Hosea 8-14

Hosea 8

¹SET the trumpet to thy mouth. As an eagle he cometh against the house of the LORD: because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.

²They shall cry unto me, My God, we Israel know thee.

³Israel hath cast off that which is good: the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

⁵He hath cast off thy calf, O Samaria; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?

⁶For from Israel is even this; the workman made it, and it is no God: yea, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

⁷For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: he hath no standing corn; the blade shall yield no meal; if so be it yield, strangers shall swallow it up.

⁸Israel is swallowed up: now are they among the nations as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.

⁹For they are gone up to Assyria, like a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

¹⁰Yea, though they hire among the nations, now will I gather them; and they begin to be minished by reason of the burden of the king of princes.

¹¹Because Ephraim hath multiplied altars to sin, altars have been unto him to sin.

¹²Though I write for him my law in ten thousand precepts, they are counted as a strange thing.

¹³As for the sacrifices of mine offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not: now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins; they shall return to Egypt.

¹⁴For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and builded palaces; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the castles thereof.

Hosea 9

¹Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, like the peoples; for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved hire upon every cornfloor.

²The threshing-floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail her.

³They shall not dwell in the LORD’S land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

⁴They shall not pour out wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread shall be for their appetite; it shall not come into the house of the LORD.

⁵What will ye do in the day of solemn assembly, and in the day of the feast of the LORD?

⁶For, lo, they are gone away from destruction, yet Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: their pleasant things of silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tents.

⁷The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the man that hath the spirit is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and because the enmity is great.

⁸Ephraim was a watchman with my God: as for the prophet, a fowler’s snare is in all his ways, and enmity in the house of his God.

⁹They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

¹⁰I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first season: but they came to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves unto the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.

¹¹As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird: there shall be no birth, and none with child, and no conception.

¹²Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there be not a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!

¹³Ephraim, like as I have seen Tyre, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring out his children to the slayer.

¹⁴Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

¹⁵All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them: because of the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house: I will love them no more; all their princes are revolters.

¹⁶Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay the beloved fruit of their womb.

¹⁷My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Hosea 10

¹Israel is a luxuriant vine, which putteth forth his fruit: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath multiplied his altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly pillars.

²Their heart is divided; now shall they be found guilty: he shall smite their altars, he shall spoil their pillars.

³Surely now shall they say, We have no king: for we fear not the LORD; and the king, what can he do for us?

⁴They speak vain words, swearing falsely in making covenants: therefore judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.

⁵The inhabitants of Samaria shall be in terror for the calves of Beth-aven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced over it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.

⁶It also shall be carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

⁷As for Samaria, her king is cut off, as foam upon the water.

⁸The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.

⁹O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood; that the battle against the children of iniquity should not overtake them in Gibeah.

¹⁰When it is my desire, I will chastise them; and the peoples shall be gathered against them, when they are bound to their two transgressions.

¹¹And Ephraim is an heifer that is taught, that loveth to tread out the corn; but I have passed over upon her fair neck: I will set a rider on Ephraim; Judah shall plow, Jacob shall break his clods.

¹²Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

¹³Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: for thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

¹⁴Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces with her children.

¹⁵So shall Beth-el do unto you because of your great wickedness: at daybreak shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off.

Hosea 11

¹When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

²As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto the Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

³Yet I taught Ephraim to go; I took them on my arms; but they knew not that I healed them.

⁴I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love; and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat before them.

⁵He shall not return into the land of Egypt; but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.

⁶And the sword shall fall upon his cities, and shall consume his bars, and devour them, because of their own counsels.

⁷And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they call them to him that is on high, none at all will exalt him.

⁸How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my compassions are kindled together.

⁹I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.

¹⁰They shall walk after the LORD, who shall roar like a lion: for he shall roar, and the children shall come trembling from the west.

¹¹They shall come trembling as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will make them to dwell in their houses, saith the LORD.

¹²Ephraim compasseth me about with falsehood, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the Holy One.

Hosea 12

¹Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he continually multiplieth lies and desolation; and they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt.

²The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.

³In the womb he took his brother by the heel; and in his manhood he had power with God:

⁴yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him at Beth-el, and there he spake with us;

⁵even the LORD, the God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.

⁶Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.

⁷He is a trafficker, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.

⁸And Ephraim said, Surely I am become rich, I have found me wealth: in all my labours they shall find in me none iniquity that were sin.

⁹But I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt; I will yet again make thee to dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast.

¹⁰I have also spoken unto the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the ministry of the prophets have I used similitudes.

¹¹Is Gilead iniquity? they are altogether vanity; in Gilgal they sacrifice bullocks: yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field.

¹²And Jacob fled into the field of Aram, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.

¹³And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.

¹⁴Ephraim hath provoked to anger most bitterly: therefore shall his blood be left upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.

Hosea 13

¹When Ephraim spake, there was trembling; he exalted himself in Israel: but when he offended in Baal, he died.

²And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.

³Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the dew that passeth early away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

⁴Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt; and thou shalt know no god but me, and beside me there is no saviour.

⁵I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.

⁶According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted: therefore have they forgotten me.

⁷Therefore am I unto them as a lion: as a leopard will I watch by the way:

⁸I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart: and there will I devour them like a lion; the wild beast shall tear them.

⁹It is thy destruction, O Israel, that thou art against me, against thy help.

¹⁰Where now is thy king, that he may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges, of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?

¹¹I have given thee a king in mine anger, and have taken him away in my wrath.

¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is laid up in store.

¹³The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for it is time he should not tarry in the place of the breaking forth of children.

¹⁴I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, where are thy plagues? O grave, where is thy destruction? repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

¹⁵Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the breath of the LORD coming up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels.

¹⁶Samaria shall bear her guilt; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

Hosea 14

¹O ISRAEL, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

²Take with you words, and return unto the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good: so will we render as bullocks the offering of our lips.

³Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

⁴I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

⁵I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

⁶His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

⁷They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and blossom as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

⁸Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have answered, and will regard him: I am like a green fir tree; from me is thy fruit found.

⁹Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them; but transgressors shall fall therein.