New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures Reference Bible

Hosea

1 The word of Jehovah+ that occurred to Hosea+ the son of Beeri in the days+ of Uzziah,+ Jotham,+ Ahaz+ [and] Hezekiah,+ kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam+ the son of Joash,+ the king of Israel. 2 There was a start of the word of Jehovah by Hosea, and Jehovah proceeded to say to Hosea: “Go,+ take to yourself a wife of fornication* and children of fornication, because by fornication the land positively turns from following Jehovah.”+
 

3 And he proceeded to go and take Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, so that she became pregnant and in time bore to him a son.+
 

4 And Jehovah went on to say to him: “Call his name Jezreel,+ for yet a little while and I must hold an accounting for the acts of bloodshed of Jezreel* against the house of Jehu,+ and I must cause the royal rule of the house of Israel to cease.+ 5 And it must occur in that day that I must break the bow+ of Israel in the low plain* of Jezreel.”
 

6 And she proceeded to become pregnant another time and to give birth to a daughter. And He* went on to say to him: “Call her name Lo-ruhamah,*+ for I shall no more show mercy+ again to the house of Israel, because I shall positively take them away.*+ 7 But to the house of Judah I shall show mercy,+ and I will save them by Jehovah their God;*+ but I shall not save them by a bow or by a sword or by war, by horses or by horsemen.”+
 

8 And she gradually weaned Lo-ruhamah, and she proceeded to become pregnant and give birth to a son. 9 So He said: “Call his name Lo-ammi,* because YOU men are not my people* and I myself shall prove to be not YOURS.*
 

10 “And the number of the sons of Israel must become like the grains of the sand of the sea that cannot be measured or numbered.+ And it must occur that in the place in which it used to be said to them, ‘YOU men are not my people,’+ it will be said to them, ‘The sons of the living God.’*+ 11 And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will certainly be collected together into a unity*+ and will actually set up for themselves one head and go up out of the land,+ because great will be the day of Jezreel.*+

2 “SAY to YOUR brothers, ‘My people!’*+ and to YOUR sisters, ‘O woman shown mercy!’*+ 2 Carry on a legal case with YOUR mother;+ carry on a legal case, for she is not my wife*+ and I am not her husband.*+ And she should put away her fornication from before herself and her acts of adultery from between her breasts,+ 3 that I may not strip her naked+ and actually place her as in the day of her being born,+ and actually set her like a wilderness+ and place her like a waterless land+ and put her to death with thirst.+ 4 And to her sons I shall not show mercy,+ for they are the sons of fornication.+ 5 For their mother has committed fornication.+ She that was pregnant with them has acted shamefully,+ for she has said, ‘I want to go after those passionately loving me,+ those giving my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.’+

6 “Therefore here I am hedging your way about with thorns; and I will heap up a stone wall against her,+ so that her own roadways she will not find.+ 7 And she will actually chase after her passionate lovers, but she will not overtake them;+ and she will certainly look for them, but she will not find [them]. And she will have to say, ‘I want to go and return to my husband,+ the first one,+ for I had it better at that time than now.’+ 8 But she herself did not recognize+ that it was I who had given to her the grain+ and the sweet wine and the oil, and that I had made silver itself abound for her, and gold, [which] they made use of for Baal.*+

9 “‘Therefore I shall turn back and certainly take away my grain in its time and my sweet wine in its season,+ and I will snatch away my wool and my linen for covering her nakedness.+ 10 And now I shall uncover her private parts to the eyes of her passionate lovers,+ and there will be no man* to snatch her out of my hand.+ 11 And I shall certainly cause all her exultation,+ her festival,+ her new moon+ and her sabbath and her every festal season to cease. 12 And I will lay desolate her vine+ and her fig tree,+ of which she has said: “They are a gift to me, which my passionate lovers have given to me”; and I will set them as a forest,+ and the wild beast of the field will certainly devour them. 13 And I will hold an accounting+ against her for the days of the Baal images*+ to which she kept making sacrificial smoke,+ when she kept decking herself with her ring and her ornament+ and kept going after her passionate lovers,+ and I was the one that she forgot,’+ is the utterance of Jehovah.

14 “‘Therefore here I am prevailing upon her, and I will cause her to go into the wilderness,+ and I will speak to her heart.+ 15 And I will give her her vineyards from then onward,+ and the low plain* of Achor*+ as an entrance to hope; and she will certainly answer there as in the days of her youth+ and as in the day of her coming up out of the land of Egypt.+ 16 And it must occur in that day,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘that you will call [me] My husband,* and you will no longer call me My owner.’*+

17 “‘And I will remove the names of the Baal images from her mouth,+ and they will no longer be remembered* by their name.+ 18 And for them I shall certainly conclude a covenant in that day in connection with the wild beast of the field+ and with the flying creature of the heavens and the creeping thing of the ground, and the bow and the sword and war I shall break out of the land,+ and I will make them lie down in security.+ 19 And I will engage you to me for time indefinite,+ and I will engage you to me in righteousness and in justice and in loving-kindness* and in mercies.+ 20 And I will engage you to me in faithfulness; and you will certainly know Jehovah.’*+

21 “‘And it must occur in that day that I shall answer,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘I shall answer the heavens, and they, for their part, will answer the earth;+ 22 and the earth, for its part, will answer the grain+ and the sweet wine and the oil; and they, for their part, will answer Jezreel [‘God will sow seed’].+ 23 And I shall certainly sow her like seed for me in the earth,+ and I will show mercy to her who was not shown mercy,*+ and I will say to those not my people:* “You are my people”;+ and they, for their part,* will say: “[You are] my God.”’”*+

3 And Jehovah went on to say to me: “Go once again, love a woman loved by a companion*+ and committing adultery,* as in the case of Jehovah’s love for the sons of Israel+ while they are turning to other gods*+ and are loving raisin cakes.”+

2 And I proceeded to purchase her for myself for fifteen silver [pieces]+ and a homer measure* of barley and a half-homer* of barley. 3 Then I said to her: “For many days you will dwell as mine.+ You must not commit fornication,+ and you must not come to belong to [another] man;*+ and I also will be for you.”

4 It is because for many days the sons of Israel will dwell without a king+ and without a prince and without a sacrifice+ and without a pillar and without an ephod+ and teraphim.+ 5 Afterwards the sons of Israel will come back and certainly look for Jehovah their God,*+ and for David their king;+ and they will certainly come quivering to Jehovah+ and to his goodness in the final part of the days.+

4 Hear the word of Jehovah, O sons of Israel, for Jehovah has a legal case with the inhabitants of the land,*+ for there is no truth+ nor loving-kindness* nor knowledge of God in the land.+ 2 There are the pronouncing of curses+ and practicing of deception+ and murdering+ and stealing+ and committing of adultery+ that have broken forth, and acts of bloodshed have touched other acts of bloodshed.+ 3 That is why the land will mourn+ and every inhabitant in it will have to fade away with the wild beast of the field and with the flying creature of the heavens, and even the fishes of the sea themselves will be gathered [in death].*+

4 “However, let no man contend,+ neither let a man reprove, as your people are like those who are contending against a priest.*+ 5 And you will certainly stumble in the daytime,+ and even a prophet must stumble with you, as at night.+ And I will put your mother to silence.+ 6 My people will certainly be silenced, because there is no knowledge.+ Because the knowledge is what you yourself have rejected,+ I shall also reject you from serving as a priest to me;+ and [because] you keep forgetting the law of your God,*+ I shall forget your sons, even I.+ 7 In proportion to the multitude of them, so they have sinned against me.+ My own glory they have exchanged* for mere dishonor.+ 8 The sin of my people is what they keep devouring, and to their error they keep lifting up their soul.*+

9 “And it will have to become for the people the same as for the priest;+ and I shall certainly hold an accounting against them for their ways;+ and their dealings I shall bring back upon them.+ 10 And they will actually eat, but will not get satisfied.+ They will actually treat [women] as harlots; but they will not increase,+ because they have left off paying regard to Jehovah himself.+ 11 Fornication* and wine and sweet wine are what take away good motive.*+ 12 Of their wooden+ [idol]* my own people keep inquiring,+ and their own [hand] staff keeps telling them; because the very spirit of fornication has caused them to wander off,+ and by fornication they go out from under their God.*+ 13 On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice,+ and on the hills they make sacrificial smoke,+ under massive tree and storax tree and big tree, because its shade is good.+ That is why YOUR daughters commit fornication and YOUR own daughters-in-law commit adultery.

14 “I shall not hold an accounting against YOUR daughters because they commit fornication, and against YOUR daughters-in-law because they commit adultery. For, as to the [men], it is with the harlots that they get off to themselves,+ and with the female temple prostitutes+ that they sacrifice; and a people [that] does not understand+ will be trodden down. 15 Although you are committing fornication, O Israel,+ let not Judah become guilty,+ and do not YOU people come to Gilgal,+ neither go up to Beth-aven+ nor swear ‘As Jehovah is alive!’+ 16 For, like a stubborn cow, Israel has become stubborn.+ Is it now that Jehovah will shepherd them like a young ram in a roomy place? 17 Ephraim is joined with idols.+ Let him be to himself!+ 18 Their wheat beer* being gone,+ they have positively treated [woman] as a harlot.+ Her shielders+ have positively loved dishonor.+ 19 A wind* has wrapped her up in its wings.+ And they will be ashamed of their sacrifices.”+

5 “Hear this, O priests,+ and pay attention, O house of Israel, and YOU, O house of the king,+ give ear, for with YOU people the judgment has to do; because a trap+ is what YOU have become to Mizpah and as a net spread over Tabor.+ 2 And in slaughter work those falling away have gone deep down,+ and I was an exhortation to all of them.+ 3 I personally have known Ephraim,+ and Israel itself has not been hidden from me.+ For now, O Ephraim, you have treated [women] like harlots;+ Israel has defiled itself.+ 4 Their dealings do not permit of a returning to their God,*+ because there is a spirit of fornication+ in the midst of them; and Jehovah himself they have not acknowledged.+ 5 And the pride of Israel has testified to his face;+ and Israel and Ephraim themselves are made to stumble in their error.+ Judah has also stumbled with them.+ 6 With their flock and with their herd they proceeded to go and look for Jehovah, but they could not find [him].+ He had drawn away from them. 7 With Jehovah himself they have dealt treacherously,+ for it is to strange sons that they have become father.+ Now a month will devour them with their portions.+

8 “BLOW a horn*+ in Gibeah,+ a trumpet* in Ramah! SHOUT a war cry at Beth-aven+—after you, O Benjamin!+ 9 O Ephraim, a mere object of astonishment you will become in the day of rebuke.+ Among the tribes of Israel I have made known trustworthy words.+ 10 The princes of Judah have become just like those moving back a boundary.+ Upon them I shall pour out my fury just like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in justice,+ for he had taken it upon himself to walk after his adversary.*+ 12 And I was like the moth*+ to Ephraim and just like rottenness to the house of Judah.

13 “And Ephraim got to see his sickness, and Judah his ulcer.+ And Ephraim proceeded to go to Assyria+ and send to a great king.*+ But that one himself was unable to give healing to YOU people,+ and he could not take from YOU an ulcer with any cure.+ 14 For I shall be like a young lion to Ephraim+ and like a maned young lion to the house of Judah. I, I myself shall tear to pieces and I shall go [and] carry off, and there will be no deliverer.+ 15 I shall go, I will return to my place until they bear their guilt;+ and they will certainly seek my face.+ When they are in sore straits,+ they will seek me.”+

6 “Come, YOU people, and do let us return to Jehovah,+ for he himself has torn in pieces+ but he will heal us.+ He kept striking, but he will bind us up.+ 2 He will make us alive after two days.+ On the third day he will make us get up, and we shall live before him.+ 3 And we will know, we will pursue to know Jehovah.+ Like dawn,+ his going forth is firmly established.+ And he will come in like a pouring rain to us;+ like a spring rain that saturates [the] earth.”+

4 “What shall I do to you, O Ephraim? What shall I do to you, O Judah,+ when the loving-kindness* of YOU people is like the morning clouds and like the dew that early goes away? 5 That is why I shall have to hew [them] by the prophets;+ I shall have to kill them by the sayings of my mouth.+ And the judgments upon you will be as the light that goes forth.+ 6 For in loving-kindness I have taken delight,+ and not in sacrifice;+ and in the knowledge of God* rather than in whole burnt offerings.+ 7 But they themselves, like earthling man,* have overstepped [the] covenant.+ There is where they have dealt treacherously with me.+ 8 Gilead+ is a town of practicers of what is harmful; their footprints are blood.+ 9 And as in the lying in wait for a man,*+ the association of priests are marauding bands.+ By the wayside they commit murder at Shechem,+ because they have carried on nothing but loose conduct.+ 10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing.+ There there is fornication on the part of Ephraim.+ Israel has defiled itself.+ 11 Furthermore, O Judah, a harvest has been fixed for you, when I gather back the captive ones of my people.”+

7 “At the time that I would bring healing to Israel,+ the error of Ephraim is also actually uncovered,+ and the bad things of Samaria;+ for they have practiced falsehood,+ and a thief himself comes in; a marauder band actually makes a dash on the outside.+ 2 And they do not say to their own heart+ that all their badness I will remember.+ Now their dealings have surrounded them.+ In front of my face they have come to be.+ 3 By their badness they make [the] king rejoice, and, by their deceptions, princes.+ 4 All of them are adulterers,+ like a furnace set burning by a baker, [who] ceases poking after kneading dough until it is leavened. 5 On the day of our king, princes have sickened themselves+—there is a rage because of wine.+ He has drawn his hand along with deriders. 6 For they have brought their heart near as to a furnace;+ it is burning inside them.+ All night long their baker is sleeping; by morning [the furnace]* is burning as with a flaming fire.+ 7 They get hot, all of them, like the furnace, and they actually devour their judges. Their own kings have all fallen;+ none among them is calling out to me.+

8 “As for Ephraim, it is among the peoples that he personally mingles himself.+ Ephraim himself has become a round cake not turned on the other side.+ 9 Strangers have eaten up his power,+ and he himself has not come to know [it].+ Also, gray hairs themselves have become white on him, but he himself has not come to know [it]. 10 And the pride of Israel has testified to his face,+ and they have not returned to Jehovah their God,*+ nor have they looked for him because of all this.+ 11 And Ephraim proves to be like a simpleminded dove+ without heart.*+ To Egypt they have called;+ to Assyria they have gone.+

12 “Whichever way they go, I shall spread out over them my net.+ Like flying creatures of the heavens I shall bring them down.+ I shall discipline them in agreement with the report to their assembly.+ 13 Woe to them,+ for they have fled from me!+ Despoiling to them, for they have transgressed against me! And I myself proceeded to redeem them,+ but they themselves have spoken lies even against me.+ 14 And they did not call to me for aid with their heart,+ although they kept howling on their beds. On account of their grain and sweet wine they kept loafing about;+ they kept turning against me.+ 15 And I, for my part, did disciplining;+ I strengthened their arms,+ but against me they kept scheming what was bad.+ 16 And they proceeded to return, not to anything higher;*+ they had become like a loose bow.+ By the sword their princes will fall because of the denunciation of their tongue.+ This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.”+

8 “To your mouth*—a horn!*+ [One comes] like an eagle+ against the house of Jehovah, for the reason that they have overstepped my covenant,+ and against my law they have transgressed.+ 2 To me they keep crying, ‘O my God, we, Israel, have known you.’+

3 “Israel has cast off good.+ Let one who is an enemy pursue him.+ 4 They themselves have set up kings,+ but not because of me. They have set up princes, but I did not know [it]. With their silver and their gold they have made for themselves idols,+ to the end that they* may be cut off.+ 5 Your calf has been cast off,+ O Samaria. My anger has grown hot against them.+ How long will they be incapable of innocency?+ 6 For from Israel was even this.+ A mere craftsman made it,+ and it is not God;* because the calf of Samaria will become mere splinters.+

7 “For it is wind* that they keep sowing, and a storm wind is what they will reap.+ Nothing has standing grain.+ No sprout produces flour.+ Should any perhaps produce [it], strangers themselves will swallow it down.+

8 “Israel must be swallowed down.+ Now they must come to be among the nations,+ like a vessel in which there is no delight.+ 9 For they themselves have gone up to Assyria,+ as a zebra isolated to itself.+ In Ephraim’s case, they have hired lovers.+ 10 Also, although they keep hiring [them] among the nations,+ I shall now collect them together; and they will be a little while in severe pains+ because of the burden of king [and] princes.

11 “For Ephraim has multiplied altars in order to sin.+ He has come to have altars in order to sin.+ 12 I proceeded to write for him many things of my law;+ just like something strange they have been accounted.+ 13 As my gift sacrifices they kept sacrificing flesh,+ and they kept eating what Jehovah himself took no pleasure in.+ Now he will remember their error and hold an accounting for their sins.+ To Egypt they themselves proceeded to return.+ 14 And Israel began forgetting his Maker+ and building temples;+ and Judah, for his part, multiplied fortified cities.+ And I shall certainly send fire into his cities and it must devour the dwelling towers of [each] one.”+

9 “Do not rejoice, O Israel.+ Do not act joyful like the peoples.+ For by fornication you have gone from alongside your God.+ You have loved gifts of hire on all the threshing floors of grain.+ 2 Threshing floor and winepress do not feed them,+ and sweet wine itself proves disappointing to her.+ 3 They will not continue dwelling in the land of Jehovah,+ and Ephraim must return to Egypt,+ and in Assyria they will eat what is unclean.+ 4 They will not continue pouring out wine to Jehovah.+ And their sacrifices will not be gratifying to him;+ they are like the bread of times of mourning+ to them; all those eating it will defile themselves. For their bread is for their own soul;* it will not come into the house of Jehovah.+ 5 What will YOU people do in the day of meeting and in the day of the festival of Jehovah?+ 6 For, look! they will have to go because of despoiling.+ Egypt itself will collect them together;+ Memphis,*+ for its part, will bury them. As for their desirable things of silver, nettles themselves will take possession of them;+ thorny bushes will be in their tents.+

7 “The days of being given attention must come;+ the days of the due payment must come.+ Those of Israel will know [it].+ The prophet will be foolish,+ the man of inspired expression* will be maddened on account of the abundance of your error,+ even animosity being abundant.”

8 The watchman+ of Ephraim was with my God.*+ As regards a prophet,+ there is the trap of a birdcatcher on all his ways;+ there is an animosity in the house of his God. 9 They have gone down deep in bringing ruin,*+ as in the days of Gibeah.+ He will remember their error;+ he will give attention to their sins.

10 “Like grapes in the wilderness I found Israel.+ Like the early fig on a fig tree in its beginning I saw the forefathers of YOU people.+ They themselves went in to Baal of Peor,*+ and they proceeded to dedicate themselves to* the shameful thing,+ and they came to be disgusting like [the thing of] their love.+ 11 As regards Ephraim, like a flying creature their glory flies away,+ so that there is no giving birth, and no [pregnant] belly and no conception.+ 12 For although they bring up their sons, I will also bereave them of children so that there will be no man;+ because—woe also to them when I turn away from them!+ 13 Ephraim, whom I have seen like Tyre planted in a pasture ground,+ even Ephraim is destined to a bringing out of his sons even to a killer.”+

14 Give to them, O Jehovah, what you should give.+ Give them a miscarrying womb+ and breasts shriveling up.

15 “All their badness was in Gilgal,+ for there I had to hate them.+ On account of the evil of their dealings I shall drive them away from my own house.+ I will not continue on loving them.+ All their princes are acting stubborn.+ 16 Ephraim must be struck down.+ Their very root must dry up.+ There will be no fruit that they produce.+ Also, in case they bring to birth, I will even put to death the desirable things of their belly.”+

17 My God*+ will reject them, for they have not listened to him,+ and they will become fugitives among the nations.+

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.+ MT2:15

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.+