Hosea 11:7-14:9

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

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.
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.^[b]

¹⁰ They shall go after the Lord,
    who roars like a lion;
when he roars,
    his children shall come trembling from the west.
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.

^12 [c] Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,
    and the house of Israel with deceit;
but Judah still walks^[d] with God,
    and is faithful to the Holy One.
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.

⁷ A trader, in whose hands are false balances,
    he loves to oppress.
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.”^[f]
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.

¹⁰ I spoke to the prophets;
    it was I who multiplied visions,
    and through the prophets I will bring destruction.
¹¹ In Gilead^[g] 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.
¹² Jacob fled to the land of Aram,
    there Israel served for a wife,
    and for a wife he guarded sheep.^[h]
13 By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt,
    and by a prophet he was guarded.
¹⁴ Ephraim has given bitter offense,
    so his Lord will bring his crimes down on him
    and pay him back for his insults.

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.
⁵ It was I who fed^[j] you in the wilderness,
    in the land of drought.
⁶ When I fed^[k] them, they were satisfied;
    they were satisfied, and their heart was proud;
    therefore they forgot me.
⁷ So I will become like a lion to them,
    like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
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?^[l]
10 Where now is^[m] 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”?
¹¹ I gave you a king in my anger,
    and I took him away in my wrath.

¹² Ephraim’s iniquity is bound up;
    his sin is kept in store.
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.

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

¹⁵ Although he may flourish among rushes,^[p]
    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.
^16 [q] 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.

⁸ O Ephraim, what have I^[v] to do with idols?
    It is I who answer and look after you.^[w]
I am like an evergreen cypress;
    your faithfulness^[x] comes from me.
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.