Ezekiel 16
English Standard Version
The Lord's Faithless Bride
16 Again the word of the Lord came to me: 2 (A)“Son of man, (B)make known to Jerusalem her abominations, 3 and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an (C)Amorite and your mother a (D)Hittite. 4 And as for your birth, (E)on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, (F)but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, (G)on the day that you were born.
6 “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing (H)in your blood, I said to you (I)in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you (J)in your blood, ‘Live!’ 7 (K)I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall (L)and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet (M)you were naked and bare.
8 “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and (N)I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you (O)and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, (P)and you became mine. 9 Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and (Q)anointed you with oil. 10 (R)I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.[a] 11 (S)And I adorned you with ornaments and (T)put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. (U)You ate fine flour and honey and oil. (V)You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. 14 And (W)your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.
15 (X)“But you trusted in your beauty (Y)and played the whore[b] because of your renown (Z)and lavished your whorings[c] on any passerby; your beauty[d] became his. 16 You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.[e] 17 You also took (AA)your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and (AB)made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. 18 And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, (AC)and set my oil and my incense before them. 19 (AD)Also my bread that I gave you—(AE)I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for (AF)a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. 20 (AG)And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and (AH)these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter 21 that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? 22 And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember (AI)the days of your youth, (AJ)when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.
23 “And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord God), 24 you built yourself (AK)a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. 25 At the head of every street (AL)you built your lofty place and made (AM)your beauty an abomination, (AN)offering yourself[f] to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. 26 (AO)You also played the whore (AP)with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, (AQ)multiplying your whoring, (AR)to provoke me to anger. 27 Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you (AS)and diminished your allotted portion (AT)and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, (AU)the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. 28 (AV)You played the whore also (AW)with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. 29 You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land (AX)of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.
30 “How sick is your heart,[g] declares the Lord God, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, 31 building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, (AY)because you scorned payment. 32 Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! 33 Men give gifts to all prostitutes, (AZ)but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings. 34 So you were different from other women in your whorings. No one solicited you to play the whore, and (BA)you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; therefore you were different.
35 “Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: 36 Thus says the Lord God, Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whorings with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, (BB)and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, 37 therefore, behold, (BC)I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and (BD)all those you hated. (BE)I will gather them against you from every side (BF)and will uncover your nakedness to them, that (BG)they may see all your nakedness. 38 (BH)And I will judge you (BI)as women who commit adultery and (BJ)shed blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy. 39 And I will give you into their hands, and they shall throw down your (BK)vaulted chamber and break down (BL)your lofty places. (BM)They shall strip you of your clothes and take (BN)your beautiful jewels and leave you (BO)naked and bare. 40 (BP)They shall bring up a crowd against you, (BQ)and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. 41 (BR)And they shall (BS)burn your houses and (BT)execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. (BU)I will make you stop playing the whore, and (BV)you shall also give payment no more. 42 (BW)So will I satisfy my wrath on you, and my jealousy shall depart from you. I will be calm and will no more be angry. 43 Because you have not remembered (BX)the days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, (BY)I have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord God. Have you not (BZ)committed lewdness in addition to all your abominations?
44 “Behold, everyone (CA)who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ 45 You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of (CB)your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. (CC)Your mother was a Hittite and (CD)your father an Amorite. 46 And (CE)your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and (CF)your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. 47 (CG)Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time (CH)you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. 48 (CI)As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister (CJ)Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. 49 Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, (CK)excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and (CL)did an abomination before me. So (CM)I removed them, when I saw it. 51 (CN)Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and (CO)have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. 52 (CP)Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.
53 (CQ)“I will restore their fortunes, both the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in their midst, 54 that you may bear your disgrace (CR)and be ashamed of all that you have done, (CS)becoming a consolation to them. 55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, (CT)and Samaria and her daughters shall return (CU)to their former state, (CV)and you and your daughters shall return (CW)to your former state. 56 Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth (CX)in the day of your pride, 57 before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become (CY)an object of reproach for the daughters of Syria[h] and all those around her, and for (CZ)the daughters of the Philistines, (DA)those all around who despise you. 58 (DB)You bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, declares the Lord.
The Lord's Everlasting Covenant
59 “For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you (DC)who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, 60 yet (DD)I will remember my covenant with you (DE)in the days of your youth, (DF)and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. 61 (DG)Then you will remember your ways (DH)and be ashamed when you take (DI)your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you (DJ)as daughters, but not on account of[i] the covenant with you. 62 I will establish my covenant with you, (DK)and you shall know that I am the Lord, 63 that you may remember and be confounded, and (DL)never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 16:10 Or with rich fabric
- Ezekiel 16:15 Or were unfaithful; also verses 16, 17, 26, 28
- Ezekiel 16:15 Or unfaithfulness; also verses 20, 22, 25, 26, 29, 33, 34, 36
- Ezekiel 16:15 Hebrew it
- Ezekiel 16:16 The meaning of this Hebrew sentence is uncertain
- Ezekiel 16:25 Hebrew spreading your legs
- Ezekiel 16:30 Revocalization yields How I am filled with anger against you
- Ezekiel 16:57 Some manuscripts (compare Syriac) of Edom
- Ezekiel 16:61 Or not apart from
Ezekiel 18:23
English Standard Version
23 (A)Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?
Read full chapter
Ezekiel 18:31-32
English Standard Version
Hosea 1-13
English Standard Version
1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, (A)in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of (B)Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
Hosea's Wife and Children
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, (C)“Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have (D)children of whoredom, for (E)the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while (F)I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and (G)I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day (H)I will break the bow of Israel (I)in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, (J)“Call her name No Mercy,[a] for (K)I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But (L)I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I (M)will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, (N)“Call his name Not My People,[b] for (O)you are not my people, and I am not your God.”[c]
10 [d] Yet (P)the number of the children of Israel shall be (Q)like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. (R)And (S)in the place where it was said to them, (T)“You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, (U)“Children[e] of (V)the living God.” 11 And (W)the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and (X)they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
Israel's Unfaithfulness Punished
2 [f] Say to your brothers, (Y)“You are my people,”[g] and to your sisters, (Z)“You have received mercy.”[h]
2 “Plead with your mother, plead—
for (AA)she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband—
that she put away (AB)her whoring from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts;
3 lest (AC)I strip her naked
and make her as (AD)in the day she was born,
and (AE)make her like a wilderness,
and make her like a parched land,
and kill her with thirst.
4 (AF)Upon her children also I will have no mercy,
(AG)because they are children of whoredom.
5 For (AH)their mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For (AI)she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who (AJ)give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore (AK)I will hedge up her[i] way with thorns,
and (AL)I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
(AM)Then she shall say,
‘I will go and return to (AN)my first husband,
(AO)for it was better for me then than now.’
8 And (AP)she did not know
that it was (AQ)I who gave her
(AR)the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on (AS)her silver and gold,
(AT)which they used for Baal.
9 Therefore (AU)I will take back
my grain in its time,
and my wine in its season,
and (AV)I will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now (AW)I will uncover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
11 (AX)And I will put an end to all her mirth,
her feasts, her (AY)new moons, her (AZ)Sabbaths,
and all her (BA)appointed feasts.
12 And (BB)I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
(BC)of which she said,
‘These are (BD)my wages,
which my lovers have given me.’
I will make them a forest,
(BE)and the beasts of the field shall devour them.
13 And (BF)I will punish her for (BG)the feast days of the Baals
when she burned offerings to them
and (BH)adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
and went after her lovers
and forgot me, declares the Lord.
The Lord's Mercy on Israel
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and (BI)bring her into the wilderness,
and (BJ)speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor[j] a door of hope.
And there she shall answer (BK)as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And (BL)in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For (BM)I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And (BN)I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And (BO)I will abolish[k] the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in (BP)safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me (BQ)forever. (BR)I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 (BS)I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And (BT)you shall know the Lord.
21 “And (BU)in that day (BV)I will answer, declares the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer (BW)Jezreel,[l]
23 and (BX)I will sow her for myself in the land.
And (BY)I (BZ)will have mercy on No Mercy,[m]
and (CA)I will say to Not My People,[n] (CB)‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
Hosea Redeems His Wife
3 And the Lord said to me, (CC)“Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a (CD)homer and a lethech[o] of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must (CE)dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” 4 For the children of Israel (CF)shall dwell many days (CG)without king or prince, (CH)without sacrifice or (CI)pillar, without (CJ)ephod or (CK)household gods. 5 Afterward (CL)the children of Israel shall return and (CM)seek the Lord their God, and (CN)David their king, (CO)and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the (CP)latter days.
The Lord Accuses Israel
4 (CQ)Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel,
for (CR)the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,
and (CS)no knowledge of God in the land;
2 (CT)there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;
they break all bounds, and (CU)bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore (CV)the land mourns,
and all who dwell in it languish,
(CW)and also the beasts of the field
and the birds of the heavens,
(CX)and even the fish of the sea are taken away.
4 (CY)Yet let no one contend,
and let none accuse,
for with you is (CZ)my contention, O priest.[p]
5 You shall stumble by day;
the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;
and I will destroy (DA)your mother.
6 My people are destroyed (DB)for lack of knowledge;
(DC)because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you (DD)from being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
(DE)I also will forget your children.
7 (DF)The more they increased,
the more they sinned against me;
(DG)I will change their glory into shame.
8 (DH)They feed on the sin[q] of my people;
they are greedy for their iniquity.
9 (DI)And it shall be like people, like priest;
I will punish them for their ways
and repay them for their deeds.
10 (DJ)They shall eat, but not be satisfied;
they shall play the whore, but not multiply,
because they have forsaken the Lord
to cherish 11 whoredom, wine, and new wine,
which (DK)take away the understanding.
12 My people (DL)inquire of a piece of wood,
and their walking staff gives them oracles.
For (DM)a spirit of whoredom has led them astray,
and they have left their God to play the whore.
13 (DN)They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains
and burn offerings on the hills,
(DO)under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the whore,
and your brides commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,
nor your brides when they commit adultery;
for (DP)the men themselves go aside with prostitutes
and sacrifice with (DQ)cult prostitutes,
and a people (DR)without understanding shall come to ruin.
15 Though you play the whore, O (DS)Israel,
let not (DT)Judah become guilty.
(DU)Enter not into (DV)Gilgal,
nor go up to (DW)Beth-aven,
and swear not, “As the Lord lives.”
16 Like a stubborn heifer,
Israel is stubborn;
can the Lord now feed them
like a lamb in a broad pasture?
17 (DX)Ephraim is joined to idols;
(DY)leave him alone.
18 When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring;
(DZ)their rulers[r] dearly love shame.
19 (EA)A wind has wrapped them[s] in its wings,
and they shall (EB)be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
Punishment Coming for Israel and Judah
5 (EC)Hear this, O priests!
Pay attention, O house of Israel!
Give ear, O house of the king!
For the judgment is for you;
for (ED)you have been a snare at Mizpah
and a net spread upon (EE)Tabor.
2 And (EF)the revolters (EG)have gone deep into slaughter,
but (EH)I will discipline all of them.
3 (EI)I know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from me;
for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore;
Israel is defiled.
4 (EJ)Their deeds do not permit them
to return to their God.
For (EK)the spirit of whoredom is within them,
and they know not the Lord.
5 (EL)The pride of Israel testifies to his face;[t]
Israel and (EM)Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt;
(EN)Judah also shall stumble with them.
6 (EO)With their flocks and herds they shall go
to seek the Lord,
(EP)but they will not find him;
(EQ)he has withdrawn from them.
7 (ER)They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord;
for they have borne alien children.
Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.
8 (ES)Blow the horn in (ET)Gibeah,
the trumpet in (EU)Ramah.
Sound the alarm at (EV)Beth-aven;
we follow you,[u] O Benjamin!
9 Ephraim shall become a desolation
in the day of punishment;
among the tribes of Israel
I make known what is sure.
10 The princes of Judah have become
like (EW)those who move the landmark;
upon them I will pour out
my wrath like water.
11 Ephraim is (EX)oppressed, crushed in judgment,
because he was determined to go after filth.[v]
12 But I am (EY)like a moth to Ephraim,
and (EZ)like dry rot to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
and Judah (FA)his wound,
then Ephraim went (FB)to Assyria,
and sent to the great king.[w]
(FC)But he is not able to cure you
or heal (FD)your wound.
14 For I will be (FE)like a lion to (FF)Ephraim,
and like a young lion to the house of (FG)Judah.
(FH)I, even I, will tear and go away;
I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.
15 (FI)I will return again to my place,
until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
and (FJ)in their distress earnestly seek me.
Israel and Judah Are Unrepentant
6 “Come, let us (FK)return to the Lord;
for (FL)he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and (FM)he will bind us up.
2 After two days (FN)he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
3 (FO)Let us know; (FP)let us press on to know the Lord;
(FQ)his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us (FR)as the showers,
(FS)as the spring rains that water the earth.”
4 What shall I do with you, (FT)O (FU)Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, O (FV)Judah?
Your love is (FW)like a morning cloud,
(FX)like the dew that goes early away.
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
I have slain them (FY)by the words of my mouth,
and my judgment goes forth as the light.
6 For (FZ)I desire steadfast love[x] and not sacrifice,
(GA)the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
7 But (GB)like Adam they (GC)transgressed the covenant;
(GD)there they dealt faithlessly with me.
8 (GE)Gilead is a city of evildoers,
(GF)tracked with blood.
9 As robbers (GG)lie in wait for a man,
so the priests band together;
they murder on the way to (GH)Shechem;
they commit villainy.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
(GI)Ephraim's whoredom is there; (GJ)Israel is defiled.
When (GM)I restore the fortunes of my people,
7 (GN)when I would heal Israel,
the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,
and the evil deeds of (GO)Samaria,
for (GP)they deal falsely;
the thief breaks in,
and the bandits raid outside.
2 But they do not consider
that (GQ)I remember all their evil.
Now (GR)their deeds surround them;
(GS)they are before my face.
3 By their evil (GT)they make (GU)the king glad,
and the princes by their treachery.
4 (GV)They are all adulterers;
they are like a heated oven
whose baker ceases to stir the fire,
from the kneading of the dough
until it is leavened.
5 On the day of (GW)our king, the princes
became sick with the heat of wine;
he stretched out his hand with mockers.
6 For with hearts like an oven (GX)they approach their intrigue;
all night their anger smolders;
in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
7 All of them are hot as an oven,
and they devour their rulers.
All (GY)their kings (GZ)have fallen,
and none of them calls upon me.
8 Ephraim (HA)mixes himself with the peoples;
Ephraim is a cake not turned.
9 (HB)Strangers devour his strength,
and (HC)he knows it not;
gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,
and (HD)he knows it not.
10 (HE)The pride of Israel testifies to his face;[y]
(HF)yet they do not return to the Lord their God,
nor seek him, for all this.
11 Ephraim is like a dove,
(HG)silly and without sense,
calling to (HH)Egypt, going to (HI)Assyria.
12 As they go, (HJ)I will spread over them my net;
I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;
(HK)I will discipline them (HL)according to the report made to their congregation.
13 (HM)Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!
Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!
(HN)I would redeem them,
but (HO)they speak lies against me.
14 (HP)They do not cry to me from the heart,
but (HQ)they wail upon their beds;
for grain and wine they gash themselves;
they rebel against me.
15 Although (HR)I trained and strengthened their arms,
yet they devise evil against me.
16 They (HS)return, but not upward;[z]
they are (HT)like a treacherous bow;
their princes shall fall by the sword
because of (HU)the insolence of their tongue.
This shall be their derision (HV)in the land of Egypt.
Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind
8 Set (HW)the trumpet to your lips!
One (HX)like a vulture is over the house of the Lord,
because (HY)they have transgressed my covenant
and rebelled against my law.
2 To me they cry,
(HZ)“My God, we—Israel—know you.”
3 Israel has spurned the good;
the enemy shall pursue him.
4 (IA)They made kings, (IB)but not through me.
They set up princes, but I knew it not.
With their silver and gold they made idols
for their own destruction.
5 (IC)I have[aa] spurned your calf, O Samaria.
My anger burns against them.
(ID)How long will they be incapable of innocence?
6 For it is from Israel;
a craftsman made it;
it is not God.
(IE)The calf of Samaria
(IF)shall be broken to pieces.[ab]
7 For (IG)they sow the wind,
and they shall reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain has no heads;
it shall yield no flour;
if it were to yield,
(IH)strangers would devour it.
8 (II)Israel is swallowed up;
already they are among the nations
as (IJ)a useless vessel.
9 For (IK)they have gone up to Assyria,
(IL)a wild donkey wandering alone;
Ephraim has hired lovers.
10 Though they hire allies among the nations,
I will soon gather them up.
And (IM)the king and princes (IN)shall soon writhe
because of the tribute.
11 Because Ephraim (IO)has multiplied altars for sinning,
they have become to him altars for sinning.
12 (IP)Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands,
they would be regarded as a strange thing.
13 As for my sacrificial offerings,
(IQ)they sacrifice meat and eat it,
but the Lord does not accept them.
(IR)Now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins;
(IS)they shall return to Egypt.
14 For (IT)Israel has forgotten (IU)his Maker
and (IV)built palaces,
and (IW)Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
so (IX)I will send a fire upon his cities,
and it shall devour her strongholds.
The Lord Will Punish Israel
9 Rejoice not, O Israel!
Exult not like the peoples;
(IY)for you have played the whore, forsaking your God.
(IZ)You have loved a prostitute's wages
on all threshing floors.
2 (JA)Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,
and (JB)the new wine shall fail them.
3 They shall not remain in (JC)the land of the Lord,
but (JD)Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
and (JE)they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.
4 (JF)They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,
(JG)and their sacrifices shall not please him.
It shall be like (JH)mourners' bread to them;
all who eat of it shall be defiled;
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
(JI)it shall not come to the house of the Lord.
5 (JJ)What will you do on the day of the appointed festival,
and on the day of the feast of the Lord?
6 For behold, they are going away from destruction;
but (JK)Egypt shall gather them;
Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess (JL)their precious things of silver;
(JM)thorns shall be in their tents.
7 (JN)The days of punishment have come;
the days of recompense have come;
Israel shall know it.
(JO)The prophet is a fool;
the man of the spirit is mad,
because of your great iniquity
and great hatred.
8 The prophet is (JP)the watchman of Ephraim with my God;
yet (JQ)a fowler's snare is on all his ways,
and hatred in the house of his God.
9 (JR)They have deeply corrupted themselves
as (JS)in the days of Gibeah:
(JT)he will remember their iniquity;
he will punish their sins.
10 Like grapes in the wilderness,
(JU)I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree
in its first season,
I saw your fathers.
But (JV)they came to Baal-peor
and (JW)consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,
and (JX)became detestable like the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim's (JY)glory shall fly away like a bird—
(JZ)no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
12 (KA)Even if they bring up children,
I will bereave them till none is left.
(KB)Woe to them
when (KC)I depart from them!
13 Ephraim, (KD)as I have seen, was like a young palm[ac] planted in a meadow;
but (KE)Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.[ad]
14 Give them, O Lord—
what will you give?
Give them (KF)a miscarrying womb
and dry breasts.
15 Every evil of theirs is in (KG)Gilgal;
there I began to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
all (KH)their princes are (KI)rebels.
16 Ephraim is stricken;
(KJ)their root is dried up;
they shall bear no fruit.
Even (KK)though they give birth,
(KL)I will put their beloved children to death.
17 (KM)My God will reject them
because they have not listened to him;
(KN)they shall be wanderers among the nations.
10 (KO)Israel is a luxuriant vine
that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased,
(KP)the more altars he built;
as his country improved,
he improved his pillars.
2 Their heart is false;
now they must bear their guilt.
The Lord[ae] will break down their altars
and destroy their pillars.
3 For now they will say:
(KQ)“We have no king,
for we do not fear the Lord;
and a king—what could he do for us?”
4 They utter (KR)mere words;
with empty[af] oaths they make covenants;
so (KS)judgment springs up like poisonous weeds
(KT)in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria tremble
for (KU)the calf[ag] of (KV)Beth-aven.
Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests—
those who rejoiced over it and (KW)over its glory—
for it has departed[ah] from them.
6 (KX)The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria
as tribute to (KY)the great king.[ai]
Ephraim shall be put to shame,
and Israel shall be ashamed (KZ)of his idol.[aj]
7 (LA)Samaria's king shall perish
like a twig on the face of the waters.
8 The high places of (LB)Aven, (LC)the sin of Israel,
shall be destroyed.
(LD)Thorn and thistle shall grow up
on their altars,
and (LE)they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”
and to the hills, “Fall on us.”
9 From (LF)the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel;
there they have continued.
Shall not the war against the unjust[ak] overtake them in Gibeah?
10 (LG)When I please, (LH)I will discipline them,
and nations shall be gathered against them
when they are bound up for (LI)their double iniquity.
11 Ephraim was a trained calf
that (LJ)loved to thresh,
and I spared her fair neck;
but I will put (LK)Ephraim to the yoke;
(LL)Judah must plow;
Jacob must harrow for himself.
12 (LM)Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love;
(LN)break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the Lord,
that he may come and (LO)rain righteousness upon you.
13 (LP)You have plowed iniquity;
you have reaped injustice;
you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your own way
and in the multitude of your warriors,
14 therefore (LQ)the tumult of war shall arise among your people,
and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,
as (LR)Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle;
(LS)mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
15 Thus it shall be done to you, O (LT)Bethel,
because of your great evil.
At dawn (LU)the king of Israel
shall be utterly cut off.
The Lord's Love for Israel
11 (LV)When Israel was a child, (LW)I loved him,
and out of Egypt I (LX)called (LY)my son.
2 (LZ)The more they were called,
the more they went away;
(MA)they kept sacrificing to the Baals
and burning offerings to idols.
3 Yet it was (MB)I who taught Ephraim to walk;
I took them up by their arms,
but they did not know that (MC)I healed them.
4 (MD)I led them with cords of kindness,[al]
with the bands of love,
and (ME)I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,
and (MF)I bent down to them and fed them.
5 (MG)They shall not[am] return to the land of Egypt,
but (MH)Assyria shall be their king,
(MI)because (MJ)they have refused to return to me.
6 (MK)The sword shall rage against their cities,
consume the bars of their gates,
and devour them (ML)because of their own counsels.
7 My people are bent (MM)on turning away from me,
and though (MN)they call out to the Most High,
he shall not raise them up at all.
8 How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
(MO)How can I make you (MP)like Admah?
How can I treat you (MQ)like Zeboiim?
(MR)My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
9 I will not execute my burning anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim;
(MS)for I am God and not a man,
(MT)the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.[an]
10 (MU)They shall go after the Lord;
(MV)he will roar like a lion;
when he roars,
his children shall come trembling (MW)from the west;
11 they shall come trembling like birds (MX)from Egypt,
and (MY)like doves (MZ)from the land of Assyria,
and I will return them to their homes, declares the Lord.
12 [ao] Ephraim (NA)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.
12 Ephraim feeds on the wind
and pursues (NB)the east wind all day long;
they multiply (NC)falsehood and violence;
(ND)they make a covenant with Assyria,
and (NE)oil is carried to Egypt.
The Lord's Indictment of Israel and Judah
2 (NF)The Lord has an indictment against Judah
and will punish Jacob according to his ways;
he will repay him according to his deeds.
3 (NG)In the womb he took his brother by the heel,
and in his manhood he strove with God.
4 He strove with the angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought his favor.
(NH)He met God[ap] at Bethel,
and there God spoke with us—
5 the Lord, the God of hosts,
(NI)the Lord is his memorial name:
6 “So you, (NJ)by the help of your God, return,
(NK)hold fast to love and justice,
and wait continually for your God.”
7 A merchant, in whose hands are (NL)false balances,
he loves (NM)to oppress.
8 Ephraim has said, “Ah, but (NN)I am rich;
I have found wealth for myself;
in all my labors (NO)they cannot find in me iniquity or sin.”
9 (NP)I am the Lord your God
from the land of Egypt;
I will again make you (NQ)dwell in tents,
as in the days of the appointed feast.
10 (NR)I spoke to the prophets;
it was I who multiplied (NS)visions,
and through the prophets gave parables.
11 (NT)If there is iniquity in Gilead,
they shall surely come to nothing:
(NU)in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;
(NV)their altars also are like stone heaps
(NW)on the furrows of the field.
12 (NX)Jacob fled to the land of Aram;
there Israel (NY)served for a wife,
and for a wife he guarded sheep.
13 By (NZ)a prophet (OA)the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt,
and by a prophet he was guarded.
14 (OB)Ephraim has given bitter provocation;
so his Lord (OC)will leave his bloodguilt on him
(OD)and will repay him for his disgraceful deeds.
The Lord's Relentless Judgment on Israel
13 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
(OE)he was exalted in Israel,
but he incurred guilt (OF)through Baal and died.
2 And now they sin more and more,
and (OG)make for themselves metal images,
idols skillfully made of their silver,
(OH)all of them the work of craftsmen.
It is said of them,
“Those who offer human sacrifice (OI)kiss calves!”
3 Therefore they shall be (OJ)like the morning mist
or (OK)like the dew that goes early away,
(OL)like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor
or (OM)like smoke from a window.
4 But (ON)I am the Lord your God
from the land of Egypt;
(OO)you know no God but me,
and (OP)besides me there is no savior.
5 (OQ)It was I who knew you in the wilderness,
in the land of drought;
6 (OR)but when they had grazed,[aq] they became full,
(OS)they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;
(OT)therefore they forgot me.
7 So (OU)I am to them like a lion;
(OV)like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
8 I will fall upon them (OW)like a bear robbed of her cubs;
I will tear open their breast,
and there I will devour them like a lion,
(OX)as a wild beast would rip them open.
9 He destroys[ar] you, O Israel,
for you are against me, against (OY)your helper.
10 (OZ)Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?
Where are all your rulers—
those of whom (PA)you said,
“Give me a king and princes”?
11 (PB)I gave you a king in my anger,
and (PC)I took him away in my wrath.
Footnotes
- Hosea 1:6 Hebrew Lo-ruhama, which means she has not received mercy
- Hosea 1:9 Hebrew Lo-ammi, which means not my people
- Hosea 1:9 Hebrew I am not yours
- Hosea 1:10 Ch 2:1 in Hebrew
- Hosea 1:10 Or Sons
- Hosea 2:1 Ch 2:3 in Hebrew
- Hosea 2:1 Hebrew ammi, which means my people
- Hosea 2:1 Hebrew ruhama, which means she has received mercy
- Hosea 2:6 Hebrew your
- Hosea 2:15 Achor means trouble; compare Joshua 7:26
- Hosea 2:18 Hebrew break
- Hosea 2:22 Jezreel means God will sow
- Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-ruhama
- Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-ammi
- Hosea 3:2 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams; a homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters; a lethech was about 3 bushels or 110 liters
- Hosea 4:4 Or for your people are like those who contend with the priest
- Hosea 4:8 Or sin offering
- Hosea 4:18 Hebrew shields
- Hosea 4:19 Hebrew her
- 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 6:6 Septuagint mercy
- Hosea 7:10 Or in his presence
- Hosea 7:16 Or to the Most High
- Hosea 8:5 Hebrew He has
- Hosea 8:6 Or shall go up in flames
- Hosea 9:13 Or like Tyre
- Hosea 9:13 Hebrew to him who slaughters
- Hosea 10:2 Hebrew He
- Hosea 10:4 Or vain (see Exodus 20:7)
- Hosea 10:5 Or calves
- Hosea 10:5 Or has gone into exile
- Hosea 10:6 Or to King Jareb
- Hosea 10:6 Or counsel
- Hosea 10:9 Hebrew the children of injustice
- Hosea 11:4 Or humaneness; Hebrew man
- Hosea 11:5 Or surely
- Hosea 11:9 Or into the city
- Hosea 11:12 Ch 12:1 in Hebrew
- Hosea 12:4 Hebrew him
- Hosea 13:6 Hebrew according to their pasture
- Hosea 13:9 Or I will destroy
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
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