Category: Hosea

The Lord’s Love for Israel

1 When Israel was a child, I loved him,

and out of Egypt I called My son.

2 The more theycalled them,

the more theydeparted from Me.

They kept sacrificing to the Baals

and burning offerings to idols.

3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,

taking themin My arms,

but they never knew that I healed them.

4 I led them with human cords,

with ropes of love.

To them I was like one

who eases the yoke from their jaws;

I bent down to give them food.

5 Israel will not return to the land of Egypt

and Assyria will be his king,

because they refused to repent.

6 A sword will whirl through his cities;

it will destroy and devour the bars of his gates,

because of their schemes.

7 My people are bent on turning from Me.

Though they call to Him on high,

He will not exalt them at all.

8 How can I give you up, Ephraim?

How can I surrender you, Israel?

How can I make you like Admah?

How can I treat you like Zeboiim?

I have had a change of heart;

My compassion is stirred!

9 I will not vent the full fury of My anger;

I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim.

For I am God and not man,

the Holy One among you;

I will not come in rage.

10 They will follow theLord;

He will roar like a lion.

When He roars,

His children will come trembling from the west.

11 They will be roused like birds from Egypt

and like dovesfrom the land of Assyria.

Then I will settle them in their homes.

This is theLord’s declaration.

12 Ephraim surrounds me with lies,

the house of Israel, with deceit.

Judah still wanders with God

and is faithful to the holy ones.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/HOS/11-48a32cabb2309a416da3b16507be1f67.mp3?version_id=72—

God’s Case against Jacob’s Heirs

1 Ephraim chasesthe wind

and pursues the east wind.

He continually multiplies lies and violence.

He makes a covenant with Assyria,

and olive oil is carried to Egypt.

2 TheLordalso has a dispute with Judah.

He is about to punish Jacob according to his ways;

He will repay him based on his actions.

3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel,

and as an adult he wrestled with God.

4 Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed;

he wept and sought His favor.

He found himat Bethel,

and there He spoke with him.

5 Yahweh is the God of Hosts;

Yahweh is His name.

6 But you must return to your God.

Maintain love and justice,

and always put your hope in God.

7 A merchant loves to extort

with dishonest scales in his hands.

8 But Ephraim says:

“How rich I have become;

I made it all myself.

In all my earnings,

no one can find any crime in me

that I can be punished for! ”

Judgment on Apostate Israel

9 I have been Yahweh your God

ever sincethe land of Egypt.

I will make you live in tents again,

as in the festival days.

10 I spoke through the prophets

and granted many visions;

I gave parables through the prophets.

11 Since Gilead is full of evil,

they will certainly come to nothing.

They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal;

even their altars will be like heaps of rocks

on the furrows of a field.

Further Indictment of Jacob’s Heirs

12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram.

Israel worked to earn a wife;

he tended flocks for a wife.

13 TheLordbrought Israel from Egypt by a prophet,

and Israel was tended by a prophet.

14 Ephraim has provoked bitter anger,

so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him

and repay him for his contempt.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/HOS/12-758589bf4b5c1085ab2aa5eea5ce07af.mp3?version_id=72—

1 When Ephraim spoke,there was trembling;

he was exalted in Israel.

But he incurred guilt through Baaland died.

2 Now they continue to sin

and make themselves a cast image,

idols skillfully made from their silver,

all of them the work of craftsmen.

People say about them,

“Let the men who sacrificekiss the calves.”

3 Therefore, they will be like the morning mist,

like the early dew that vanishes,

like chaff blown from a threshing floor,

or like smoke from a window.

Death and Resurrection

4 I have been Yahweh your God

ever sincethe land of Egypt;

you know no God but Me,

and no Savior exists besides Me.

5 I knewyou in the wilderness,

in the land of drought.

6 When they had pasture,

they became satisfied;

they were satisfied,

and their hearts became proud.

Therefore they forgot Me.

7 So I will be like a lionto them;

I will lurk like a leopardon the path.

8 I will attack them

like a bear robbed of her cubs

and tear open the rib cage over their hearts.

I will devour them there like a lioness,

like a wild beast that would rip them open.

9 I will destroy you, Israel;

you have no help but Me.

10 Where now is your king,

that he may save you in all your cities,

and therulersyou demanded, saying,

“Give me a king and leaders”?

11 I give you a king in My anger

and take away a king in My wrath.

12 Ephraim’s guilt is preserved;

his sin is stored up.

13 Labor pains come on him.

He is not a wise son;

when the time comes,

he will not be born.

14 I will ransom them from the power of Sheol.

I will redeemthem from death.

Death, where are your barbs?

Sheol, where is your sting?

Compassion is hidden from My eyes.

The Coming Judgment

15 Although he flourishes among his brothers,

an east wind will come,

a wind from theLordrising up from the desert.

His water source will fail,

and his spring will run dry.

The windwill plunder the treasury

of every precious item.

16 Samariawill bear her guilt

because she has rebelled against her God.

They will fall by the sword;

their little ones will be dashed to pieces,

and their pregnant women ripped open.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/HOS/13-e186958b09e7496e1ab945ffa42e6a80.mp3?version_id=72—

A Plea to Repent

1 Israel, return to Yahweh your God,

for you have stumbled in your sin.

2 Take words of repentance with you

and return to theLord.

Say to Him: “Forgive all our sin

and accept what is good,

so that we may repay You

with praisefrom ourlips.

3 Assyria will not save us,

we will not ride on horses,

and we will no longer proclaim, ‘Our gods! ’

to the work of our hands.

For the fatherless receives compassion in You.”

A Promise of Restoration

4 I will heal their apostasy;

I will freely love them,

for My anger will have turned from him.

5 I will be like the dew to Israel;

he will blossom like the lily

and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.

6 His new branches will spread,

and his splendor will be like the olive tree,

his fragrance, like the forest of Lebanon.

7 The people will return and live beneath his shade.

They will grow grain

and blossom like the vine.

His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

8 Ephraim, why should Ihave anything more

to do with idols?

It is I who answer and watch over him.

I am like a flourishing pine tree;

your fruit comes from Me.

9 Let whoever is wiseunderstand these things,

and whoever is insightful recognize them.

For the ways of theLordare right,

and the righteous walk in them,

but the rebellious stumble in them.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/HOS/14-626ba1f381f350cb63fcce9a4367c68c.mp3?version_id=72—