Hosea 9-12

Easy-to-Read Version

The Sadness of Exile

9 Israel, don’t celebrate like the nations do. Don’t be happy. You acted like a prostitute and left your God. You committed your sexual sin^[a] on every threshing floor. ²But the grain from those threshing floors will not provide enough food for Israel. There will not be enough wine for Israel.

³The Israelites will not stay in the Lord’s land. Ephraim will return to Egypt. In Assyria they will eat food that they should not eat. ⁴They will not be able to give offerings of wine to the Lord. None of their sacrifices will please him. What they offer will be like food eaten at a funeral—whoever eats it will become unclean. They can eat that food for their own hunger, but it cannot be taken into the Lord’s Temple. ⁵They will not be able to celebrate the Lord’s feasts or festivals.^[b]

⁶The people of Israel left because the enemy took everything from them. But Egypt will take the people themselves. Memphis^[c] will bury them. Weeds will grow over their silver treasures, and thorns will grow where the Israelites lived.

Israel Rejected the True Prophets

⁷The prophet says, “Israel, learn this: The time of punishment has come. The time has come for you to pay for the evil things you did.” But the people of Israel say, “The prophet is a fool. This man with God’s Spirit is crazy.” The prophet says, “You will be punished for your terrible sins. You will be punished for your hate.” ⁸God and the prophet are like guards watching over Ephraim, but there are many traps along his way. And people hate the prophet, even in the house of his God.

⁹The Israelites have gone deep into ruin as in the time of Gibeah. God will remember the Israelites’ sins, and he will punish them.

Israel Is Ruined by Its Worship of Idols

¹⁰“At the time I, the Lord, found Israel, they were like fresh grapes in the desert. They were like the first figs on a fig tree at the beginning of the season. But when they came to Baal Peor,^[d] they changed. So I had to cut them off like rotten fruit.^[e] They became like the terrible things that they loved.

The Israelites Will Have No Children

¹¹“Like a bird, Ephraim’s glory will fly away. There will be no more pregnancies, no more births, and no more babies. ¹²But even if the Israelites do raise their children, it will not help, because I will take the children away from them. I will leave them, and they will have nothing but troubles.”

¹³I can see that Ephraim is leading his children into a trap. Ephraim will lead his children out to the killer. ¹⁴Lord, give them what you will. Give them a womb that loses babies and breasts that cannot give milk.

¹⁵All their evil is in Gilgal;
    I began hating them there.
I will force them to leave my house
    because of the evil things they do.
I will not love them anymore.
    Their leaders are rebels who turned against me.
¹⁶Ephraim will be punished.
    Their root is dying.
    They will not have any more babies.
They might give birth to babies,
    but I will kill the precious babies who come from their bodies.
¹⁷Those people will not listen to my God,
    so he will refuse to listen to them.
And they will wander among the nations without a home.

Israel’s Riches Led to Its Worship of Idols

10 Israel is like a vine
    that grows plenty of fruit.
But as Israel got more and more things,
    he built more and more altars to honor false gods.
His land became better and better,
    so he put up better and better stones to honor false gods.
²The people of Israel tried to trick God,
    but now they must accept their guilt.
He will break down their altars
    and destroy their memorial stones.

The Evil Decisions of the Israelites

³Now the Israelites say, “We have no king. We don’t honor the Lord. And his king cannot do anything to us.”

⁴They make promises, but they are only telling lies. They don’t keep their promises. They make agreements with other countries. God does not like those agreements. The judges are like poisonous weeds growing in a plowed field.

⁵The people from Samaria worship the calves at Beth Aven.^[f] They will cry. The priests will cry, because their beautiful idol is gone. It was carried away. ⁶It was carried away as a gift to the great king of Assyria. He will keep Ephraim’s shameful idol. Israel will be ashamed of its idol.^[g] ⁷Samaria’s false god^[h] will be destroyed. It will be like a piece of wood floating away on the water’s surface.

⁸Israel sinned and built many high places. The high places of Aven^[i] will be destroyed. Thorns and weeds will grow on their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

Israel Will Pay for Sin

⁹“Israel, you have sinned since the time of Gibeah. (And the people have continued to sin there.) Those evil people at Gibeah will be trapped by war. ¹⁰I will come to punish them. Armies will come together against them and punish the Israelites for both of their sins.^[j]

¹¹“Ephraim is like a trained young cow that loves to walk on grain on the threshing floor. I will put a good yoke on her neck. I will put the ropes on Ephraim. Then Judah will begin plowing. Jacob will break the ground himself.”

¹²If you plant goodness, you will harvest faithful love. Plow your ground, and you will harvest with the Lord. He will come, and he will make goodness fall on you like rain.

¹³But you planted evil, and you harvested trouble. You ate the fruit of your lies, because you had trusted in your power and your soldiers. ¹⁴So your armies will hear the noise of battle, and all your fortresses will be destroyed. It will be like the time Shalman^[k] destroyed Beth Arbel. At that time of war, mothers were killed with their children. ¹⁵And this will happen to you at Bethel, because you did so many evil things. When that day begins, the king of Israel will be fully destroyed.

Israel Has Forgotten the Lord

11 The Lord said, “I loved Israel when he was a child,
    and I called my son out of Egypt.
²But the more I^[l] called the Israelites,
    the more they left me.
The Israelites gave sacrifices to the false gods^[m]
    and burned incense to the idols.

³“But I was the one who taught Ephraim to walk.
    I took the Israelites in my arms.
I healed them,
    but they don’t know that.
⁴I led them with ropes,^[n]
    but they were ropes of love.
I was like a person who set them free.^[o]
    I bent down and fed them.

⁵“The Israelites will not go back to Egypt. The king of Assyria will become their king, because they refused to turn back to God. ⁶The sword will swing against their cities and kill their strong men. It will destroy their leaders.

⁷“My people expect me to come back. They will call to God above, but he will not help them.”^[p]

The Lord Will Not Destroy Israel

⁸“Ephraim, I don’t want to give you up.
    Israel, I want to protect you.
I don’t want to make you like Admah.
    I don’t want to make you like Zeboiim.^[q]
I am changing my mind.
    My love for you is too strong.
⁹I will not let my terrible anger win.
    I will not destroy Ephraim again.
I am God and not a human.
    I am the Holy One.
I am with you.
    I will not show my anger.
¹⁰I, the Lord, will roar like a lion,
    and my children will come and follow me.
They will come from the west,
    shaking with fear.
¹¹They will come from Egypt,
    shaking like birds.
They will come shaking like doves from the land of Assyria,
    and I will take them back home.”
    This is what the Lord said.
¹²“Ephraim surrounded me with false gods.
    The people of Israel turned against me.^[r]
But Judah still walks with God^[s]
    and is true to the Holy One.^[t]”

The Lord Is Against Israel

12 Ephraim is wasting its time; Israel “chases the wind” all day long. The people tell more and more lies and steal more and more. They have made agreements with Assyria, and they are carrying their olive oil to Egypt.

²The Lord says, “I have a complaint against Israel.^[u] Jacob must be punished for the bad things he did. ³While Jacob was still in his mother’s womb, he began to trick his brother.^[v] Jacob was a strong young man, and at that time he fought with God. ⁴Jacob wrestled with God’s angel and won.^[w] He cried and asked for a favor. That happened at Bethel. There he spoke to us. ⁵Yes, Yahweh is the God of the armies.^[x] His name is Yahweh. ⁶So come back to your God. Be loyal to him. Do the right thing, and always trust in your God!

⁷“Jacob is a tricky merchant.^[y] He even cheats his friend! Even his scales^[z] lie. ⁸Ephraim said, ‘I am rich! I have found true riches! No one will learn about my crimes. No one will learn about my sins.’

⁹“But I am still the Lord your God, as I was when you left the land of Egypt. I will make you live in tents, as you do during the Festival of Shelters.^[aa] ¹⁰I spoke to the prophets and gave them many visions. I gave the prophets many ways to teach my lessons to you. ¹¹But the people in Gilead have sinned. There are many terrible idols in that place. They offer sacrifices to bulls at Gilgal. They have many altars. There are rows and rows of altars—like the rows of dirt in a plowed field.

¹²“Jacob ran away to the land of Aram. There Israel worked for a wife. He kept sheep to get another wife. ¹³But the Lord used a prophet and brought Israel out of Egypt. He used a prophet and kept Israel safe. ¹⁴But Ephraim made the Lord very angry. Ephraim killed many people, so he will be punished for his crimes. His Lord will make him bear his shame.”

Footnotes

Hosea 9:1 You committed your sexual sin This means the people were not faithful to God. But it also means the people had sexual relations with temple prostitutes. They believed their false gods would give them many children and good crops.
Hosea 9:5 Literally, “What will you do for a day of solemn assembly, for the Lord’s festival day?”
Hosea 9:6 Memphis An important city in Egypt.
Hosea 9:10 Baal Peor This happened when Moses was still leading the Israelites in the desert. Read Num. 25:1-5.
Hosea 9:10 they changed … rotten fruit This is a wordplay that can also mean “they dedicated themselves to a shameful idol.”
Hosea 10:5 Beth Aven A name meaning “House of Evil.” It is a wordplay on the name “Bethel,” a name meaning “House of God.” There was a temple in this town.
Hosea 10:6 idol Or “advice.”
Hosea 10:7 false god Or “king.”
Hosea 10:8 high places of Aven Aven means “evil” or “wickedness.” This probably means the temple and other places of worship at Bethel.
Hosea 10:10 This probably refers to worship at Gibeah and Beth Aven.
Hosea 10:14 Shalman This is probably Shalmaneser, king of Assyria.
Hosea 11:2 I This is from the ancient Greek version. The standard Hebrew text has “they.”
Hosea 11:2 false gods Literally, “Baals.”
Hosea 11:4 ropes The Hebrew says, “ropes of a man.”
Hosea 11:4 set them free Literally, “lifted the yoke from their jaws.”
Hosea 11:7 Or “My people are hanging on poles around my dwelling place. They called up to him, but he didn’t lift them up.”
Hosea 11:8 Admah, Zeboiim Two cities that were destroyed when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. See Gen. 19; Deut. 29:23.
Hosea 11:12 Ephraim … me Or “Ephraim surrounded me with lies. The house of Israel surrounded me with deception.”
Hosea 11:12 God Literally, “El.” This might be one of the names of God, or it might be El, the most important god of the Canaanites. It is not clear if this means Judah was being faithful to God or if Judah was worshiping the false gods.
Hosea 11:12 Holy One This is a plural form in the Hebrew text and may refer to God or to Canaanite false gods.
Hosea 12:2 Israel Literally, “Judah.”
Hosea 12:3 he … his brother Or “he grabbed his brother’s heel.” This is a wordplay. The Hebrew word is like the name “Jacob.” Read Gen. 25:26.
Hosea 12:4 Jacob wrestled … and won Read Gen. 32:22-28.
Hosea 12:5 Yahweh is the God of the armies This is like one of the names for God. It is usually translated “Lord All-Powerful.”
Hosea 12:7 Jacob … merchant Literally, “Cannan.”
Hosea 12:7 scales Or “balances,” a tool for weighing things.
Hosea 12:9 as … Shelters Literally, “as in the days of meeting.” This might also refer to the meeting of God with his people in the Holy Tent (see “Holy Tent” in the Word List) during their wandering in the desert.