Hosea 10

THE VINE AND THE CALF
Israel is a lush vine;
it yields fruit for itself.
The more his fruit increased,
the more he increased the altars.
The better his land produced,
the better they made the sacred pillars.
2 Their hearts are devious;
now they must bear their guilt.
The Lord will break down their altars
and demolish their sacred pillars.
3 In fact, they are now saying,
“We have no king!
For we do not fear the Lord.
What can a king do for us? ”
4 They speak mere words,
taking false oaths while making covenants.
So lawsuits break out
like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.
5 The residents of Samaria will have anxiety
over the calf of Beth-aven.
Indeed, its idolatrous priests rejoiced over it;
the people will mourn over it,
over its glory.
It will certainly go into exile.
6 The calf itself will be taken to Assyria
as an offering to the great king.
Ephraim will experience shame;
Israel will be ashamed of its counsel.
7 Samaria’s king will disappear
like foam on the surface of the water.
8 The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
will be destroyed;
thorns and thistles will grow over their altars.
They will say to the mountains, “Cover us! ”
and to the hills, “Fall on us! ”

ISRAEL’S DEFEAT BECAUSE OF SIN
9 Israel, you have sinned
since the days of Gibeah;
they have taken their stand there.
Will not war against the unjust
overtake them in Gibeah?
10 I will discipline them at my discretion;
nations will be gathered against them
to put them in bondage
for their double iniquity.
11 Ephraim is a well-trained calf
that loves to thresh,
but I will place a yoke on her fine neck.
I will harness Ephraim;
Judah will plow;
Jacob will do the final plowing.
12 Sow righteousness for yourselves
and reap faithful love;
break up your unplowed ground.
It is time to seek the Lord
until he comes and sends righteousness
on you like the rain.
13 You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice;
you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your own way
and in your large number of soldiers,
14 the roar of battle will rise against your people,
and all your fortifications will be demolished
in a day of war,
like Shalman’s destruction of Beth-arbel.
Mothers will be dashed to pieces
along with their children.
15 So it will be done to you, Bethel,
because of your extreme evil.
At dawn the king of Israel will be totally destroyed.

Hosea 11

THE LORD’S LOVE FOR ISRAEL
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 Israel called to the Egyptians
even as Israel was leaving them.
They kept sacrificing to the Baals
and burning offerings to idols.
3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them by the hand,
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 the Lord;
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 doves from the land of Assyria.
Then I will settle them in their homes.
This is the Lord’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.

Hosea 12

GOD’S CASE AGAINST JACOB’S HEIRS
Ephraim chases the 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 The Lord also has a dispute with Judah.
He is about to punish Jacob according to his conduct;
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 him at Bethel,
and there he spoke with him.
5 The Lord is the God of Armies;
the Lord 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 thinks,
“How rich I have become;
I made it all myself.
In all my earnings,
no one can find any iniquity in me
that I can be punished for! ”

JUDGMENT ON APOSTATE ISRAEL
9 I have been the Lord your God
ever since the land of Egypt.
I will make you live in tents again,
as in the festival days.
10 I will speak through the prophets
and grant many visions;
I will give 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 piles of rocks
on the furrows of a field.

FURTHER INDICTMENT OF JACOB’S HEIRS
12 Jacob fled to the territory of Aram.
Israel worked to earn a wife;
he tended flocks for a wife.
13 The Lord brought 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.

Hosea 13

When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
he was exalted in Israel.
But he incurred guilt through Baal and 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 sacrifice kiss 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 the Lord your God
ever since the land of Egypt;
you know no God but me,
and no Savior exists besides me.
5 I knew you 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 lion to them;
I will lurk like a leopard on 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 the rulers you 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 redeem them 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 the Lord rising up from the desert.
His water source will fail,
and his spring will run dry.
The wind will plunder the treasury
of every precious item.
16 Samaria will bear her guilt
because she has rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword;
their children will be dashed to pieces,
and their pregnant women ripped open.

Hosea 14

A PLEA TO REPENT
Israel, return to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled in your iniquity.
2 Take words of repentance with you
and return to the Lord.
Say to him, “Forgive all our iniquity
and accept what is good,
so that we may repay you
with praise from our lips.
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 I have 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 wise understand these things,
and whoever is insightful recognize them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
and the righteous walk in them,
but the rebellious stumble in them.

— Hosea 10-14 (CSB)