Hosea 1-14
New King James Version
Hosea’s Unfaithful Wife
1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of (A)Uzziah, (B)Jotham, (C)Ahaz, and (D)Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of (E)Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
The Family of Hosea
2 When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea:
(F)“Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry
And children of harlotry,
For (G)the land has committed great [a]harlotry
By departing from the Lord.”
3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 Then the Lord said to him:
“Call his name Jezreel,
For in a little while
(H)I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu,
(I)And bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5 (J)It shall come to pass in that day
That I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him:
“Call her name [b]Lo-Ruhamah,
(K)For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel,
[c]But I will utterly take them away.
7 (L)Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah,
Will save them by the Lord their God,
And (M)will not save them by bow,
Nor by sword or battle,
By horses or horsemen.”
8 Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Then God said:
“Call his name [d]Lo-Ammi,
For you are not My people,
And I will not be your God.
The Restoration of Israel
10 “Yet (N)the number of the children of Israel
Shall be as the sand of the sea,
Which cannot be measured or numbered.
(O)And it shall come to pass
In the place where it was said to them,
‘You are [e]not My (P)people,’
There it shall be said to them,
‘You are (Q)sons of the living God.’
11 (R)Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel
Shall be gathered together,
And appoint for themselves one head;
And they shall come up out of the land,
For great will be the day of Jezreel!
The Lord’s Love for His Unfaithful People
God’s Unfaithful People
2 “Bring[h] charges against your mother, [i]bring charges;
For (S)she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband!
Let her put away her (T)harlotries from her sight,
And her adulteries from between her breasts;
3 Lest (U)I strip her naked
And expose her, as in the day she was (V)born,
And make her like a wilderness,
And set her like a dry land,
And slay her with (W)thirst.
4 “I will not have mercy on her children,
For they are the (X)children of harlotry.
5 For their mother has played the harlot;
She who conceived them has behaved shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
(Y)Who give me my bread and my water,
My wool and my linen,
My oil and my drink.’
6 “Therefore, behold,
(Z)I will hedge up your way with thorns,
And [j]wall her in,
So that she cannot find her paths.
7 She will [k]chase her lovers,
But not overtake them;
Yes, she will seek them, but not find them.
Then she will say,
(AA)‘I will go and return to my (AB)first husband,
For then it was better for me than now.’
8 For she did not (AC)know
That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil,
And multiplied her silver and gold—
Which they prepared for Baal.
9 “Therefore I will return and take away
My grain in its time
And My new wine in its season,
And will take back My wool and My linen,
Given to cover her nakedness.
10 Now (AD)I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,
And no one shall deliver her from My hand.
11 (AE)I will also cause all her mirth to cease,
Her feast days,
Her New Moons,
Her Sabbaths—
All her appointed feasts.
12 “And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,
Of which she has said,
‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me.’
So I will make them a forest,
And the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13 I will punish her
For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense.
She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry,
And went after her lovers;
But Me she forgot,” says the Lord.
God’s Mercy on His People
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
Will bring her into the wilderness,
And speak [l]comfort to her.
15 I will give her her vineyards from there,
And (AF)the Valley of Achor as a door of hope;
She shall sing there,
As in (AG)the days of her youth,
(AH)As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
16 “And it shall be, in that day,”
Says the Lord,
“That you will call Me [m]‘My Husband,’
And no longer call Me [n]‘My Master,’
17 For (AI)I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more.
18 In that day I will make a (AJ)covenant for them
With the beasts of the field,
With the birds of the air,
And with the creeping things of the ground.
Bow and sword of battle (AK)I will shatter from the earth,
To make them (AL)lie down safely.
19 “I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And (AM)you shall know the Lord.
21 “It shall come to pass in that day
That (AN)I will answer,” says the Lord;
“I will answer the heavens,
And they shall answer the earth.
22 The earth shall answer
With grain,
With new wine,
And with oil;
They shall answer [o]Jezreel.
23 Then (AO)I will sow her for Myself in the earth,
(AP)And I will have mercy on her who had [p]not obtained mercy;
Then (AQ)I will say to those who were [q]not My people,
‘You are [r]My people!’
And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’ ”
Israel Will Return to God
3 Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a (AR)lover[s] and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.”
2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You shall (AS)stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.”
4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days (AT)without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without (AU)ephod or (AV)teraphim. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and (AW)seek the Lord their God and (AX)David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the (AY)latter days.
God’s Charge Against Israel
4 Hear the word of the Lord,
You children of Israel,
For the Lord brings a (AZ)charge[t] against the inhabitants of the land:
“There is no truth or mercy
Or (BA)knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing and lying,
Killing and stealing and committing adultery,
They break all restraint,
With bloodshed [u]upon bloodshed.
3 Therefore (BB)the land will mourn;
And (BC)everyone who dwells there will waste away
With the beasts of the field
And the birds of the air;
Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.
4 “Now let no man contend, or rebuke another;
For your people are like those (BD)who contend with the priest.
5 Therefore you shall stumble (BE)in the day;
The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night;
And I will destroy your mother.
6 (BF)My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being priest for Me;
(BG)Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
7 “The more they increased,
The more they sinned against Me;
(BH)I[v] will change [w]their glory into shame.
8 They eat up the sin of My people;
They set their [x]heart on their iniquity.
9 And it shall be: (BI)like people, like priest.
So I will punish them for their ways,
And [y]reward them for their deeds.
10 For (BJ)they shall eat, but not have enough;
They shall commit harlotry, but not increase;
Because they have ceased obeying the Lord.
The Idolatry of Israel
11 “Harlotry, wine, and new wine (BK)enslave the heart.
12 My people ask counsel from their (BL)wooden idols,
And their [z]staff informs them.
For (BM)the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray,
And they have played the harlot against their God.
13 (BN)They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops,
And burn incense on the hills,
Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths,
Because their shade is good.
(BO)Therefore your daughters commit harlotry,
And your brides commit adultery.
14 “I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry,
Nor your brides when they commit adultery;
For the men themselves go apart with harlots,
And offer sacrifices with a (BP)ritual harlot.
Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled.
15 “Though you, Israel, play the harlot,
Let not Judah offend.
(BQ)Do not come up to Gilgal,
Nor go up to (BR)Beth[aa] Aven,
(BS)Nor swear an oath, saying, ‘As the Lord lives’—
16 “For Israel (BT)is stubborn
Like a stubborn calf;
Now the Lord will let them forage
Like a lamb in [ab]open country.
17 “Ephraim is joined to idols,
(BU)Let him alone.
18 Their drink [ac]is rebellion,
They commit harlotry continually.
(BV)Her [ad]rulers [ae]dearly love dishonor.
19 (BW)The wind has wrapped her up in its wings,
And (BX)they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
Impending Judgment on Israel and Judah
5 “Hear this, O priests!
Take heed, O house of Israel!
Give ear, O house of the king!
For [af]yours is the judgment,
Because (BY)you have been a snare to Mizpah
And a net spread on Tabor.
2 The revolters are (BZ)deeply involved in slaughter,
Though I rebuke them all.
3 (CA)I know Ephraim,
And Israel is not hidden from Me;
For now, O Ephraim, (CB)you commit harlotry;
Israel is defiled.
4 “They[ag] do not direct their deeds
Toward turning to their God,
For (CC)the spirit of harlotry is in their midst,
And they do not know the Lord.
5 The (CD)pride of Israel testifies to his face;
Therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;
Judah also stumbles with them.
6 “With their flocks and herds
(CE)They shall go to seek the Lord,
But they will not find Him;
He has withdrawn Himself from them.
7 They have (CF)dealt treacherously with the Lord,
For they have begotten [ah]pagan children.
Now a New Moon shall devour them and their heritage.
8 “Blow(CG) the ram’s horn in Gibeah,
The trumpet in Ramah!
(CH)Cry aloud at (CI)Beth Aven,
‘Look behind you, O Benjamin!’
9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke;
Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.
10 “The princes of Judah are like those who (CJ)remove a landmark;
I will pour out My wrath on them like water.
11 Ephraim is (CK)oppressed and broken in judgment,
Because he willingly walked by (CL)human precept.
12 Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth,
And to the house of Judah (CM)like rottenness.
13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah saw his (CN)wound,
Then Ephraim went (CO)to Assyria
And sent to King Jareb;
Yet he cannot cure you,
Nor heal you of your wound.
14 For (CP)I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
And like a young lion to the house of Judah.
(CQ)I, even I, will tear them and go away;
I will take them away, and no one shall rescue.
15 I will return again to My place
Till they [ai]acknowledge their offense.
Then they will seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”
A Call to Repentance
6 Come,(CR) and let us return to the Lord;
For (CS)He has torn, but (CT)He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will [aj]bind us up.
2 (CU)After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
3 (CV)Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.
His going forth is established (CW)as the morning;
(CX)He will come to us (CY)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 (CZ)the words of My mouth;
And [ak]your judgments are like light that goes forth.
6 For I desire (DA)mercy[al] and (DB)not sacrifice,
And the (DC)knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 “But like [am]men they transgressed the covenant;
There they dealt treacherously with Me.
8 (DD)Gilead is a city of evildoers
And [an]defiled with blood.
9 As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man,
So the company of (DE)priests (DF)murder on the way to Shechem;
Surely they commit (DG)lewdness.
10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:
There is the [ao]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 (DH)they have committed fraud;
A thief comes in;
A band of robbers [ap]takes spoil outside.
2 They [aq]do not consider in their hearts
That (DI)I remember all their wickedness;
Now their own deeds have surrounded them;
They are before My face.
3 They make a (DJ)king glad with their wickedness,
And princes (DK)with their lies.
4 “They(DL) 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, [ar]inflamed with (DM)wine;
He stretched out his hand with scoffers.
6 They prepare their heart like an oven,
While they lie in wait;
[as]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.
(DN)None among them calls upon Me.
8 “Ephraim (DO)has mixed himself among the peoples;
Ephraim is a cake unturned.
9 (DP)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 (DQ)pride of Israel testifies to his face,
But (DR)they do not return to the Lord their God,
Nor seek Him for all this.
Futile Reliance on the Nations
11 “Ephraim(DS) also is like a silly dove, without [at]sense—
(DT)They call to Egypt,
They go to (DU)Assyria.
12 Wherever they go, I will (DV)spread My net on them;
I will bring them down like birds of the air;
I will chastise them
(DW)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 (DX)I redeemed them,
Yet they have spoken lies against Me.
14 (DY)They did not cry out to Me with their heart
When they wailed upon their beds.
“They [au]assemble together for grain and new (DZ)wine,
[av]They rebel against Me;
15 Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms,
Yet they devise evil against Me;
16 They return, but not [aw]to the Most High;
(EA)They are like a treacherous bow.
Their princes shall fall by the sword
For the (EB)cursings of their tongue.
This shall be their derision (EC)in the land of Egypt.
The Apostasy of Israel
8 “Set the [ax]trumpet to your mouth!
He shall come (ED)like an eagle against the house of the Lord,
Because they have transgressed My covenant
And rebelled against My law.
2 (EE)Israel will cry to Me,
‘My God, (EF)we know You!’
3 Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
4 “They(EG) 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 [ay]calf [az]is rejected, O Samaria!
My anger is aroused against them—
(EH)How long until they attain to innocence?
6 For from Israel is even this:
A (EI)workman made it, and it is not God;
But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.
7 “They(EJ) sow the wind,
And reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no bud;
It shall never produce meal.
If it should produce,
(EK)Aliens would swallow it up.
8 (EL)Israel is swallowed up;
Now they are among the Gentiles
(EM)Like a vessel in which is no pleasure.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria,
Like (EN)a wild donkey alone by itself;
Ephraim (EO)has hired lovers.
10 Yes, though they have hired among the nations,
Now (EP)I will gather them;
And they shall [ba]sorrow a little,
Because of the [bb]burden of (EQ)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 (ER)the great things of My law,
But they were considered a strange thing.
13 For the sacrifices of My offerings (ES)they sacrifice flesh and eat it,
(ET)But the Lord does not accept them.
(EU)Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
They shall return to Egypt.
14 “For(EV) Israel has forgotten (EW)his Maker,
And has built [bc]temples;
Judah also has multiplied (EX)fortified cities;
But (EY)I will send fire upon his cities,
And it shall devour his [bd]palaces.”
Judgment of Israel’s Sin
9 Do(EZ) not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples,
For you have played the harlot against your God.
You have made love for (FA)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 (FB)the Lord’s land,
(FC)But Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
And (FD)shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
4 They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord,
Nor (FE)shall their (FF)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.
(FG)Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver;
Thorns shall be in their tents.
7 The (FH)days of punishment have come;
The days of recompense have come.
Israel knows!
The prophet is a (FI)fool,
(FJ)The spiritual man is insane,
Because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity.
8 The (FK)watchman of Ephraim is with my God;
But the prophet is a [be]fowler’s snare in all his ways—
Enmity in the house of his God.
9 (FL)They are deeply corrupted,
As in the days of (FM)Gibeah.
He will remember their iniquity;
He will punish their sins.
10 “I found Israel
Like grapes in the (FN)wilderness;
I saw your fathers
As the (FO)firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to (FP)Baal Peor,
And [bf]separated themselves to that shame;
(FQ)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, (FR)woe to them when I depart from them!
13 Just (FS)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 (FT)a miscarrying womb
And dry breasts!
15 “All their wickedness is in (FU)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.
(FV)All their princes are rebellious.
16 Ephraim is (FW)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 (FX)cast them away,
Because they did not obey Him;
And they shall be (FY)wanderers among the nations.
Israel’s Sin and Captivity
10 Israel (FZ)empties his vine;
He brings forth fruit for himself.
According to the multitude of his fruit
(GA)He has increased the altars;
According to the bounty of his land
They have embellished his sacred pillars.
2 Their heart is (GB)divided;[bg]
Now they are held guilty.
He will break down their altars;
He will ruin their sacred pillars.
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 (GC)like hemlock in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria fear
Because of the (GD)calf[bh] of Beth Aven.
For its people mourn for it,
And [bi]its priests shriek for it—
Because its (GE)glory has departed from it.
6 The idol also shall be carried to Assyria
As a present for King (GF)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 (GG)high places of [bj]Aven, (GH)the sin of Israel,
Shall be destroyed.
The thorn and thistle shall grow on their altars;
(GI)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 (GJ)Gibeah;
There they stood.
The (GK)battle in Gibeah against the children of [bk]iniquity
Did not [bl]overtake them.
10 When it is My desire, I will chasten them.
(GL)Peoples shall be gathered against them
When I bind them [bm]for their two transgressions.
11 Ephraim is (GM)a trained heifer
That loves to thresh grain;
But I harnessed her fair neck,
I will make Ephraim [bn]pull a plow.
Judah shall plow;
Jacob shall break his clods.”
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;
Reap in mercy;
(GN)Break up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the Lord,
Till He (GO)comes and rains righteousness on you.
13 (GP)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.
God’s Continuing Love for Israel
11 “When Israel was a [bo]child, I loved him,
And out of Egypt (GQ)I called My (GR)son.
2 [bp]As they called them,
So they (GS)went [bq]from them;
They sacrificed to the Baals,
And burned incense to carved images.
3 “I(GT) taught Ephraim to walk,
Taking them by [br]their arms;
But they did not know that (GU)I healed them.
4 I drew them with [bs]gentle cords,
With bands of love,
And (GV)I was to them as those who take the yoke from their [bt]neck.
(GW)I stooped and fed them.
5 “He shall not return to the land of Egypt;
But the Assyrian shall be his king,
Because they refused to repent.
6 And the sword shall slash in his cities,
Devour his districts,
And consume them,
Because of their own counsels.
7 My people are bent on (GX)backsliding from Me.
Though [bu]they call [bv]to the Most High,
None at all exalt Him.
8 “How(GY) can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I make you like (GZ)Admah?
How can I set you like Zeboiim?
My heart [bw]churns within Me;
My sympathy is stirred.
9 I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim.
(HA)For I am God, and not man,
The Holy One in your midst;
And I will not [bx]come with terror.
10 “They shall walk after the Lord.
(HB)He will roar like a lion.
When He roars,
Then His sons shall come trembling from the west;
11 They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt,
(HC)Like a dove from the land of Assyria.
(HD)And I will let them dwell in their houses,”
Says the Lord.
God’s Charge Against Ephraim
12 “Ephraim has encircled Me with lies,
And the house of Israel with deceit;
But Judah still walks with God,
Even with the [by]Holy One who is faithful.
Ephraim’s Sins Rebuked by God
12 “Ephraim (HE)feeds on the wind,
And pursues the east wind;
He daily increases lies and [bz]desolation.
(HF)Also they make a [ca]covenant with the Assyrians,
And (HG)oil is carried to Egypt.
2 “The(HH) Lord also brings a [cb]charge against Judah,
And will punish Jacob according to his ways;
According to his deeds He will recompense him.
3 He took his brother (HI)by the heel in the womb,
And in his strength he (HJ)struggled with God.
4 Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed;
He wept, and sought favor from Him.
He found Him in (HK)Bethel,
And there He spoke to us—
5 That is, the Lord God of hosts.
The Lord is His (HL)memorable name.
6 (HM)So you, by the help of your God, return;
Observe mercy and justice,
And wait on your God continually.
7 “A cunning [cc]Canaanite!
(HN)Deceitful scales are in his hand;
He loves to oppress.
8 And Ephraim said,
(HO)‘Surely I have become rich,
I have found wealth for myself;
In all my labors
They shall find in me no iniquity that is sin.’
9 “But I am the Lord your God,
Ever since the land of Egypt;
(HP)I will again make you dwell in tents,
As in the days of the appointed feast.
10 (HQ)I have also spoken by the prophets,
And have multiplied visions;
I have given [cd]symbols [ce]through the witness of the prophets.”
11 Though (HR)Gilead has idols—
Surely they are [cf]vanity—
Though they sacrifice bulls in (HS)Gilgal,
Indeed their altars shall be heaps in the furrows of the field.
12 Jacob (HT)fled to the country of Syria;
(HU)Israel served for a spouse,
And for a wife he tended sheep.
13 (HV)By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,
And by a prophet he was preserved.
14 Ephraim (HW)provoked Him to anger most bitterly;
Therefore his Lord will leave the guilt of his bloodshed upon him,
(HX)And return his reproach upon him.
Relentless Judgment on Israel
13 When Ephraim spoke, trembling,
He exalted himself in Israel;
But when he offended through Baal worship, he died.
2 Now they sin more and more,
And have made for themselves molded images,
Idols of their silver, according to their skill;
All of it is the work of craftsmen.
They say of them,
“Let [cg]the men who sacrifice [ch]kiss the calves!”
3 Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud
And like the early dew that passes away,
(HY)Like chaff blown off from a threshing floor
And like smoke from a chimney.
4 “Yet (HZ)I am the Lord your God
Ever since the land of Egypt,
And you shall know no God but Me;
For (IA)there is no savior besides Me.
5 (IB)I [ci]knew you in the wilderness,
(IC)In the land of [cj]great drought.
6 (ID)When they had pasture, they were filled;
They were filled and their heart was exalted;
Therefore they forgot Me.
7 “So (IE)I will be to them like a lion;
Like (IF)a leopard by the road I will lurk;
8 I will meet them (IG)like a bear deprived of her cubs;
I will tear open their rib cage,
And there I will devour them like a lion.
The [ck]wild beast shall tear them.
9 “O Israel, [cl]you are destroyed,
But [cm]your help is from Me.
10 [cn]I will be your King;
(IH)Where is any other,
That he may save you in all your cities?
And your judges to whom (II)you said,
‘Give me a king and princes’?
11 (IJ)I gave you a king in My anger,
And took him away in My wrath.
12 “The(IK) iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
His sin is stored up.
13 (IL)The sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him.
He is an unwise son,
For he should not stay long where children are born.
14 “I will ransom them from the [co]power of [cp]the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
(IM)O Death, [cq]I will be your plagues!
O [cr]Grave, [cs]I will be your destruction!
(IN)Pity is hidden from My eyes.”
15 Though he is fruitful among his brethren,
(IO)An east wind shall come;
The wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness.
Then his spring shall become dry,
And his fountain shall be dried up.
He shall plunder the treasury of every desirable prize.
16 Samaria [ct]is held guilty,
For she has (IP)rebelled against her God.
They shall fall by the sword,
Their infants shall be dashed in pieces,
And their women with child (IQ)ripped open.
Israel Restored at Last
14 O Israel, (IR)return to the Lord your God,
For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;
2 Take words with you,
And return to the Lord.
Say to Him,
“Take away all iniquity;
Receive us graciously,
For we will offer the (IS)sacrifices[cu] of our lips.
3 Assyria shall (IT)not save us,
(IU)We will not ride on horses,
Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’
(IV)For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”
4 “I will heal their (IW)backsliding,
I will (IX)love them freely,
For My anger has turned away from him.
5 I will be like the (IY)dew to Israel;
He shall [cv]grow like the lily,
And [cw]lengthen his roots like Lebanon.
6 His branches shall [cx]spread;
(IZ)His beauty shall be like an olive tree,
And (JA)his fragrance like Lebanon.
7 (JB)Those who dwell under his shadow shall return;
They shall be revived like grain,
And [cy]grow like a vine.
Their [cz]scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 “Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’
I have heard and observed him.
I am like a green cypress tree;
(JC)Your fruit is found in Me.”
9 Who is wise?
Let him understand these things.
Who is prudent?
Let him know them.
For (JD)the ways of the Lord are right;
The righteous walk in them,
But transgressors stumble in them.
Notas al pie
- Hosea 1:2 Spiritual adultery
- Hosea 1:6 Lit. No-Mercy
- Hosea 1:6 Or That I may forgive them at all
- Hosea 1:9 Lit. Not-My-People
- Hosea 1:10 Heb. lo-ammi, v. 9
- Hosea 2:1 Heb. Ammi, Hos. 1:9, 10
- Hosea 2:1 Heb. Ruhamah, Hos. 1:6
- Hosea 2:2 Or Contend with
- Hosea 2:2 Or contend
- Hosea 2:6 Lit. wall up her wall
- Hosea 2:7 Or pursue
- Hosea 2:14 Lit. to her heart
- Hosea 2:16 Heb. Ishi
- Hosea 2:16 Heb. Baali
- Hosea 2:22 Lit. God Will Sow
- Hosea 2:23 Heb. lo-ruhamah
- Hosea 2:23 Heb. lo-ammi
- Hosea 2:23 Heb. ammi
- Hosea 3:1 Lit. friend or husband
- Hosea 4:1 A legal complaint
- Hosea 4:2 Lit. touching
- Hosea 4:7 So with MT, LXX, Vg.; scribal tradition, Syr., Tg. They will change
- Hosea 4:7 So with MT, LXX, Syr., Tg., Vg.; scribal tradition My glory
- Hosea 4:8 Desires
- Hosea 4:9 repay
- Hosea 4:12 Diviner’s rod
- Hosea 4:15 Lit. House of Idolatry or Wickedness
- Hosea 4:16 Lit. a large place
- Hosea 4:18 Or has turned aside
- Hosea 4:18 Lit. shields
- Hosea 4:18 Heb. difficult; a Jewish tradition shamefully love, ‘Give!’
- Hosea 5:1 Or to you
- Hosea 5:4 Or Their deeds will not allow them to turn
- Hosea 5:7 Lit. strange
- Hosea 5:15 Lit. become guilty or bear punishment
- 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 10:2 Divided in loyalty
- Hosea 10:5 Lit. calves, images
- Hosea 10:5 idolatrous priests
- Hosea 10:8 Lit. Idolatry or Wickedness
- Hosea 10:9 So with many Heb. mss., LXX, Vg.; MT unruliness
- Hosea 10:9 Or overcome
- Hosea 10:10 Or in their two habitations
- Hosea 10:11 Lit. to ride
- Hosea 11:1 Or youth
- Hosea 11:2 So with MT, Vg.; LXX Just as I called them; Tg. interprets as I sent prophets to a thousand of them.
- Hosea 11:2 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX from My face
- Hosea 11:3 Some Heb. mss., LXX, Syr., Vg. My arms
- Hosea 11:4 Lit. cords of a man
- Hosea 11:4 Lit. jaws
- Hosea 11:7 The prophets
- Hosea 11:7 Or upward
- Hosea 11:8 Lit. turns over
- Hosea 11:9 Or enter a city
- Hosea 11:12 Or holy ones
- Hosea 12:1 ruin
- Hosea 12:1 Or treaty
- Hosea 12:2 A legal complaint
- Hosea 12:7 Or merchant
- Hosea 12:10 Or parables
- Hosea 12:10 Lit. by the hand
- Hosea 12:11 worthless
- Hosea 13:2 Or those who offer human sacrifice
- Hosea 13:2 Worship with kisses
- Hosea 13:5 Cared for you
- Hosea 13:5 Lit. droughts
- Hosea 13:8 Lit. beast of the field
- Hosea 13:9 Lit. it or he destroyed you
- Hosea 13:9 Lit. in your help
- Hosea 13:10 LXX, Syr., Tg., Vg. Where is your king?
- Hosea 13:14 Lit. hand
- Hosea 13:14 Or Sheol
- Hosea 13:14 LXX where is your punishment?
- Hosea 13:14 Or Sheol
- Hosea 13:14 LXX where is your sting?
- Hosea 13:16 LXX shall be disfigured
- Hosea 14:2 Lit. bull calves; LXX fruit
- Hosea 14:5 Lit. bud or sprout
- Hosea 14:5 Lit. strike
- Hosea 14:6 Lit. go
- Hosea 14:7 Lit. bud or sprout
- Hosea 14:7 Lit. remembrance
Hosea 1-14
Lexham English Bible
God Commands Hosea to Start a Family
1 The word of Yahweh that came to Hosea son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
2 At the beginning when Yahweh spoke[a] through Hosea,
Yahweh said to Hosea,
“Go, take for yourself a wife and children of whoredom,
because the land commits great whoredom
forsaking Yahweh.”[b]
3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim,
and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And Yahweh said to him,
“Name him[c] Jezreel;[d]
because in a little while I will punish[e] the house of Jehu[f]
for the blood[g] of Jezreel,[h]
and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.[i]
5 On that day[j]
I will break the bow of Israel
in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter, and he[k] said to him,
“Name her[l] Lo-ruhamah,[m]
for I will no longer have pity
on the house of Israel
or forgive them.[n]
7 But I will have pity on the house of Judah
and I will save them by Yahweh their God,
and will not deliver them
by bow, sword, war,
horses, or horsemen.
8 And when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah,[o] she conceived and bore a son.
9 And he[p] said, “Name him[q] Lo-ammi,[r]
for you are not my people
and I am not your God.[s]
10 [t] The number of the children of Israel
will be like the sand of the sea
that cannot be measured or counted;
and in the place where it is said to them,
“You are not my people,”
it will be said to them,
“Children of the living God.”
11 Then the children of Judah
and Israel will be gathered together,
and they will appoint for themselves
one head;
and they will take possession of[u] the land,
for great is the day of Jezreel.[v]
The Unfaithful Wife
2 Say to your brother,[w] “Ammi,”[x]
and to your sister,[y] “Ruhamah.”[z]
2 Plead with your mother, plead—
because she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband.
Let her put away her whoring from before her,[aa]
and her adultery from between her breasts.
3 Lest I strip her naked
and expose her like the day when she was born;
I will make her like the desert
and turn her into parched land;
I will kill her with thirst.
4 And I will not have pity on her children,
because they are children of whoredom.
5 Because their mother was unfaithful;[ab]
she who conceived them has acted shamefully,
for she said:
“I will go after my lovers,
the ones who give me my bread, my water,
my wool, and my flax,
my oil, and my drink.”
6 Therefore, Look!
I am going to hedge her path[ac] with thorns,[ad]
and I will build a stone wall, a stone wall against her,
and she will not find her paths.
7 Then she will pursue her lovers,[ae]
but she will not overtake them;
she will seek them and not find them;
and she will say, “I will go
and return to my first husband
because it was better for me then than now.”
8 But she did not know
that it was I who gave her
grain, new wine, and oil,
and who gave her silver in abundance,
and gold which they made into a Baal.
9 Therefore I will take again
my grain in its time,
and my wine in its season;
and I will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.
10 And now I will uncover her nakedness
before the eyes of her lovers,
and no one will rescue her from my hand.
11 And I will put an end to all her mirth,
her festivals,[af] her new moons,[ag] and her Sabbaths,[ah]
and all her appointed festivals;[ai]
12 and I will lay waste to her vines[aj] and her fig trees,[ak]
of which she said,
“They are my payment for prostitution,
which my lovers gave to me.”
I will make them a forest,
and the wild animals[al] of the field will devour them.
13 I will punish her[am] for the days of the Baals,
to whom she burns incense,
and she decked herself with her ornamental ring and jewelry,
and she went after her lovers, and forgot me
—a declaration of Yahweh.
14 Therefore, Look! I am going to allure her
and bring her into the desert,
and I will speak tenderly to her.[an]
15 From there I will give her
her vineyards,
and the Valley of Achor as a doorway of hope.
And there she will respond,
as in the days of her youth,
just as in the day of her coming out of
the land of Egypt.
16 And on that day—[ao]
a declaration of Yahweh—
you will call me, “My husband;”[ap]
you will no longer call me, “My Baal.”[aq]
17 I will remove the names
of the Baals from her mouth,
and they will no longer be mentioned by their name.
18 I will make a covenant for them on that day,
with the animals[ar] of the field,
with the birds[as] of the heaven, and
with the creeping things[at] of the ground;
the bow, the sword, and the war I will abolish from the land, and I will let them lie down in safety.
19 And I will take you as my wife forever;
I will take you as a wife for myself in righteousness and in justice,
in steadfast love and in mercy.
20 I will take you as my wife[au] in faithfulness,
and you will know Yahweh.
21 On that day I will answer, declares Yahweh,[av]
I will answer the heavens,
and they will answer the earth.
22 And the earth will answer
the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they will answer Jezreel.[aw]
23 I will sow her for myself in the land;
I will have pity on Lo-ruhama;[ax]
I will say to Lo-ammi,[ay]
“You are my people,”
and he himself will say, “you are my God.”
Another Symbolic Marriage
3 And Yahweh said to me again,
“Go, love a woman
who has a lover[az] and is committing adultery,
just like the love of Yahweh for the children of Israel,
but they are turning to other gods
and love raisin cakes.”
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver
and a homer of barely and a measure of wine.[ba]
3 And I said to her,
“You must remain as mine[bb] for many days,
and you will not play the whore;
you will not belong[bc] to a man,
and I will belong to you.”
4 The children of Israel will remain for many days
without a king and prince,
without sacrifice and stone pillar, ephod and teraphim.
5 Afterward the children of Israel will return
and seek Yahweh their God and David their king.
They will come in fear to Yahweh
and to his goodness at the end of days.
Yahweh Has an Indictment
4 Hear the word of Yahweh, O children of Israel,
for Yahweh has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or loyalty,
there is no knowledge of God in the land.
2 Swearing and lying,
murdering and stealing,
and adultery break out,[bd]
and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land mourns,
and all those living in it languish
with the animals of the field,
and the birds of the heaven,
and even the fish of the sea
are being swept away.
4 Yet, let no one contend,
and let no one accuse,
for with you, O priest, is my contention.[be]
5 You will stumble by day,
and the priest also will stumble
with you at night.
And I will destroy your mother;
6 My people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from acting as a priest for me.[bf]
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I will also forget your children.[bg]
7 When they became many, their sin increased against me;
they changed[bh] their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people,[bi]
they are greedy[bj] for their iniquity.
9 And it will be like people, like priest;
I will punish them[bk] for their[bl] ways,
and I will requite them[bm] for their[bn] deeds.
10 They will eat and not be satisfied;
they will play the whore and not multiply,
because they have forsaken Yahweh to devote themselves to
11 whoredom.[bo]
Wine and new wine take away the understanding.[bp]
12 My people,
consult their wooden idols,[bq]
and their divining rod gives them oracles;
because a spirit of whoredom led them astray,
and they played the whore from under their God.[br]
13 On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice,
and on the hills they make offerings,
under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
because their[bs] shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the whore,
and all your daughters-in-law[bt] commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters[bu] when they play the whore,
or your daughters-in-law[bv] when they commit adultery;
because they go aside with whores,
and they sacrifice with temple prostitutes,
a people that does not understand comes to ruin.
15 Even though you, O Israel, are playing the whore,
do not let Judah become guilty;
do not enter Gilgal,
or go up to Beth-aven;
and do not swear,
“As Yahweh lives!”[bw]
16 Indeed, like a stubborn heifer,
Israel is stubborn;
Now Yahweh will feed them,
like a lamb in broad pasture.[bx]
17 Ephraim is joined to idols;
let him alone.
18 When their drinking has ended,
they surely indulge in sexual orgies.
They love lewdness more than their[by] glory.
19 A wind has wrapped them[bz] in its wings,
and they will be ashamed because of their altars.
The Priests Are a Snare
5 Hear this, O priests!
Give heed, O house of Israel!
Listen, O house of the king!
Because the judgment applies to you;
because you have been a snare for Mizpah,
and a net spread out on Tabor;
2 they dug a deep pit[ca] in Shittim,
but I am a punishment for all of them.
3 I myself know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from me;
because now you have played the whore, O Ephraim—
Israel is defiled.
4 Their deeds do not permit them
to return them to God.
Because a spirit of whoredom is in their midst,
they do not know Yahweh.
5 The pride of Israel testifies against him,[cb]
and Israel and Ephraim stumble in their guilt,
and Judah stumbles with them.
6 With their flocks[cc] and herds[cd] they will go
to seek Yahweh, but they will not find him;
he has withdrawn from them.
7 They have dealt faithlessly with Yahweh
because they have borne illegitimate children.
Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.
8 Blow the horn[ce] in Gibeah,
the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound the alarm in Beth-aven;
look behind you, Benjamin.
9 Ephraim will be a desolation
in the day of punishment;
among the tribes of Israel
I will reveal what is true.
10 The princes of Judah have become
like those who remove a landmark;
on them I will pour out
my wrath like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed,
crushed in judgment,
because he was determined
to go after filth.[cf]
12 But I am like a maggot to Ephraim
and like rottenness to the house of Judah.
13 And when Ephraim saw his illness,
and Judah his wound,
Ephraim went to Assyria,
he sent to the great king.[cg]
But he was unable to cure you
and heal your wound.
14 Because I will be like a lion to Ephraim
and like a fierce strong lion to the house of Judah.
I myself will tear and I will go;
I will carry off, and there is no one who delivers.
15 I will return again[ch] to my place
until they acknowledge their guilt
and seek my face;
in their distress they will search[ci] me.
A Call to Yahweh
6 Come, let us return to Yahweh;
because it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
he has struck us down and will bind us up.
2 He will revive us after two days;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live in his presence.[cj]
3 Let us know, let us press on to know Yahweh;
his rising is sure like the dawn.
He will come like the showers to us,
like the spring rain that waters the earth.
4 What will I do with you, O Ephraim?
What will I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes away early in the morning.
5 Therefore, I have hewn them by the prophets;
I have killed them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgment[ck] goes forth like the light.
6 Because I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
7 But like Adam, they transgressed the covenant;
there they dealt faithlessly with me.
8 Gilead is a city of evil,
a cunning city because of blood.[cl]
9 Like bandits lying in wait,
so is a band of priests;
they murder on the road to Shechem;
indeed, they commit a monstrous crime.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen something horrible;
Ephraim’s unfaithfulness is there.
Israel is defiled.
Ephraim’s Guilt
11 For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed,
when I restore the fortunes of my people,
7 when I would heal Israel,
and the corruption of Ephraim is revealed,
and the wicked deeds of Samaria;
because they deal in falsehood,
the thief breaks in,[cm]
and the bandit raids the outside.
2 But they did not consider[cn]
that I remember all their wickedness.
Now their deeds surround them;
they are before my face.
3 By their wickedness they make the king glad,
and the officials by their treacheries.
4 All of them commit adultery,
like a burning oven
whose baker has stopped from stirring the fire,
and from kneading the dough until it is leavened.
5 On the day of our king, the princes
became sick with the heat of wine;[co]
he stretched out his hand with mockers.
6 Because they are kindled[cp] like an oven,
their heart burns within them;
all night their anger smolders,[cq]
in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
7 All of them are hot as an oven,
and they devour[cr] their rulers.
All their kings have fallen;
there is none who calls to me amongst them.
8 Ephraim mixes himself
with the nations;
Ephraim is a bread cake
not turned over.
9 Foreigners devour[cs] his strength,
and he does not know it;
mold[ct] is also sprinkled upon him,
and he does not know it.
10 The pride of Israel testifies against him[cu]—
they do not return to Yahweh their God;
they do not seek him for all of this.[cv]
11 Ephraim was like a dove,
silly, without sense;[cw]
they call to Egypt,
they go to Assyria.
12 Just as they go, I will cast my net
over them;
I will bring them down
like the birds[cx] of the heavens;[cy]
I will discipline them
according to a report to their assembly.[cz]
13 Woe to them, because they have strayed from me!
Destruction to them, because they have rebelled against me!
I myself would redeem them,
but they speak lies against me.
14 They do not cry out to me from their heart,
but they wail on their beds;
because of grain and new wine they lacerate[da] themselves;
they depart from me.
15 And I myself trained
and strengthened their arms;
but they plan evil against me.
16 They turn, not to the Most High,[db]
like a slack bow;
their officials will fall by the sword
because of the anger of their tongue.
This is their scorn[dc]
in the land of Egypt.
Israel Rejects the Good
8 Put to your lips the trumpet
like a vulture over the house of Yahweh,
because they have broken my covenant[dd]
and rebelled against my law.
2 They cry out to me,
“My God! We, Israel, know you!”
3 Israel has spurned the good;
the enemy will pursue him.
4 They appointed kings, but not through me;
they made officials, but without my knowledge.
With their silver and gold
they made idols for themselves
for their[de] own destruction.[df]
5 Your calf is rejected,[dg] O Samaria;
my anger burns against them.
How long[dh] will they be incapable of innocence?
6 Because it is from Israel,
an artisan made it,
it is not a god;
for the calf of Samaria
will be broken to pieces.
7 Because they sow the wind,
they will reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain does not have heads;[di]
it will not yield flour.
And if it would yield,
strangers would devour it.
8 Israel is swallowed up;
now they are among the nations,
like an object that no one desires.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria,
a wild donkey alone to itself;
Ephraim has sold itself for lovers.
10 Even though they have sold themselves to the nations,
now I will gather them.
They will soon writhe
from the burden of kings[dj] and princes.
11 When Ephraim multiplied altars
to expiate sins,
they became to him altars to sin on.
12 I write for him myriads of my instruction;[dk]
they are regarded as a strange thing.
13 They offer sacrifices of my choice[dl]
and they eat flesh;
Yahweh does not accept them.
Now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins;
they will return to Egypt.
14 Israel has forgotten his maker and built palaces,
and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
but I will send fire on his cities
and it will devour her strongholds.
Ephraim Faces Punishment
9 Do not rejoice, O Israel,
do not exult like the nations!
For you played the whore, departing from your God;
you loved a harlot’s wage
on all the threshing floors of grain.
2 Threshing floor and wine vat will not feed them,
and new wine will fail her.[dm]
3 They will not remain
in the land of Yahweh.
But Ephraim will return to Egypt,
and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.
4 They will not pour drink offerings of wine to Yahweh,
and their sacrifices will not please him.
They are like mourners’ bread for them;
all those who eat it will be defiled.
For their bread will be for their hunger;[dn]
it will not come to the house of Yahweh.
5 What will you do on the day of the appointed time,
and on the day of the festival of Yahweh?
6 For look! If they flee from the destruction,
Egypt will gather them;
Memphis[do] will bury them.
Nettles will possess
their precious things of silver;
thorns will be in their tents.
7 The days of punishment have come;
the days of retribution have come;
Israel knows!
The prophet is a fool,
the man of the spirit is acting like a madman.
Because of the greatness of your sin,
your hostility is great.
8 The prophet keeps watch over Ephraim for my God;
the snare of a fowler is on all his ways,
and hostility in the house of his God.
9 They deeply corrupted themselves[dp]
as in the days of Gibeah;
he will remember their sin,
he will punish their sins.
10 Like the grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel.
Like early ripened fruit on the fig tree in the first season,[dq]
I saw your ancestors.[dr]
They themselves came to Baal Peor,
and they consecrated themselves to shame.
And they became detestable things,
like the thing they love.[ds]
11 Ephraim’s glory is like a bird;
it will fly away—
no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.
12 Even though they bring up their children,
I will bereave them before maturity.[dt]
Woe to them indeed,
when I depart from them!
13 Ephraim, as I see it,
is like a palm in a meadow;
but Ephraim must bring out
his children to the slayer.
14 Give them, O Yahweh—
what will you give them?
Give them a miscarrying womb
and dry breasts.
15 Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal,
so I began to hate them there;
because of the evil of their deeds
I will drive them out from my house.
I will love them no more;
all their officials are rebels.
16 Ephraim is stricken,
their root is dried up,
they shall not bear fruit.
Even if they give birth,
I will kill the cherished offspring of their womb.
17 My God will reject them
because they did not listen to him,
and they will be wanderers among the nations.
Israel Is Punished
10 Israel is a luxuriant vine;[du]
he yields fruit for himself.
The more his fruit increased,
the more he made numerous altars.
The more his land prospered,
the more he[dv] improved[dw] his stone pillars.
2 Their heart is false;
now they must bear their guilt.
He himself[dx] will break down their altars;
he will destroy their stone pillars.
3 For now they will say,
“We have no king;
indeed, we did not fear Yahweh,
and what can a king do for us?”
4 They utter words of vain oaths
when making covenants,[dy]
and judgment blossoms like a poisonous plant
on the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants[dz] of Samaria tremble
for the calf[ea] of Beth-aven.
Indeed, his people will mourn for it,
and his idolatrous priests will wail[eb] over it—
over its glory because it has departed from it.
6 It will also be brought to Assyria,
as tribute to the great king.[ec]
Ephraim will obtain disgrace
and Israel will be ashamed from his advice.[ed]
7 Samaria will be destroyed;
her king is like a chip on the surface of the water.
8 The high places of Aven,
the sin of Israel, will be destroyed.
Thorn and thistle will grow
on their altars.
They will say to the mountains, “Cover us,”
and to the hills, “Fall on us.”
9 From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel;
there they have remained.[ee]
Will not war in Gibeah overtake them
against the children of evil?
10 In my desire[ef] I will punish them;
nations will be gathered against them
when they are punished for their double iniquities.[eg]
11 Ephraim was a trained heifer,
that loved to thresh grain,
and I myself spared[eh]
the fairness of her neck;
I will make Ephraim break the ground,
Judah will plow,
Jacob must till for himself.
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap loyal love.[ei]
Break up for yourself fallow ground;
it is time to seek Yahweh
so he will come and rain
righteousness upon you.
13 You have plowed wickedness,
you have reaped injustice,
you have eaten the fruit of lies,[ej]
because you have trusted in your strength,
in the multitude of your warriors.
14 The tumult of war will rise up against your people,
and all your fortresses will be destroyed,
as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel;
on the day of war
mothers were dashed to pieces with their children.[ek]
15 So it will be done to you, O Bethel,
because of the evil of your wickedness;
at dawn, the king of Israel
will be utterly destroyed.
God Will Have Compassion
11 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 When I called[el] them, they went from my face.[em]
They sacrificed to the Baals, and they sacrificed to idols.
3 And I myself taught Ephraim to walk;
I took them[en] in my[eo] arms,
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I drew them with human ties,[ep]
with the bands of love.
I was to them like one who lifted up[eq] a yoke on their jaws,[er]
though I bent down to them[es] and let them[et] eat.
5 He will return[eu] to the land of Egypt,
and Assyria will be his king,[ev]
because they refused to return.
6 The sword rages in his cities;
it consumes his false prophets
and devours because of their plans.
7 My people are bent on backsliding from me.
To the Most High they call,
he does not raise them at all.
8 How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart is disturbed[ew] within me;
all[ex] my compassions are aroused.
9 I will not execute[ey] my fierce anger,[ez]
I will not again destroy Ephraim;
because I am God
and not a mortal,[fa]
the Holy One in your midst;
and I will not come in wrath.
10 They will go after Yahweh;
he roars like a lion.
When he roars,
his children will come trembling
from the sea.[fb]
11 They will tremble like birds[fc] from Egypt,
and like doves[fd] from the land of Assyria;
and I will let them return[fe] to their homes—
a declaration of Yahweh.
Israel’s History
12 [ff] Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,[fg]
and the house of Israel with deceit;
and Judah is still wandering with God
and is faithful to the Holy One.
12 Ephraim herds the wind[fh]
and is pursuing the east wind all day long;
he multiplies deception and violence
and he[fi] makes a treaty with Assyria,[fj]
and oil is brought to Egypt.
2 Yahweh has a quarrel[fk] with Judah
and will punish Jacob according to his ways
and repay him according to his deeds.
3 In the womb he deceived his brother,
and in his manhood he struggled with God.
4 He struggled with the angel and prevailed;
he pleaded for his mercy.
He met him at Bethel,
and there he spoke with him.[fl]
5 Yahweh the God of hosts,
Yahweh is his renowned name!
6 But you, you must return to your God;
keep love and justice,
and wait continually for your God.
7 The trader, in his hand are scales of deceit;[fm]
he loves to oppress.
8 And Ephraim said, “Surely, I am rich,
I gained[fn] wealth for myself;
in all my toil they have not found guilt in me
that is sin.
9 But I am Yahweh your God
since[fo] the land of Egypt;
I will make you live in tents again,
like the days of the appointed festival.
10 I spoke to the prophets;
I myself multiplied revelations[fp]
and through the hand of the prophets I will destroy.
11 If in Gilead there is evil,
surely they will come to nothing.
In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,
also their altars will be like stone heaps
on furrows of the field.
12 Jacob fled to the open field of Aram,[fq]
and Israel served for a wife,
and for a wife he watched over sheep.
13 And by a prophet Yahweh brought
Israel up from Egypt,
and by a prophet
he[fr] was watched over.
14 Ephraim has caused bitter provocation,
and his Lord will hold him responsible for his crimes[fs]
and pay back to him his insults.
Yahweh’s Judgment on Idolatrous Israel
13 When Ephraim spoke,[ft] there was terror;
he was exalted in Israel,
but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.
2 And now they sin again,
and they make for themselves a molten idol,
idols from their silver metal according to their understanding,
all of them the work of skilled craftsmen.
To these they say, “Sacrifice!”
People are kissing bull calves.
3 Therefore, they will be like the morning cloud,
and like the dew of early morning going away,
like chaff swirling from the threshing floor,
or like smoke from a window.
4 I am Yahweh your God
since[fu] the land of Egypt;
you know no god except me,
and no one saves besides me.
5 I fed you[fv] in the desert,
in the land of drought.
6 When I fed them,[fw] they were satisfied;
they were satisfied and their heart was lifted up;
therefore they forgot me.
7 And I will be like a lion to them;
I lie in wait beside the way, like a leopard.
8 I will attack them like a bear robbed of her offspring,
and I will tear open the covering of their heart;
there I will devour them like a lion,
like an animal of the field would mutilate them.
9 I will destroy you,[fx] O Israel;
who will help you?[fy]
10 Where now is your king that he may save you?
Where in all your cities are your judges,
of whom you said, “Give to
me a king and rulers?”
11 I gave you a king in my anger,
and I took him in my wrath.
12 The sin of Ephraim is wrapped up;
his sin is concealed.
13 The labor pains of childbirth come for him;
he is an unwise son
because at the proper time, he does not present himself
at the mouth of the womb.[fz]
14 Should I redeem them from the power[ga] of Sheol? [gb]
Should I deliver them from death?
Where are your plagues, O Death?
Where is your destruction, O Sheol?[gc]
Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
15 Although he may flourish among reeds,[gd]
the east wind will come, a wind of Yahweh
rising from the desert;
his fountain will dry up,
his spring will be parched.
It will plunder his treasury,[ge]
every object of desire.
16 [gf] Samaria will be guilty,
because she has rebelled against her God;
they will fall by the sword,
their children will be dashed to pieces,
and their pregnant women will be ripped open.
Return to Yahweh
14 Return to Yahweh your God, O Israel,
for you have stumbled because of your sin.
2 Take words with you,
and return to Yahweh.
Say to him,
“Take away all guilt;
accept good, and we will offer
the fruit[gg] of our lips.
3 Assyria will not save us;
we will not ride on horses,[gh]
and we will say no more, “Our God,”
to the work of our hands
because in you the fatherless child finds mercy.
4 I will heal their disloyalty;[gi]
I will love them freely
because my anger has turned back
from them.[gj]
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he will blossom like the lily plant,
and he will strike his roots like the trees of Lebanon.
6 His new plant shoots will spread out;
his splendor will be like the olive tree,
and his scent like the trees of Lebanon.
7 They will again dwell[gk] in my[gl] shadow;
they will grow grain
and they will blossom like the plant vine;
his fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 O Ephraim, what have I to do[gm] with idols?
I myself have answered and looked after you.[gn]
I am like a luxuriant cypress;
your fruit[go] comes from me.
9 Who is wise that he can understand these things?
Who is discerning that he knows them?
The ways of Yahweh are right,
and the righteous walk in them;
but transgressors stumble in them.
Notas al pie
- Hosea 1:2 Literally “At the beginning of the talking of Yahweh”
- Hosea 1:2 Literally “from behind Yahweh”
- Hosea 1:4 Literally “Call his name”
- Hosea 1:4 Jezreel means “God sows”
- Hosea 1:4 Literally “I will visit sin upon”
- Hosea 1:4 Or “the dynasty of Jehu”
- Hosea 1:4 Or “bloodshed”
- Hosea 1:4 Jezreel means “God sows”
- Hosea 1:4 Or “the dynasty of Israel”
- Hosea 1:5 Literally “And it will happen on that day”
- Hosea 1:6 Yahweh
- Hosea 1:6 Literally “Call her name”
- Hosea 1:6 Lo-ruhamah means “Not pitied”
- Hosea 1:6 Literally “raise them up”
- Hosea 1:8 Lo-ruhamah means “Not pitied”
- Hosea 1:9 Yahweh
- Hosea 1:9 Literally “Call his name”
- Hosea 1:9 Lo-ammi means “not my people”
- Hosea 1:9 Hebrew “not yours”
- Hosea 1:10 Hosea 1:10–2:23 in the English Bible is 2:1–25 in the Hebrew Bible
- Hosea 1:11 Literally “they will go up from”
- Hosea 1:11 Jezreel means “God sows”
- Hosea 2:1 Hebrew “brothers”
- Hosea 2:1 Ammi means “My people”
- Hosea 2:1 Hebrew “sisters”
- Hosea 2:1 Ruhamah means “Pitied”
- Hosea 2:2 Literally “from her face”
- Hosea 2:5 Or “their mother played the whore”
- Hosea 2:6 Hebrew “your path”
- Hosea 2:6 Literally “with the thorns”
- Hosea 2:7 Literally “the ones who love her”
- Hosea 2:11 Hebrew “festival”
- Hosea 2:11 Hebrew “new moon”
- Hosea 2:11 Hebrew “Sabbath”
- Hosea 2:11 Hebrew “festival”
- Hosea 2:12 Hebrew “vine”
- Hosea 2:12 Hebrew “fig tree”
- Hosea 2:12 Hebrew “animal”
- Hosea 2:13 Literally “To visit sins upon her;” see 1:4
- Hosea 2:14 Literally “I will speak to her heart”
- Hosea 2:16 Literally, “And it will happen on that day”
- Hosea 2:16 Hebrew “Ishi”
- Hosea 2:16 Hebrew “Baali”
- Hosea 2:18 Hebrew “animal”
- Hosea 2:18 Hebrew “bird”
- Hosea 2:18 Hebrew “creeping thing”
- Hosea 2:20 Literally “I will take you as a wife to me”
- Hosea 2:21 Literally “a declaration of Yahweh
- Hosea 2:22 Jezreel means “God sows”
- Hosea 2:23 Lo-ruhama means “Not pitied”
- Hosea 2:23 Lo-ammi means “Not my people”
- Hosea 3:1 Literally “who is beloved of a friend”
- Hosea 3:2 Hebrew “a measure of barley”; the LXX has “a nebel of wine,” although some modern translations, e.g. NASB, have “a homer and a half of barley”
- Hosea 3:3 Literally “You must sit at home for me”
- Hosea 3:3 Literally “you will not be”
- Hosea 4:2 The LXX adds “and adultery breaks out in the land”
- Hosea 4:4 The Hebrew is unclear; the NASB translates “For your people are like those who contend with the priest”
- Hosea 4:6 Or “to me”
- Hosea 4:6 Hebrew “sons”
- Hosea 4:7 Hebrew uncertain; MT “I will exchange”
- Hosea 4:8 Literally “They eat the sins of my people”
- Hosea 4:8 Literally “they lift up their throat”
- Hosea 4:9 Hebrew “him”
- Hosea 4:9 Hebrew “his”
- Hosea 4:9 Hebrew “him”
- Hosea 4:9 Hebrew “his”
- Hosea 4:11 Literally “to watch over whoredom”
- Hosea 4:11 Literally “take away heart”
- Hosea 4:12 Literally “their wood”
- Hosea 4:12 That is, “they played the whore forsaking their God”; See Ezek 23:5
- Hosea 4:13 Hebrew “its”
- Hosea 4:13 Or “brides”
- Hosea 4:14 Literally “I will not visit sins upon your daughters”
- Hosea 4:14 Or “brides”
- Hosea 4:15 Literally “the life of Yahweh”
- Hosea 4:16 Or “Can Yahweh feed them, like a lamb in broad pasture?”
- Hosea 4:18 Hebrew “her”
- Hosea 4:19 Hebrew “her”
- Hosea 5:2 Hebrew uncertain
- Hosea 5:5 Literally “against his face;” see 7:10
- Hosea 5:6 Hebrew “flock”
- Hosea 5:6 Hebrew “herd”
- Hosea 5:8 Hebrew “shofar”
- Hosea 5:11 Hebrew uncertain; another possible translation is “that he follows human commands”
- Hosea 5:13 Some translate literally “King Jareb” (see the NASB, NKJV)
- Hosea 5:15 Literally “I will go, I will return”
- Hosea 5:15 Or “they will beg favor of”
- Hosea 6:2 Or “before his face”
- Hosea 6:5 Hebrew “your judgments”
- Hosea 6:8 The Hebrew is difficult; NRSV translates “tracked with blood”
- Hosea 7:1 Or “comes in”
- Hosea 7:2 Literally “But they did not say to their heart”
- Hosea 7:5 This phrase refers to the effects of wine on the body
- Hosea 7:6 Hebrew “they drew near;” other ancient translations read “they are kindled”
- Hosea 7:6 Literally “sleeps”
- Hosea 7:7 Or “they eat”
- Hosea 7:9 Or “Foreigners eat”
- Hosea 7:9 Literally “grey hair,” but in this case the word refers to the “hairs of mold” on food
- Hosea 7:10 Literally “answers against his face”
- Hosea 7:10 Or “in all of this”
- Hosea 7:11 Literally “without heart”
- Hosea 7:12 Hebrew “bird”
- Hosea 7:12 Or “sky”
- Hosea 7:12 Hebrew uncertain
- Hosea 7:14 Or “gash”
- Hosea 7:16 Hebrew uncertain; the NRSV translates “to that which does not profit”; the NASB translates “but not upward”
- Hosea 7:16 The NRSV translates “So much for their babbling”
- Hosea 8:1 Literally “transgressed my covenant”
- Hosea 8:4 Hebrew “his”
- Hosea 8:4 Literally “cut off”
- Hosea 8:5 Hebrew “he rejects” or “has rejected you”
- Hosea 8:5 Hebrew “Until when”
- Hosea 8:7 Hebrew “head”
- Hosea 8:10 Hebrew “king”
- Hosea 8:12 Or “my law”
- Hosea 8:13 Hebrew uncertain; or “loved ones”
- Hosea 9:2 That is, Israel
- Hosea 9:4 Literally “for their soul”
- Hosea 9:6 Hebrew “Noph”
- Hosea 9:9 Literally “They made deep, they corrupted themselves”
- Hosea 9:10 Or “in the beginning”
- Hosea 9:10 Or “fathers”
- Hosea 9:10 Literally “like loving things”
- Hosea 9:12 Or “until no one is left”
- Hosea 10:1 Or “ravaged vine”
- Hosea 10:1 Hebrew “they”
- Hosea 10:1 Or “made beautiful”
- Hosea 10:2 That is, “Yahweh himself”
- Hosea 10:4 Literally “cutting covenant”
- Hosea 10:5 Hebrew “inhabitant”
- Hosea 10:5 Hebrew “calves”
- Hosea 10:5 Or “rejoice”
- Hosea 10:6 See 5:13; some translate literally “King Jareb”
- Hosea 10:6 Or “counsel”
- Hosea 10:9 Literally “they stood”
- Hosea 10:10 The LXX translates “I will come”
- Hosea 10:10 So Qere; Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib) “their two eyes”
- Hosea 10:11 Literally “passed over”
- Hosea 10:12 Literally “reap according to loyal love”
- Hosea 10:13 Hebrew “lie”
- Hosea 10:14 Or “upon their children”
- Hosea 11:2 Hebrew “When they called”; the LXX and modern translations read “When I called”
- Hosea 11:2 Hebrew “their face”
- Hosea 11:3 Hebrew uncertain
- Hosea 11:3 Hebrew “his”
- Hosea 11:4 Literally “ropes of a human”
- Hosea 11:4 Or “like one who imposed”
- Hosea 11:4 Or “infants to their cheeks”
- Hosea 11:4 Hebrew “him”
- Hosea 11:4 Hebrew “him”
- Hosea 11:5 Or “They will not return”
- Hosea 11:5 That is “Israel’s king”
- Hosea 11:8 Or “My heart is overturned”
- Hosea 11:8 Literally “together”
- Hosea 11:9 Literally “I will not do”
- Hosea 11:9 Literally “the anger of my nose”
- Hosea 11:9 Or “human”
- Hosea 11:10 That is, “the West”
- Hosea 11:11 Hebrew “bird”
- Hosea 11:11 Hebrew “dove”
- Hosea 11:11 Hebrew “I will cause them to live”
- Hosea 11:12 Hosea 11:12–12:14 in the English Bible is 12:1–15 in the Hebrew Bible
- Hosea 11:12 Hebrew “lie”
- Hosea 12:1 Or “Ephraim befriends the wind”
- Hosea 12:1 Hebrew “they”
- Hosea 12:1 Literally “cuts a covenant with Assyria”
- Hosea 12:2 This word in Hebrew conveys a legal setting
- Hosea 12:4 Hebrew “us”
- Hosea 12:7 Or “false balances”
- Hosea 12:8 Or “I found”
- Hosea 12:9 Or “from”
- Hosea 12:10 Hebrew “revelation”
- Hosea 12:12 Or “the land of Aram”
- Hosea 12:13 Israel
- Hosea 12:14 Literally “will bring down on him his blood”
- Hosea 13:1 Hebrew “speaks”
- Hosea 13:4 Or “from”
- Hosea 13:5 So LXX; Hebrew “I knew you”
- Hosea 13:6 Hebrew “According to their pasture”
- Hosea 13:9 Hebrew “He destroys you”
- Hosea 13:9 Hebrew “for in me, in your help”
- Hosea 13:13 Literally “the place where the sons burst forth”
- Hosea 13:14 Literally “the hand”
- Hosea 13:14 “Sheol” is a Hebrew term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the underworld
- Hosea 13:14 “Sheol” is a Hebrew term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the underworld
- Hosea 13:15 Hebrew “brothers”
- Hosea 13:15 Or “its treasury”
- Hosea 13:16 Hosea 13:16–14:9 in the English Bible is 14:1–10 in the Hebrew Bible
- Hosea 14:2 Hebrew uncertain
- Hosea 14:3 Hebrew “horse”
- Hosea 14:4 Or “backsliding”
- Hosea 14:4 Hebrew “him”
- Hosea 14:7 Literally “They shall return, they shall dwell”
- Hosea 14:7 Hebrew “his”
- Hosea 14:8 Literally “what for me”
- Hosea 14:8 Hebrew “him”
- Hosea 14:8 Or “your faithfulness”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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