Hosea 5; Hosea 6; Hosea 7; Hosea 8

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Hosea 5

1 “Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, you Israelites! Listen, royal house! This judgment is against you: You have been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread out on Tabor.

2 The rebels are knee-deep in slaughter. I will discipline all of them.

3 I know all about Ephraim; Israel is not hidden from me. Ephraim, you have now turned to prostitution; Israel is corrupt.

4 “Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the LORD.

5 Israel’s arrogance testifies against them; the Israelites, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin; Judah also stumbles with them.

6 When they go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, they will not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them.

7 They are unfaithful to the LORD; they give birth to illegitimate children. When they celebrate their New Moon feasts, he will devour their fields.

8 “Sound the trumpet in Gibeah, the horn in Ramah. Raise the battle cry in Beth Aven ; lead on, Benjamin.

9 Ephraim will be laid waste on the day of reckoning. Among the tribes of Israel I proclaim what is certain.

10 Judah’s leaders are like those who move boundary stones. I will pour out my wrath on them like a flood of water.

11 Ephraim is oppressed, trampled in judgment, intent on pursuing idols.

12 I am like a moth to Ephraim, like rot to the people of Judah.

13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his sores, then Ephraim turned to Assyria, and sent to the great king for help. But he is not able to cure you, not able to heal your sores.

14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a great lion to Judah. I will tear them to pieces and go away; I will carry them off, with no one to rescue them.

15 Then I will return to my lair until they have borne their guilt and seek my face— in their misery they will earnestly seek me.”

Hosea 6

1 “Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.

2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.

3 Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”

4 “What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.

5 Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth— then my judgments go forth like the sun.

6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

7 As at Adam, they have broken the covenant; they were unfaithful to me there.

8 Gilead is a city of evildoers, stained with footprints of blood.

9 As marauders lie in ambush for a victim, so do bands of priests; they murder on the road to Shechem, carrying out their wicked schemes.

10 I have seen a horrible thing in Israel: There Ephraim is given to prostitution, Israel is defiled.

11 “Also for you, Judah, a harvest is appointed. “Whenever I would restore the fortunes of my people,

Hosea 7

1 whenever I would heal Israel, the sins of Ephraim are exposed and the crimes of Samaria revealed. They practice deceit, thieves break into houses, bandits rob in the streets;

2 but they do not realize that I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulf them; they are always before me.

3 “They delight the king with their wickedness, the princes with their lies.

4 They are all adulterers, burning like an oven whose fire the baker need not stir from the kneading of the dough till it rises.

5 On the day of the festival of our king the princes become inflamed with wine, and he joins hands with the mockers.

6 Their hearts are like an oven; they approach him with intrigue. Their passion smolders all night; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

7 All of them are hot as an oven; they devour their rulers. All their kings fall, and none of them calls on me.

8 “Ephraim mixes with the nations; Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over.

9 Foreigners sap his strength, but he does not realize it. His hair is sprinkled with gray, but he does not notice.

10 Israel’s arrogance testifies against him, but despite all this he does not return to the LORD his God or search for him.

11 “Ephraim is like a dove, easily deceived and senseless— now calling to Egypt, now turning to Assyria.

12 When they go, I will throw my net over them; I will pull them down like the birds in the sky. When I hear them flocking together, I will catch them.

13 Woe to them, because they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, because they have rebelled against me! I long to redeem them but they speak about me falsely.

14 They do not cry out to me from their hearts but wail on their beds. They slash themselves, appealing to their gods for grain and new wine, but they turn away from me.

15 I trained them and strengthened their arms, but they plot evil against me.

16 They do not turn to the Most High; they are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because of their insolent words. For this they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt.

Hosea 8

1 “Put the trumpet to your lips! An eagle is over the house of the LORDbecause the people have broken my covenant and rebelled against my law.

2 Israel cries out to me, ‘Our God, we acknowledge you!’

3 But Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him.

4 They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval. With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction.

5 Samaria, throw out your calf-idol! My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of purity?

6 They are from Israel! This calf—a metalworker has made it; it is not God. It will be broken in pieces, that calf of Samaria.

7 “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up.

8 Israel is swallowed up; now she is among the nations like something no one wants.

9 For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.

10 Although they have sold themselves among the nations, I will now gather them together. They will begin to waste away under the oppression of the mighty king.

11 “Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning.

12 I wrote for them the many things of my law, but they regarded them as something foreign.

13 Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD is not pleased with them. Now he will remember their wickedness and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt.

14 Israel has forgotten their Maker and built palaces; Judah has fortified many towns. But I will send fire on their cities that will consume their fortresses.”