Hosea 5

English Standard Version

Punishment Coming for Israel and Judah

5 ^(A)Hear this, O priests!
    Pay attention, O house of Israel!
Give ear, O house of the king!
    For the judgment is for you;
for ^(B)you have been a snare at Mizpah
    and a net spread upon ^(C)Tabor.
²And ^(D)the revolters ^(E)have gone deep into slaughter,
    but ^(F)I will discipline all of them.

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

⁵^(J)The pride of Israel testifies to his face;^[a]
    Israel and ^(K)Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt;
    ^(L)Judah also shall stumble with them.
⁶^(M)With their flocks and herds they shall go
    to seek the Lord,
^(N)but they will not find him;
    ^(O)he has withdrawn from them.
⁷^(P)They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord;
    for they have borne alien children.
    Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

⁸^(Q)Blow the horn in ^(R)Gibeah,
    the trumpet in ^(S)Ramah.
Sound the alarm at ^(T)Beth-aven;
    we follow you,^[b] O Benjamin!
⁹Ephraim shall become a desolation
    in the day of punishment;
among the tribes of Israel
    I make known what is sure.
¹⁰The princes of Judah have become
    like ^(U)those who move the landmark;
upon them I will pour out
    my wrath like water.
¹¹Ephraim is ^(V)oppressed, crushed in judgment,
    because he was determined to go after filth.^[c]
¹²But I am ^(W)like a moth to Ephraim,
    and ^(X)like dry rot to the house of Judah.

¹³When Ephraim saw his sickness,
    and Judah ^(Y)his wound,
then Ephraim went ^(Z)to Assyria,
    and sent to the great king.^[d]
^(AA)But he is not able to cure you
    or heal ^(AB)your wound.
¹⁴For I will be ^(AC)like a lion to ^(AD)Ephraim,
    and like a young lion to the house of ^(AE)Judah.
^(AF)I, even I, will tear and go away;
    I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.

¹⁵^(AG)I will return again to my place,
until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
and ^(AH)in their distress earnestly seek me.

Footnotes

Hosea 5:5 Or in his presence
Hosea 5:8 Or after you
Hosea 5:11 Or to follow human precepts
Hosea 5:13 Or to King Jareb

Hosea 6

English Standard Version

Israel and Judah Are Unrepentant

6 “Come, let us ^(A)return to the Lord;
    for ^(B)he has torn us, that he may heal us;
    he has struck us down, and ^(C)he will bind us up.
²After two days ^(D)he will revive us;
    on the third day he will raise us up,
    that we may live before him.
³^(E)Let us know; ^(F)let us press on to know the Lord;
    ^(G)his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us ^(H)as the showers,
    ^(I)as the spring rains that water the earth.”

⁴What shall I do with you, ^(J)O ^(K)Ephraim?
    What shall I do with you, O ^(L)Judah?
Your love is ^(M)like a morning cloud,
    ^(N)like the dew that goes early away.
⁵Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
    I have slain them ^(O)by the words of my mouth,
    and my judgment goes forth as the light.
⁶For ^(P)I desire steadfast love^[a] and not sacrifice,
    ^(Q)the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

⁷But ^(R)like Adam they ^(S)transgressed the covenant;
    ^(T)there they dealt faithlessly with me.
⁸^(U)Gilead is a city of evildoers,
    ^(V)tracked with blood.
⁹As robbers ^(W)lie in wait for a man,
    so the priests band together;
they murder on the way to ^(X)Shechem;
    they commit villainy.
¹⁰In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
    ^(Y)Ephraim's whoredom is there; ^(Z)Israel is defiled.

¹¹For you also, O ^(AA)Judah, ^(AB)a harvest is appointed.

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

Footnotes

Hosea 6:6 Septuagint mercy

Hosea 11

English Standard Version

The Lord's Love for Israel

11 ^(A)When Israel was a child, ^(B)I loved him,
    and out of Egypt I ^(C)called ^(D)my son.
²^(E)The more they were called,
    the more they went away;
^(F)they kept sacrificing to the Baals
    and burning offerings to idols.

³Yet it was ^(G)I who taught Ephraim to walk;
    I took them up by their arms,
    but they did not know that ^(H)I healed them.
⁴^(I)I led them with cords of kindness,^[a]
    with the bands of love,
and ^(J)I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,
    and ^(K)I bent down to them and fed them.

⁵^(L)They shall not^[b] return to the land of Egypt,
    but ^(M)Assyria shall be their king,
    ^(N)because ^(O)they have refused to return to me.
⁶^(P)The sword shall rage against their cities,
    consume the bars of their gates,
    and devour them ^(Q)because of their own counsels.
⁷My people are bent ^(R)on turning away from me,
    and though ^(S)they call out to the Most High,
    he shall not raise them up at all.

⁸How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
    How can I hand you over, O Israel?
^(T)How can I make you ^(U)like Admah?
    How can I treat you ^(V)like Zeboiim?
^(W)My heart recoils within me;
    my compassion grows warm and tender.
⁹I will not execute my burning anger;
    I will not again destroy Ephraim;
^(X)for I am God and not a man,
    ^(Y)the Holy One in your midst,
    and I will not come in wrath.^[c]

¹⁰^(Z)They shall go after the Lord;
    ^(AA)he will roar like a lion;
when he roars,
    his children shall come trembling ^(AB)from the west;
¹¹they shall come trembling like birds ^(AC)from Egypt,
    and ^(AD)like doves ^(AE)from the land of Assyria,
    and I will return them to their homes, declares the Lord.
¹²^[d] Ephraim ^(AF)has surrounded me with lies,
    and the house of Israel with deceit,
but Judah still walks with God
    and is faithful to the Holy One.