV) of Samaria.(BW)

“They sow the wind
    and reap the whirlwind.(BX)
The stalk has no head;
    it will produce no flour.(BY)
Were it to yield grain,
    foreigners would swallow it up.(BZ)
Israel is swallowed up;(CA)
    now she is among the nations
    like something no one wants.(CB)
For they have gone up to Assyria(CC)
    like a wild donkey(CD) wandering alone.
    Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.(CE)
10 Although they have sold themselves among the nations,
    I will now gather them together.(CF)
They will begin to waste away(CG)
    under the oppression of the mighty king.

11 “Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings,
    these have become altars for sinning.(CH)
12 I wrote for them the many things of my law,
    but they regarded them as something foreign.(CI)
13 Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to me,
    and though they eat(CJ) the meat,
    the Lord is not pleased with them.(CK)
Now he will remember(CL) their wickedness
    and punish their sins:(CM)
    They will return to Egypt.(CN)
14 Israel has forgotten(CO) their Maker(CP)
    and built palaces;
    Judah has fortified many towns.
But I will send fire on their cities
    that will consume their fortresses.”(CQ)

Punishment for Israel

Do not rejoice, Israel;
    do not be jubilant(CR) like the other nations.
For you have been unfaithful(CS) to your God;
    you love the wages of a prostitute(CT)
    at every threshing floor.
Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people;
    the new wine(CU) will fail them.
They will not remain(CV) in the Lord’s land;
    Ephraim will return to Egypt(CW)
    and eat unclean food in Assyria.(CX)
They will not pour out wine offerings(CY) to the Lord,
    nor will their sacrifices please(CZ) him.
Such sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners;(DA)
    all who eat them will be unclean.(DB)
This food will be for themselves;
    it will not come into the temple of the Lord.(DC)

What will you do(DD) on the day of your appointed festivals,(DE)
    on the feast days of the Lord?
Even if they escape from destruction,
    Egypt will gather them,(DF)
    and Memphis(DG) will bury them.(DH)
Their treasures of silver(DI) will be taken over by briers,
    and thorns(DJ) will overrun their tents.
The days of punishment(DK) are coming,
    the days of reckoning(DL) are at hand.
    Let Israel know this.
Because your sins(DM) are so many
    and your hostility so great,
the prophet is considered a fool,(DN)
    the inspired person a maniac.(DO)
The prophet, along with my God,
    is the watchman over Ephraim,[d]
yet snares(DP) await him on all his paths,
    and hostility in the house of his God.(DQ)
They have sunk deep into corruption,(DR)
    as in the days of Gibeah.(DS)
God will remember(DT) their wickedness
    and punish them for their sins.(DU)

10 “When I found Israel,
    it was like finding grapes in the desert;
when I saw your ancestors,
    it was like seeing the early fruit(DV) on the fig(DW) tree.
But when they came to Baal Peor,(DX)
    they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol(DY)
    and became as vile as the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim’s glory(DZ) will fly away like a bird(EA)
    no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.(EB)
12 Even if they rear children,
    I will bereave(EC) them of every one.
Woe(ED) to them
    when I turn away from them!(EE)
13 I have seen Ephraim,(EF) like Tyre,
    planted in a pleasant place.(EG)
But Ephraim will bring out
    their children to the slayer.”(EH)

14 Give them, Lord
    what will you give them?
Give them wombs that miscarry
    and breasts that are dry.(EI)

15 “Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal,(EJ)
    I hated them there.
Because of their sinful deeds,(EK)
    I will drive them out of my house.
I will no longer love them;(EL)
    all their leaders are rebellious.(EM)
16 Ephraim(EN) is blighted,
    their root is withered,
    they yield no fruit.(EO)
Even if they bear children,
    I will slay(EP) their cherished offspring.”

17 My God will reject(EQ) them
    because they have not obeyed(ER) him;
    they will be wanderers among the nations.(ES)

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 6:5 The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.
  2. Hosea 6:7 Or Like Adam; or Like human beings
  3. Hosea 7:14 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts They gather together
  4. Hosea 9:8 Or The prophet is the watchman over Ephraim, / the people of my God

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.

After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

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.

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.

Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.

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

But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

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

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

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

11 Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.

When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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 imagine mischief 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.

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.

Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.

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

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.

Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?

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.

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

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

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 fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor.

The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.

They shall not dwell in the Lord's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.

They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the Lord.

What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the Lord?

For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles.

The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.

The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.

They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.

11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.

12 Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!

13 Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.

14 Give them, O Lord: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

15 All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.

16 Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.

17 My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Jesus Greater Than Moses

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters,(A) who share in the heavenly calling,(B) fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge(C) as our apostle and high priest.(D) He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.(E) Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses,(F) just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.(G) “Moses was faithful as a servant(H) in all God’s house,”[a](I) bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son(J) over God’s house. And we are his house,(K) if indeed we hold firmly(L) to our confidence and the hope(M) in which we glory.

Warning Against Unbelief

So, as the Holy Spirit says:(N)

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts(O)
as you did in the rebellion,
    during the time of testing in the wilderness,
where your ancestors tested and tried me,
    though for forty years they saw what I did.(P)
10 That is why I was angry with that generation;
    I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
    and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,(Q)
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ (R)[b](S)

12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.(T) 13 But encourage one another daily,(U) as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.(V) 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold(W) our original conviction firmly to the very end.(X) 15 As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts
    as you did in the rebellion.”[c](Y)

16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?(Z) 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness?(AA) 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest(AB) if not to those who disobeyed?(AC) 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.(AD)

Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 3:5 Num. 12:7
  2. Hebrews 3:11 Psalm 95:7-11
  3. Hebrews 3:15 Psalm 95:7,8

Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.

For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.

For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.

And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,

Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.