Beginning
Israel Rejects the Good
8 Put to your lips the trumpet
like a vulture over the house of Yahweh,
because they have broken my covenant[a]
and rebelled against my law.
2 They cry out to me,
“My God! We, Israel, know you!”
3 Israel has spurned the good;
the enemy will pursue him.
4 They appointed kings, but not through me;
they made officials, but without my knowledge.
With their silver and gold
they made idols for themselves
for their[b] own destruction.[c]
5 Your calf is rejected,[d] O Samaria;
my anger burns against them.
How long[e] will they be incapable of innocence?
6 Because it is from Israel,
an artisan made it,
it is not a god;
for the calf of Samaria
will be broken to pieces.
7 Because they sow the wind,
they will reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain does not have heads;[f]
it will not yield flour.
And if it would yield,
strangers would devour it.
8 Israel is swallowed up;
now they are among the nations,
like an object that no one desires.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria,
a wild donkey alone to itself;
Ephraim has sold itself for lovers.
10 Even though they have sold themselves to the nations,
now I will gather them.
They will soon writhe
from the burden of kings[g] and princes.
11 When Ephraim multiplied altars
to expiate sins,
they became to him altars to sin on.
12 I write for him myriads of my instruction;[h]
they are regarded as a strange thing.
13 They offer sacrifices of my choice[i]
and they eat flesh;
Yahweh does not accept them.
Now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins;
they will return to Egypt.
14 Israel has forgotten his maker and built palaces,
and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
but I will send fire on his cities
and it will devour her strongholds.
Ephraim Faces Punishment
9 Do not rejoice, O Israel,
do not exult like the nations!
For you played the whore, departing from your God;
you loved a harlot’s wage
on all the threshing floors of grain.
2 Threshing floor and wine vat will not feed them,
and new wine will fail her.[j]
3 They will not remain
in the land of Yahweh.
But Ephraim will return to Egypt,
and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.
4 They will not pour drink offerings of wine to Yahweh,
and their sacrifices will not please him.
They are like mourners’ bread for them;
all those who eat it will be defiled.
For their bread will be for their hunger;[k]
it will not come to the house of Yahweh.
5 What will you do on the day of the appointed time,
and on the day of the festival of Yahweh?
6 For look! If they flee from the destruction,
Egypt will gather them;
Memphis[l] will bury them.
Nettles will possess
their precious things of silver;
thorns will be in their tents.
7 The days of punishment have come;
the days of retribution have come;
Israel knows!
The prophet is a fool,
the man of the spirit is acting like a madman.
Because of the greatness of your sin,
your hostility is great.
8 The prophet keeps watch over Ephraim for my God;
the snare of a fowler is on all his ways,
and hostility in the house of his God.
9 They deeply corrupted themselves[m]
as in the days of Gibeah;
he will remember their sin,
he will punish their sins.
10 Like the grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel.
Like early ripened fruit on the fig tree in the first season,[n]
I saw your ancestors.[o]
They themselves came to Baal Peor,
and they consecrated themselves to shame.
And they became detestable things,
like the thing they love.[p]
11 Ephraim’s glory is like a bird;
it will fly away—
no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.
12 Even though they bring up their children,
I will bereave them before maturity.[q]
Woe to them indeed,
when I depart from them!
13 Ephraim, as I see it,
is like a palm in a meadow;
but Ephraim must bring out
his children to the slayer.
14 Give them, O Yahweh—
what will you give them?
Give them a miscarrying womb
and dry breasts.
15 Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal,
so I began to hate them there;
because of the evil of their deeds
I will drive them out from my house.
I will love them no more;
all their officials are rebels.
16 Ephraim is stricken,
their root is dried up,
they shall not bear fruit.
Even if they give birth,
I will kill the cherished offspring of their womb.
17 My God will reject them
because they did not listen to him,
and they will be wanderers among the nations.
Israel Is Punished
10 Israel is a luxuriant vine;[r]
he yields fruit for himself.
The more his fruit increased,
the more he made numerous altars.
The more his land prospered,
the more he[s] improved[t] his stone pillars.
2 Their heart is false;
now they must bear their guilt.
He himself[u] will break down their altars;
he will destroy their stone pillars.
3 For now they will say,
“We have no king;
indeed, we did not fear Yahweh,
and what can a king do for us?”
4 They utter words of vain oaths
when making covenants,[v]
and judgment blossoms like a poisonous plant
on the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants[w] of Samaria tremble
for the calf[x] of Beth-aven.
Indeed, his people will mourn for it,
and his idolatrous priests will wail[y] over it—
over its glory because it has departed from it.
6 It will also be brought to Assyria,
as tribute to the great king.[z]
Ephraim will obtain disgrace
and Israel will be ashamed from his advice.[aa]
7 Samaria will be destroyed;
her king is like a chip on the surface of the water.
8 The high places of Aven,
the sin of Israel, will be destroyed.
Thorn and thistle will grow
on their altars.
They will say to the mountains, “Cover us,”
and to the hills, “Fall on us.”
9 From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel;
there they have remained.[ab]
Will not war in Gibeah overtake them
against the children of evil?
10 In my desire[ac] I will punish them;
nations will be gathered against them
when they are punished for their double iniquities.[ad]
11 Ephraim was a trained heifer,
that loved to thresh grain,
and I myself spared[ae]
the fairness of her neck;
I will make Ephraim break the ground,
Judah will plow,
Jacob must till for himself.
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap loyal love.[af]
Break up for yourself fallow ground;
it is time to seek Yahweh
so he will come and rain
righteousness upon you.
13 You have plowed wickedness,
you have reaped injustice,
you have eaten the fruit of lies,[ag]
because you have trusted in your strength,
in the multitude of your warriors.
14 The tumult of war will rise up against your people,
and all your fortresses will be destroyed,
as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel;
on the day of war
mothers were dashed to pieces with their children.[ah]
15 So it will be done to you, O Bethel,
because of the evil of your wickedness;
at dawn, the king of Israel
will be utterly destroyed.
God Will Have Compassion
11 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 When I called[ai] them, they went from my face.[aj]
They sacrificed to the Baals, and they sacrificed to idols.
3 And I myself taught Ephraim to walk;
I took them[ak] in my[al] arms,
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I drew them with human ties,[am]
with the bands of love.
I was to them like one who lifted up[an] a yoke on their jaws,[ao]
though I bent down to them[ap] and let them[aq] eat.
5 He will return[ar] to the land of Egypt,
and Assyria will be his king,[as]
because they refused to return.
6 The sword rages in his cities;
it consumes his false prophets
and devours because of their plans.
7 My people are bent on backsliding from me.
To the Most High they call,
he does not raise them at all.
8 How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart is disturbed[at] within me;
all[au] my compassions are aroused.
9 I will not execute[av] my fierce anger,[aw]
I will not again destroy Ephraim;
because I am God
and not a mortal,[ax]
the Holy One in your midst;
and I will not come in wrath.
10 They will go after Yahweh;
he roars like a lion.
When he roars,
his children will come trembling
from the sea.[ay]
11 They will tremble like birds[az] from Egypt,
and like doves[ba] from the land of Assyria;
and I will let them return[bb] to their homes—
a declaration of Yahweh.
Israel’s History
12 [bc] Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,[bd]
and the house of Israel with deceit;
and Judah is still wandering with God
and is faithful to the Holy One.
12 Ephraim herds the wind[be]
and is pursuing the east wind all day long;
he multiplies deception and violence
and he[bf] makes a treaty with Assyria,[bg]
and oil is brought to Egypt.
2 Yahweh has a quarrel[bh] with Judah
and will punish Jacob according to his ways
and repay him according to his deeds.
3 In the womb he deceived his brother,
and in his manhood he struggled with God.
4 He struggled with the angel and prevailed;
he pleaded for his mercy.
He met him at Bethel,
and there he spoke with him.[bi]
5 Yahweh the God of hosts,
Yahweh is his renowned name!
6 But you, you must return to your God;
keep love and justice,
and wait continually for your God.
7 The trader, in his hand are scales of deceit;[bj]
he loves to oppress.
8 And Ephraim said, “Surely, I am rich,
I gained[bk] wealth for myself;
in all my toil they have not found guilt in me
that is sin.
9 But I am Yahweh your God
since[bl] the land of Egypt;
I will make you live in tents again,
like the days of the appointed festival.
10 I spoke to the prophets;
I myself multiplied revelations[bm]
and through the hand of the prophets I will destroy.
11 If in Gilead there is evil,
surely they will come to nothing.
In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,
also their altars will be like stone heaps
on furrows of the field.
12 Jacob fled to the open field of Aram,[bn]
and Israel served for a wife,
and for a wife he watched over sheep.
13 And by a prophet Yahweh brought
Israel up from Egypt,
and by a prophet
he[bo] was watched over.
14 Ephraim has caused bitter provocation,
and his Lord will hold him responsible for his crimes[bp]
and pay back to him his insults.
Yahweh’s Judgment on Idolatrous Israel
13 When Ephraim spoke,[bq] there was terror;
he was exalted in Israel,
but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.
2 And now they sin again,
and they make for themselves a molten idol,
idols from their silver metal according to their understanding,
all of them the work of skilled craftsmen.
To these they say, “Sacrifice!”
People are kissing bull calves.
3 Therefore, they will be like the morning cloud,
and like the dew of early morning going away,
like chaff swirling from the threshing floor,
or like smoke from a window.
4 I am Yahweh your God
since[br] the land of Egypt;
you know no god except me,
and no one saves besides me.
5 I fed you[bs] in the desert,
in the land of drought.
6 When I fed them,[bt] they were satisfied;
they were satisfied and their heart was lifted up;
therefore they forgot me.
7 And I will be like a lion to them;
I lie in wait beside the way, like a leopard.
8 I will attack them like a bear robbed of her offspring,
and I will tear open the covering of their heart;
there I will devour them like a lion,
like an animal of the field would mutilate them.
9 I will destroy you,[bu] O Israel;
who will help you?[bv]
10 Where now is your king that he may save you?
Where in all your cities are your judges,
of whom you said, “Give to
me a king and rulers?”
11 I gave you a king in my anger,
and I took him in my wrath.
12 The sin of Ephraim is wrapped up;
his sin is concealed.
13 The labor pains of childbirth come for him;
he is an unwise son
because at the proper time, he does not present himself
at the mouth of the womb.[bw]
14 Should I redeem them from the power[bx] of Sheol? [by]
Should I deliver them from death?
Where are your plagues, O Death?
Where is your destruction, O Sheol?[bz]
Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
15 Although he may flourish among reeds,[ca]
the east wind will come, a wind of Yahweh
rising from the desert;
his fountain will dry up,
his spring will be parched.
It will plunder his treasury,[cb]
every object of desire.
16 [cc] Samaria will be guilty,
because she has rebelled against her God;
they will fall by the sword,
their children will be dashed to pieces,
and their pregnant women will be ripped open.
Return to Yahweh
14 Return to Yahweh your God, O Israel,
for you have stumbled because of your sin.
2 Take words with you,
and return to Yahweh.
Say to him,
“Take away all guilt;
accept good, and we will offer
the fruit[cd] of our lips.
3 Assyria will not save us;
we will not ride on horses,[ce]
and we will say no more, “Our God,”
to the work of our hands
because in you the fatherless child finds mercy.
4 I will heal their disloyalty;[cf]
I will love them freely
because my anger has turned back
from them.[cg]
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he will blossom like the lily plant,
and he will strike his roots like the trees of Lebanon.
6 His new plant shoots will spread out;
his splendor will be like the olive tree,
and his scent like the trees of Lebanon.
7 They will again dwell[ch] in my[ci] shadow;
they will grow grain
and they will blossom like the plant vine;
his fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 O Ephraim, what have I to do[cj] with idols?
I myself have answered and looked after you.[ck]
I am like a luxuriant cypress;
your fruit[cl] comes from me.
9 Who is wise that he can understand these things?
Who is discerning that he knows them?
The ways of Yahweh are right,
and the righteous walk in them;
but transgressors stumble in them.
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