Hosea 5-9
New American Standard Bible 1995
The People’s Apostasy Rebuked
5 Hear this, O priests!
Give heed, O house of Israel!
Listen, O house of the king!
For the judgment applies to you,
For you have been a (A)snare at Mizpah
And a net spread out on Tabor.
2 The (B)revolters have [a](C)gone deep in depravity,
But I will chastise all of them.
3 I (D)know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me;
For now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot,
Israel has defiled itself.
4 Their deeds will not allow them
To return to their God.
For a (E)spirit of harlotry is within them,
And they (F)do not know the Lord.
5 Moreover, the (G)pride of Israel testifies against him,
And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;
(H)Judah also has stumbled with them.
6 They will (I)go with their flocks and herds
To seek the Lord, but they will (J)not find Him;
He has (K)withdrawn from them.
7 They have (L)dealt treacherously against the Lord,
For they have borne [b](M)illegitimate children.
Now the (N)new moon will devour them with their [c]land.
8 (O)Blow the horn in (P)Gibeah,
The trumpet in Ramah.
Sound an alarm at Beth-aven:
“(Q)Behind you, Benjamin!”
9 Ephraim will become a (R)desolation in the (S)day of rebuke;
Among the tribes of Israel I (T)declare what is sure.
10 The princes of Judah have become like those who (U)move a boundary;
On them I will (V)pour out My wrath (W)like water.
11 Ephraim is (X)oppressed, crushed in judgment,
(Y)Because he was determined to [d]follow man’s command.
12 Therefore I am like a (Z)moth to Ephraim
And like rottenness to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah his [e]wound,
Then Ephraim went to (AA)Assyria
And sent to [f](AB)King Jareb.
But he is (AC)unable to heal you,
Or to cure you of your [g]wound.
14 For I will be (AD)like a lion to Ephraim
And like a young lion to the house of Judah.
(AE)I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away,
I will carry away, and there will be (AF)none to deliver.
15 I will go away and return to My place
Until they [h](AG)acknowledge their guilt and seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly (AH)seek Me.
The Response to God’s Rebuke
6 “(AI)Come, let us return to the Lord.
For (AJ)He has torn us, but (AK)He will heal us;
He has [i]wounded us, but He will (AL)bandage us.
2 “He will (AM)revive us after two days;
He will (AN)raise us up on the third day,
That we may live before Him.
3 “So let us (AO)know, let us press on to know the Lord.
His (AP)going forth is as certain as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the (AQ)rain,
Like the spring rain watering the earth.”
4 What shall I do with you, O (AR)Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, O Judah?
For your [j]loyalty is like a (AS)morning cloud
And like the dew which goes away early.
5 Therefore I have (AT)hewn them in pieces by the prophets;
I have slain them by the (AU)words of My mouth;
And the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth.
6 For (AV)I delight in loyalty (AW)rather than sacrifice,
And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
7 But (AX)like [k]Adam they have (AY)transgressed the covenant;
There they have (AZ)dealt treacherously against Me.
8 (BA)Gilead is a city of wrongdoers,
Tracked with (BB)bloody footprints.
9 And as (BC)raiders wait for a man,
So a band of priests (BD)murder on the way to Shechem;
Surely they have committed [l](BE)crime.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a (BF)horrible thing;
Ephraim’s (BG)harlotry is there, Israel has defiled itself.
11 Also, O Judah, there is a (BH)harvest appointed for you,
When I (BI)restore the fortunes of My people.
Ephraim’s Iniquity
7 When I (BJ)would heal Israel,
The iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered,
And the evil deeds of Samaria,
For they deal (BK)falsely;
The thief enters in,
(BL)Bandits raid outside,
2 And they do not [m]consider in their hearts
That I (BM)remember all their wickedness.
Now their (BN)deeds are all around them;
They are before My face.
3 (BO)With their wickedness they make the (BP)king glad,
And the princes with their (BQ)lies.
4 They are (BR)all adulterers,
Like an oven heated by the baker
Who ceases to stir up the fire
From the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.
5 On the [n]day of our king, the princes (BS)became sick with the heat of wine;
He stretched out his hand with (BT)scoffers,
6 For their hearts are like an (BU)oven
As they approach their [o]plotting;
Their [p]anger [q]smolders all night,
In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
7 All of them are hot like an oven,
And they consume their (BV)rulers;
All their kings have fallen.
(BW)None of them calls on Me.
8 Ephraim (BX)mixes himself with the [r]nations;
Ephraim has become a cake not turned.
9 (BY)Strangers devour his strength,
Yet he (BZ)does not know it;
Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him,
Yet he does not know it.
10 Though the (CA)pride of Israel testifies against him,
Yet (CB)they have not returned to the Lord their God,
Nor have they sought Him, for all this.
11 So (CC)Ephraim has become like a silly dove, (CD)without [s]sense;
They call to (CE)Egypt, they go to (CF)Assyria.
12 When they go, I will (CG)spread My net over them;
I will bring them down like the birds of the sky.
I will (CH)chastise them in accordance with the [t]proclamation to their assembly.
13 (CI)Woe to them, for they have (CJ)strayed from Me!
Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me!
I (CK)would redeem them, but they speak lies against Me.
14 And (CL)they do not cry to Me from their heart
When they wail on their beds;
For the sake of grain and new wine they [u](CM)assemble themselves,
They (CN)turn away from Me.
15 Although I trained and strengthened their arms,
Yet they (CO)devise evil against Me.
16 They turn, but not [v]upward,
They are like a (CP)deceitful bow;
Their princes will fall by the sword
Because of the [w](CQ)insolence of their tongue.
This will be their (CR)derision in the land of Egypt.
Israel Reaps the Whirlwind
8 (CS)Put the trumpet to your [x]lips!
(CT)Like an eagle the enemy comes (CU)against the house of the Lord,
Because they have (CV)transgressed My covenant
And rebelled against My (CW)law.
2 (CX)They cry out to Me,
“My God, (CY)we of Israel know You!”
3 Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
4 (CZ)They have set up kings, but not by Me;
They have appointed princes, but I did not know it.
With their (DA)silver and gold they have made idols for themselves,
That [y]they might be cut off.
5 [z]He has rejected your (DB)calf, O Samaria, saying,
“My anger burns against them!”
How long will they be incapable of (DC)innocence?
6 For from Israel is even this!
A (DD)craftsman made it, so it is not God;
Surely the calf of Samaria will be broken to [aa]pieces.
7 For (DE)they sow the wind
And they reap the (DF)whirlwind.
The standing grain has no [ab]heads;
It yields (DG)no [ac]grain.
Should it yield, strangers would swallow it up.
8 Israel is (DH)swallowed up;
They are now among the nations
Like a (DI)vessel in which no one delights.
9 For they have gone up to (DJ)Assyria,
Like (DK)a wild donkey all alone;
Ephraim has (DL)hired [ad]lovers.
10 Even though they hire allies among the nations,
Now I will (DM)gather them up;
And they will begin (DN)to [ae]diminish
Because of the burden of the (DO)king of princes.
11 Since Ephraim has (DP)multiplied altars for sin,
They have become altars of sinning for him.
12 Though (DQ)I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My (DR)law,
They are regarded as a strange thing.
13 As for My (DS)sacrificial gifts,
They (DT)sacrifice the flesh and eat it,
But the Lord has taken no delight in them.
Now He will (DU)remember their iniquity,
And (DV)punish them for their sins;
They will return to (DW)Egypt.
14 For Israel has (DX)forgotten his Maker and (DY)built palaces;
And Judah has multiplied fortified cities,
But I will send a (DZ)fire on its cities that it may consume its palatial dwellings.
Ephraim Punished
9 (EA)Do not rejoice, O Israel, [af]with exultation like the [ag]nations!
For you have (EB)played the harlot, [ah]forsaking your God.
You have loved harlots’ earnings on [ai]every threshing floor.
2 Threshing floor and wine press will (EC)not feed them,
And the new wine will fail [aj]them.
3 They will not remain in (ED)the Lord’s land,
But Ephraim will return to (EE)Egypt,
And in (EF)Assyria they will eat (EG)unclean food.
4 They will not pour out drink offerings of (EH)wine to the Lord,
(EI)Their sacrifices will not please Him.
Their bread will [ak]be like [al]mourners’ bread;
All who eat of it will be (EJ)defiled,
For their bread will be for [am]themselves alone;
It will not enter the house of the Lord.
5 (EK)What will you do on the day of the appointed festival
And on the day of the (EL)feast of the Lord?
6 For behold, they will go because of destruction;
Egypt will gather them up, (EM)Memphis will bury them.
Weeds will take over their treasures of silver;
(EN)Thorns will be in their tents.
7 The days of (EO)punishment have come,
The days of (EP)retribution have come;
[an]Let Israel know this!
The prophet is a (EQ)fool,
The [ao]inspired man is (ER)demented,
Because of the grossness of your (ES)iniquity,
And because your hostility is so great.
8 Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet;
Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways,
And there is only hostility in the house of his God.
9 They have gone (ET)deep [ap]in depravity
As in the days of (EU)Gibeah;
He will (EV)remember their iniquity,
He will punish their sins.
10 I found Israel like (EW)grapes in the wilderness;
I saw your forefathers as the (EX)earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season.
But they came to (EY)Baal-peor and devoted themselves to [aq](EZ)shame,
And they became as (FA)detestable as that which they loved.
11 As for Ephraim, their (FB)glory will fly away like a bird—
No birth, no pregnancy and no conception!
12 Though they bring up their children,
Yet I will bereave them [ar]until not a man is left.
Yes, (FC)woe to them indeed when I depart from them!
13 Ephraim, as I have seen,
Is planted in a pleasant meadow like (FD)Tyre;
But Ephraim will bring out his children for slaughter.
14 Give them, O Lord—what will You give?
Give them a (FE)miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
15 All their evil is at (FF)Gilgal;
Indeed, I came to hate them there!
Because of the (FG)wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of My house!
I will love them no more;
All their princes are (FH)rebels.
16 (FI)Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up,
They will bear (FJ)no fruit.
Even though they bear children,
I will slay the (FK)precious ones of their womb.
17 My God will cast them away
Because they have (FL)not listened to Him;
And they will be (FM)wanderers among the nations.
Footnotes
- Hosea 5:2 Or waded deep in slaughter
- Hosea 5:7 Lit strange
- Hosea 5:7 Lit portions
- Hosea 5:11 Or with some ancient versions, follow nothingness
- Hosea 5:13 Or ulcer
- Hosea 5:13 Or the avenging king or the great king
- Hosea 5:13 Or ulcer
- Hosea 5:15 Or bear their punishment
- Hosea 6:1 Lit struck
- Hosea 6:4 Or lovingkindness
- Hosea 6:7 Or men
- Hosea 6:9 Or lewdness
- Hosea 7:2 Lit say to their heart
- Hosea 7:5 I.e. a festive occasion
- Hosea 7:6 Lit ambush
- Hosea 7:6 So with some ancient versions; M.T. baker
- Hosea 7:6 Lit sleeps
- Hosea 7:8 Lit peoples
- Hosea 7:11 Lit heart
- Hosea 7:12 Lit report
- Hosea 7:14 Or with Gr and many ancient mss gash themselves
- Hosea 7:16 Or possibly to the Most High
- Hosea 7:16 Lit indignation; or cursing
- Hosea 8:1 Lit palate
- Hosea 8:4 Lit he
- Hosea 8:5 Or Your calf has rejected you
- Hosea 8:6 Or splinters
- Hosea 8:7 Lit growth
- Hosea 8:7 Or meal
- Hosea 8:9 Lit loves
- Hosea 8:10 Or suffer for awhile
- Hosea 9:1 Lit to
- Hosea 9:1 Lit peoples
- Hosea 9:1 Lit away from your God
- Hosea 9:1 Lit all threshing floors of grain
- Hosea 9:2 Lit her
- Hosea 9:4 Lit be to them
- Hosea 9:4 Or bread of misfortune
- Hosea 9:4 Lit their appetite
- Hosea 9:7 Or Israel will know it
- Hosea 9:7 Lit man of the spirit
- Hosea 9:9 Lit they have corrupted
- Hosea 9:10 I.e. Baal
- Hosea 9:12 Lit without a man
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
