Hosea 5-8
Easy-to-Read Version
The Leaders Cause Israel and Judah to Sin
5 “Priests, nation[a] of Israel, and people in the king’s family, listen to me. You have been judged guilty!
“You were like a trap at Mizpah[b] and like a net spread on the ground at Tabor.[c] 2 You have done many evil things,[d] so I will punish you all. 3 I know Ephraim. I know what Israel has done. Ephraim, right now you act like a prostitute. Israel is dirty with sin. 4 The people of Israel have done many evil things, and these evil things keep them from coming back to their God. They are always thinking of ways to chase after other gods. They don’t know the Lord. 5 Israel’s pride is a witness against them,[e] so Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their sin. But Judah will also stumble with them.
6 “The leaders of the people went to look for the Lord. They took their sheep and cattle with them, but they did not find the Lord because he refused to accept them. 7 They have not been faithful to the Lord. Their children are from some stranger. And now, he will destroy them and their land again.[f]
A Prophecy of Israel’s Destruction
8 “Blow the horn in Gibeah.
Blow the trumpet in Ramah.[g]
Give the warning at Beth Aven.
The enemy is behind you, Benjamin.
9 Ephraim will become empty
at the time of punishment.
I, God, warn the families of Israel
that this really will happen.
10 The leaders of Judah are like thieves trying to steal someone’s property,
so I will pour out my anger on them like water.
11 Ephraim will be punished.
He will be crushed and pressed like grapes,
because he decided to follow filth.
12 I will destroy Ephraim as a moth eats a piece of cloth.
I will ruin Judah, like rot on a piece of wood.
13 Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound,
so they went to Assyria for help.
They told their problems to the great king,
but he cannot heal you or cure your wound.
14 I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
like a young lion to the nation of Judah.
I—yes, I myself—will rip them to pieces.
I will carry them away,
and no one can save them.
15 I will go back to my place,
until the people admit they are guilty,
until they come looking for me.
Yes, in their trouble they will try very hard to find me.”
The Rewards of Coming Back to the Lord
6 “Come, let’s go back to the Lord.
He hurt us, but he will heal us.
He wounded us, but he will put bandages on us.
2 After two days he will bring us back to life.
He will raise us up on the third day.
Then we can live near him.
3 Let’s learn about the Lord.
Let’s try very hard to know him.
We know he is coming,
just as we know the dawn is coming.
He will come to us like the rain,
like the spring rain that waters the ground.”
The People Are Not Faithful
4 “Ephraim, what should I do with you?
Judah, what should I do with you?
Your faithfulness is like a morning mist.
Your faithfulness is like the dew that goes away early in the morning.
5 I used the prophets
and made laws for the people.
The people were killed at my command,
but good things will come from those decisions.[h]
6 This is because I want faithful love,
not sacrifice.
I want people to know God,
not to bring burnt offerings.
7 But the people broke the agreement as Adam did.[i]
They were unfaithful to me in their country.
8 Gilead is a city of people who do evil—
people who have tricked and killed others.
9 The priests are like gangs of robbers
hiding and waiting on the road to attack someone.
They murder people before they reach safety in Shechem.
They do such evil things.
10 I have seen a terrible thing in the nation[j] of Israel.
Ephraim was unfaithful to God.
Israel is dirty with sin.
11 Judah, there is also a time of harvest for you.
It will happen when I bring my people back from captivity.[k]
7 “I will heal Israel!
Then people will know that Ephraim sinned.
They will know about Samaria’s[l] lies.
They will know about the thieves who come and go in that town.
2 They don’t believe that I will remember their crimes.
The bad things they did are all around.
I can see their sins clearly.
3 Their evil makes their king happy.
Their false gods please their leaders.
4 A baker presses dough to make bread.
He puts the bread in the oven.
He does not make the fire hotter
while the bread is rising.
But the people of Israel are not like that.
They are always making their fire hotter.
5 On Our King’s Day, the leaders get so drunk that they get sick.
They become crazy with wine
and make agreements with people who laugh at God.
6 The people make their secret plans.
Their hearts burn with excitement like an oven.
Their excitement burns all night,
and in the morning it is like a hot fire.
7 They are all like hot ovens.
They destroyed their rulers.
All their kings fell.
Not one of them called to me for help.
Israel and the Nations
8 “Ephraim mixes with the nations.
Ephraim is like a cake that was not cooked on both sides.
9 Strangers destroy Ephraim’s strength,
but Ephraim does not know it.
Gray hairs[m] are also sprinkled on Ephraim,
but Ephraim does not know it.
10 Ephraim’s pride speaks against him.
The people had many troubles,
but they still didn’t go back to the Lord their God.
They didn’t look to him for help.
11 So Ephraim has become like a silly dove without understanding.
The people called to Egypt for help.
They went to Assyria for help.
12 They go to those countries for help,
but I will trap them.
I will throw my net over them,
and I will bring them down like the birds of the sky.
I will punish them for their agreements.[n]
13 It will be very bad for those who left me.
They refused to obey me, so they will be destroyed.
I saved them,
but they speak lies against me.
14 They never call to me from their hearts.
Yes, they cry on their beds.
And they cut themselves when they ask for grain and new wine.
But in their hearts, they have turned away from me.
15 I trained them and made their arms strong,
but they made evil plans against me.
16 Like a boomerang, they changed directions,
but they did not come back to me.[o]
Their leaders bragged about their strength,
but they will be killed with swords.
And the people in Egypt
will laugh at them.
Idol Worship Leads to Destruction
8 “Put the trumpet to your lips and give the warning. Be like an eagle over the Lord’s house.[p] The Israelites have broken my agreement. They have not obeyed my law. 2 They yell out at me, ‘My God, we in Israel know you!’ 3 But Israel refused the good things, so the enemy chases him. 4 The Israelites chose their kings, but they didn’t come to me for advice. They chose leaders, but they didn’t choose men I knew. The Israelites used their silver and gold to make idols for themselves, so they will be destroyed. 5-6 He has refused your calf, Samaria.[q] God says, ‘I am very angry with the Israelites.’ The people of Israel will be punished for their sin. Some worker made those statues. They are not God. Samaria’s calf will be broken into pieces. 7 The Israelites did a foolish thing—it was like trying to plant the wind. But they will get only troubles—they will harvest a whirlwind. The grain in the fields will grow, but it will give no food. Even if it grew something, strangers would eat it.
8 “Israel was destroyed;
its people are scattered among the nations,
like some dish that was thrown away because no one wanted it.
9 Ephraim went to his ‘lovers.’[r]
Like a stubborn donkey, they led him off to Assyria.
10 Yes, Israel was taken to the nations,
but I will bring them back.
But first, they must suffer a little
by carrying the burden of that mighty king.
Israel Forgets God and Worships Idols
11 “Ephraim built more and more altars,
and that was a sin.
They have been altars of sin for Ephraim.
12 Even if I wrote 10,000 laws for Ephraim,
he would treat them as if they were for some stranger.
13 The Israelites love sacrifices.[s]
They offer the meat and eat it.
The Lord does not accept their sacrifices.
He remembers their sins,
and he will punish them.
They will be carried away as prisoners to Egypt.
14 Israel has built palaces for their kings,
and now Judah builds fortresses.
But they have forgotten their Maker!
So I will send a fire to destroy their cities and fortresses!”
Footnotes
- Hosea 5:1 nation Literally, “house.” This might mean the royal family of that country. Also in verse 14.
- Hosea 5:1 Mizpah A mountain in Israel. The people worshiped the false gods on many of the hills and mountains.
- Hosea 5:1 Tabor A mountain in Israel.
- Hosea 5:2 You … evil things The Hebrew text here is hard to understand. It seems to be a wordplay of some kind.
- Hosea 5:5 them Literally, “his face.”
- Hosea 5:7 And now … again The Hebrew text here is hard to understand.
- Hosea 5:8 Gibeah, Ramah Cities on Judah’s border with Israel.
- Hosea 6:5 but good things … decisions Or “I cut them with the prophets. I killed them with the words from my mouth. Light will come from your decisions.”
- Hosea 6:7 as Adam did See Gen. 3.
- Hosea 6:10 nation Literally, “house.” This might mean the royal family of that country.
- Hosea 6:11 It will … captivity Or “It will happen when I restore my people’s fortune.”
- Hosea 7:1 Samaria The capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel.
- Hosea 7:9 Gray hairs This word might describe something that was put on the food when people cooked, something that looked like gray hairs.
- Hosea 7:12 for their agreements Or “for the report of their treaties.”
- Hosea 7:16 they changed … to me Or “They turned, but not upward” or “They turned to the ‘no-gods.’” That is, the statues people worshiped as gods.
- Hosea 8:1 Be like an eagle … Lord’s house Or “Be like a guard over the Lord’s house.”
- Hosea 8:5 calf, Samaria Samaria was the capital city of Israel. The people of Israel made statues of calves and put them in the temples at Dan and Bethel. It is not clear if these statues represented the Lord or some false god. But God didn’t want them to use these statues. See 1 Kings 12:26-30.
- Hosea 8:9 lovers This means Israel’s false gods.
- Hosea 8:13 The Israelites love sacrifices The meaning of the Hebrew text here is uncertain.
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