Hosea 11-12

Holman Christian Standard Bible

The Lord’s Love for Israel

11 When Israel was a child, I loved him,^(A)
and out of Egypt I called My son.^(B)
²The more they^[a] called them,^[b]^(C)
the more they^[c] departed from Me.^[d]
They kept sacrificing to the Baals^(D)
and burning offerings to idols.^(E)
³It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,^(F)
taking them^[e] in My arms,^(G)
but they never knew that I healed them.^(H)
⁴I led them with human cords,
with ropes of love.^(I)
To them I was like one
who eases the yoke from their jaws;^(J)
I bent down to give them food.^(K)
⁵Israel will not return to the land of Egypt
and Assyria will be his king,^(L)
because they refused to repent.^(M)
⁶A sword will whirl through his cities;^(N)
it will destroy and devour the bars of his gates,^[f]^(O)
because of their schemes.^(P)
⁷My people are bent on turning from Me.^(Q)
Though they call to Him on high,
He will not exalt them at all.

⁸How can I give you up, Ephraim?^(R)
How can I surrender you, Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?^(S)
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?^(T)
I have had a change of heart;
My compassion is stirred!
⁹I will not vent the full fury of My anger;^(U)
I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim.^(V)
For I am God and not man,
the Holy One among you;^(W)
I will not come in rage.^[g]
¹⁰They will follow the Lord;^(X)
He will roar like a lion.^(Y)
When He roars,
His children will come trembling from the west.^(Z)
¹¹They will be roused like birds from Egypt
and like doves^(AA) from the land of Assyria.^(AB)
Then I will settle them in their homes.^(AC)
This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹²^[h] Ephraim surrounds me with lies,^(AD)
the house of Israel, with deceit.
Judah still wanders with God
and is faithful to the holy ones.^[i]^[j]

God’s Case against Jacob’s Heirs

12 Ephraim chases^[k] the wind^(AE)
and pursues the east wind.^(AF)
He continually multiplies lies and violence.
He makes a covenant with Assyria,^(AG)
and olive oil is carried to Egypt.^(AH)

²The Lord also has a dispute with Judah.
He is about to punish Jacob according to his ways;^(AI)
He will repay him based on his actions.
³In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel,^(AJ)
and as an adult he wrestled with God.^(AK)
⁴Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought His favor.^(AL)
He found him^[l] at Bethel,^(AM)
and there He spoke with him.^[m]^(AN)
⁵Yahweh is the God of Hosts;
Yahweh is His name.^(AO)
⁶But you must return to your God.^(AP)
Maintain love and justice,^(AQ)
and always put your hope in God.^(AR)

⁷A merchant loves to extort^(AS)
with dishonest scales in his hands.^(AT)
⁸But Ephraim says:
“How rich I have become;^(AU)
I made it all myself.
In all my earnings,
no one can find any crime in me^(AV)
that I can be punished for!”^[n]

Judgment on Apostate Israel

⁹I have been Yahweh your God
ever since^[o] the land of Egypt.^(AW)
I will make you live in tents again,^(AX)
as in the festival days.
¹⁰I spoke through the prophets^(AY)
and granted many visions;
I gave parables through the prophets.^(AZ)
¹¹Since Gilead is full of evil,^(BA)
they will certainly come to nothing.
They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal;^(BB)
even their altars will be like heaps of rocks^(BC)
on the furrows of a field.

Further Indictment of Jacob’s Heirs

¹²Jacob fled to the land of Aram.^(BD)
Israel worked to earn a wife;^(BE)
he tended flocks for a wife.^(BF)
¹³The Lord brought Israel from Egypt by a prophet,^(BG)
and Israel was tended by a prophet.