Hosea 6: 4 - 10: 15
| 4“Ephraim, what shall I do to you? |
| Judah, what shall I do to you? |
| For your love is like a morning cloud, |
| and like the dew that disappears early. |
| 5Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets; |
| I killed them with the words of my mouth. |
| Your judgements are like a flash of lightning. |
| 6For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; |
| and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. |
| 7But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant. |
| They were unfaithful to me, there. |
| 8Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; |
| it is stained with blood. |
| 9As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man, |
| so the company of priests murder on the path towards Shechem, |
| committing shameful crimes. |
| 10In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing. |
| There is prostitution in Ephraim. |
| Israel is defiled. |
| 11“Also, Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, |
| when I restore the fortunes of my people. |
| 1When I would heal Israel, |
| then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered, |
| also the wickedness of Samaria; |
| for they commit falsehood, |
| and the thief enters in, |
| and the gang of robbers ravages outside. |
| 2They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. |
| Now their own deeds have engulfed them. |
| They are before my face. |
| 3They make the king glad with their wickedness, |
| and the princes with their lies. |
| 4They are all adulterers. |
| They are burning like an oven that the baker stops stirring, |
| from the kneading of the dough, until it is leavened. |
| 5On the day of our king, the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine. |
| He joined his hand with mockers. |
| 6For they have prepared their heart like an oven, |
| while they lie in wait. |
| Their baker sleeps all the night. |
| In the morning it burns as a flaming fire. |
| 7They are all hot as an oven, |
| and devour their judges. |
| All their kings have fallen. |
| There is no one amongst them who calls to me. |
| 8Ephraim, he mixes himself amongst the nations. |
| Ephraim is a pancake not turned over. |
| 9Strangers have devoured his strength, |
| and he doesn’t realise it. |
| Indeed, grey hairs are here and there on him, |
| and he doesn’t realise it. |
| 10The pride of Israel testifies to his face; |
| yet they haven’t returned to the LORD their God, |
| nor sought him, for all this. |
| 11“Ephraim is like an easily deceived dove, without understanding. |
| They call to Egypt. |
| They go to Assyria. |
| 12When they go, I will spread my net on them. |
| I will bring them down like the birds of the sky. |
| I will chastise them, as their congregation has heard. |
| 13Woe to them! |
| For they have wandered from me. |
| Destruction to them! |
| For they have trespassed against me. |
| Though I would redeem them, |
| yet they have spoken lies against me. |
| 14They haven’t cried to me with their heart, |
| but they howl on their beds. |
| They assemble themselves for grain and new wine. |
| They turn away from me. |
| 15Though I have taught and strengthened their arms, |
| yet they plot evil against me. |
| 16They return, but not to the Most High. |
| They are like a faulty bow. |
| Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. |
| This will be their derision in the land of Egypt. |
| 1“Put the trumpet to your lips! |
| Something like an eagle is over the LORD’s house, |
| because they have broken my covenant, |
| and rebelled against my law. |
| 2They cry to me, ‘My God, we Israel acknowledge you!’ |
| 3Israel has cast off that which is good. |
| The enemy will pursue him. |
| 4They have set up kings, but not by me. |
| They have made princes, and I didn’t approve. |
| Of their silver and their gold they have made themselves idols, |
| that they may be cut off. |
| 5Let Samaria throw out his calf idol! |
| My anger burns against them! |
| How long will it be until they are capable of purity? |
| 6For this is even from Israel! |
| The workman made it, and it is no God; |
| indeed, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. |
| 7For they sow the wind, |
| and they will reap the whirlwind. |
| He has no standing grain. |
| The stalk will yield no head. |
| If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up. |
| 8Israel is swallowed up. |
| Now they are amongst the nations like a worthless thing. |
| 9For they have gone up to Assyria, |
| like a wild donkey wandering alone. |
| Ephraim has hired lovers for himself. |
| 10But although they sold themselves amongst the nations, |
| I will now gather them; |
| and they begin to waste away because of the oppression of the king of mighty ones. |
| 11Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, |
| they became for him altars for sinning. |
| 12I wrote for him the many things of my law; |
| but they were regarded as a strange thing. |
| 13As for the sacrifices of my offerings, |
| they sacrifice meat and eat it; |
| But the LORD doesn’t accept them. |
| Now he will remember their iniquity, |
| and punish their sins. |
| They will return to Egypt. |
| 14For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; |
| and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; |
| but I will send a fire on his cities, |
| and it will devour its fortresses.” |
| 1Don’t rejoice, Israel, to jubilation like the nations; |
| for you were unfaithful to your God. |
| You love the wages of a prostitute at every grain threshing floor. |
| 2The threshing floor and the wine press won’t feed them, |
| and the new wine will fail her. |
| 3They won’t dwell in the LORD’s land; |
| but Ephraim will return to Egypt, |
| and they will eat unclean food in Assyria. |
| 4They won’t pour out wine offerings to the LORD, |
| neither will they be pleasing to him. |
| Their sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners; |
| all who eat of it will be polluted; |
| for their bread will be for their appetite. |
| It will not come into the LORD’s house. |
| 5What will you do in the day of solemn assembly, |
| and in the day of the feast of the LORD? |
| 6For, behold, when they flee destruction, |
| Egypt will gather them up. |
| Memphis will bury them. |
| Nettles will possess their pleasant things of silver. |
| Thorns will be in their tents. |
| 7The days of visitation have come. |
| The days of reckoning have come. |
| Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, |
| and the man who is inspired to be insane, |
| because of the abundance of your sins, |
| and because your hostility is great. |
| 8A prophet watches over Ephraim with my God. |
| A fowler’s snare is on all of his paths, |
| and hostility in the house of his God. |
| 9They have deeply corrupted themselves, |
| as in the days of Gibeah. |
| He will remember their iniquity. |
| He will punish them for their sins. |
| 10I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. |
| I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season; |
| but they came to Baal Peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, |
| and became abominable like that which they loved. |
| 11As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird. |
| There will be no birth, no one with child, and no conception. |
| 12Though they bring up their children, |
| yet I will bereave them, so that not a man shall be left. |
| Indeed, woe also to them when I depart from them! |
| 13I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place; |
| but Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer. |
| 14Give them—LORD what will you give? |
| Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. |
| 15“All their wickedness is in Gilgal; |
| for there I hated them. |
| Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house! |
| I will love them no more. |
| All their princes are rebels. |
| 16Ephraim is struck. |
| Their root has dried up. |
| They will bear no fruit. |
| Even though they give birth, yet I will kill the beloved ones of their womb.” |
| 17My God will cast them away, because they didn’t listen to him; |
| and they will be wanderers amongst the nations. |
| 1Israel is a luxuriant vine that produces his fruit. |
| According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. |
| As their land has prospered, they have adorned their sacred stones. |
| 2Their heart is divided. |
| Now they will be found guilty. |
| He will demolish their altars. |
| He will destroy their sacred stones. |
| 3Surely now they will say, “We have no king; for we don’t fear the LORD; |
| and the king, what can he do for us?” |
| 4They make promises, swearing falsely in making covenants. |
| Therefore judgement springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field. |
| 5The inhabitants of Samaria will be in terror for the calves of Beth Aven; |
| for its people will mourn over it, |
| Along with its priests who rejoiced over it, |
| for its glory, because it has departed from it. |
| 6It also will be carried to Assyria for a present to a great king. |
| Ephraim will receive shame, |
| and Israel will be ashamed of his own counsel. |
| 7Samaria and her king float away, |
| like a twig on the water. |
| 8The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. |
| The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars. |
| They will tell the mountains, “Cover us!” and the hills, “Fall on us!” |
| 9“Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah. |
| There they remained. |
| The battle against the children of iniquity doesn’t overtake them in Gibeah. |
| 10When it is my desire, I will chastise them; |
| and the nations will be gathered against them, |
| when they are bound to their two transgressions. |
| 11Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh; |
| so I will put a yoke on her beautiful neck. |
| I will set a rider on Ephraim. |
| Judah will plough. |
| Jacob will break his clods. |
| 12Sow to yourselves in righteousness, |
| reap according to kindness. |
| Break up your fallow ground; |
| for it is time to seek the LORD, |
| until he comes and rains righteousness on you. |
| 13You have ploughed wickedness. |
| You have reaped iniquity. |
| You have eaten the fruit of lies, |
| for you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men. |
| 14Therefore a battle roar will arise amongst your people, |
| and all your fortresses will be destroyed, |
| as Shalman destroyed Beth Arbel in the day of battle. |
| The mother was dashed in pieces with her children. |
| 15So Bethel will do to you because of your great wickedness. |
| At daybreak the king of Israel will be destroyed. |
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