Hosea 5-8

Darby Translation

5 Hear this, ye priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ear, O house of the king: for this judgment is for you; for ye have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

² And they have plunged themselves in the corruption of apostasy, but I will be a chastiser of them all.

³ I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me; for now, Ephraim, thou hast committed whoredom; Israel is defiled.

⁴ Their doings do not allow them to return unto their God; for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they know not Jehovah.

⁵ And Israel's pride doth testify to his face; and Israel and Ephraim shall fall by their iniquity: Judah also shall fall with them.

⁶ They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Jehovah; but they shall not find [him]: he hath withdrawn himself from them.

⁷ They have dealt treacherously against Jehovah; for they have begotten strange children: now shall the new moon devour them, with their allotted possessions.

⁸ Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah; cry aloud [at] Beth-aven: behind thee, O Benjamin!

⁹ Ephraim shall be a desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which is sure.

¹⁰ The princes of Judah are become like them that remove the landmark: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.

¹¹ Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because in selfwill he walked after the commandment [of man].

¹² And I will be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.

¹³ When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his sore, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb; but he was unable to heal you, nor hath he removed your sore.

¹⁴ For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah. I, I will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there shall be none to deliver.

¹⁵ I will go away, I will return to my place, till they acknowledge their trespass, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.

6 Come and let us return unto Jehovah: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

² After two days will he revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before his face;

³ and we shall know,—we shall follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is assured as the morning dawn; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain which watereth the earth.

⁴ What shall I do unto thee, Ephraim? What shall I do unto thee, Judah? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that early passeth away.

⁵ Therefore have I hewed [them] by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and my judgment goeth forth as the light.

⁶ For I delight in loving-kindness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.

⁷ But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

⁸ Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity; it is tracked with blood.

⁹ And as troops of robbers lie in wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way of Shechem; yea, they commit lewdness.

¹⁰ In the house of Israel have I seen a horrible thing: the whoredom of Ephraim is there; Israel is defiled.

¹¹ Also, for thee, Judah, is a harvest appointed, when I shall turn again the captivity of my people.

7 When I would heal Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim is discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they practise falsehood; and the thief entereth in, [and] the troop of robbers assaileth without.

² And they say not in their hearts [that] I remember all their wickedness: now do their own doings encompass them; they are before my face.

³ They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.

⁴ They all practise adultery, as an oven heated by the baker: he ceaseth from stirring [the fire] after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened.

⁵ In the day of our king, the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine: he stretched out his hand to scorners.

⁶ For they have applied their heart like an oven to their lying in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth like a flaming fire.

⁷ They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.

⁸ Ephraim, he mixeth himself with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned.

⁹ Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth [it] not; yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, and he knoweth [it] not.

¹⁰ And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face; and they do not return to Jehovah their God, nor seek him for all this.

¹¹ And Ephraim is become like a silly dove without understanding: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

¹² When they go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowl of the heavens; I will chastise them, according as their assembly hath heard.

¹³ Woe unto them! for they have wandered from me; destruction unto them! for they have transgressed against me. And I would redeem them; but they speak lies against me.

¹⁴ And they cried not unto me in their heart, when they howled upon their beds; they assemble themselves for corn and new wine; they have turned aside from me.

¹⁵ I have indeed trained, I have strengthened their arms, but they imagine mischief against me.

¹⁶ They return, [but] not to the [Most] High: they are like a deceitful bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

8 Set the trumpet to thy mouth. [He cometh] as an eagle against the house of Jehovah, because they have transgressed my covenant, and rebelled against my law.

² They shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee; [we], Israel.

³ Israel hath cast off 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 they be incapable of purity?

⁶ For from Israel is this also:—a workman made it, and it is no God: for 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; should it sprout, it would yield no meal; if so be it yield, strangers shall swallow it up.

⁸ Israel is swallowed up: now are they become among the nations as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.

⁹ For they are gone up [to] Assyria [as] a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

¹⁰ Although they hire among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall begin to be straitened under the burden of the king of princes.

¹¹ Because Ephraim hath multiplied altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.

¹² I have prescribed unto him the manifold things of my law: they are counted [as] a strange thing.

¹³ They sacrifice flesh [for] the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; Jehovah hath no delight in them. 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.