Hosea 7-10
Complete Jewish Bible
7 when I am ready to heal Isra’el,
the crimes of Efrayim confront me,
along with the wickedness of Shomron.
For they keep practicing deceit;
thieves break in, bands of robbers raid outside.
2 They never say to themselves
that I remember all their evil.
Now their own deeds surround them;
they are right in front of me.
3 They make the king glad with their wickedness,
and the leaders with their lies.
4 They are all adulterers,
like an oven heated by the baker,
who doesn’t stoke the fire
from kneading time till the dough has risen.
5 “On their king’s special day
the leaders inflame him with wine,
and he joins hands with scorners,
6 who ready themselves like an oven
while they wait for their chance.
Their baker sleeps through the night;
then in the morning it bursts into flame.
7 They are all as hot as an oven,
and they devour their judges.
All their kings have fallen;
not one of them calls out to me.
8 “Efrayim mixes himself with the peoples,
Efrayim has become a half-baked cake.
9 Foreigners have eaten up his strength,
but he doesn’t know it;
yes, gray hairs appear on him here and there,
but he doesn’t know it.
10 The pride of Isra’el testifies in his face,
but in spite of all this they haven’t returned
to Adonai their God or sought him.
11 Efrayim behaves like a silly, foolish dove —
going to Egypt, then to Ashur for help.
12 Even as they go, I will spread my net over them;
I will bring them down like birds from the sky;
I will discipline them, as their assembly was told.
13 Woe to them! for they have strayed from me.
Destruction to them! for they have wronged me.
Am I supposed to redeem them,
when they have spoken lies against me?
14 They have not cried out to me from their hearts,
even though they wail on their beds.
They assemble themselves for grain and wine,
yet turn away from me.
15 It was I who trained and strengthened their arms,
yet they plot evil against me.
16 They return, but not upward;
they are like an unreliable bow.
Their leaders will die by the sword
because of their angry talk.
They will become a laughingstock
in the land of Egypt.
8 “Put the shofar to your lips!
Like a vulture [he swoops down] on the house of Adonai,
because they have violated my covenant
and sinned intentionally against my Torah.
2 Will they cry out to me,
‘We are Isra’el, God, we know you’?
3 Isra’el has thrown away what is good;
the enemy will pursue him.
4 They make kings, but without my authority;
they appoint leaders, but without my knowledge.
With their silver and gold they make themselves idols,
but these can lead only to their own destruction.
5 Your calf, Shomron, has been thrown away;
my fury burns against them.
How long will it be until they are able
to make themselves clean?
6 Here is what Isra’el produces:
a craftsman makes something — it’s a non-god;
the calf of Shomron will be broken to pieces.
7 For they sow the wind,
so they will reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain has no ears,
so it will yield no flour;
and if it does yield any,
foreigners will swallow it up.
8 Isra’el is swallowed up;
now they are among the Goyim
like a vessel nobody wants.
9 For they have gone up to Ashur;
like a wild donkey, alone by itself,
Efrayim has bargained for lovers.
10 But even if they bargain among the Goyim,
now I will round them up.
Soon they will start to feel the burden
of these kings and leaders.
11 For Efrayim keeps building altars for sin;
yes, altars are sinful for him.
12 I write him so many things from my Torah,
yet he considers them foreign.
13 They offer me sacrifices of flesh and eat them,
but Adonai does not accept them.
Now he will recall their crimes and punish their sins —
they will return to Egypt.
14 For Isra’el forgot his maker and built palaces;
and Y’hudah made more fortified cities;
but I will send fire on his cities,
and it will consume their strongholds.”
9 Don’t rejoice, Isra’el!
Don’t enjoy yourselves as other peoples do;
for you have gone whoring away from your God,
you love being hired as a whore on every grain-floor.
2 Threshing-floor and winepress won’t feed them,
and new wine will disappoint her.
3 They won’t remain in the land of Adonai;
instead, Efrayim will return to Egypt,
and they will eat unclean food in Ashur.
4 They will not pour out wine offerings to Adonai;
they will not be pleasing to him.
Their sacrifices will be for them like mourners’ food —
everyone eating it will be polluted.
For their food will be merely to satisfy their appetite;
it will not come into the house of Adonai.
5 What will you do at a designated time,
on a day which is a festival for Adonai?
6 For suppose they escape the destruction —
Egypt will round them up,
Memphis will bury them.
And their precious treasures of silver?
Nettles will possess them,
thorns will be in their tents.
7 The days of punishment have come,
the days of retribution are here,
and Isra’el knows it.
[Yet they cry,] “The prophet is a fool,
the man of the spirit has gone crazy!”
Because your iniquity is so great,
the hostility [against you] is great.
8 The watchman of Efrayim is with my God,
but a prophet has a fowler’s snare set on all his paths
and hostility even in the house of his God.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves,
as in the days of Giv‘ah.
He will remember their guilt,
and he will punish their sins.
10 “When I found Isra’el, it was like finding
grapes in the desert;
when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing
a fig tree’s first figs in its first season.
But as soon as they came to Ba‘al-P‘or,
they dedicated themselves to something shameful;
they became as loathsome
as the thing they loved.
11 The glory of Efrayim will fly away like a bird —
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.
12 Even if they raise their children,
I will destroy them till none is left —
and woe to them when I leave them, too!”
13 Efrayim, as I see it, is like Tzor,
planted in a pleasant place;
but Efrayim will bring out his children
to the slaughterer.
14 Adonai, give them — what will you give?
Give them wombs that miscarry and dried-up breasts!
15 “All their wickedness was already there in Gilgal;
that’s where I came to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will expel them from my house,
I will love them no more;
all their leaders are rebels.
16 Efrayim has been struck down,
their root has been dried up,
they will bear no fruit.
Even if they do give birth,
I will kill their cherished offspring.”
17 My God will cast them aside,
because they wouldn’t listen to him,
and they will become wanderers
among the Goyim.
10 Isra’el was a luxuriant vine,
freely putting forth fruit.
As his fruit increased,
he increased his altars;
as his land got better,
he improved his standing-stones.
2 Their heart is divided;
now they will bear their guilt.
He will break down their altars
and destroy their standing-stones.
3 For now they will say,
“We have no king,
because we didn’t fear Adonai —
and what could a king do for us, anyway?”
4 They mouth words,
swearing falsely, making treaties.
Thus judgment spreads like poisonous weeds
in the furrows of a field.
5 The inhabitants of Shomron are frightened
of the calf-gods of Beit-Aven.
Its people mourn over it;
its priests tremble over it,
over its glory, which has left it.
6 It will be carried to Ashur
as a present for a warring king.
Efrayim will be put to shame,
and Isra’el be ashamed of his own advice.
7 Shomron’s king will perish
like foam on the surface of the water.
8 Destruction will come to the high places of Aven,
that is, to the sin of Isra’el.
Thorns and thistles will grow over their altars;
and they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
9 “Since the days of Giv‘ah you have sinned, Isra’el.
There they took their stand.
For these arrogant people at Giv‘ah,
war was insufficient punishment.
10 When I wish to, I will discipline them;
and the peoples will be gathered against them
to discipline them for their two crimes.”
11 Efrayim is a well-taught cow —
it loves to tread the grain,
and I have spared her fair neck.
But I will put Efrayim in harness,
Y’hudah will have to plow,
Ya‘akov will harrow his own land.
12 If you sow righteousness for yourselves,
you will reap according to grace.
Break up unused ground for yourselves,
because it is time to seek Adonai,
till he comes and rains down
righteousness upon you.
13 You have plowed wickedness, reaped iniquity
and eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you trusted in your own way,
in your large numbers of warriors,
14 turmoil will erupt among your peoples,
and all your fortresses will be destroyed;
just as Shalman destroyed Beit-Arbel
on the day of battle,
when mothers were dashed to pieces
right along with their children.
15 Thus will be done to you, Beit-El,
because of your great wickedness;
at dawn the king of Isra’el
will be completely cut off.
Hoshea 7-10
Orthodox Jewish Bible
7 When I would have healed Yisroel, then the avon (iniquity) of Ephrayim was exposed, and the ra’ot (crimes) of Shomron; for they practice sheker; and the ganav intrudes, and the bandit robs bachutz (in the street).
2 And they consider not in their levavot that I remember all their ra’ah; now their own evil doings surround them; they are before My face.
3 They make the Melech glad with their ra’ah, and the sarim (princes) with their lies.
4 They are all no’afim (adulterers), as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth stirring from the kneading of the batzek (dough), until its chametz leavening rises.
5 In the Yom Malkeinu the sarim (princes) have made him sick with the heat of yayin; he has stretched out his hand with the letzim (mockers).
6 For they have made ready their lev like an oven, while they lie in wait; their anger smolders kol halailah; in the boker it burneth like an eish of flame.
7 They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their shofetim; all their melachim are fallen; there is none among them that calleth unto Me.
8 Ephrayim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephrayim is a flat cake not turned over.
9 Zarim have devoured his ko’ach, and he knoweth it not; yea, gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, yet he hath no da’as.
10 And the ga’on Yisroel testifieth to his face; and they do not return to Hashem Eloheihem, nor seek Him for all this.
11 Ephrayim also is like an easily deceived yonah without sense; they call to Mitzrayim, they turn to Assyria.
12 When they shall go, I will spread My reshet (net) upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of Shomayim; I will chastise them, when I hear them congregating.
13 Woe unto them! For they have strayed from Me. Sod (destruction) unto them because they have committed pesha against Me! Though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken kazav (lies) against Me.
14 And they have not cried unto Me with their levavot, when they wailed upon their beds; they congregate themselves for dagan and tirosh, and they depart from Me.
15 Though I have trained and strengthened their zero’ot (arms), yet do they plot rah against Me.
16 They return, but not to Most High; they are like a faulty keshet; their sarim (princes) shall fall by the cherev for the insolence of their leshon; this shall be their derision in Eretz Mitzrayim.
8 Set the shofar to thy lips. He [the Assyrian enemy] shall come as a nesher against the Bais Hashem, because they have transgressed My brit (covenant), and committed pesha against My torah.
2 Yisroel shall cry unto Me, Elohai, we know Thee. We, Yisroel!
3 Yisroel hath cast off the thing that is tov; the oyev (enemy) shall pursue him.
4 They have set up melachim, but not from Me; they have made sarim (princes), and I knew it not; of their kesef and their zahav have they made them atzabim (idols), that they may be cut off.
5 Thy egel (calf-idol), O Shomron, I am casting off; Mine anger is kindled against them; how long will they be incapable of nikkayon (innocency, freedom from punishment)?
6 They are from Yisroel! The craftsman made it; therefore it is not Elohim; but the egel of Shomron shall be broken in pieces.
7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind; the stalk [of standing grain] hath no tzemach (shoot); it shall yield no kemach (flour); and even if it yielded it, zarim would devour it.
8 Yisroel is swallowed up; now shall they be among the Goyim like a worthless keli (vessel).
9 For they are gone up to Assyria, a pere (wild donkey) off by itself alone; Ephrayim hath sold herself to ahavim (lovers).
10 Yea, though they have bargained among the Goyim, now will I gather them, and they shall begin to diminish on account of the massa (burden) of Melech Sarim.
11 Because Ephrayim hath built many mizbechot for sin, mizbechot shall be unto him to sin.
12 I have written to him the many things of My torah, but they were regarded as a zar (strange thing).
13 They sacrifice basar for the sacrifices of Mine offerings, and eat it; but Hashem accepteth them not; now will He remember their avon (iniquity), and visit punishment on their sins; they shall return to Mitzrayim.
14 For Yisroel hath forgotten His Maker, and buildeth heikhalot; and Yehudah hath multiplied fortified towns; but I will send eish upon his towns, and it shall devour the citadels thereof.
9 Rejoice not, O Yisroel, for joy, as other people; for thou hast gone awhoring from thy G-d, thou hast loved a reward upon every threshing floor.
2 The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the tirosh shall fail in her.
3 They shall not dwell in Hashem’s land; but Ephrayim shall return to Mitzrayim, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
4 They shall not offer yayin offerings to Hashem, 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 nefesh shall not come into the Beis Hashem.
5 What will ye do in the Yom Mo’ed, and in the Yom Chag Hashem?
6 For, lo, they are gone because of destruction; Mitzrayim shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them; nettles shall possess their valuables of kesef; thorns shall be in their tents.
7 The days of pekudah (visitation for divine punishment) are come, the yamim of recompence are come; Yisroel shall know it; the navi is a fool, the ish haruach (spiritual man) is meshuga, for the multitude of thine iniquity and great hatred.
8 The watchman of Ephrayim was with my G-d; but the navi is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the bais of his G-d.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the yamim of Giveah; therefore He will remember their iniquity, He will visit their sins.
10 I found Yisroel like grapes in the midbar; I saw your avot as the bikkurah in the fig tree at her first season; but they went to Ba’al-peor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.
11 As for Ephrayim, their kavod shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the beten (womb), and from the conception.
12 Though they bring up their banim, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!
13 Ephrayim, as I saw Tzor, is planted in a pleasant place; but Ephrayim shall bring forth his banim to the murderer.
14 Give them, O Hashem. What wilt Thou give? Give them a miscarrying rechem (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 bais, I will love them no more; all their sarim (princes) are sorerim (rebels).
16 Ephrayim is struck, their shoresh (root) is dried up, they shall bear no fruit; yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their beten (womb).
17 My G-d will cast them away, because they did not pay heed unto Him; and they shall be nodedim (wanderers) among the Goyim.
10 Yisroel is a running gefen, he bringeth forth p’ri unto himself; according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the mizbechot; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly matzevot (stone pillars, monuments).
2 Their lev is deceitful; now shall they bear guilt; He shall break down their mizbechot, He shall destroy their matzevot.
3 For now they shall say, We have no Melech, because we feared not Hashem; but if we did have a Melech, what could he do for us?
4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in cutting brit (covenant); thus mishpat springeth up as poisonous herb in the furrows of the sadeh.
5 The inhabitants of Shomron tremble because of the eglot (calf-idols) of Beit-Aven; for the people thereof shall mourn over it, likewise the komer (idolatrous priests) over it, who shout for joy over its kavod, for it has gone into the Golus for them.
6 It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a minchah (present) to the great king; Ephrayim shall receive disgrace, and Yisroel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
7 As for Shomron, her melech will float off like a twig upon the surface of the mayim.
8 The high places also of Aven, the chattat Yisroel, shall be made shmad; the kotz (thorn) and the dardar (thistle) shall come up on their mizbechot; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
9 O Yisroel, thou hast sinned from the yamei Giveah; there they have continued. Did not milchamah (war) overtake the bnei alvah (children of unruliness) in Giveah?
10 When I please, I will chastise them; amim shall be gathered against them, when they are punished for their shtei avon (double iniquity).
11 And Ephrayim is an eglah melummadah (a trained heifer), and loveth to tread out the grain; but I will put a yoke on her fair neck; I will drive Ephrayim; Yehudah shall plow, and Ya’akov shall break his clods.
12 Sow to yourselves in tzedakah, reap in chesed; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek Hashem, till He come and rain tzedek upon you.
13 Ye have plowed resha, ye have reaped avlah; ye have eaten the pri kachash (fruit of lies); because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy gibborim (mighty men).
14 Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be devastated, as Shalman devastated Beit-Arbel on the yom milchamah; the em were dashed in pieces with their banim.
15 So shall Beit-El do unto you because of your great wickedness; in the shachar (dawn) shall the Melech Yisroel utterly be cut off [Isa 53:8].
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
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