Israel and Judah Are Unrepentant

“Come, let us (A)return to the Lord;
    for (B)he has torn us, that he may heal us;
    he has struck us down, and (C)he will bind us up.
After two days (D)he will revive us;
    on the third day he will raise us up,
    that we may live before him.
(E)Let us know; (F)let us press on to know the Lord;
    (G)his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us (H)as the showers,
    (I)as the spring rains that water the earth.”

What shall I do with you, (J)O (K)Ephraim?
    What shall I do with you, O (L)Judah?
Your love is (M)like a morning cloud,
    (N)like the dew that goes early away.
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
    I have slain them (O)by the words of my mouth,
    and my judgment goes forth as the light.
For (P)I desire steadfast love[a] and not sacrifice,
    (Q)the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

But (R)like Adam they (S)transgressed the covenant;
    (T)there they dealt faithlessly with me.
(U)Gilead is a city of evildoers,
    (V)tracked with blood.
As robbers (W)lie in wait for a man,
    so the priests band together;
they murder on the way to (X)Shechem;
    they commit villainy.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
    (Y)Ephraim's whoredom is there; (Z)Israel is defiled.

11 For you also, O (AA)Judah, (AB)a harvest is appointed.

When (AC)I restore the fortunes of my people,
(AD)when I would heal Israel,
    the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,
    and the evil deeds of (AE)Samaria,
for (AF)they deal falsely;
    the thief breaks in,
    and the bandits raid outside.
But they do not consider
    that (AG)I remember all their evil.
Now (AH)their deeds surround them;
    (AI)they are before my face.
By their evil (AJ)they make (AK)the king glad,
    and the princes by their treachery.
(AL)They are all adulterers;
    they are like a heated oven
whose baker ceases to stir the fire,
    from the kneading of the dough
    until it is leavened.
On the day of (AM)our king, the princes
    became sick with the heat of wine;
    he stretched out his hand with mockers.
For with hearts like an oven (AN)they approach their intrigue;
    all night their anger smolders;
    in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
All of them are hot as an oven,
    and they devour their rulers.
All (AO)their kings (AP)have fallen,
    and none of them calls upon me.

Ephraim (AQ)mixes himself with the peoples;
    Ephraim is a cake not turned.
(AR)Strangers devour his strength,
    and (AS)he knows it not;
gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,
    and (AT)he knows it not.
10 (AU)The pride of Israel testifies to his face;[b]
    (AV)yet they do not return to the Lord their God,
    nor seek him, for all this.

11 Ephraim is like a dove,
    (AW)silly and without sense,
    calling to (AX)Egypt, going to (AY)Assyria.
12 As they go, (AZ)I will spread over them my net;
    I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;
    (BA)I will discipline them (BB)according to the report made to their congregation.
13 (BC)Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!
    Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!
(BD)I would redeem them,
    but (BE)they speak lies against me.

14 (BF)They do not cry to me from the heart,
    but (BG)they wail upon their beds;
for grain and wine they gash themselves;
    they rebel against me.
15 Although (BH)I trained and strengthened their arms,
    yet they devise evil against me.
16 They (BI)return, but not upward;[c]
    they are (BJ)like a treacherous bow;
their princes shall fall by the sword
    because of (BK)the insolence of their tongue.
This shall be their derision (BL)in the land of Egypt.

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 6:6 Septuagint mercy
  2. Hosea 7:10 Or in his presence
  3. Hosea 7:16 Or to the Most High

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