Hosea 1-14

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹⁴ Therefore, I will now allure her
    and bring her into the wilderness
    and speak tenderly to her.^(S)
15 From there I will give her her vineyards
    and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she shall respond as in the days of her youth,
    as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.^(T)

²¹ On that day I will answer, says the Lord,
    I will answer the heavens,
    and they shall answer the earth,
²² and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
    and they shall answer Jezreel,^[n](Y)
23     and I will sow him^[o] for myself in the land.
And I will have pity on Lo-ruhamah,^[p]
    and I will say to Lo-ammi,^[q] “You are my people,”
    and he shall say, “You are my God.”^(Z)

⁴ Yet let no one contend,
    and let none accuse,
    for with you is my contention, O priest.^[s](AG)
5 You shall stumble by day;
    the prophet also shall stumble with you by night,
    and I will destroy your mother.^(AH)
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge!
    Because you have rejected knowledge,
    I reject you from being a priest to me;
and since you have forgotten the law of your God,
    I also will forget your children.^(AI)

⁷ The more they increased,
    the more they sinned against me;
    they changed^[t] their glory into shame.^(AJ)
8 They feed on the sin of my people;
    they are greedy for their iniquity.
⁹ And it shall be like people, like priest;
    I will punish them for their ways
    and repay them for their deeds.^(AK)
10 They shall eat but not be satisfied;
    they shall prostitute themselves but not multiply,
because they have forsaken the Lord
to devote themselves to^{(AL) 11}     prostitution.

Therefore your daughters prostitute themselves,
    and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.^(AO)
14 I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves
    nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery,
for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes
    and sacrifice with female attendants;
thus a people without understanding comes to ruin.^(AP)

¹⁵ Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel,
    do not let Judah become guilty.
Do not enter into Gilgal
    or go up to Beth-aven,
    and do not swear, “As the Lord lives.”^(AQ)
16 Like a stubborn heifer,
    Israel is stubborn;
can the Lord now feed them
    like a lamb in a broad pasture?^(AR)

¹⁷ Ephraim is joined to idols—
    let him alone.
¹⁸ When their drinking is ended, they indulge in sexual orgies;
    they love lewdness more than their glory.^[u](AS)
19 A wind has wrapped them^[v] in its wings,
    and they shall be ashamed because of their altars.^[w](AT)

³ I know Ephraim,
    and Israel is not hidden from me,
for now, O Ephraim, you have prostituted yourself;
    Israel is defiled.^(AV)
4 Their deeds do not permit them
    to return to their God.
For the spirit of prostitution is within them,
    and they do not know the Lord.^(AW)

⁵ Israel’s pride testifies against him;
    Ephraim^[y] stumbles in his guilt;
    Judah also stumbles with them.^(AX)
6 With their flocks and herds they shall go
    to seek the Lord,
but they will not find him;
    he has withdrawn from them.^(AY)
7 They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord,
    for they have borne illegitimate children.
    Now the new moon shall devour them along with their fields.^(AZ)

⁸ Blow the horn in Gibeah,
    the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound the alarm at Beth-aven;
    look behind you, Benjamin!^(BA)
9 Ephraim shall become a desolation
    in the day of punishment;
among the tribes of Israel
    I declare what is sure.^(BB)
10 The princes of Judah have become
    like those who remove the landmark;
on them I will pour out
    my wrath like water.^(BC)
11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,
    because he was determined to go after vanity.^[z]
12 Therefore I am like maggots to Ephraim
    and like rottenness to the house of Judah.^(BD)
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness
    and Judah his wound,
then Ephraim went to Assyria
    and sent to the great king.^[aa]
But he is not able to cure you
    or heal your wound.^(BE)
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim
    and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I myself will tear and go away;
    I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.^(BF)
15 I will return again to my place
    until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face.
    In their distress they will beg my favor:^(BG)

⁷ But at^[ac] Adam they transgressed the covenant;
    there they dealt faithlessly with me.
⁸ Gilead is a city of evildoers,
    tracked with blood.
⁹ As robbers lie in wait^[ad] for someone,
    so the priests are banded together;^[ae]
they murder on the road to Shechem;
    they commit a monstrous crime.^(BM)
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
    Ephraim’s prostitution is there; Israel is defiled.^(BN)

¹¹ For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed.

When I would restore the fortunes of my people,^(BO)

7 when I would heal Israel,
    the corruption of Ephraim is revealed,
    and the wicked deeds of Samaria,
for they deal falsely;
    the thief breaks in,
    and the bandits raid outside.^(BP)
2 But they do not consider
    that I remember all their wickedness.
Now their deeds surround them;
    they are before my face.^(BQ)
3 By their wickedness they make the king glad,
    and the officials by their treachery.
⁴ They are all adulterers;
    they are like a heated oven
whose baker does not need to stir the fire
    from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.^(BR)
5 On the day of our king the officials
    became sick with the heat of wine;
    he stretched out his hand with mockers.^(BS)
6 For they are kindled^[af] like an oven; their heart burns within them;
    all night their anger smolders;
    in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
⁷ All of them are hot as an oven,
    and they devour their rulers.
All their kings have fallen;
    none of them calls upon me.^(BT)

⁸ Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples;
    Ephraim is a cake not turned.
⁹ Foreigners devour his strength,
    but he does not know it;
gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,
    but he does not know it.^(BU)
10 Israel’s pride testifies against^[ag] him;
    yet they do not return to the Lord their God
    or seek him, for all this.^(BV)

¹⁴ They do not cry to me from the heart,
    but they wail upon their beds;
they gash themselves for grain and wine;
    they rebel against me.^(BZ)
15 It was I who trained and strengthened their arms,
    yet they plot evil against me.^(CA)
16 They turn to that which does not profit;^[ai]
    they have become like a defective bow;
their officials shall fall by the sword
    because of the rage of their tongue.
So much for their babbling in the land of Egypt.^(CB)

⁴ They made kings but not through me;
    they set up princes but without my knowledge.
With their silver and gold they made idols
    for their own destruction.^(CE)
5 Your calf is rejected, O Samaria.
    My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of innocence?^(CF)
6     For it is from Israel,
an artisan made it;
    it is not God.
The calf of Samaria
    shall be broken to pieces.^(CG)

⁷ For they sow the wind,
    and they shall reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain has no heads;
    it shall yield no meal;
if it were to yield,
    foreigners would devour it.^(CH)
8 Israel is swallowed up;
    now they are among the nations
    as a useless vessel.^(CI)
9 For they have gone up to Assyria,
    a wild ass wandering alone;
    Ephraim has bargained for lovers.^(CJ)
10 Though they bargain with the nations,
    I will now gather them up.
They shall soon writhe
    under the burden of kings and princes.^(CK)

¹¹ When Ephraim multiplied altars to expiate sin,
    they became to him altars for sinning.
¹² Though I write for him the multitude of my instructions,
    they are regarded as a strange thing.^(CL)
13 Though they offer choice sacrifices,^[al]
    though they eat flesh,
    the Lord does not accept them.
Now he will remember their iniquity
    and punish their sins;
    they shall return to Egypt.^(CM)
14 Israel has forgotten his Maker
    and built palaces,
and Judah has multiplied fortified cities,
    but I will send a fire upon his cities,
    and it shall devour his strongholds.^(CN)

⁴ They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,
    and their sacrifices shall not please him.
Such sacrifices shall be like mourners’ bread;
    all who eat of it shall be defiled,
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
    it shall not come to the house of the Lord.^(CR)

⁵ What will you do on the day of appointed festival
    and on the day of the festival of the Lord?^(CS)
6 For even if they escape destruction,
    Egypt shall gather them;
    Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;^[an]
    thorns shall be in their tents.^(CT)

⁷ The days of punishment have come;
    the days of recompense have come.
Israel will cry out,^[ao]
“The prophet is a fool;
    the man of the spirit is mad!”
Because of your great iniquity,
    your hostility is great.^(CU)
8 The prophet is a sentinel for my God over Ephraim,
yet a hunter’s snare is on all his ways
    and hostility in the house of his God.^(CV)
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves
    as in the days of Gibeah;
he will remember their iniquity;
    he will punish their sins.^(CW)

¹⁰ Like grapes in the wilderness,
    I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree,
    in its first season,
    I saw your ancestors.
But they came to Baal-peor
    and consecrated themselves to a thing of shame
    and became detestable like the thing they loved.^(CX)
11 Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—
    no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!^(CY)
12 Even if they bring up children,
    I will bereave them until no one is left.
Woe to them indeed
    when I depart from them!^(CZ)
13 Once I saw Ephraim as a young palm planted in a lovely meadow,^[ap]
    but now Ephraim must lead out his children for slaughter.^(DA)
14 Give them, O Lord—
    what will you give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
    and dry breasts.

¹⁵ Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal;
    there I came to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
    I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
    all their officials are rebels.^(DB)

¹⁶ Ephraim is stricken,
    their root is dried up,
    they shall bear no fruit.
Even though they give birth,
    I will kill the cherished offspring of their womb.^(DC)
17 Because they have not listened to him,
    my God will reject them;
    they shall become wanderers among the nations.^(DD)

³ For now they will say:
    “We have no king,
for we do not fear the Lord,
    and a king—what could he do for us?”
⁴ They utter mere words;
    with empty oaths they make covenants;
so litigation springs up like poisonous weeds
    in the furrows of the field.^(DG)
5 The inhabitants of Samaria tremble
    for the calf^[ar] of Beth-aven.
Its people shall mourn for it,
    and its idolatrous priests shall wail^[as] over it,
    over its glory that has departed from it.^(DH)
6 The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria
    as tribute to the great king.^[at]
Ephraim shall be put to shame,
    and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.^[au](DI)

⁷ Samaria’s king shall perish
    like a chip on the face of the waters.^(DJ)
8 The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
    shall be destroyed.
Thorn and thistle shall grow up
    on their altars.
They shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”
    and to the hills, “Fall on us.”^(DK)

⁹ Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel;
    there they have continued.
    Shall not war overtake them in Gibeah?^(DL)
10 I will come^[av] against the wayward people to punish them,
    and nations shall be gathered against them
    when they are punished^[aw] for their double iniquity.^(DM)

¹¹ Ephraim was a trained heifer
    that loved to thresh,
    and I spared her fair neck,
but I will make Ephraim break the ground;
    Judah must plow;
    Jacob must harrow for himself.^(DN)
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;
    reap steadfast love;
    break up your fallow ground,
for it is time to seek the Lord,
    that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.^(DO)

¹³ You have plowed wickedness;
    you have reaped injustice;
    you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your chariots,^[ax]
    in the multitude of your warriors,^(DP)
14 therefore the tumult of war shall rise against your people,
    and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,
as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle,
    when mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.^(DQ)
15 Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
    because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel
    shall be utterly cut off.^(DR)

³ Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
    I took them up in my^[ba] arms,
    but they did not know that I healed them.^(DU)
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
    with bands of love.
I was to them like those
    who lift infants to their cheeks.^[bb]
    I bent down to them and fed them.^(DV)

⁵ They shall return to the land of Egypt,
    and Assyria shall be their king,
    because they have refused to return to me.^(DW)
6 The sword rages in their cities;
    it consumes their oracle priests
    and devours because of their schemes.^(DX)
7 My people are bent on turning away from me.
    To the Most High they call,
    but he does not raise them up at all.^[bc](DY)

⁸ How can I give you up, 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 recoils within me;
    my compassion grows warm and tender.^(DZ)
9 I will not execute my fierce anger;
    I will not again destroy Ephraim,
for I am God and no mortal,
    the Holy One in your midst,
    and I will not come in wrath.^[bd](EA)

¹⁰ They shall go after the Lord,
    who roars like a lion;
when he roars,
    his children shall come trembling from the west.^(EB)
11 They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt
    and like doves from the land of Assyria,
    and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord.^(EC)

^12 [be]Ephraim has surrounded me with lies
    and the house of Israel with deceit,
but Judah still walks^[bf] with God
    and is faithful to the Holy One.^(ED)

12 Ephraim herds the wind
    and pursues the east wind all day long;
they multiply falsehood and violence;
    they make a treaty with Assyria,
    and oil is carried to Egypt.^(EE)

⁷ A trader in whose hands are false balances,
    he loves to oppress.^(EJ)
8 Ephraim has said, “Ah, I am rich;
    I have gained wealth for myself;
in all of my gain
    no offense has been found in me
    that would be sin.”^[bh](EK)
9 I am the Lord your God
    from the land of Egypt;
I will make you live in tents again,
    as in the days of the appointed festival.^(EL)

¹⁰ I spoke to the prophets;
    it was I who multiplied visions,
    and through the prophets I will bring destruction.^(EM)
11 In^[bi] Gilead there is iniquity;
    they shall surely come to nothing.
In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,
    so their altars shall be like stone heaps
    on the furrows of the field.^(EN)
12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram;
    there Israel served for a wife,
    and for a wife he guarded sheep.^[bj](EO)
13 By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt,
    and by a prophet he was guarded.^(EP)
14 Ephraim has given bitter offense,
    so his Lord will bring his crimes down on him
    and pay him back for his insults.^(EQ)

⁴ Yet I have been the Lord your God
    ever since the land of Egypt;
you know no God but me,
    and besides me there is no savior.^(EU)
5 It was I who fed^[bl] you in the wilderness,
    in the land of drought.^(EV)
6 When I fed^[bm] them, they were satisfied;
    they were satisfied, and their heart was proud;
    therefore they forgot me.^(EW)
7 So I will become like a lion to them;
    like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.^(EX)
8 I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs
    and will tear open the covering of their heart;
there I will devour them like a lion,
    as a wild animal would mangle them.

⁹ I will destroy you, O Israel;
    who can help you?^[bn]
10 Where now is^[bo] your king, that he may save you?
    Where in all your cities are your rulers,
of whom you said,
    “Give me a king and rulers”?^(EY)
11 I gave you a king in my anger,
    and I took him away in my wrath.^(EZ)

¹² Ephraim’s iniquity is bound up;
    his sin is kept in store.^(FA)
13 The pangs of childbirth come for him,
    but he is an unwise son,
for at the proper time he does not present himself
    at the mouth of the womb.^(FB)

¹⁴ Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?
    Shall I redeem them from Death?
O Death, where are^[bp] your plagues?
    O Sheol, where is^[bq] your destruction?
    Compassion is hidden from my eyes.^(FC)

¹⁵ Although he may flourish among rushes,^[br]
    the east wind shall come, a blast from the Lord,
    rising from the wilderness,
and his fountain shall dry up;
    his spring shall be parched.
It shall strip his treasury
    of every precious thing.^{(FD)
16 [bs]}Samaria shall bear her guilt
    because she has rebelled against her God;
they shall fall by the sword;
    their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,
    and their pregnant women ripped open.^(FE)

⁸ O Ephraim, what have I^[bx] to do with idols?
    It is I who answer and look after you.^[by]
I am like an evergreen cypress;
    your fruit comes from me.^(FM)
9 Those who are wise understand these things;
    those who are discerning know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
    and the upright walk in them,
    but transgressors stumble in them.^(FN)