CHAPTERS 8-14
HOSEA#8
1 ¶ Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He
shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have
transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.
2 Israel shall
cry unto me, My God, we know thee.
3 Israel hath cast
off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.
4
They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I
knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that
they may be cut off.
5 Thy calf, O
Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will
it be ere they attain to innocency?
6 For from Israel
was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
7 For they have
sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud
shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
8 ¶ Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the
Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.
9
For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim
hath hired lovers.
10 Yea, though
they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall
sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.
11 Because
Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.
12
I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted
as a strange thing.
13 They sacrifice
flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth
them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall
return to Egypt.
14
For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah
hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it
shall devour the palaces thereof.
1 ¶ Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for
thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a
reward upon every cornfloor.
2 The floor and
the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.
3 They shall not
dwell in the LORD'S land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat
unclean things in Assyria.
4
They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall they be
pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of
mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their
soul shall not come into the house of the LORD.
5 What will ye do
in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the LORD?
6
For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them
up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles
shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles.
7 ¶ The days of visitation are come, the days of
recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual
man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the
great hatred.
8 The watchman of
Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his
ways, and hatred in the house of his God.
9 They have
deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will
remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.
10
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the
firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and
separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as
they loved.
11 ¶ As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a
bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.
12
Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there
shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!
13 Ephraim, as I
saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his
children to the murderer.
14 Give them, O
LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry
breasts.
15 All their
wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their
doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their
princes are revolters.
16 Ephraim is
smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of
their womb.
17 My God will
cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be
wanderers among the nations.
1 ¶ Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto
himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath
increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made
goodly images.
2 Their heart is
divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he
shall spoil their images.
3 For now they
shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?
4 They have
spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up
as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants
of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof
shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
6 It shall be
also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive
shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
7 As for Samaria,
her king is cut off as the foam upon the water.
8 The high places
also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say
to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
9 ¶ O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah:
there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not
overtake them.
10 It is in my
desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two
furrows.
11 And Ephraim is
as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; but I passed
over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and
Jacob shall break his clods.
12 Sow to
yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain
righteousness upon you.
13 Ye have plowed
wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because
thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.
14 Therefore
shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled,
as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.
15 So shall
Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the
king of Israel utterly be cut off.
1 ¶ When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called
my son out of Egypt.
2
As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim,
and burned incense to graven images.
3 I taught
Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed
them.
4 I drew them
with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto
them.
5 He shall not
return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they
refused to return.
6 And the sword
shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them,
because of their own counsels.
7
And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them
to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
8 ¶ How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I
deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as
Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.
9
I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to
destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee:
and I will not enter into the city.
10 They shall
walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the
children shall tremble from the west.
11
They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land
of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, saith the LORD.
12 Ephraim
compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah
yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.
1 ¶ Ephraim feedeth on wind, and
followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and
they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.
2 The LORD hath
also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways;
according to his doings will he recompense him.
3
He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had
power with God:
4 Yea, he had
power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he
found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us;
5 Even the LORD
God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.
6
Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy
God continually.
7 ¶ He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his
hand: he loveth to oppress.
8 And Ephraim
said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours
they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.
9
And I that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee
to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.
10 I have also
spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by
the ministry of the prophets.
11 Is there
iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the
fields.
12 And Jacob fled
into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept
sheep.
13 And by a
prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he
preserved.
14
Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave
his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.
1 ¶ When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in
Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died.
2
And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of
their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the
work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the
calves.
3 Therefore they
shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the
chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
4 Yet I am the
LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for
there is no saviour beside me.
5 ¶ I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of
great drought.
6 According to
their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.
7 Therefore I
will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:
8 I will meet
them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their
heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear
them.
9 ¶ O Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself; but in me is thine help.
10 I will be thy
king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges
of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?
11 I gave thee a
king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.
12 The iniquity
of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid.
13
The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son;
for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children.
14 I will ransom
them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I
will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be
hid from mine eyes.
15
Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the
wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become
dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of all
pleasant vessels.
16 Samaria shall
become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the
sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
1 ¶ O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast
fallen by thine iniquity.
2 Take with you
words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive
us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
3
Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we
say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the
fatherless findeth mercy.
4 ¶ I will heal their backsliding, I will love them
freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
5
I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast
forth his roots as Lebanon.
6 His branches
shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as
Lebanon.
7 They that dwell
under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of
Lebanon.
8 ¶ Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with
idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me
is thy fruit found.
9 Who is wise,
and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the
ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the
transgressors shall fall therein.