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Yet his degenerate children have treated him basely,
    a twisted and crooked generation!(A)
Is this how you repay the Lord,
    so foolish and unwise a people?
Is he not your father who begot you,
    the one who made and established you?(B)

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18 You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you,
    you forgot the God who gave you birth.(A)

19 The Lord saw and was filled with loathing,
    provoked by his sons and daughters.(B)
20 He said, I will hide my face from them,
    and see what becomes of them.
For they are a fickle generation,
    children with no loyalty in them!(C)

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27 Do not clip your hair at the temples, nor spoil the edges of your beard. 28 Do not lacerate your bodies for the dead, and do not tattoo yourselves.[a](A) I am the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. 19:28 Do not tattoo yourselves: see note on Gn 4:15. This prohibition probably refers only to the common ancient Near Eastern practice of branding a slave with its owner’s name as well as branding the devotees of a god with its name.

The priests shall not make bald the crown of their head, nor shave the edges of their beard, nor lacerate their body.(A)

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13 As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

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Accusation and Appeal

[a]Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth,
    for the Lord speaks:
Sons have I raised and reared,
    but they have rebelled against me!(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 1:2–31 This chapter is widely considered to be a collection of oracles from various periods in Isaiah’s ministry, chosen by the editor as a compendium of his most characteristic teachings.

Ah![a] Sinful nation, people laden with wickedness,
    evil offspring, corrupt children!
They have forsaken the Lord,
    spurned the Holy One of Israel,
    apostatized,(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 1:4 Ah: see note on 5:8–24. Holy One of Israel: a title used frequently in the Book of Isaiah, rarely elsewhere in the Old Testament (see 5:19, 24; 10:20; 12:6; 17:7; 29:19; 30:11, 12, 15; 31:1; 37:23; 41:14, 16, 20; 43:3, 14; 45:11; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7; 54:5; 55:5; 60:9, 14).

Chapter 30

Oracle on the Futility of an Alliance with Egypt[a]

Ah! Rebellious children,
    oracle of the Lord,
Who carry out a plan that is not mine,
    who make an alliance[b] I did not inspire,
    thus adding sin upon sin;(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 30:1–17 Several independent oracles against making an alliance with Egypt have been strung together in this chapter: vv. 1–5, vv. 6–7, and vv. 8–17. That these were originally separate oracles is indicated by the fact that the oracle in vv. 6–7 is still introduced by its own heading: Oracle on the Beasts of the Negeb.
  2. 30:1 Make an alliance: lit., “pour out a libation,” namely, as part of the ritual of treaty making.

14 Return, rebellious children—oracle of the Lord[a]
    for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city, two from a clan,
    and bring you to Zion.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 3:14–18 A remnant of Israel (v. 14) will reunite with Judah (v. 18). The former Israelite community, represented by the ark of the covenant, will be replaced by a universal alliance, symbolized by Jerusalem, the Lord’s throne, to which all nations will be gathered (v. 17).

Conditions for Forgiveness

19 I thought:
    How I would like to make you my children!
So I gave you a pleasant land,
    the most beautiful heritage among the nations!
You would call me, “My Father,” I thought,
    and you would never turn away from me.(A)

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22 Return, rebellious children!
    I will heal your rebellions.
“Here we are! We belong to you,
    for you are the Lord, our God.(A)

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They shall die, the great and the lowly, in this land, unburied and unlamented.[a] No one will gash themselves or shave their heads for them.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 16:6–7 These verses refer to popular mourning practices in the land; cf. Dt 14:1–2.

With weeping they shall come,
    but with compassion I will guide them;
I will lead them to streams of water,
    on a level road, without stumbling.
For I am a father to Israel,
    Ephraim is my firstborn.(A)

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20 Is Ephraim not my favored son,
    the child in whom I delight?
Even though I threaten him,
    I must still remember him!
My heart stirs for him,
    I must show him compassion!—oracle of the Lord.(A)

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The day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone learned about it, eighty men, in ragged clothes, with beards shaved off and gashes on their bodies, came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, bringing grain offerings and incense for the house of the Lord.

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Chapter 2

[a]The number of the Israelites
    will be like the sand of the sea,
    which can be neither measured nor counted.(A)
Instead of being told,
    “You are Not-My-People,”
They will be called,
    “Children of the living God.”(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 2:1–3 These verses abruptly reverse the tone of the judgments of 1:2–9 with words of hope for the covenant people: the name Jezreel is given a positive interpretation in contrast to its negative meaning in 1:4; the child named “Not-Pitied” in 1:6 is renamed “Pitied” in 2:3; the child named “Not-My-People” is renamed “My People.” The reversal of these names occurs again in 2:25.

Chapter 11

The Disappointment of a Parent

[a]When Israel was a child I loved him,(A)
    out of Egypt[b] I called my son.(B)
The more I called them,
    the farther they went from me,
Sacrificing to the Baals
    and burning incense to idols.
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
    who took them in my arms;(C)
    but they did not know that I cared for them.
I drew them with human cords,
    with bands of love;[c]
I fostered them like those
    who raise an infant to their cheeks;
    I bent down to feed them.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. 11:1–3 After the image of husband-wife (chaps. 1–3), Hosea uses the image of parent-child (Ex 4:22; Is 1:2; Jer 3:19).
  2. 11:1 Out of Egypt: Hosea dates the real beginning of Israel from the time of the exodus. Mt 2:15 applies this text to the return of Jesus from Egypt.
  3. 11:4 I drew them…with bands of love: perhaps a reversal of the yoke imagery of the previous chapter, i.e., not forcing them like draft animals, but drawing them with kindness and affection.