Hosea 13 - Joel 1

New King James Version

Relentless Judgment on Israel

13 When Ephraim spoke, trembling,
He exalted himself in Israel;
But when he offended through Baal worship, he died.
²Now 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 ^[a]the men who sacrifice ^[b]kiss the calves!”
³Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud
And like the early dew that passes away,
^(A)Like chaff blown off from a threshing floor
And like smoke from a chimney.

⁴“Yet ^(B)I am the Lord your God
Ever since the land of Egypt,
And you shall know no God but Me;
For ^(C)there is no savior besides Me.
⁵^(D)I ^[c]knew you in the wilderness,
^(E)In the land of ^[d]great drought.
⁶^(F)When they had pasture, they were filled;
They were filled and their heart was exalted;
Therefore they forgot Me.

⁷“So ^(G)I will be to them like a lion;
Like ^(H)a leopard by the road I will lurk;
⁸I will meet them ^(I)like a bear deprived of her cubs;
I will tear open their rib cage,
And there I will devour them like a lion.
The ^[e]wild beast shall tear them.

⁹“O Israel, ^[f]you are destroyed,
But ^[g]your help is from Me.
¹⁰^[h]I will be your King;
^(J)Where is any other,
That he may save you in all your cities?
And your judges to whom ^(K)you said,
‘Give me a king and princes’?
¹¹^(L)I gave you a king in My anger,
And took him away in My wrath.

¹²“The^(M) iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
His sin is stored up.
¹³^(N)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 ^[i]power of ^[j]the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
^(O)O Death, ^[k]I will be your plagues!
O ^[l]Grave, ^[m]I will be your destruction!
^(P)Pity is hidden from My eyes.”

¹⁵Though he is fruitful among his brethren,
^(Q)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.
¹⁶Samaria ^[n]is held guilty,
For she has ^(R)rebelled against her God.
They shall fall by the sword,
Their infants shall be dashed in pieces,
And their women with child ^(S)ripped open.

Israel Restored at Last

14 O Israel, ^(T)return to the Lord your God,
For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;
²Take words with you,
And return to the Lord.
Say to Him,
“Take away all iniquity;
Receive us graciously,
For we will offer the ^(U)sacrifices^[o] of our lips.
³Assyria shall ^(V)not save us,
^(W)We will not ride on horses,
Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’
^(X)For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”

⁴“I will heal their ^(Y)backsliding,
I will ^(Z)love them freely,
For My anger has turned away from him.
⁵I will be like the ^(AA)dew to Israel;
He shall ^[p]grow like the lily,
And ^[q]lengthen his roots like Lebanon.
⁶His branches shall ^[r]spread;
^(AB)His beauty shall be like an olive tree,
And ^(AC)his fragrance like Lebanon.
⁷^(AD)Those who dwell under his shadow shall return;
They shall be revived like grain,
And ^[s]grow like a vine.
Their ^[t]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;
^(AE)Your fruit is found in Me.”

⁹Who is wise?
Let him understand these things.
Who is prudent?
Let him know them.
For ^(AF)the ways of the Lord are right;
The righteous walk in them,
But transgressors stumble in them.

The Locust Plague in Judah

1 The word of the Lord that came to ^(AG)Joel the son of Pethuel.

The Land Laid Waste^(AH)

²Hear this, you elders,
And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!
^(AI)Has anything like this happened in your days,
Or even in the days of your fathers?
³^(AJ)Tell your children about it,
Let your children tell their children,
And their children another generation.

⁴^(AK)What the chewing ^[u]locust left, the ^(AL)swarming locust has eaten;
What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten;
And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.

⁵Awake, you ^(AM)drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you drinkers of wine,
Because of the new wine,
^(AN)For it has been cut off from your mouth.
⁶For ^(AO)a nation has come up against My land,
Strong, and without number;
^(AP)His teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And he has the fangs of a ^[v]fierce lion.
⁷He has ^(AQ)laid waste My vine,
And ^[w]ruined My fig tree;
He has stripped it bare and thrown it away;
Its branches are made white.

⁸^(AR)Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For ^(AS)the husband of her youth.
⁹^(AT)The grain offering and the drink offering
Have been cut off from the house of the Lord;
The priests ^(AU)mourn, who minister to the Lord.
¹⁰The field is wasted,
^(AV)The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
^(AW)The new wine is dried up,
The oil fails.

¹¹^(AX)Be ashamed, you farmers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field has perished.
¹²^(AY)The vine has dried up,
And the fig tree has withered;
The pomegranate tree,
The palm tree also,
And the apple tree—
All the trees of the field are withered;
Surely ^(AZ)joy has withered away from the sons of men.

Mourning for the Land

¹³^(BA)Gird yourselves and lament, you priests;
Wail, you who minister before the altar;
Come, lie all night in sackcloth,
You who minister to my God;
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Are withheld from the house of your God.
¹⁴^(BB)Consecrate a fast,
Call ^(BC)a sacred assembly;
Gather the elders
And ^(BD)all the inhabitants of the land
Into the house of the Lord your God,
And cry out to the Lord.

¹⁵^(BE)Alas for the day!
For ^(BF)the day of the Lord is at hand;
It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.
¹⁶Is not the food ^(BG)cut off before our eyes,
^(BH)Joy and gladness from the house of our God?
¹⁷The seed shrivels under the clods,
Storehouses are in shambles;
Barns are broken down,
For the grain has withered.
¹⁸How ^(BI)the animals groan!
The herds of cattle are restless,
Because they have no pasture;
Even the flocks of sheep ^[x]suffer punishment.

¹⁹O Lord, ^(BJ)to You I cry out;
For ^(BK)fire has devoured the ^[y]open pastures,
And a flame has burned all the trees of the field.
²⁰The beasts of the field also ^(BL)cry out to You,
For ^(BM)the water brooks are dried up,
And fire has devoured the ^[z]open pastures.