October 2

Hosea 10:1 — 14:9

10 “Israel is a degenerating vine. Fruit he keeps putting forth for himself. In proportion to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied [his] altars. In proportion to the goodness of his land, they put up good pillars. 2 Their heart has become hypocritical; now they will be found guilty.

“There is one who will break their altars; he will despoil their pillars. 3 For now they will say, ‘We have no king, for we have not feared Jehovah. And as regards the king, what will he do for us?’

4 “They speak words, making false oaths, concluding a covenant; and judgment has sprouted like a poisonous plant in the furrows of the open field. 5 For the calf [idol] of Beth-aven the residents of Samaria will get frightened; for over it its people will certainly mourn, as well as its foreign-god priests [who] used to be joyful over it, on account of its glory, because it will have gone into exile away from it. 6 Even it someone will bring to Assyria itself as a gift to a great king. Shame is what Ephraim himself will get, and Israel will be ashamed of its counsel. 7 Samaria [and] her king will certainly be silenced, like a snapped-off twig on the surface of waters. 8 And the high places of [Beth-]aven, the sin of Israel, will actually be annihilated. Thorns and thistles themselves will come up upon their altars. And people will in fact say to the mountains, ‘Cover us!’ and to the hills, ‘Fall over us!’

9 “From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel. There they stood still. In Gibeah war against the sons of unrighteousness did not get to overtake them. 10 When it is my craving I shall also discipline them. And against them peoples will certainly be gathered when there is a harnessing of them to their two errors.

11 “And Ephraim was a trained heifer loving to thresh; and I, for my part, passed over her good-looking neck. I make [someone] ride Ephraim. Judah plows; Jacob harrows for him. 12 Sow seed for yourselves in righteousness; reap in accord with loving-kindness. Till for yourselves arable land, when there is time for searching for Jehovah until he comes and gives instruction in righteousness to YOU.

13 “YOU people have plowed wickedness. Unrighteousness is what YOU have reaped. YOU have eaten the fruitage of deception, for you have trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty ones. 14 And an uproar has risen among your people, and your own fortified cities will all be despoiled, as with the despoiling by Shalman of the house of Arbel, in the day of battle [when] a mother herself was dashed to pieces alongside [her] own sons. 15 In this way one will certainly do to YOU people, O Bethel, because of YOUR extreme badness. In the dawn the king of Israel will positively have to be silenced.”

11 “When Israel was a boy, then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

2 “They called them. To that same extent they went away from before them. To the Baal images they took up sacrificing, and to the graven images they began making sacrificial smoke. 3 But as for me, I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them upon [my] arms; and they did not recognize that I had healed them. 4 With the ropes of earthling man I kept drawing them, with the cords of love, so that I became to them as those lifting off a yoke on their jaws, and gently I brought food to [each] one. 5 He will not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria will be his king, because they refused to return. 6 And a sword will certainly whirl about in his cities and make an end of his bars and devour because of their counsels. 7 And my people are tending toward unfaithfulness to me. And upward they call it; no one at all does any rising up.

8 “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? [How] can I deliver you up, O Israel? How can I set you as Admah? [How] can I place you like Zeboiim? My heart has changed within me; at the same time my compassions have grown hot. 9 I shall not express my burning anger. I shall not bring Ephraim to ruin again, for I am God and not man, the Holy One in the midst of you; and I shall not come in excitement. 10 After Jehovah they will walk. Like a lion he will roar; for he himself will roar, and sons will come trembling from the west. 11 Like a bird they will come trembling out of Egypt, and like a dove out of the land of Assyria; and I shall certainly make them dwell in their houses,” is the utterance of Jehovah.

12 “With lying, Ephraim has surrounded me, and with deception the house of Israel. But Judah is yet roaming with God, and with the Most Holy One he is trustworthy.”


12 “Ephraim is feeding on wind and chasing after the east wind all day long. Lying and despoiling are what he multiplies. And a covenant with Assyria they conclude, and to Egypt oil itself is brought.

2 “And Jehovah has a legal case with Judah, even to hold an accounting against Jacob according to his ways; according to his dealings he will repay him. 3 In the belly he seized his brother by the heel, and with his dynamic energy he contended with God. 4 And he kept contending with an angel and gradually prevailed. He wept, that he might implore favor for himself.”

At Bethel He got to find him, and there He began talking with us. 5 And Jehovah the God of the armies, Jehovah is his memorial.

6 “And as respects you, to your God you should return, keeping loving-kindness and justice; and let there be a hoping in your God constantly. 7 As regards [the] tradesman, in his hand are the scales of deception; to defraud is what he has loved. 8 And Ephraim keeps saying, ‘Indeed, I have become rich; I have found valuable things for myself. As regards all my toiling, they will find, on my part, no error that is sin.’

9 “But I am Jehovah your God from the land of Egypt. Yet I shall make you dwell in the tents as in the days of an appointed time. 10 And I spoke to the prophets, and visions I myself multiplied, and by the hand of the prophets I kept making likenesses.

11 “With Gilead what is uncanny, also untruth, have occurred. In Gilgal they have sacrificed even bulls. Moreover, their altars are like piles of stones in the furrows of the open field. 12 And Jacob proceeded to run away to the field of Syria, and Israel kept serving for a wife, and for a wife he guarded [sheep]. 13 And by a prophet Jehovah brought up Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was guarded. 14 Ephraim caused offense to bitterness, and his deeds of bloodshed he leaves upon his own self, and his reproach his grand Master will repay to him.”

13 “When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he himself carried [weight] in Israel. But he proceeded to become guilty in regard to Baal and die. 2 And now they commit additional sin and make for themselves a molten statue from their silver, idols according to their own understanding, the work of craftsmen, all of it. To them they are saying, ‘Let the sacrificers who are men kiss mere calves.’ 3 Therefore they will become like the clouds of morning and like the dew that early goes away; like chaff that is stormed away from the threshing floor and like smoke from the [roof] hole.

4 “But I am Jehovah your God from the land of Egypt, and there was no God except me that you used to know; and there was no savior but I. 5 I myself knew you in the wilderness, in the land of fevers. 6 According to their pasturage they also came to be satisfied. They became satisfied and their heart began to be exalted. That is why they forgot me. 7 And I shall become to them like a young lion. Like a leopard by [the] way I shall keep looking. 8 I shall encounter them like a bear that has lost its cubs, and I shall rip apart the enclosure of their heart. And I shall devour them there like a lion; a wild beast of the field itself will tear them to pieces. 9 It will certainly bring you to ruin, O Israel, because it was against me, against your helper.

10 “Where, then, is your king, that he may save you in all your cities, and your judges, [concerning] whom you said, ‘Do give me a king and princes’? 11 I proceeded to give you a king in my anger, and I shall take [him] away in my fury.

12 “The error of Ephraim is wrapped up, his sin is treasured up. 13 The labor pangs of a woman giving birth are what will come to him. He is a son not wise, for in season he will not stand still at the breaking forth of sons [from the womb].

14 “From the hand of Sheol I shall redeem them; from death I shall recover them. Where are your stings, O Death? Where is your destructiveness, O Sheol? Compassion itself will be concealed from my eyes.

15 “In case he himself as the son of reed plants should show fruitfulness, an east wind, the wind of Jehovah, will come. From a wilderness it is coming up, and it will dry up his well and drain his spring. That one will pillage the treasure of all desirable articles.

16 “Samaria will be held guilty, for she is actually rebellious against her God. By the sword they will fall. Their own children will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women themselves will be ripped up.”

14 “Do come back, O Israel, to Jehovah your God, for you have stumbled in your error. 2 Take with yourselves words and come back to Jehovah. Say to him, all YOU people, ‘May you pardon error; and accept what is good, and we will offer in return the young bulls of our lips. 3 Assyria itself will not save us. Upon horses we shall not ride. And no more shall we say: “O our God!” to the work of our hands, because it is by you that a fatherless boy is shown mercy.’

4 “I shall heal their unfaithfulness. I shall love them of [my] own free will, because my anger has turned back from him. 5 I shall become like the dew to Israel. He will blossom like the lily, and will strike his roots like Lebanon. 6 His twigs will go forth, and his dignity will become like that of the olive tree, and his fragrance will be like that of Lebanon. 7 They will again be dwellers in his shadow. They will grow grain, and will bud like the vine. His memorial will be like the wine of Lebanon.

8 “Ephraim [will say], ‘What do I have to do any longer with the idols?’

“I myself shall certainly give an answer and I shall keep looking on him. I am like a luxuriant juniper tree. From me must fruit for you be found.”

9 Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Discreet, that he may know them? For the ways of Jehovah are upright, and the righteous are the ones who will walk in them; but the transgressors are the ones who will stumble in them.