Beginning
Chapter 8
Corruption of Cult, Domestic and Foreign Politics
1 Put the trumpet to your lips!(A)
One like an eagle[a] is over the house of the Lord!
Because they have violated my covenant,
and rebelled against my law,
2 They cry out to me,
“My God! We know you!”
3 But Israel has rejected what is good;
the enemy[b] shall pursue him.
4 [c]They made kings, but not by my authority;
they established princes, but without my knowledge.
With their silver and gold
they made idols for themselves,
to their own destruction.
5 He has rejected your calf,[d] Samaria!(B)
My wrath is kindled against them;
How long will they be incapable of innocence
in Israel?
6 An artisan made it,
it is no god at all.(C)
The calf of Samaria
will be dashed to pieces.
7 When they sow the wind,
they will reap the whirlwind;(D)
The stalk of grain that forms no head
can yield no flour;
Even if it could,
strangers would swallow it.
8 Israel is swallowed up;
now they are among the nations,
like a useless vessel.
9 For they went up to Assyria—[e]
a wild ass off on its own—
Ephraim bargained for lovers.(E)
10 Even though they bargain with the nations,
I will now gather them[f] together;
They will soon succumb
under the burden of king and princes.
11 [g]When Ephraim made many altars to expiate sin,
they became altars for sinning.
12 Though I write for him my many instructions,
they are considered like a stranger’s.
13 They love sacrifice,
they sacrifice meat and eat it,
but the Lord is not pleased with them.(F)
Now he will remember their guilt
and punish their sins;(G)
they shall return to Egypt.[h](H)
14 Israel has forgotten his maker(I)
and has built palaces.
Judah, too, has fortified many cities,
but I will send fire upon his cities,
to devour their strongholds.(J)
Chapter 9
From Days of Celebration to Days of Punishment
1 Do not rejoice, Israel,
do not exult like the nations!
For you have prostituted yourself, abandoning your God,
loving a prostitute’s fee
upon every threshing floor.[i]
2 Threshing floor and wine press will not nourish them,
the new wine will fail them.
3 They will not dwell in the Lord’s land;
Ephraim will return to Egypt,
and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.
4 They will not pour libations of wine to the Lord,
and their sacrifices will not please him.
Their bread will be like mourners’ bread,[j](K)
that makes unclean all who eat of it;
Their food will be for their own appetites;
it cannot enter the house of the Lord.
5 What will you do on the festival day,
the day of the Lord’s feast?[k]
6 [l]When they flee from the devastation,
Egypt will gather them, Memphis will bury them.
Weeds will overgrow their silver treasures,
and thorns, their tents.
7 They have come, the days of punishment!
they have come, the days of recompense!
Let Israel know it!
“The prophet is a fool,(L)
the man of the spirit is mad!”
Because your iniquity is great,
great, too, is your hostility.
8 [m]The watchman of Ephraim, the people of my God, is the prophet;(M)
yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,
hostility in the house of his God.
9 They have sunk to the depths of corruption,
as in the days of Gibeah;[n](N)
God will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins.
From Former Glory to a History of Corruption
10 Like grapes in the desert,
I found Israel;
Like the first fruits of the fig tree, its first to ripen,(O)
I looked on your ancestors.
But when they came to Baal-peor[o](P)
and consecrated themselves to the Shameful One,
they became as abhorrent as the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim is like a bird:
their glory flies away—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.(Q)
12 Even though they bring up their children,
I will make them childless, until no one is left.
Indeed, woe to them
when I turn away from them!
13 Ephraim, as I saw, was a tree
planted in a meadow;
But now Ephraim will bring out
his children to the slaughterer!
14 Give them, Lord!
give them what?
Give them a miscarrying womb,
and dry breasts!(R)
15 All their misfortune began in Gilgal;[p]
yes, there I rejected them.
Because of their wicked deeds
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no longer;
all their princes are rebels.
16 [q]Ephraim is stricken,
their root is dried up;(S)
they will bear no fruit.(T)
Were they to bear children,
I would slay the beloved of their womb.
17 My God will disown them
because they have not listened to him;
they will be wanderers among the nations.(U)
Chapter 10
Destruction of Idolatrous Cultic Objects
1 (V)Israel is a luxuriant vine
whose fruit matches its growth.
The more abundant his fruit,
the more altars he built;
The more productive his land,
the more sacred pillars[r] he set up.
2 Their heart is false!
Now they will pay for their guilt:
God will break down their altars
and destroy their sacred pillars.
3 For now they will say,
“We have no king![s]
Since we do not fear the Lord,
the king—what could he do for us?”
4 They make promises,
swear false oaths, and make covenants,
While lawsuits sprout
like poisonous weeds[t] in the furrows of a field!
5 The inhabitants of Samaria are afraid
for the calf of Beth-aven;[u]
Its people mourn for it
and its idolatrous priests wail over it,
—over its glory which has departed from it.(W)
6 It too will be carried to Assyria,
as an offering to the great king.[v](X)
Ephraim will be put to shame,
Israel will be shamed by his schemes.
7 Samaria and her king will disappear,
like a twig upon the waters.
8 The high places of Aven[w] will be destroyed,
the sin of Israel;
thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars.
Then they will cry out to the mountains, “Cover us!”
and to the hills, “Fall upon us!”(Y)
War Because of Israel’s Wickedness
9 Since the days of Gibeah(Z)
you have sinned, Israel.
There they took their stand;
will war not reach them in Gibeah?
Against a perverse people
10 I came and I chastised them;
Peoples will be gathered against them
when I bind them to their two crimes.[x]
11 Ephraim was a trained heifer,
that loved to thresh;
I myself laid a yoke
upon her beautiful neck;
I will make Ephraim break ground, Judah must plow,
Jacob must harrow for himself:
12 “Sow for yourselves justice,
reap the reward of loyalty;
Break up for yourselves a new field,(AA)
for it is time to seek the Lord,
till he comes and rains justice upon you.”(AB)
13 But you have plowed wickedness,
reaped perversity,
and eaten the fruit of falsehood.
Because you have trusted in your own power,
and in your many warriors,(AC)
14 The clamor of war shall break out among your people
and all your fortresses shall be ravaged
As Salman ravaged Beth-arbel[y] on the day of war,
smashing mothers along with their children.(AD)
15 So it will be done to you, Bethel,
because of your utter wickedness:
At dawn[z] the king of Israel
will utterly disappear.
Chapter 11
The Disappointment of a Parent
1 [aa]When Israel was a child I loved him,(AE)
out of Egypt[ab] I called my son.(AF)
2 The more I called them,
the farther they went from me,
Sacrificing to the Baals
and burning incense to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
who took them in my arms;(AG)
but they did not know that I cared for them.
4 I drew them with human cords,
with bands of love;[ac]
I fostered them like those
who raise an infant to their cheeks;
I bent down to feed them.(AH)
5 He shall return to the land of Egypt,(AI)
Assyria shall be his king,
because they have refused to repent.
6 The sword shall rage in his cities:
it shall destroy his diviners,
and devour them because of their schemings.
7 My people have their mind set on apostasy;
though they call on God in unison,
he shall not raise them up.
But Love Is Stronger and Restores
8 How could I give you up, Ephraim,
or deliver you up, Israel?
How could I treat you as Admah,
or make you like Zeboiim?[ad](AJ)
My heart is overwhelmed,
my pity is stirred.
9 I will not give vent to my blazing anger,
I will not destroy Ephraim again;
For I am God and not a man,(AK)
the Holy One present among you;
I will not come in wrath.
10 They shall follow the Lord,
who roars like a lion;(AL)
When he roars,
his children shall come frightened from the west,
11 Out of Egypt they shall come trembling, like birds,
like doves, from the land of Assyria;
And I will resettle them in their homes,
oracle of the Lord.
Chapter 12
Infidelity of Israel[ae]
1 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,
the house of Israel, with deceit;
Judah still wanders about with gods,
and is faithful to holy ones.[af]
2 [ag]Ephraim shepherds the wind,
and pursues the east wind all day long.
He multiplies lies and violence:
They make a covenant with Assyria,
and oil is carried to Egypt.
3 The Lord has a dispute with Judah,
and will punish Jacob[ah] for his conduct,
and repay him for his deeds.
4 In the womb he supplanted his brother,(AM)
and in his vigor he contended with a divine being;
5 He contended with an angel and prevailed,(AN)
he wept and entreated him.
At Bethel he met with him,
and there he spoke with him.(AO)
6 The Lord is the God of hosts,
the Lord is his name!(AP)
7 You must return to your God.
Maintain loyalty and justice
and always hope in your God.
8 A merchant who holds a false balance,
he loves to extort!
9 Ephraim has said,
“How rich I have become;
I have made a fortune!”(AQ)
All his gain will not suffice
for the guilt of his sin.
10 I the Lord have been your God,
since the land of Egypt;(AR)
I will again have you live in tents,
as on feast days.
11 I spoke to the prophets,
I granted many visions,(AS)
and through the prophets I told parables.
12 In Gilead is falsehood, they have come to nothing;
in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,
But their altars are like heaps of stones(AT)
in the furrows of the field.
13 Jacob fled to the land of Aram,
and Israel served for a wife;
for a wife he tended sheep.(AU)
14 But by a prophet[ai] the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,
and by a prophet Israel was tended.(AV)
15 Ephraim has aroused bitter anger,
so his Lord shall cast his bloodguilt upon him
and repay him for his scorn.
Chapter 13
The Death of Ephraim
1 When Ephraim spoke there was terror;
he was exalted in Israel;[aj]
but he became guilty through Baal and died.
2 Now they continue to sin,
making for themselves molten images,
Silver idols according to their skill,(AW)
all of them the work of artisans.
“To these, offer sacrifice,” they say.
People kiss calves
3 Therefore, they will be like a morning cloud
or like the dew that vanishes with the dawn,
Like chaff storm-driven from the threshing floor(AY)
or like smoke out of the window.
4 I, the Lord, am your God,
since the land of Egypt;[al](AZ)
Gods apart from me you do not know;
there is no savior but me.(BA)
5 I fed you in the wilderness,
in the parched land.
6 When I fed them, they were satisfied;
when satisfied, they became proud,
therefore they forgot me.
7 So, I will be like a lion to them,
like a leopard by the road I will keep watch.
8 (BB)I will attack them like a bear robbed of its young,
and tear their hearts from their breasts;
I will devour them on the spot like a lion,
as a wild animal would rip them open.
9 [am]I destroy you, Israel!
who is there to help you?
10 Where now is your king,
that he may rescue you?
And all your princes,
that they may defend you?
Of whom you said,
“Give me a king and princes”?(BC)
11 I give you a king in my anger,
and I take him away in my wrath.[an]
12 The guilt of Ephraim is wrapped up,
his sin is stored away.
13 [ao]The birth pangs will come for him,(BD)
but this is an unwise child,
Who, when it is time, does not present himself
at the mouth of the womb.(BE)
14 [ap]Shall I deliver them from the power of Sheol?
shall I redeem them from death?
Where are your plagues, O death!
where is your sting, Sheol!(BF)
Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
15 Though Ephraim[aq] may flourish among his brothers,
an east wind(BG) will come, a wind from the Lord,
rising from the wilderness,
That will dry up his spring,
and leave his fountain dry.
It will loot his treasury
of every precious thing.
Chapter 14
1 Samaria[ar] has become guilty,
for she has rebelled against her God.
They shall fall by the sword,
their infants shall be dashed to pieces,(BH)
their pregnant women shall be ripped open.(BI)
Sincere Conversion and New Life
2 Return, Israel, to the Lord, your God;
you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
3 Take with you words,
and return to the Lord;
Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,
and take what is good.
Let us offer the fruit of our lips.(BJ)
4 [as]Assyria will not save us,
nor will we mount horses;(BK)
We will never again say, ‘Our god,’
to the work of our hands;
for in you the orphan finds compassion.”(BL)
5 I will heal their apostasy,
I will love them freely;
for my anger is turned away from them.
6 I will be like the dew for Israel:(BM)
he will blossom like the lily;
He will strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
7 and his shoots will go forth.(BN)
His splendor will be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like Lebanon cedar.(BO)
8 Again they will live in his shade;
they will raise grain,
They will blossom like the vine,
and his renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.
9 Ephraim! What more have I to do with idols?(BP)
I have humbled him, but I will take note of him.
I am like a verdant cypress tree.[at]
From me fruit will be found for you!
Epilogue
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.