Hosea 7-10

New King James Version

⁴ “They^(E) 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, ^[c]inflamed with ^(F)wine;
He stretched out his hand with scoffers.
⁶ They prepare their heart like an oven,
While they lie in wait;
^[d]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.
^(G)None among them calls upon Me.

⁸ “Ephraim ^(H)has mixed himself among the peoples;
Ephraim is a cake unturned.
^9 (I)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 ^(J)pride of Israel testifies to his face,
But ^(K)they do not return to the Lord their God,
Nor seek Him for all this.

¹³ “Woe to them, for they have fled from Me!
Destruction to them,
Because they have transgressed against Me!
Though ^(Q)I redeemed them,
Yet they have spoken lies against Me.
^14 (R)They did not cry out to Me with their heart
When they wailed upon their beds.

“They ^[f]assemble together for grain and new ^(S)wine,
^[g]They rebel against Me;
¹⁵ Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms,
Yet they devise evil against Me;
¹⁶ They return, but not ^[h]to the Most High;
^(T)They are like a treacherous bow.
Their princes shall fall by the sword
For the ^(U)cursings of their tongue.
This shall be their derision ^(V)in the land of Egypt.

⁴ “They^(Z) 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 ^[j]calf ^[k]is rejected, O Samaria!
My anger is aroused against them—
^(AA)How long until they attain to innocence?
⁶ For from Israel is even this:
A ^(AB)workman made it, and it is not God;
But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

⁷ “They^(AC) sow the wind,
And reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no bud;
It shall never produce meal.
If it should produce,
^(AD)Aliens would swallow it up.
^8 (AE)Israel is swallowed up;
Now they are among the Gentiles
^(AF)Like a vessel in which is no pleasure.
⁹ For they have gone up to Assyria,
Like ^(AG)a wild donkey alone by itself;
Ephraim ^(AH)has hired lovers.
¹⁰ Yes, though they have hired among the nations,
Now ^(AI)I will gather them;
And they shall ^[l]sorrow a little,
Because of the ^[m]burden of ^(AJ)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 ^(AK)the great things of My law,
But they were considered a strange thing.
¹³ For the sacrifices of My offerings ^(AL)they sacrifice flesh and eat it,
^(AM)But the Lord does not accept them.
^(AN)Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
They shall return to Egypt.

¹⁴ “For^(AO) Israel has forgotten ^(AP)his Maker,
And has built ^[n]temples;
Judah also has multiplied ^(AQ)fortified cities;
But ^(AR)I will send fire upon his cities,
And it shall devour his ^[o]palaces.”

³ They shall not dwell in ^(AU)the Lord’s land,
^(AV)But Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
And ^(AW)shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
⁴ They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord,
Nor ^(AX)shall their ^(AY)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.
^(AZ)Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver;
Thorns shall be in their tents.

⁷ The ^(BA)days of punishment have come;
The days of recompense have come.
Israel knows!
The prophet is a ^(BB)fool,
^(BC)The spiritual man is insane,
Because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity.
⁸ The ^(BD)watchman of Ephraim is with my God;
But the prophet is a ^[p]fowler’s snare in all his ways—
Enmity in the house of his God.
^9 (BE)They are deeply corrupted,
As in the days of ^(BF)Gibeah.
He will remember their iniquity;
He will punish their sins.

¹⁰ “I found Israel
Like grapes in the ^(BG)wilderness;
I saw your fathers
As the ^(BH)firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to ^(BI)Baal Peor,
And ^[q]separated themselves to that shame;
^(BJ)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, ^(BK)woe to them when I depart from them!
¹³ Just ^(BL)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 ^(BM)a miscarrying womb
And dry breasts!

¹⁵ “All their wickedness is in ^(BN)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.
^(BO)All their princes are rebellious.
¹⁶ Ephraim is ^(BP)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 ^(BQ)cast them away,
Because they did not obey Him;
And they shall be ^(BR)wanderers among the nations.

³ For now they say,
“We have no king,
Because we did not fear the Lord.
And as for a king, what would he do for us?”
⁴ They have spoken words,
Swearing falsely in making a covenant.
Thus judgment springs up ^(BV)like hemlock in the furrows of the field.

⁵ The inhabitants of Samaria fear
Because of the ^(BW)calf^[s] of Beth Aven.
For its people mourn for it,
And ^[t]its priests shriek for it—
Because its ^(BX)glory has departed from it.
⁶ The idol also shall be carried to Assyria
As a present for King ^(BY)Jareb.
Ephraim shall receive shame,
And Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

⁷ As for Samaria, her king is cut off
Like a twig on the water.
⁸ Also the ^(BZ)high places of ^[u]Aven, ^(CA)the sin of Israel,
Shall be destroyed.
The thorn and thistle shall grow on their altars;
^(CB)They shall say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

⁹ “O Israel, you have sinned from the days of ^(CC)Gibeah;
There they stood.
The ^(CD)battle in Gibeah against the children of ^[v]iniquity
Did not ^[w]overtake them.
¹⁰ When it is My desire, I will chasten them.
^(CE)Peoples shall be gathered against them
When I bind them ^[x]for their two transgressions.
¹¹ Ephraim is ^(CF)a trained heifer
That loves to thresh grain;
But I harnessed her fair neck,
I will make Ephraim ^[y]pull a plow.
Judah shall plow;
Jacob shall break his clods.”

¹² Sow for yourselves righteousness;
Reap in mercy;
^(CG)Break up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the Lord,
Till He ^(CH)comes and rains righteousness on you.

^13 (CI)You have plowed wickedness;
You have reaped iniquity.
You have eaten the fruit of lies,
Because you trusted in your own way,
In the multitude of your mighty men.
¹⁴ Therefore tumult shall arise among your people,
And all your fortresses shall be plundered
As Shalman plundered Beth Arbel in the day of battle—
A mother dashed in pieces upon her children.
¹⁵ Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
Because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel
Shall be cut off utterly.