God’s Continuing Love for Israel

11 “When Israel was a [a]child, I loved him,
And out of Egypt (A)I called My (B)son.
[b]As they called them,
So they (C)went [c]from them;
They sacrificed to the Baals,
And burned incense to carved images.

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 11:1 Or youth
  2. Hosea 11:2 So with MT, Vg.; LXX Just as I called them; Tg. interprets as I sent prophets to a thousand of them.
  3. Hosea 11:2 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX from My face

My people are bent on (A)backsliding from Me.
Though [a]they call [b]to the Most High,
None at all exalt Him.

“How(B) can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I make you like (C)Admah?
How can I set you like Zeboiim?
My heart [c]churns within Me;
My sympathy is stirred.
I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim.
(D)For I am God, and not man,
The Holy One in your midst;
And I will not [d]come with terror.

10 “They shall walk after the Lord.
(E)He will roar like a lion.
When He roars,
Then His sons shall come trembling from the west;

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 11:7 The prophets
  2. Hosea 11:7 Or upward
  3. Hosea 11:8 Lit. turns over
  4. Hosea 11:9 Or enter a city

Ephraim’s Sins Rebuked by God

12 “Ephraim (A)feeds on the wind,
And pursues the east wind;
He daily increases lies and [a]desolation.
(B)Also they make a [b]covenant with the Assyrians,
And (C)oil is carried to Egypt.

“The(D) Lord also brings a [c]charge against Judah,
And will punish Jacob according to his ways;
According to his deeds He will recompense him.

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 12:1 ruin
  2. Hosea 12:1 Or treaty
  3. Hosea 12:2 A legal complaint

(A)So you, by the help of your God, return;
Observe mercy and justice,
And wait on your God continually.

“A cunning [a]Canaanite!
(B)Deceitful scales are in his hand;
He loves to oppress.
And Ephraim said,
(C)‘Surely I have become rich,
I have found wealth for myself;
In all my labors
They shall find in me no iniquity that is sin.’

“But I am the Lord your God,
Ever since the land of Egypt;
(D)I will again make you dwell in tents,
As in the days of the appointed feast.
10 (E)I have also spoken by the prophets,
And have multiplied visions;
I have given [b]symbols [c]through the witness of the prophets.”

11 Though (F)Gilead has idols—
Surely they are [d]vanity—
Though they sacrifice bulls in (G)Gilgal,
Indeed their altars shall be heaps in the furrows of the field.

12 Jacob (H)fled to the country of Syria;
(I)Israel served for a spouse,
And for a wife he tended sheep.
13 (J)By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,
And by a prophet he was preserved.
14 Ephraim (K)provoked Him to anger most bitterly;
Therefore his Lord will leave the guilt of his bloodshed upon him,
(L)And return his reproach upon him.

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 12:7 Or merchant
  2. Hosea 12:10 Or parables
  3. Hosea 12:10 Lit. by the hand
  4. Hosea 12:11 worthless

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