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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 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
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 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.