Hosea Part 2 Draft

The Response to God’s Rebuke

6 “Come, let us return to the Lord.

For He has torn us, but He will heal us;

He has [a]wounded us, but He will bandage us.

2 “He will revive us after two days;

He will raise us up on the third day,

That we may live before Him.

3 “So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.

His going forth is as certain as the dawn;

And He will come to us like the rain,

Like the spring rain watering the earth.”

4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?

What shall I do with you, O Judah?

For your [b]loyalty is like a morning cloud

And like the dew which goes away early.

5 Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets;

I have slain them by the words of My mouth;

And the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth.

6 For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice,

And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

7 But like [c]Adam they have transgressed the covenant;

There they have dealt treacherously against Me.

8 Gilead is a city of wrongdoers,

Tracked with bloody footprints.

9 And as raiders wait for a man,

So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem;

Surely they have committed [d]crime.

10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;

Ephraim’s harlotry is there, Israel has defiled itself.

11 Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you,

When I restore the fortunes of My people.

Footnotes

Hosea 6:1 Lit struck

Hosea 6:4 Or lovingkindness

Hosea 6:7 Or men

Hosea 6:9 Or lewdness

Ephraim’s Iniquity

7 When I would heal Israel,

The iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered,

And the evil deeds of Samaria,

For they deal falsely;

The thief enters in,

Bandits raid outside,

2 And they do not [a]consider in their hearts

That I remember all their wickedness.

Now their deeds are all around them;

They are before My face.

3 With their wickedness they make the king glad,

And the princes with their lies.

4 They are all adulterers,

Like an oven heated by the baker

Who ceases to stir up the fire

From the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.

5 On the [b]day of our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine;

He stretched out his hand with scoffers,

6 For their hearts are like an oven

As they approach their [c]plotting;

Their [d]anger [e]smolders all night,

In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.

7 All of them are hot like an oven,

And they consume their rulers;

All their kings have fallen.

None of them calls on Me.

8 Ephraim mixes himself with the [f]nations;

Ephraim has become a cake not turned.

9 Strangers devour his strength,

Yet he does not know it;

Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him,

Yet he does not know it.

10 Though the pride of Israel testifies against him,

Yet they have not returned to the Lord their God,

Nor have they sought Him, for all this.

11 So Ephraim has become like a silly dove, without [g]sense;

They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

12 When they go, I will spread My net over them;

I will bring them down like the birds of the sky.

I will chastise them in accordance with the [h]proclamation to their assembly.

13 Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me!

Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me!

I would redeem them, but they speak lies against Me.

14 And they do not cry to Me from their heart

When they wail on their beds;

For the sake of grain and new wine they [i]assemble themselves,

They turn away from Me.

15 Although I trained and strengthened their arms,

Yet they devise evil against Me.

16 They turn, but not [j]upward,

They are like a deceitful bow;

Their princes will fall by the sword

Because of the [k]insolence of their tongue.

This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.

Footnotes

Hosea 7:2 Lit say to their heart

Hosea 7:5 I.e. a festive occasion

Hosea 7:6 Lit ambush

Hosea 7:6 So with some ancient versions; M.T. baker

Hosea 7:6 Lit sleeps

Hosea 7:8 Lit peoples

Hosea 7:11 Lit heart

Hosea 7:12 Lit report

Hosea 7:14 Or with Gr and many ancient mss gash themselves

Hosea 7:16 Or possibly to the Most High

Hosea 7:16 Lit indignation; or cursing

Israel Reaps the Whirlwind

8 Put the trumpet to your [a]lips!

Like an eagle the enemy comes against the house of the Lord,

Because they have transgressed My covenant

And rebelled against My law.

2 They cry out to Me,