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Hosea 6-9
New International Version
Hosea 6-9
New International Version
Israel Unrepentant
6 “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)
2 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.
3 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)”
4 “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)
5 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)
6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,(N)
and acknowledgment(O) of God rather than burnt offerings.(P)
7 As at Adam,[b] they have broken the covenant;(Q)
they were unfaithful(R) to me there.
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,(S)
stained with footprints of blood.
9 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,
7 1 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)
2 but they do not realize
that I remember(AE) all their evil deeds.(AF)
Their sins engulf them;(AG)
they are always before me.
3 “They delight the king with their wickedness,
the princes with their lies.(AH)
4 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.
5 On the day of the festival of our king
the princes become inflamed with wine,(AJ)
and he joins hands with the mockers.(AK)
6 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.
7 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.
8 “Ephraim mixes(AO) with the nations;
Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over.
9 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
8 “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)
2 Israel cries out to me,
‘Our God, we acknowledge you!’
3 But Israel has rejected what is good;
an enemy will pursue him.(BP)
4 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.
5 Samaria, throw out your calf-idol!(BS)
My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of purity?(BT)
6 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)
7 “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)
8 Israel is swallowed up;(CA)
now she is among the nations
like something no one wants.(CB)
9 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
9 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.
2 Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people;
the new wine(CU) will fail them.
3 They will not remain(CV) in the Lord’s land;
Ephraim will return to Egypt(CW)
and eat unclean food in Assyria.(CX)
4 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)
5 What will you do(DD) on the day of your appointed festivals,(DE)
on the feast days of the Lord?
6 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.
7 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)
8 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)
9 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.”
Footnotes
- Hosea 6:5 The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.
- Hosea 6:7 Or Like Adam; or Like human beings
- Hosea 7:14 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts They gather together
- Hosea 9:8 Or The prophet is the watchman over Ephraim, / the people of my God
Hosea 6-9
New King James Version
Hosea 6-9
New King James Version
A Call to Repentance
6 Come,(A) and let us return to the Lord;
For (B)He has torn, but (C)He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will [a]bind us up.
2 (D)After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
3 (E)Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.
His going forth is established (F)as the morning;
(G)He will come to us (H)like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth.
Impenitence of Israel and Judah
4 “O Ephraim, what shall I do to you?
O Judah, what shall I do to you?
For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud,
And like the early dew it goes away.
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
I have slain them by (I)the words of My mouth;
And [b]your judgments are like light that goes forth.
6 For I desire (J)mercy[c] and (K)not sacrifice,
And the (L)knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
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.
Israel Has Rebelled Against God
7 “When I would have healed Israel,
Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered,
And the wickedness of Samaria.
For (Q)they have committed fraud;
A thief comes in;
A band of robbers [g]takes spoil outside.
2 They [h]do not consider in their hearts
That (R)I remember all their wickedness;
Now their own deeds have surrounded them;
They are before My face.
3 They make a (S)king glad with their wickedness,
And princes (T)with their lies.
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.
Futile Reliance on the Nations
11 “Ephraim(AB) also is like a silly dove, without [k]sense—
(AC)They call to Egypt,
They go to (AD)Assyria.
12 Wherever they go, I will (AE)spread My net on them;
I will bring them down like birds of the air;
I will chastise them
(AF)According to what their congregation has heard.
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.
The Apostasy of Israel
8 “Set the [o]trumpet to your mouth!
He shall come (AM)like an eagle against the house of the Lord,
Because they have transgressed My covenant
And rebelled against My law.
2 (AN)Israel will cry to Me,
‘My God, (AO)we know You!’
3 Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
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.”
Judgment of Israel’s Sin
9 Do(BI) not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples,
For you have played the harlot against your God.
You have made love for (BJ)hire on every threshing floor.
2 The threshing floor and the winepress
Shall not feed them,
And the new wine shall fail in her.
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.
Footnotes
- Hosea 6:1 Bandage
- Hosea 6:5 Or the judgments on you
- Hosea 6:6 Or faithfulness or loyalty
- Hosea 6:7 Or Adam
- Hosea 6:8 Lit. foot-tracked
- Hosea 6:10 Spiritual adultery
- Hosea 7:1 plunders
- Hosea 7:2 Lit. do not say to
- Hosea 7:5 Lit. with the heat of
- Hosea 7:6 So with MT, Vg.; Syr., Tg. Their anger; LXX Ephraim
- Hosea 7:11 Lit. heart
- Hosea 7:14 So with MT, Tg.; Vg. thought upon; LXX slashed themselves for (cf. 1 Kin. 18:28)
- Hosea 7:14 So with MT, Syr., Tg.; LXX omits They rebel against Me; Vg. They departed from Me
- Hosea 7:16 Or upward
- Hosea 8:1 ram’s horn, Heb. shophar
- Hosea 8:5 Golden calf image
- Hosea 8:5 Or has rejected you
- Hosea 8:10 Or begin to diminish
- Hosea 8:10 Or oracle or proclamation
- Hosea 8:14 Or palaces
- Hosea 8:14 Or citadels
- Hosea 9:8 One who catches birds in a trap or snare
- Hosea 9:10 Or dedicated
Hosea 6-9
New American Standard Bible
Hosea 6-9
New American Standard Bible
The Response to God’s Rebuke
6 “(A)Come, let’s return to the Lord.
For (B)He has torn us, but (C)He will heal us;
He has [a]wounded us, but He will (D)bandage us.
2 He will (E)revive us after two days;
He will (F)raise us up on the third day,
That we may live before Him.
3 So let’s (G)learn, let’s press on to know the Lord.
His (H)appearance is as sure as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the (I)rain,
As the spring rain waters the earth.”
4 What shall I do with you, (J)Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, Judah?
For your loyalty is like a (K)morning cloud,
And like the dew which goes away early.
5 Therefore I have (L)cut them in pieces by the prophets;
I have slain them by the (M)words of My mouth;
And the judgments on you are like the light that [b]shines.
6 For (N)I [c]desire loyalty (O)rather than sacrifice,
And the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
7 But (P)like [d]Adam they have (Q)violated the covenant;
There they have (R)dealt treacherously with Me.
8 (S)Gilead is a city of wrongdoers,
Tracked with (T)bloody footprints.
9 And as a (U)band of robbers lie in wait for a person,
So a band of priests (V)murder on the way to Shechem;
Certainly they have committed an act of (W)infamy.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a (X)horrible thing;
Ephraim’s (Y)infidelity is there, Israel has defiled itself.
11 Also, Judah, there is a (Z)harvest appointed for you,
When I (AA)restore the fortunes of My people.
Ephraim’s Wrongdoing
7 When I (AB)would heal Israel,
The wrongdoing of Ephraim is uncovered,
And the evil deeds of Samaria,
For they practice (AC)deception;
The thief enters,
A band of (AD)robbers attack outside,
2 And they do not [e]consider in their hearts
That I (AE)remember all their wickedness.
Now their (AF)deeds surround them;
They are before My face.
3 (AG)With their wickedness they make the (AH)king happy,
And the officials with their (AI)lies.
4 They are (AJ)all adulterers,
Like an oven heated by the baker,
Who stops [f]stoking the fire
From the time the dough is kneaded until it is leavened.
5 On the [g]day of our king, the officials (AK)became sick with the heat of wine;
He stretched out his hand with [h](AL)scoffers,
6 For their hearts are like an (AM)oven
As they approach their [i]plotting;
Their [j]anger [k]smolders all night,
In the morning it burns like flaming fire.
7 All of them are hot like an oven,
And they consume their (AN)rulers;
All their kings have fallen.
(AO)None of them calls on Me.
8 Ephraim is himself (AP)thrown about with the [l]nations;
Ephraim has become a round loaf not turned over.
9 (AQ)Strangers devour his strength,
Yet he (AR)does not know it;
Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him,
Yet he does not know it.
10 Though the (AS)pride of Israel testifies against him,
Yet (AT)they have not returned to the Lord their God,
Nor have they sought Him, despite all this.
11 So (AU)Ephraim has become like a gullible dove, (AV)without [m]sense;
They call to (AW)Egypt, they go to (AX)Assyria.
12 When they go, I will (AY)spread My net over them;
I will bring them down like the birds of the sky.
I will (AZ)discipline them in accordance with the [n]proclamation to their assembly.
13 (BA)Woe to them, for they have (BB)strayed from Me!
Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me!
I (BC)would redeem them, but they have spoken lies against Me.
14 And (BD)they do not cry to Me from their heart
When they wail on their beds;
For the sake of grain and new wine they [o](BE)assemble themselves,
They (BF)turn against Me.
15 Although I trained and strengthened their arms,
Yet they (BG)devise evil against Me.
16 They turn, but not [p]upward,
They are like a (BH)loose bow;
Their officials will fall by the sword
Because of the [q](BI)insolence of their tongue.
This will be their (BJ)derision in the land of Egypt.
Israel Reaps the Whirlwind
8 (BK)Put the trumpet to your [r]lips!
(BL)Like an eagle the enemy comes (BM)against the house of the Lord,
Because they have (BN)violated My covenant
And rebelled against My (BO)Law.
2 (BP)They cry out to Me,
“My God, (BQ)we of Israel know You!”
3 Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
4 (BR)They have set up kings, but not by Me;
They have appointed officials, but I did not know it.
With their (BS)silver and gold they have made idols for themselves,
So that [s]they will be eliminated.
5 [t]He has rejected your (BT)calf, Samaria, saying,
“My anger burns against them!”
How long will they be incapable of (BU)innocence?
6 For from Israel comes even this!
A (BV)craftsman made it, so it is not God;
Assuredly, the calf of Samaria will be broken to [u]pieces.
7 For (BW)they sow wind
And they harvest a (BX)storm.
The standing grain has no [v]kernels;
It yields (BY)no [w]grain.
If it were to yield, strangers would swallow it.
8 Israel has been (BZ)swallowed up;
They are now among the nations
Like a (CA)vessel in which no one delights.
9 For they have gone up to (CB)Assyria,
Like (CC)a wild donkey all alone;
Ephraim has (CD)paid fees for [x]lovers.
10 Even though they [y]pay for allies among the nations,
I will (CE)gather them up now;
And they will begin (CF)to diminish
Because of the burden of the (CG)king of officials.
11 Since Ephraim has (CH)multiplied altars for sin,
They have become altars of sinning for him.
12 Though (CI)I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My (CJ)Law,
They are regarded as a strange thing.
13 As for My (CK)sacrificial gifts,
They (CL)sacrifice the flesh and eat it,
But the Lord has taken no delight in them.
Now He will (CM)remember their guilt,
And (CN)punish them for their sins;
They will return to (CO)Egypt.
14 For Israel has (CP)forgotten his Maker and (CQ)built palaces;
And Judah has multiplied fortified cities,
But I will send a (CR)fire on its cities, and it will consume its palatial buildings.
Ephraim Punished
9 (CS)Do not rejoice, Israel, [z]with jubilation like the [aa]nations!
For you have (CT)been unfaithful, [ab]abandoning your God.
You have loved the earnings of unfaithfulness on [ac]every threshing floor.
2 Threshing floor and wine press will (CU)not feed them,
And the new wine will fail [ad]them.
3 They will not remain in (CV)the Lord’s land,
But Ephraim will return to (CW)Egypt,
And in (CX)Assyria they will eat (CY)unclean food.
4 They will not pour out drink offerings of (CZ)wine to the Lord,
(DA)Nor will [ae]their sacrifices please Him.
Their bread will be to them like [af]mourners’ bread;
All who eat it will be (DB)defiled,
Because their bread will be for [ag]themselves alone;
It will not enter the house of the Lord.
5 (DC)What will you do on the day of the appointed festival
And on the day of the (DD)feast of the Lord?
6 For behold, they will be gone because of destruction;
Egypt will gather them together, (DE)Memphis will bury them.
Weeds will take possession of their treasures of silver;
(DF)Thorns will be in their tents.
7 The days of (DG)punishment have come,
The days of (DH)retribution have come;
[ah]Let Israel know this!
The prophet is a (DI)fool,
The [ai]inspired person is (DJ)insane,
Because of the grossness of your (DK)wrongdoing,
And because your [aj]hostility is so great.
8 Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet;
Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways,
And there is only [ak]hostility in the house of his God.
9 They are (DL)deeply depraved
As in the days of (DM)Gibeah;
He will (DN)remember their guilt,
He will punish their sins.
10 I found Israel like (DO)grapes in the wilderness;
I saw your forefathers as the (DP)earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season.
But they came to (DQ)Baal-peor and devoted themselves to [al](DR)shame,
And they became as (DS)detestable as that which they loved.
11 As for Ephraim, their (DT)glory will fly away like a bird—
No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!
12 Though they bring up their children,
Yet I will bereave them of their children [am]until not a person is left.
Yes, (DU)woe to them indeed when I depart from them!
13 Ephraim, as I have seen,
Is planted in a pasture like (DV)Tyre;
But Ephraim is going to bring out his children for slaughter.
14 Give to them, Lord—what will You give?
Give them a (DW)miscarrying womb and dried-up breasts.
15 All their evil is at (DX)Gilgal;
Indeed, I came to hate them there!
Because of the (DY)wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of My house!
I will no longer love them;
All their leaders are (DZ)rebels.
16 (EA)Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up,
They will produce (EB)no fruit.
Even though they give birth to children,
I will put to death the (EC)precious ones of their womb.
17 My God will reject them
Because they have (ED)not listened to Him;
And they will be (EE)wanderers among the nations.
Footnotes
- Hosea 6:1 Lit struck
- Hosea 6:5 Lit proceeds
- Hosea 6:6 Or take pleasure in
- Hosea 6:7 Or men
- Hosea 7:2 Lit say to their
- Hosea 7:4 Lit stirring up
- Hosea 7:5 I.e., a festive occasion
- Hosea 7:5 Or rebels
- Hosea 7:6 Lit ambush
- Hosea 7:6 As in some ancient versions; MT baker
- Hosea 7:6 Lit is asleep
- Hosea 7:8 Lit peoples
- Hosea 7:11 Lit heart
- Hosea 7:12 Lit report
- Hosea 7:14 Or LXX and many ancient mss gash themselves
- Hosea 7:16 Or possibly to the Most High
- Hosea 7:16 Lit cursing
- Hosea 8:1 Lit palate
- Hosea 8:4 Lit he
- Hosea 8:5 Or Your calf has rejected you
- Hosea 8:6 Or splinters
- Hosea 8:7 Lit growth
- Hosea 8:7 Or meal
- Hosea 8:9 Lit love gifts
- Hosea 8:10 Or recruit allies
- Hosea 9:1 Lit to
- Hosea 9:1 Lit peoples
- Hosea 9:1 Lit away from your God
- Hosea 9:1 Lit all threshing floors of grain
- Hosea 9:2 Lit her
- Hosea 9:4 Or they offer to Him their
- Hosea 9:4 Lit bread of mourning
- Hosea 9:4 Lit their soul
- Hosea 9:7 Or Israel will know this
- Hosea 9:7 Lit man of the spirit
- Hosea 9:7 Or persecution
- Hosea 9:8 Or persecution
- Hosea 9:10 I.e., Baal
- Hosea 9:12 Lit without a person
Hosea 6-9
New Living Translation
Hosea 6-9
New Living Translation
A Call to Repentance
6 “Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces;
now he will heal us.
He has injured us;
now he will bandage our wounds.
2 In just a short time he will restore us,
so that we may live in his presence.
3 Oh, that we might know the Lord!
Let us press on to know him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
or the coming of rains in early spring.”
4 “O Israel[a] and Judah,
what should I do with you?” asks the Lord.
“For your love vanishes like the morning mist
and disappears like dew in the sunlight.
5 I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces—
to slaughter you with my words,
with judgments as inescapable as light.
6 I want you to show love,[b]
not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me[c]
more than I want burnt offerings.
7 But like Adam,[d] you broke my covenant
and betrayed my trust.
8 “Gilead is a city of sinners,
tracked with footprints of blood.
9 Priests form bands of robbers,
waiting in ambush for their victims.
They murder travelers along the road to Shechem
and practice every kind of sin.
10 Yes, I have seen something horrible in Ephraim and Israel:
My people are defiled by prostituting themselves with other gods!
11 “O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you,
though I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people.
Israel’s Love for Wickedness
7 “I want to heal Israel, but its[e] sins are too great.
Samaria is filled with liars.
Thieves are on the inside
and bandits on the outside!
2 Its people don’t realize
that I am watching them.
Their sinful deeds are all around them,
and I see them all.
3 “The people entertain the king with their wickedness,
and the princes laugh at their lies.
4 They are all adulterers,
always aflame with lust.
They are like an oven that is kept hot
while the baker is kneading the dough.
5 On royal holidays, the princes get drunk with wine,
carousing with those who mock them.
6 Their hearts are like an oven
blazing with intrigue.
Their plot smolders[f] through the night,
and in the morning it breaks out like a raging fire.
7 Burning like an oven,
they consume their leaders.
They kill their kings one after another,
and no one cries to me for help.
8 “The people of Israel mingle with godless foreigners,
making themselves as worthless as a half-baked cake!
9 Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength,
but they don’t even know it.
Their hair is gray,
but they don’t realize they’re old and weak.
10 Their arrogance testifies against them,
yet they don’t return to the Lord their God
or even try to find him.
11 “The people of Israel have become like silly, witless doves,
first calling to Egypt, then flying to Assyria for help.
12 But as they fly about,
I will throw my net over them
and bring them down like a bird from the sky.
I will punish them for all the evil they do.[g]
13 “What sorrow awaits those who have deserted me!
Let them die, for they have rebelled against me.
I wanted to redeem them,
but they have told lies about me.
14 They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts.
Instead, they sit on their couches and wail.
They cut themselves,[h] begging foreign gods for grain and new wine,
and they turn away from me.
15 I trained them and made them strong,
yet now they plot evil against me.
16 They look everywhere except to the Most High.
They are as useless as a crooked bow.
Their leaders will be killed by their enemies
because of their insolence toward me.
Then the people of Egypt
will laugh at them.
Israel Harvests the Whirlwind
8 “Sound the alarm!
The enemy descends like an eagle on the people of the Lord,
for they have broken my covenant
and revolted against my law.
2 Now Israel pleads with me,
‘Help us, for you are our God!’
3 But it is too late.
The people of Israel have rejected what is good,
and now their enemies will chase after them.
4 The people have appointed kings without my consent,
and princes without my approval.
By making idols for themselves from their silver and gold,
they have brought about their own destruction.
5 “O Samaria, I reject this calf—
this idol you have made.
My fury burns against you.
How long will you be incapable of innocence?
6 This calf you worship, O Israel,
was crafted by your own hands!
It is not God!
Therefore, it must be smashed to bits.
7 “They have planted the wind
and will harvest the whirlwind.
The stalks of grain wither
and produce nothing to eat.
And even if there is any grain,
foreigners will eat it.
8 The people of Israel have been swallowed up;
they lie among the nations like an old discarded pot.
9 Like a wild donkey looking for a mate,
they have gone up to Assyria.
The people of Israel[i] have sold themselves—
sold themselves to many lovers.
10 But though they have sold themselves to many allies,
I will now gather them together for judgment.
Then they will writhe
under the burden of the great king.
11 “Israel has built many altars to take away sin,
but these very altars became places for sinning!
12 Even though I gave them all my laws,
they act as if those laws don’t apply to them.
13 The people love to offer sacrifices to me,
feasting on the meat,
but I do not accept their sacrifices.
I will hold my people accountable for their sins,
and I will punish them.
They will return to Egypt.
14 Israel has forgotten its Maker and built great palaces,
and Judah has fortified its cities.
Therefore, I will send down fire on their cities
and will burn up their fortresses.”
Hosea Announces Israel’s Punishment
9 O people of Israel,
do not rejoice as other nations do.
For you have been unfaithful to your God,
hiring yourselves out like prostitutes,
worshiping other gods on every threshing floor.
2 So now your harvests will be too small to feed you.
There will be no grapes for making new wine.
3 You may no longer stay here in the Lord’s land.
Instead, you will return to Egypt,
and in Assyria you will eat food
that is ceremonially unclean.
4 There you will make no offerings of wine to the Lord.
None of your sacrifices there will please him.
They will be unclean, like food touched by a person in mourning.
All who present such sacrifices will be defiled.
They may eat this food themselves,
but they may not offer it to the Lord.
5 What then will you do on festival days?
How will you observe the Lord’s festivals?
6 Even if you escape destruction from Assyria,
Egypt will conquer you, and Memphis[j] will bury you.
Nettles will take over your treasures of silver;
thistles will invade your ruined homes.
7 The time of Israel’s punishment has come;
the day of payment is here.
Soon Israel will know this all too well.
Because of your great sin and hostility,
you say, “The prophets are crazy
and the inspired men are fools!”
8 The prophet is a watchman over Israel[k] for my God,
yet traps are laid for him wherever he goes.
He faces hostility even in the house of God.
9 The things my people do are as depraved
as what they did in Gibeah long ago.
God will not forget.
He will surely punish them for their sins.
10 The Lord says, “O Israel, when I first found you,
it was like finding fresh grapes in the desert.
When I saw your ancestors,
it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season.
But then they deserted me for Baal-peor,
giving themselves to that shameful idol.
Soon they became vile,
as vile as the god they worshiped.
11 The glory of Israel will fly away like a bird,
for your children will not be born
or grow in the womb
or even be conceived.
12 Even if you do have children who grow up,
I will take them from you.
It will be a terrible day when I turn away
and leave you alone.
13 I have watched Israel become as beautiful as Tyre.
But now Israel will bring out her children for slaughter.”
14 O Lord, what should I request for your people?
I will ask for wombs that don’t give birth
and breasts that give no milk.
15 The Lord says, “All their wickedness began at Gilgal;
there I began to hate them.
I will drive them from my land
because of their evil actions.
I will love them no more
because all their leaders are rebels.
16 The people of Israel are struck down.
Their roots are dried up,
and they will bear no more fruit.
And if they give birth,
I will slaughter their beloved children.”
17 My God will reject the people of Israel
because they will not listen or obey.
They will be wanderers,
homeless among the nations.
Footnotes
- 6:4 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel.
- 6:6a Greek version translates this Hebrew term as to show mercy. Compare Matt 9:13; 12:7.
- 6:6b Hebrew to know God.
- 6:7 Or But at Adam.
- 7:1 Hebrew Ephraim’s, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; similarly in 7:8, 11.
- 7:6 Hebrew Their baker sleeps.
- 7:12 Hebrew I will punish them because of what was reported against them in the assembly.
- 7:14 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads They gather together.
- 8:9 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 8:11.
- 9:6 Memphis was the capital of northern Egypt.
- 9:8 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 9:11, 13, 16.
Hosea 6-9
The Message
Hosea 6-9
The Message
Gangs of Priests Assaulting Worshipers
6 1-3 “Come on, let’s go back to God.
He hurt us, but he’ll heal us.
He hit us hard,
but he’ll put us right again.
In a couple of days we’ll feel better.
By the third day he’ll have made us brand-new,
Alive and on our feet,
fit to face him.
We’re ready to study God,
eager for God-knowledge.
As sure as dawn breaks,
so sure is his daily arrival.
He comes as rain comes,
as spring rain refreshing the ground.”
* * *
4-7 “What am I to do with you, Ephraim?
What do I make of you, Judah?
Your declarations of love last no longer
than morning mist and predawn dew.
That’s why I use prophets to shake you to attention,
why my words cut you to the quick:
To wake you up to my judgment
blazing like light.
I’m after love that lasts, not more religion.
I want you to know God, not go to more prayer meetings.
You broke the covenant—just like Adam!
You broke faith with me—ungrateful wretches!
8-9 “Gilead has become Crime City—
blood on the sidewalks, blood on the streets.
It used to be robbers who mugged pedestrians.
Now it’s gangs of priests
Assaulting worshipers on their way to Shechem.
Nothing is sacred to them.
10 “I saw a shocking thing in the country of Israel:
Ephraim worshiping in a religious whorehouse,
and Israel in the mud right there with him.
11 “You’re as bad as the worst of them, Judah.
You’ve been sowing wild oats. Now it’s harvest time.”
Despite All the Signs, Israel Ignores God
7 1-2 “Every time I gave Israel a fresh start,
wiped the slate clean and got them going again,
Ephraim soon filled the slate with new sins,
the treachery of Samaria written out in bold print.
Two-faced and double-tongued,
they steal you blind, pick you clean.
It never crosses their mind
that I keep account of their every crime.
They’re mud-spattered head to toe with the residue of sin.
I see who they are and what they’ve done.
3-7 “They entertain the king with their evil circus,
delight the princes with their acrobatic lies.
They’re a bunch of overheated adulterers,
like an oven that holds its heat
From the kneading of the dough
to the rising of the bread.
On the royal holiday the princes get drunk
on wine and the frenzy of the mocking mob.
They’re like wood stoves,
red-hot with lust.
Through the night their passion is banked;
in the morning it blazes up, flames hungrily licking.
Murderous and volcanic,
they incinerate their rulers.
Their kings fall one by one,
and no one pays any attention to me.
8-10 “Ephraim mingles with the pagans, dissipating himself.
Ephraim is half-baked.
Strangers suck him dry
but he doesn’t even notice.
His hair has turned gray—
he doesn’t notice.
Bloated by arrogance, big as a house,
Israel’s a public disgrace.
Israel lumbers along oblivious to God,
despite all the signs, ignoring God.
11-16 “Ephraim is bird-brained,
mindless, clueless,
First chirping after Egypt,
then fluttering after Assyria.
I’ll throw my net over them. I’ll clip their wings.
I’ll teach them to mind me!
Doom! They’ve run away from home.
Now they’re really in trouble! They’ve defied me.
And I’m supposed to help them
while they feed me a line of lies?
Instead of crying out to me in heartfelt prayer,
they whoop it up in bed with their whores,
Gash themselves bloody in their sex-and-religion orgies,
but turn their backs on me.
I’m the one who gave them good minds and healthy bodies,
and how am I repaid? With evil scheming!
They turn, but not to me—
turn here, then there, like a weather vane.
Their rulers will be cut down, murdered—
just deserts for their mocking blasphemies.
And the final sentence?
Ridicule in the court of world opinion.”
Altars for Sinning
8 1-3 “Blow the trumpet! Sound the alarm!
Vultures are circling over God’s people
Who have broken my covenant
and defied my revelation.
Predictably, Israel cries out, ‘My God! We know you!’
But they don’t act like it.
Israel will have nothing to do with what’s good,
and now the enemy is after them.
4-10 “They crown kings, but without asking me.
They set up princes but don’t let me in on it.
Instead, they make idols, using silver and gold,
idols that will be their ruin.
Throw that gold calf-god on the trash heap, Samaria!
I’m seething with anger against that rubbish!
How long before they shape up?
And they’re Israelites!
A sculptor made that thing—
it’s not God.
That Samaritan calf
will be broken to bits.
Look at them! Planting wind-seeds,
they’ll harvest tornadoes.
Wheat with no head
produces no flour.
And even if it did,
strangers would gulp it down.
Israel is swallowed up and spit out.
Among the pagans they’re a piece of junk.
They trotted off to Assyria:
Why, even wild donkeys stick to their own kind,
but donkey-Ephraim goes out and pays to get lovers.
Now, because of their whoring life among the pagans,
I’m going to gather them together and confront them.
They’re going to reap the consequences soon,
feel what it’s like to be oppressed by the big king.
11-14 “Ephraim has built a lot of altars,
and then uses them for sinning.
Can you believe it? Altars for sinning!
I write out my revelation for them in detail
and they pretend they can’t read it.
They offer sacrifices to me
and then they feast on the meat.
God is not pleased!
I’m fed up—I’ll keep remembering their guilt.
I’ll punish their sins
and send them back to Egypt.
Israel has forgotten his Maker
and gotten busy making palaces.
Judah has gone in for a lot of fortress cities.
I’m sending fire on their cities
to burn down their fortifications.”
Starved for God
9 1-6 Don’t waste your life in wild orgies, Israel.
Don’t party away your life with the heathen.
You walk away from your God at the drop of a hat
and like a whore sell yourself promiscuously
at every sex-and-religion party on the street.
All that party food won’t fill you up.
You’ll end up hungrier than ever.
At this rate you’ll not last long in God’s land:
Some of you are going to end up bankrupt in Egypt.
Some of you will be disillusioned in Assyria.
As refugees in Egypt and Assyria,
you won’t have much chance to worship God—
Sentenced to rations of bread and water,
and your souls polluted by the spirit-dirty air.
You’ll be starved for God,
exiled from God’s own country.
Will you be homesick for the old Holy Days?
Will you miss festival worship of God?
Be warned! When you escape from the frying pan of disaster,
you’ll fall into the fire of Egypt.
Egypt will give you a fine funeral!
What use will all your god-inspired silver be then
as you eke out a living in a field of weeds?
* * *
7-9 Time’s up. Doom’s at the doorstep.
It’s payday!
Did Israel bluster, “The prophet is crazy!
The ‘man of the Spirit’ is nuts!”?
Think again. Because of your great guilt,
you’re in big trouble.
The prophet is looking out for Ephraim,
working under God’s orders.
But everyone is trying to trip him up.
He’s hated right in God’s house, of all places.
The people are going from bad to worse,
rivaling that ancient and unspeakable crime at Gibeah.
God’s keeping track of their guilt.
He’ll make them pay for their sins.
They Took to Sin Like a Pig to Filth
10-13 “Long ago when I came upon Israel,
it was like finding grapes out in the desert.
When I found your ancestors, it was like finding
a fig tree bearing fruit for the first time.
But when they arrived at Baal-peor, that pagan shrine,
they took to sin like a pig to filth,
wallowing in the mud with their newfound friends.
Ephraim is fickle and scattered, like a flock of blackbirds,
their beauty dissipated in confusion and clamor,
Frenetic and noisy, frigid and barren,
and nothing to show for it—neither conception nor childbirth.
Even if they did give birth, I’d declare them
unfit parents and take away their children!
Yes indeed—a black day for them
when I turn my back and walk off!
I see Ephraim letting his children run wild.
He might just as well take them and kill them outright!”
14 Give it to them, God! But what?
Give them a dried-up womb and shriveled breasts.
15-16 “All their evil came out into the open
at the pagan shrine at Gilgal. Oh, how I hated them there!
Because of their evil practices,
I’ll kick them off my land.
I’m wasting no more love on them.
Their leaders are a bunch of rebellious adolescents.
Ephraim is hit hard—
roots withered, no more fruit.
Even if by some miracle they had children,
the dear babies wouldn’t live—I’d make sure of that!”
17 My God has washed his hands of them.
They wouldn’t listen.
They’re doomed to be wanderers,
vagabonds among the godless nations.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) 
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson