Hosea 11-14

Common English Bible

11 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
        and out of Egypt I called my son.
² The more I called them,
        the further they went from me;
    they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
        and they burned incense to idols.
³ Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
        I took them up in my arms,
        but they did not know that I healed them.
⁴ I led them
        with bands of human kindness,
        with cords of love.
    I treated them like those
        who lift infants to their cheeks;
        I bent down to them and fed them.

⁵ They will return to the land of Egypt,
        and Assyria will be their king,
        because they have refused to return to me.
⁶ The sword will strike wildly in their cities;
        it will consume the bars of their gates
        and will take everything because of their schemes.
⁷ My people are bent on turning away from me;
        and though they cry out to the Most High,^[a]
        he will not raise them up.

⁸ How can I give you up, Ephraim?
        How can I hand you over, Israel?
    How can I make you like Admah?
        How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
    My heart winces within me;
        my compassion grows warm and tender.

⁹ I won’t act on the heat of my anger;
        I won’t return to destroy Ephraim;
    for I am God and not a human being,
        the holy one in your midst;
    I won’t come in harsh judgment.
¹⁰ They will walk after the Lord,
        who roars like a lion.
        When he roars,
        his children will come trembling from the west.
¹¹ They will come trembling like a bird,
        and like a dove from the land of Assyria;
        and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord.
^12 [b] Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,
        the house of Israel with faithless acts;
        but Judah still walks with God,
        and is faithful to the holy one.

12 ^[c] Ephraim herds the wind,
        and pursues the east wind all day long;
    they multiply lies and violence;
        they make a treaty with Assyria,
        and oil is carried to Egypt.
² The Lord has a charge against Judah,
        and will punish Jacob according to his ways,
        and respond to him according to his deeds.
³ From the womb he tried to be the oldest of twin brothers;
        as an adult he struggled with God.
⁴ He struggled with the messenger and survived;
        he wept and sought his favor;
    he met him at Bethel,
        and there he spoke with him.
⁵ The Lord God of heavenly forces,
        the Lord is his name!
⁶ But you! Return to your God
        with faithful love and justice,
        and wait continually for your God.

13 When Ephraim spoke, there was excitement;
        he was praised in Israel;
        but he became guilty through Baal and died.
² And now they keep on sinning;
    they have made metal images,
        idols of silver,
        as a result of their skill,
            all of them the work of craftsmen.
    “Sacrifice to these,” they say.
        People are kissing calves!
³ Therefore, they will be like the morning mist,
        like the dew that passes away early,
        like husks that swirl from the threshing floor,
        or like smoke from a window.
⁴ Yet I have been the Lord your God
        ever since the land of Egypt;
    and you will know no other gods but me;
        there is no savior besides me.
⁵ I knew you in the wilderness,
        in the land of no rain.
⁶ When I fed them, they were satisfied;
        and their hearts became proud;
        therefore, they forgot me.

⁷ So I will become like a lion to them;
        like a leopard I will lurk beside the road.
⁸ I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs,
        and I will tear open the covering of their hearts.
    I will devour them like a lion,
        as a wild animal would eat them.
⁹ I will destroy you, Israel;
        for you didn’t realize that I could help you.
¹⁰ Where is your king now,
        so that he can save you?
    Where in all your cities are your judges,
        of whom you said,
        “Give me a king and rulers”?
¹¹ I gave you a king in my anger,
        and I took him away in my wrath.
¹² Ephraim’s wickedness is bound up;
        his sin is kept in store.
¹³ The pangs of a woman in childbirth come for him,
        but he is not aware of the time to be born;
    for at the proper time he doesn’t present himself
        at the mouth of the womb.
¹⁴ Will I ransom them from the power of the grave^[d]
        Will I redeem them from death’s hold?
    Death, where are your diseases?
        Grave,^[e] where is your destruction?
        Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
¹⁵ Although he may flourish among rushes,
        the east wind will come—
    the breath of God
        rising from the wilderness;
    and his spring will dry up;
        his fountain will be dried up.
    It will strip his household
        of every cherished possession.
^16 [f] Samaria will be desolate,
        because she has rebelled against her God;
    by the sword they will fall—
        their babies will be dashed,
    and their pregnant women ripped open.

14 ^[g] Return, Israel, to the Lord your God;
        you have stumbled because of your wickedness.
² Prepare to speak
    and return to the Lord;
    say to the Lord,
        “Forgive all wickedness;
            and receive the good.
    Instead of bulls,
        let us offer what we can say:
³ Assyria won’t save us;
        we won’t ride upon horses;
    we will no longer say, ‘Our God,’
        to the work of our hands.
    In you the orphan finds compassion.”

⁴ I will heal their faithlessness;
                I will love them freely,
        for my anger has turned from them.
⁵ I will be like the dew to Israel;
        he will blossom like the lily;
        he will cast out his roots like the forests of Lebanon.^[h]
6 His branches will spread out;
        his beauty will be like the olive tree,
        and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.
⁷ They will again live beneath my shadow,
        they will flourish like a garden;
    they will blossom like the vine,
        their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.
⁸ Ephraim, what do idols have to do with me?
        It is I who answer and look after you.
    I am like a green cypress tree;
        your fruit comes from me.

⁹ Whoever is wise understands these things.
    Whoever observes carefully knows them.
    Truly, the Lord’s ways are right,
        and the righteous will walk in them,
        but evildoers will stumble in them.