Hosea 8

New American Standard Bible

Israel Reaps the Whirlwind

8 ^(A)Put the trumpet to your ^[a]lips!
^(B)Like an eagle the enemy comes ^(C)against the house of the Lord,
Because they have ^(D)violated My covenant
And rebelled against My ^(E)Law.
²^(F)They cry out to Me,
“My God, ^(G)we of Israel know You!”
³Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
⁴^(H)They have set up kings, but not by Me;
They have appointed officials, but I did not know it.
With their ^(I)silver and gold they have made idols for themselves,
So that ^[b]they will be eliminated.
⁵^[c]He has rejected your ^(J)calf, Samaria, saying,
“My anger burns against them!”
How long will they be incapable of ^(K)innocence?
⁶For from Israel comes even this!
A ^(L)craftsman made it, so it is not God;
Assuredly, the calf of Samaria will be broken to ^[d]pieces.
⁷For ^(M)they sow wind
And they harvest a ^(N)storm.
The standing grain has no ^[e]kernels;
It yields ^(O)no ^[f]grain.
If it were to yield, strangers would swallow it.

⁸Israel has been ^(P)swallowed up;
They are now among the nations
Like a ^(Q)vessel in which no one delights.
⁹For they have gone up to ^(R)Assyria,
Like ^(S)a wild donkey all alone;
Ephraim has ^(T)paid fees for ^[g]lovers.
¹⁰Even though they ^[h]pay for allies among the nations,
I will ^(U)gather them up now;
And they will begin ^(V)to diminish
Because of the burden of the ^(W)king of officials.

¹¹Since Ephraim has ^(X)multiplied altars for sin,
They have become altars of sinning for him.
¹²Though ^(Y)I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My ^(Z)Law,
They are regarded as a strange thing.
¹³As for My ^(AA)sacrificial gifts,
They ^(AB)sacrifice the flesh and eat it,
But the Lord has taken no delight in them.
Now He will ^(AC)remember their guilt,
And ^(AD)punish them for their sins;
They will return to ^(AE)Egypt.
¹⁴For Israel has ^(AF)forgotten his Maker and ^(AG)built palaces;
And Judah has multiplied fortified cities,
But I will send a ^(AH)fire on its cities, and it will consume its palatial buildings.

Footnotes

Hosea 8:1 Lit palate
Hosea 8:4 Lit he
Hosea 8:5 Or Your calf has rejected you
Hosea 8:6 Or splinters
Hosea 8:7 Lit growth
Hosea 8:7 Or meal
Hosea 8:9 Lit love gifts
Hosea 8:10 Or recruit allies

Hosea 9

New American Standard Bible

Ephraim Punished

9 ^(A)Do not rejoice, Israel, ^[a]with jubilation like the ^[b]nations!
For you have ^(B)been unfaithful, ^[c]abandoning your God.
You have loved the earnings of unfaithfulness on ^[d]every threshing floor.
²Threshing floor and wine press will ^(C)not feed them,
And the new wine will fail ^[e]them.
³They will not remain in ^(D)the Lord’s land,
But Ephraim will return to ^(E)Egypt,
And in ^(F)Assyria they will eat ^(G)unclean food.
⁴They will not pour out drink offerings of ^(H)wine to the Lord,
^(I)Nor will ^[f]their sacrifices please Him.
Their bread will be to them like ^[g]mourners’ bread;
All who eat it will be ^(J)defiled,
Because their bread will be for ^[h]themselves alone;
It will not enter the house of the Lord.
⁵^(K)What will you do on the day of the appointed festival
And on the day of the ^(L)feast of the Lord?
⁶For behold, they will be gone because of destruction;
Egypt will gather them together, ^(M)Memphis will bury them.
Weeds will take possession of their treasures of silver;
^(N)Thorns will be in their tents.

⁷The days of ^(O)punishment have come,
The days of ^(P)retribution have come;
^[i]Let Israel know this!
The prophet is a ^(Q)fool,
The ^[j]inspired person is ^(R)insane,
Because of the grossness of your ^(S)wrongdoing,
And because your ^[k]hostility is so great.
⁸Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet;
Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways,
And there is only ^[l]hostility in the house of his God.
⁹They are ^(T)deeply depraved
As in the days of ^(U)Gibeah;
He will ^(V)remember their guilt,
He will punish their sins.

¹⁰I found Israel like ^(W)grapes in the wilderness;
I saw your forefathers as the ^(X)earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season.
But they came to ^(Y)Baal-peor and devoted themselves to ^[m]^(Z)shame,
And they became as ^(AA)detestable as that which they loved.
¹¹As for Ephraim, their ^(AB)glory will fly away like a bird—
No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!
¹²Though they bring up their children,
Yet I will bereave them of their children ^[n]until not a person is left.
Yes, ^(AC)woe to them indeed when I depart from them!
¹³Ephraim, as I have seen,
Is planted in a pasture like ^(AD)Tyre;
But Ephraim is going to bring out his children for slaughter.
¹⁴Give to them, Lord—what will You give?
Give them a ^(AE)miscarrying womb and dried-up breasts.

¹⁵All their evil is at ^(AF)Gilgal;
Indeed, I came to hate them there!
Because of the ^(AG)wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of My house!
I will no longer love them;
All their leaders are ^(AH)rebels.
¹⁶^(AI)Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up,
They will produce ^(AJ)no fruit.
Even though they give birth to children,
I will put to death the ^(AK)precious ones of their womb.
¹⁷My God will reject them
Because they have ^(AL)not listened to Him;
And they will be ^(AM)wanderers among the nations.

Footnotes

Hosea 9:1 Lit to
Hosea 9:1 Lit peoples
Hosea 9:1 Lit away from your God
Hosea 9:1 Lit all threshing floors of grain
Hosea 9:2 Lit her
Hosea 9:4 Or they offer to Him their
Hosea 9:4 Lit bread of mourning
Hosea 9:4 Lit their soul
Hosea 9:7 Or Israel will know this
Hosea 9:7 Lit man of the spirit
Hosea 9:7 Or persecution
Hosea 9:8 Or persecution
Hosea 9:10 I.e., Baal
Hosea 9:12 Lit without a person

Hosea 10

New American Standard Bible

Retribution for Israel’s Sin

10 Israel is a luxuriant ^(A)vine;
He produces fruit for himself.
The more his fruit,
The more altars he ^(B)made;
The ^[a]richer his land,
The better ^[b]he made the ^(C)memorial stones.
²Their heart is ^[c]^(D)deceitful;
Now they must suffer for their ^(E)guilt.
^[d]The Lord will ^(F)break down their altars
And destroy their memorial stones.

³Certainly now they will say, “We have ^(G)no king,
For we do not revere the Lord.
As for the king, what can he do for us?”
⁴They speak mere words,
^[e]With ^(H)worthless oaths they make covenants;
And ^(I)judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.
⁵The inhabitants of Samaria will fear
For the ^[f]^(J)calf of ^(K)Beth-aven.
Indeed, its people will mourn for it,
And its ^(L)idolatrous priests ^[g]will cry out over it,
Over its ^(M)glory, since it has left it.
⁶The thing itself will be brought to ^(N)Assyria
As a gift of tribute to ^[h]^(O)King Jareb;
Ephraim will ^[i]be ^(P)seized with shame,
And Israel will be ashamed of its ^(Q)own plan.
⁷Samaria will be ^(R)destroyed with her king,
Like a twig on the surface of the water.
⁸Also the ^(S)high places of Aven, the ^(T)sin of Israel, will be destroyed;
^(U)Thorns and thistles will grow on their altars;
Then they will ^(V)say to the mountains,
“Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”
⁹Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, Israel;
There they stand!
Will the battle against the sons of injustice not overtake them in Gibeah?
¹⁰When it is My ^(W)desire, I will ^[j]^(X)discipline them;
And ^(Y)the peoples will be gathered against them
When they are bound for their double guilt.

¹¹Ephraim is a trained ^(Z)heifer that loves to thresh,
^[k]And I ^(AA)passed over her lovely neck;
I will harness Ephraim,
Judah will plow, Jacob will ^[l]harrow for himself.
¹²^(AB)Sow for yourselves, with a view to righteousness;
Harvest in accordance with ^[m]kindness.
^(AC)Break up your uncultivated ground,
For it is time to ^(AD)seek the Lord
Until He ^(AE)comes and ^(AF)rains righteousness on you.
¹³You have ^(AG)plowed wickedness, you have harvested injustice,
You have eaten the fruit of ^(AH)lies.
Because you have trusted in your way, in your ^(AI)many warriors,
¹⁴An uproar will arise among your people,
And all your ^(AJ)fortresses will be destroyed,
As Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle,
When ^(AK)mothers were ^[n]slaughtered with their children.
¹⁵So it will be done to you at Bethel because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.

Footnotes

Hosea 10:1 Lit better
Hosea 10:1 Lit they
Hosea 10:2 Lit slippery; or divided
Hosea 10:2 Lit He
Hosea 10:4 Or Swearing falsely in making a covenant
Hosea 10:5 As in some ancient versions; MT calves
Hosea 10:5 Or who used to rejoice over
Hosea 10:6 Another reading is the great king; or the contentious king
Hosea 10:6 Lit receive shame
Hosea 10:10 Or instruct
Hosea 10:11 Or But I put a yoke on her lovely
Hosea 10:11 I.e., pull a harrow, a farming device
Hosea 10:12 Or loyalty
Hosea 10:14 Lit shattered

Hosea 11

New American Standard Bible

God Yearns over His People

11 When Israel was a youth I loved him,
And ^(A)out of Egypt I ^(B)called My son.
²The more ^[a]^(C)they called them,
The more they went away from ^[b]them;
They kept ^(D)sacrificing to the Baals
And ^(E)burning incense to idols.
³Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk,
^[c]I ^(F)took them in My arms;
But they did not know that I ^(G)healed them.
⁴I ^(H)pulled them along with cords of a man, with ropes of love,
And ^(I)I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws;
And I bent down and ^(J)fed them.

⁵^[d]They will not return to the land of Egypt;
But Assyria—he will be ^[e]their king
Because they ^(K)refused to return to Me.
⁶And the ^(L)sword will whirl against ^[f]their cities,
And will destroy ^[g]their oracle priests
And ^(M)consume them, because of their ^(N)counsels.
⁷So My people are determined to ^(O)turn from Me.
Though ^[h]they call ^[i]them to the One on high,
None at all exalts Him.

⁸^(P)How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I surrender you, Israel?
How can I ^[j]make you like ^(Q)Admah?
How can I treat you like ^(R)Zeboiim?
My heart is turned over within Me,
^[k]All My compassions are kindled.
⁹I will ^(S)not carry out My fierce anger;
I will not destroy Ephraim ^(T)again.
For ^(U)I am God and not a man, the ^(V)Holy One in your midst,
And I will not come in ^[l]wrath.
¹⁰They will ^(W)walk after the Lord,
He will ^(X)roar like a lion;
Indeed He will roar,
And His sons will come ^(Y)trembling from the west.
¹¹They will come trembling like birds from ^(Z)Egypt,
And like ^(AA)doves from the land of ^(AB)Assyria;
And I will ^(AC)settle them in their houses, declares the Lord.

¹²^[m]Ephraim surrounds Me with ^(AD)lies
And the house of Israel with deceit;
^[n]Judah is still unruly against God,
Even against the Holy One who is faithful.

Footnotes

Hosea 11:2 I.e., God’s prophets
Hosea 11:2 I.e., God’s prophets
Hosea 11:3 As in ancient versions; MT He...His
Hosea 11:5 Lit He
Hosea 11:5 Lit his
Hosea 11:6 Lit his
Hosea 11:6 Lit his
Hosea 11:7 I.e., God’s prophets
Hosea 11:7 Lit him; i.e., Israel
Hosea 11:8 Lit give
Hosea 11:8 Lit Together
Hosea 11:9 Lit agitation
Hosea 11:12 Ch 12:1 in Heb
Hosea 11:12 Or But Judah still goes about with God, even with

Hosea 12

New American Standard Bible

Ephraim Reminded

12 ^[a]Ephraim feeds on ^(A)wind,
And pursues the ^(B)east wind continually;
He multiplies lies and violence.
Moreover, ^[b]he makes a covenant with Assyria,
And oil is brought to Egypt.
²The Lord also has a ^(C)case against Judah,
And will punish Jacob ^(D)according to his ways;
He will repay him according to his deeds.
³In the womb he ^(E)took his brother by the heel,
And in his mature strength he ^(F)contended with God.
⁴Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed;
He wept and ^(G)implored His favor.
He found Him at ^(H)Bethel,
And there He spoke with us,
⁵And the Lord, the God of armies,
The Lord is His ^[c]^(I)name.
⁶So as for you, ^(J)return to your God,
^(K)Maintain ^[d]kindness and justice,
And ^(L)wait for your God continually.
⁷A ^[e]merchant, in whose hands are fraudulent ^(M)balances,
Loves to exploit.
⁸And Ephraim said, “I have certainly become ^(N)rich,
I have found wealth for myself;
In all my labors they will find in me
^(O)No wrongdoing, which would be sin.”
⁹But I have been the Lord your God since the land of Egypt;
I will make you ^(P)live in tents again,
As in the days of the appointed festival.
¹⁰I have also spoken to the ^(Q)prophets,
And I ^[f]provided many visions,
And through the prophets I spoke in ^(R)parables.
¹¹Is there injustice in Gilead?
Certainly they are worthless.
In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,
Yes, ^(S)their altars are like stone heaps
Beside the furrows of a field.

¹²Now ^(T)Jacob fled to the ^[g]land of Aram,
And ^(U)Israel worked for a wife,
And for a wife he kept sheep.
¹³But by a ^(V)prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt,
And by a prophet he was protected.
¹⁴^(W)Ephraim has provoked God to bitter anger;
So his Lord will leave his ^(X)guilt for bloodshed on him
And bring his ^(Y)disgrace back to him.

Footnotes

Hosea 12:1 Ch 12:2 in Heb
Hosea 12:1 Lit they make
Hosea 12:5 Lit invocation
Hosea 12:6 Or loyalty
Hosea 12:7 Or Canaanite
Hosea 12:10 Lit multiplied the vision
Hosea 12:12 Lit field

Hosea 13

New American Standard Bible

Ephraim’s Idolatry

13 ^(A)When Ephraim ^[a]spoke, there was trembling.
He ^(B)exalted himself in Israel,
But through ^(C)Baal he incurred guilt and died.
²And now they sin more and more,
And make for themselves ^(D)cast metal images,
Idols ^[b]^(E)skillfully made from their silver,
All of them the ^(F)work of craftsmen.
They say of them, “Let the ^[c]people who sacrifice kiss the ^(G)calves!”
³Therefore they will be like the ^(H)morning cloud
And like dew which ^[d]soon disappears,
Like ^(I)chaff which is blown away from the threshing floor,
And like ^(J)smoke from a chimney.

⁴Yet I have been the ^(K)Lord your God
Since the land of Egypt;
And you were not to know ^(L)any god except Me,
For there is no savior ^(M)besides Me.
⁵I ^[e]^(N)cared for you in the wilderness,
^(O)In the land of drought.
⁶As they had their pasture, they became ^(P)satisfied,
And as they became satisfied, their ^(Q)heart became proud;
Therefore they ^(R)forgot Me.
⁷So I will be ^(S)like a lion to them;
Like a ^(T)leopard I will ^[f]lie in wait by the wayside.
⁸I will confront them ^(U)like a bear deprived of her cubs,
And I will tear open ^[g]their chests;
I will also ^(V)devour them there like a lioness,
As a wild animal would tear them to pieces.

⁹^[h]It is to your own destruction, Israel,
That you are ^(W)against Me, against your ^(X)help.
¹⁰Where then is your ^(Y)king,
That he might save you in all your cities;
And your ^(Z)judges, to whom you said,
“Give me a king and princes”?
¹¹I ^(AA)gave you a king in My anger,
And ^(AB)took him away in My wrath.

¹²The guilt of Ephraim is wrapped up;
His sin is ^(AC)stored up.
¹³The pains of ^(AD)childbirth come on him;
He is ^(AE)not a wise son,
For ^[i]it is not the time that he should ^(AF)delay at the opening of the womb.
¹⁴Shall I ^(AG)ransom them from the ^[j]power of Sheol?
Shall I redeem them from death?
^(AH)Death, where are your ^[k]thorns?
Sheol, where is your sting?
^(AI)Compassion will be hidden from My sight.

¹⁵Though he ^(AJ)flourishes among the ^[l]reeds,
An ^(AK)east wind will come,
The wind of the Lord coming up from the wilderness;
And his fountain will ^(AL)become dry
And his spring will dry up;
It will ^(AM)plunder his treasury of every precious article.
¹⁶^[m]Samaria will pay the penalty for her ^(AN)guilt,
Because she has ^(AO)rebelled against her God.
^(AP)They will fall by the ^(AQ)sword,
Their children will be ^[n]^(AR)slaughtered,
And their pregnant ^(AS)women will be ripped open.

Footnotes

Hosea 13:1 Or spoke with trembling, he exalted
Hosea 13:2 Or according to their skill
Hosea 13:2 Lit sacrificers of; or among mankind
Hosea 13:3 Lit goes away early
Hosea 13:5 Or knew
Hosea 13:7 Or watch
Hosea 13:8 Lit the enclosure of their heart
Hosea 13:9 Lit It has destroyed you
Hosea 13:13 Lit it is the time that he should not remain at the opening of children
Hosea 13:14 Lit hand
Hosea 13:14 Or stings
Hosea 13:15 Another reading is brothers
Hosea 13:16 Ch 14:1 in Heb
Hosea 13:16 Lit shattered

Hosea 14

New American Standard Bible

Israel’s Future Blessing

14 ^[a]^(A)Return, Israel, to the Lord your God,
For you have stumbled ^[b]because of your ^(B)wrongdoing.
²Take words with you and return to the Lord.
Say to Him, “^(C)Take away all guilt
And ^[c]receive us graciously,
So that we may ^(D)present ^[d]the fruit of our lips.
³Assyria will not save us,
We will ^(E)not ride on horses;
Nor will we say again, ‘^(F)Our god’
To the ^(G)work of our hands;
For in ^(H)You the ^[e]orphan finds mercy.”

⁴I will ^(I)heal their apostasy,
I will ^(J)love them freely,
Because My anger has ^(K)turned away from them.
⁵I will be like the ^(L)dew to Israel;
He will blossom like the ^(M)lily,
And he will ^[f]take root like the cedars of ^(N)Lebanon.
⁶His shoots will ^[g]sprout,
His ^[h]majesty will be like the ^(O)olive tree,
And his fragrance like the cedars of ^(P)Lebanon.
⁷Those who ^(Q)live in his shadow
Will ^[i]again raise ^(R)grain,
And they will blossom like the vine.
His fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸Ephraim, what more have I to do with ^(S)idols?
It is I who answer and look after ^[j]you.
I am like a luxuriant ^(T)juniper;
From ^(U)Me ^[k]comes your fruit.

⁹^(V)Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
Whoever is discerning, let him know them.
For the ^(W)ways of the Lord are right,
And the ^(X)righteous will walk in them,
But ^(Y)wrongdoers will stumble in them.