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Hosea 12-14
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Hosea 12-14
Holman Christian Standard Bible
God’s Case against Jacob’s Heirs
12 Ephraim chases[a] the wind(A)
and pursues the east wind.(B)
He continually multiplies lies and violence.
He makes a covenant with Assyria,(C)
and olive oil is carried to Egypt.(D)
2 The Lord also has a dispute with Judah.
He is about to punish Jacob according to his ways;(E)
He will repay him based on his actions.
3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel,(F)
and as an adult he wrestled with God.(G)
4 Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought His favor.(H)
He found him[b] at Bethel,(I)
and there He spoke with him.[c](J)
5 Yahweh is the God of Hosts;
Yahweh is His name.(K)
6 But you must return to your God.(L)
Maintain love and justice,(M)
and always put your hope in God.(N)
7 A merchant loves to extort(O)
with dishonest scales in his hands.(P)
8 But Ephraim says:
“How rich I have become;(Q)
I made it all myself.
In all my earnings,
no one can find any crime in me(R)
that I can be punished for!”[d]
Judgment on Apostate Israel
9 I have been Yahweh your God
ever since[e] the land of Egypt.(S)
I will make you live in tents again,(T)
as in the festival days.
10 I spoke through the prophets(U)
and granted many visions;
I gave parables through the prophets.(V)
11 Since Gilead is full of evil,(W)
they will certainly come to nothing.
They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal;(X)
even their altars will be like heaps of rocks(Y)
on the furrows of a field.
Further Indictment of Jacob’s Heirs
12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram.(Z)
Israel worked to earn a wife;(AA)
he tended flocks for a wife.(AB)
13 The Lord brought Israel from Egypt by a prophet,(AC)
and Israel was tended by a prophet.
14 Ephraim has provoked bitter anger,(AD)
so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him(AE)
and repay him for his contempt.(AF)
13 When Ephraim spoke,(AG) there was trembling;
he was exalted in Israel.(AH)
But he incurred guilt through Baal(AI) and died.
2 Now they continue to sin
and make themselves a cast image,(AJ)
idols skillfully made from their silver,(AK)
all of them the work of craftsmen.(AL)
People say about them,
“Let the men who sacrifice[f] kiss the calves.”(AM)
3 Therefore, they will be like the morning mist,(AN)
like the early dew that vanishes,
like chaff blown from a threshing floor,(AO)
or like smoke from a window.(AP)
Death and Resurrection
4 I have been Yahweh your God(AQ)
ever since[g] the land of Egypt;
you know no God but Me,(AR)
and no Savior exists besides Me.(AS)
5 I knew[h] you in the wilderness,(AT)
in the land of drought.
6 When they had pasture,
they became satisfied;(AU)
they were satisfied,
and their hearts became proud.(AV)
Therefore they forgot Me.(AW)
7 So I will be like a lion(AX) to them;
I will lurk like a leopard(AY) on the path.
8 I will attack them
like a bear robbed of her cubs
and tear open the rib cage over their hearts.
I will devour them there like a lioness,(AZ)
like a wild beast that would rip them open.
9 I will destroy you, Israel;
you have no help but Me.[i](BA)
10 Where now is your king,[j](BB)
that he may save you in all your cities,
and the[k] rulers[l](BC) you demanded, saying,
“Give me a king and leaders”?
11 I give you a king in My anger(BD)
and take away a king in My wrath.(BE)
12 Ephraim’s guilt is preserved;
his sin is stored up.(BF)
13 Labor pains come on him.(BG)
He is not a wise son;(BH)
when the time comes,
he will not be born.[m](BI)
14 I will ransom them from the power of Sheol.
I will redeem[n] them from death.(BJ)
Death, where are your barbs?
Sheol, where is your sting?(BK)
Compassion is hidden from My eyes.(BL)
The Coming Judgment
15 Although he flourishes among his brothers,[o](BM)
an east wind will come,(BN)
a wind from the Lord rising up from the desert.
His water source will fail,
and his spring will run dry.(BO)
The wind[p] will plunder the treasury(BP)
of every precious item.
16 [q]Samaria(BQ) will bear her guilt(BR)
because she has rebelled against her God.(BS)
They will fall by the sword;(BT)
their little ones will be dashed to pieces,(BU)
and their pregnant women ripped open.(BV)
A Plea to Repent
14 Israel, return to Yahweh your God,(BW)
for you have stumbled in your sin.(BX)
2 Take words of repentance with you(BY)
and return to the Lord.
Say to Him: “Forgive all our sin
and accept what is good,
so that we may repay You
with praise[r] from our[s] lips.(BZ)
3 Assyria will not save us,(CA)
we will not ride on horses,(CB)
and we will no longer proclaim, ‘Our gods!’(CC)
to the work of our hands.(CD)
For the fatherless receives compassion in You.”(CE)
A Promise of Restoration
4 I will heal their apostasy;(CF)
I will freely love them,(CG)
for My anger will have turned from him.(CH)
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;(CI)
he will blossom like the lily(CJ)
and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.(CK)
6 His new branches will spread,
and his splendor will be like the olive tree,(CL)
his fragrance, like the forest of Lebanon.(CM)
7 The people will return and live beneath his shade.(CN)
They will grow grain(CO)
and blossom like the vine.
His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim, why should I[t] have anything more
to do with idols?(CP)
It is I who answer and watch over him.
I am like a flourishing pine tree;(CQ)
your fruit comes from Me.(CR)
9 Let whoever is wise(CS) understand these things,
and whoever is insightful recognize them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,(CT)
and the righteous walk in them,(CU)
but the rebellious stumble in them.(CV)
Footnotes
- Hosea 12:1 Or feeds on, or tends
- Hosea 12:4 Or Him
- Hosea 12:4 LXX, Syr; MT reads us
- Hosea 12:8 Lit crime which is sin
- Hosea 12:9 LXX reads God who brought you out of
- Hosea 13:2 Or Those who make human sacrifices
- Hosea 13:4 DSS, LXX read God who brought you out of
- Hosea 13:5 LXX, Syr read fed
- Hosea 13:9 LXX reads At your destruction, Israel, who will help you?
- Hosea 13:10 LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads I will be your king
- Hosea 13:10 Lit your
- Hosea 13:10 Or judges
- Hosea 13:13 Lit he will not present himself at the opening of the womb for sons
- Hosea 13:14 Or Should I ransom . . . Should I redeem . . . ?
- Hosea 13:15 Or among reeds
- Hosea 13:15 Probably the Assyrian king
- Hosea 13:16 Hs 14:1 in Hb
- Hosea 14:2 LXX reads with the fruit
- Hosea 14:2 Lit repay the bulls of our
- Hosea 14:8 LXX reads he
Hosea 12-14
New International Version
Hosea 12-14
New International Version
12 [a]1 Ephraim(A) feeds on the wind;(B)
he pursues the east wind all day
and multiplies lies and violence.(C)
He makes a treaty with Assyria(D)
and sends olive oil to Egypt.(E)
2 The Lord has a charge(F) to bring against Judah;(G)
he will punish(H) Jacob[b] according to his ways
and repay him according to his deeds.(I)
3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel;(J)
as a man he struggled(K) with God.
4 He struggled with the angel and overcame him;
he wept and begged for his favor.
He found him at Bethel(L)
and talked with him there—
5 the Lord God Almighty,
the Lord is his name!(M)
6 But you must return(N) to your God;
maintain love and justice,(O)
and wait for your God always.(P)
7 The merchant uses dishonest scales(Q)
and loves to defraud.
8 Ephraim boasts,(R)
“I am very rich; I have become wealthy.(S)
With all my wealth they will not find in me
any iniquity or sin.”
9 “I have been the Lord your God
ever since you came out of Egypt;(T)
I will make you live in tents(U) again,
as in the days of your appointed festivals.
10 I spoke to the prophets,
gave them many visions
and told parables(V) through them.”(W)
11 Is Gilead wicked?(X)
Its people are worthless!
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?(Y)
Their altars will be like piles of stones
on a plowed field.(Z)
12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram[c];(AA)
Israel served to get a wife,
and to pay for her he tended sheep.(AB)
13 The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt,(AC)
by a prophet he cared for him.(AD)
14 But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;
his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed(AE)
and will repay him for his contempt.(AF)
The Lord’s Anger Against Israel
13 When Ephraim spoke, people trembled;(AG)
he was exalted(AH) in Israel.
But he became guilty of Baal worship(AI) and died.
2 Now they sin more and more;
they make(AJ) idols for themselves from their silver,(AK)
cleverly fashioned images,
all of them the work of craftsmen.(AL)
It is said of these people,
“They offer human sacrifices!
They kiss[d](AM) calf-idols!(AN)”
3 Therefore they will be like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears,(AO)
like chaff(AP) swirling from a threshing floor,(AQ)
like smoke(AR) escaping through a window.
4 “But I have been the Lord your God
ever since you came out of Egypt.(AS)
You shall acknowledge(AT) no God but me,(AU)
no Savior(AV) except me.
5 I cared for you in the wilderness,(AW)
in the land of burning heat.
6 When I fed them, they were satisfied;
when they were satisfied, they became proud;(AX)
then they forgot(AY) me.(AZ)
7 So I will be like a lion(BA) to them,
like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
8 Like a bear robbed of her cubs,(BB)
I will attack them and rip them open;
like a lion(BC) I will devour them—
a wild animal will tear them apart.(BD)
9 “You are destroyed, Israel,
because you are against me,(BE) against your helper.(BF)
10 Where is your king,(BG) that he may save you?
Where are your rulers in all your towns,
of whom you said,
‘Give me a king and princes’?(BH)
11 So in my anger I gave you a king,(BI)
and in my wrath I took him away.(BJ)
12 The guilt of Ephraim is stored up,
his sins are kept on record.(BK)
13 Pains as of a woman in childbirth(BL) come to him,
but he is a child without wisdom;
when the time(BM) arrives,
he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb.(BN)
14 “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;(BO)
I will redeem them from death.(BP)
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?(BQ)
“I will have no compassion,
15 even though he thrives(BR) among his brothers.
An east wind(BS) from the Lord will come,
blowing in from the desert;
his spring will fail
and his well dry up.(BT)
His storehouse will be plundered(BU)
of all its treasures.
16 The people of Samaria(BV) must bear their guilt,(BW)
because they have rebelled(BX) against their God.
They will fall by the sword;(BY)
their little ones will be dashed(BZ) to the ground,
their pregnant women(CA) ripped open.”[e]
Repentance to Bring Blessing
14 [f]Return,(CB) Israel, to the Lord your God.
Your sins(CC) have been your downfall!(CD)
2 Take words with you
and return to the Lord.
Say to him:
“Forgive(CE) all our sins
and receive us graciously,(CF)
that we may offer the fruit of our lips.[g](CG)
3 Assyria cannot save us;(CH)
we will not mount warhorses.(CI)
We will never again say ‘Our gods’(CJ)
to what our own hands have made,(CK)
for in you the fatherless(CL) find compassion.”
4 “I will heal(CM) their waywardness(CN)
and love them freely,(CO)
for my anger has turned away(CP) from them.
5 I will be like the dew(CQ) to Israel;
he will blossom like a lily.(CR)
Like a cedar of Lebanon(CS)
he will send down his roots;(CT)
6 his young shoots will grow.
His splendor will be like an olive tree,(CU)
his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.(CV)
7 People will dwell again in his shade;(CW)
they will flourish like the grain,
they will blossom(CX) like the vine—
Israel’s fame will be like the wine(CY) of Lebanon.(CZ)
8 Ephraim, what more have I[h] to do with idols?(DA)
I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a flourishing juniper;(DB)
your fruitfulness comes from me.”
Footnotes
- Hosea 12:1 In Hebrew texts 12:1-14 is numbered 12:2-15.
- Hosea 12:2 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives.
- Hosea 12:12 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
- Hosea 13:2 Or “Men who sacrifice / kiss
- Hosea 13:16 In Hebrew texts this verse (13:16) is numbered 14:1.
- Hosea 14:1 In Hebrew texts 14:1-9 is numbered 14:2-10.
- Hosea 14:2 Or offer our lips as sacrifices of bulls
- Hosea 14:8 Or Hebrew; Septuagint What more has Ephraim
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