Hosea 12 - Joel 1

New International Version

⁷ The merchant uses dishonest scales^(Q)
    and loves to defraud.
⁸ Ephraim boasts,^(R)
    “I am very rich; I have become wealthy.^(S)
With all my wealth they will not find in me
    any iniquity or sin.”

⁹ “I have been the Lord your God
    ever since you came out of Egypt;^(T)
I will make you live in tents^(U) again,
    as in the days of your appointed festivals.
¹⁰ I spoke to the prophets,
    gave them many visions
    and told parables^(V) through them.”^(W)

¹¹ Is Gilead wicked?^(X)
    Its people are worthless!
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?^(Y)
    Their altars will be like piles of stones
    on a plowed field.^(Z)
12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram^[c];^(AA)
    Israel served to get a wife,
    and to pay for her he tended sheep.^(AB)
13 The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt,^(AC)
    by a prophet he cared for him.^(AD)
14 But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;
    his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed^(AE)
    and will repay him for his contempt.^(AF)

⁴ “But I have been the Lord your God
    ever since you came out of Egypt.^(AS)
You shall acknowledge^(AT) no God but me,^(AU)
    no Savior^(AV) except me.
⁵ I cared for you in the wilderness,^(AW)
    in the land of burning heat.
⁶ When I fed them, they were satisfied;
    when they were satisfied, they became proud;^(AX)
    then they forgot^(AY) me.^(AZ)
7 So I will be like a lion^(BA) to them,
    like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
⁸ Like a bear robbed of her cubs,^(BB)
    I will attack them and rip them open;
like a lion^(BC) I will devour them—
    a wild animal will tear them apart.^(BD)

⁹ “You are destroyed, Israel,
    because you are against me,^(BE) against your helper.^(BF)
10 Where is your king,^(BG) that he may save you?
    Where are your rulers in all your towns,
of whom you said,
    ‘Give me a king and princes’?^(BH)
11 So in my anger I gave you a king,^(BI)
    and in my wrath I took him away.^(BJ)
12 The guilt of Ephraim is stored up,
    his sins are kept on record.^(BK)
13 Pains as of a woman in childbirth^(BL) come to him,
    but he is a child without wisdom;
when the time^(BM) arrives,
    he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb.^(BN)

¹⁴ “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;^(BO)
    I will redeem them from death.^(BP)
Where, O death, are your plagues?
    Where, O grave, is your destruction?^(BQ)

“I will have no compassion,
¹⁵     even though he thrives^(BR) among his brothers.
An east wind^(BS) from the Lord will come,
    blowing in from the desert;
his spring will fail
    and his well dry up.^(BT)
His storehouse will be plundered^(BU)
    of all its treasures.
¹⁶ The people of Samaria^(BV) must bear their guilt,^(BW)
    because they have rebelled^(BX) against their God.
They will fall by the sword;^(BY)
    their little ones will be dashed^(BZ) to the ground,
    their pregnant women^(CA) ripped open.”^[e]

⁴ “I will heal^(CM) their waywardness^(CN)
    and love them freely,^(CO)
    for my anger has turned away^(CP) from them.
⁵ I will be like the dew^(CQ) to Israel;
    he will blossom like a lily.^(CR)
Like a cedar of Lebanon^(CS)
    he will send down his roots;^(CT)
6     his young shoots will grow.
His splendor will be like an olive tree,^(CU)
    his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.^(CV)
7 People will dwell again in his shade;^(CW)
    they will flourish like the grain,
they will blossom^(CX) like the vine—
    Israel’s fame will be like the wine^(CY) of Lebanon.^(CZ)
8 Ephraim, what more have I^[h] to do with idols?^(DA)
    I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a flourishing juniper;^(DB)
    your fruitfulness comes from me.”

⁹ Who is wise?^(DC) Let them realize these things.
    Who is discerning? Let them understand.^(DD)
The ways of the Lord are right;^(DE)
    the righteous walk^(DF) in them,
    but the rebellious stumble in them.

⁵ Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
    Wail, all you drinkers of wine;^(DR)
wail because of the new wine,
    for it has been snatched^(DS) from your lips.
⁶ A nation has invaded my land,
    a mighty army without number;^(DT)
it has the teeth^(DU) of a lion,
    the fangs of a lioness.
⁷ It has laid waste^(DV) my vines
    and ruined my fig trees.^(DW)
It has stripped off their bark
    and thrown it away,
    leaving their branches white.

⁸ Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth^(DX)
    grieving for the betrothed of her youth.
⁹ Grain offerings and drink offerings^(DY)
    are cut off from the house of the Lord.
The priests are in mourning,^(DZ)
    those who minister before the Lord.
¹⁰ The fields are ruined,
    the ground is dried up;^(EA)
the grain is destroyed,
    the new wine^(EB) is dried up,
    the olive oil fails.^(EC)

¹¹ Despair, you farmers,^(ED)
    wail, you vine growers;
grieve for the wheat and the barley,^(EE)
    because the harvest of the field is destroyed.^(EF)
12 The vine is dried up
    and the fig tree is withered;^(EG)
the pomegranate,^(EH) the palm and the apple^[j] tree—
    all the trees of the field—are dried up.^(EI)
Surely the people’s joy
    is withered away.

¹⁵ Alas for that^(EQ) day!
    For the day of the Lord^(ER) is near;
    it will come like destruction from the Almighty.^[k](ES)

¹⁶ Has not the food been cut off^(ET)
    before our very eyes—
joy and gladness^(EU)
    from the house of our God?^(EV)
17 The seeds are shriveled
    beneath the clods.^[l](EW)
The storehouses are in ruins,
    the granaries have been broken down,
    for the grain has dried up.
¹⁸ How the cattle moan!
    The herds mill about
because they have no pasture;^(EX)
    even the flocks of sheep are suffering.^(EY)

¹⁹ To you, Lord, I call,^(EZ)
    for fire^(FA) has devoured the pastures^(FB) in the wilderness
    and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.
²⁰ Even the wild animals pant for you;^(FC)
    the streams of water have dried up^(FD)
    and fire has devoured the pastures^(FE) in the wilderness.