Hosea 6-8
New King James Version
A Call to Repentance
6 Come,(A) and let us return to the Lord;
For (B)He has torn, but (C)He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will [a]bind us up.
2 (D)After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
3 (E)Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.
His going forth is established (F)as the morning;
(G)He will come to us (H)like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth.
Impenitence of Israel and Judah
4 “O Ephraim, what shall I do to you?
O Judah, what shall I do to you?
For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud,
And like the early dew it goes away.
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
I have slain them by (I)the words of My mouth;
And [b]your judgments are like light that goes forth.
6 For I desire (J)mercy[c] and (K)not sacrifice,
And the (L)knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 “But like [d]men they transgressed the covenant;
There they dealt treacherously with Me.
8 (M)Gilead is a city of evildoers
And [e]defiled with blood.
9 As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man,
So the company of (N)priests (O)murder on the way to Shechem;
Surely they commit (P)lewdness.
10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:
There is the [f]harlotry of Ephraim;
Israel is defiled.
11 Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you,
When I return the captives of My people.
Israel Has Rebelled Against God
7 “When I would have healed Israel,
Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered,
And the wickedness of Samaria.
For (Q)they have committed fraud;
A thief comes in;
A band of robbers [g]takes spoil outside.
2 They [h]do not consider in their hearts
That (R)I remember all their wickedness;
Now their own deeds have surrounded them;
They are before My face.
3 They make a (S)king glad with their wickedness,
And princes (T)with their lies.
4 “They(U) are all adulterers.
Like an oven heated by a baker—
He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough,
Until it is leavened.
5 In the day of our king
Princes have made him sick, [i]inflamed with (V)wine;
He stretched out his hand with scoffers.
6 They prepare their heart like an oven,
While they lie in wait;
[j]Their baker sleeps all night;
In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
7 They are all hot, like an oven,
And have devoured their judges;
All their kings have fallen.
(W)None among them calls upon Me.
8 “Ephraim (X)has mixed himself among the peoples;
Ephraim is a cake unturned.
9 (Y)Aliens have devoured his strength,
But he does not know it;
Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him,
Yet he does not know it.
10 And the (Z)pride of Israel testifies to his face,
But (AA)they do not return to the Lord their God,
Nor seek Him for all this.
Futile Reliance on the Nations
11 “Ephraim(AB) also is like a silly dove, without [k]sense—
(AC)They call to Egypt,
They go to (AD)Assyria.
12 Wherever they go, I will (AE)spread My net on them;
I will bring them down like birds of the air;
I will chastise them
(AF)According to what their congregation has heard.
13 “Woe to them, for they have fled from Me!
Destruction to them,
Because they have transgressed against Me!
Though (AG)I redeemed them,
Yet they have spoken lies against Me.
14 (AH)They did not cry out to Me with their heart
When they wailed upon their beds.
“They [l]assemble together for grain and new (AI)wine,
[m]They rebel against Me;
15 Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms,
Yet they devise evil against Me;
16 They return, but not [n]to the Most High;
(AJ)They are like a treacherous bow.
Their princes shall fall by the sword
For the (AK)cursings of their tongue.
This shall be their derision (AL)in the land of Egypt.
The Apostasy of Israel
8 “Set the [o]trumpet to your mouth!
He shall come (AM)like an eagle against the house of the Lord,
Because they have transgressed My covenant
And rebelled against My law.
2 (AN)Israel will cry to Me,
‘My God, (AO)we know You!’
3 Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
4 “They(AP) set up kings, but not by Me;
They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.
From their silver and gold
They made idols for themselves—
That they might be cut off.
5 Your [p]calf [q]is rejected, O Samaria!
My anger is aroused against them—
(AQ)How long until they attain to innocence?
6 For from Israel is even this:
A (AR)workman made it, and it is not God;
But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.
7 “They(AS) sow the wind,
And reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no bud;
It shall never produce meal.
If it should produce,
(AT)Aliens would swallow it up.
8 (AU)Israel is swallowed up;
Now they are among the Gentiles
(AV)Like a vessel in which is no pleasure.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria,
Like (AW)a wild donkey alone by itself;
Ephraim (AX)has hired lovers.
10 Yes, though they have hired among the nations,
Now (AY)I will gather them;
And they shall [r]sorrow a little,
Because of the [s]burden of (AZ)the king of princes.
11 “Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin,
They have become for him altars for sinning.
12 I have written for him (BA)the great things of My law,
But they were considered a strange thing.
13 For the sacrifices of My offerings (BB)they sacrifice flesh and eat it,
(BC)But the Lord does not accept them.
(BD)Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
They shall return to Egypt.
14 “For(BE) Israel has forgotten (BF)his Maker,
And has built [t]temples;
Judah also has multiplied (BG)fortified cities;
But (BH)I will send fire upon his cities,
And it shall devour his [u]palaces.”
Footnotes
- Hosea 6:1 Bandage
- Hosea 6:5 Or the judgments on you
- Hosea 6:6 Or faithfulness or loyalty
- Hosea 6:7 Or Adam
- Hosea 6:8 Lit. foot-tracked
- Hosea 6:10 Spiritual adultery
- Hosea 7:1 plunders
- Hosea 7:2 Lit. do not say to
- Hosea 7:5 Lit. with the heat of
- Hosea 7:6 So with MT, Vg.; Syr., Tg. Their anger; LXX Ephraim
- Hosea 7:11 Lit. heart
- Hosea 7:14 So with MT, Tg.; Vg. thought upon; LXX slashed themselves for (cf. 1 Kin. 18:28)
- Hosea 7:14 So with MT, Syr., Tg.; LXX omits They rebel against Me; Vg. They departed from Me
- Hosea 7:16 Or upward
- Hosea 8:1 ram’s horn, Heb. shophar
- Hosea 8:5 Golden calf image
- Hosea 8:5 Or has rejected you
- Hosea 8:10 Or begin to diminish
- Hosea 8:10 Or oracle or proclamation
- Hosea 8:14 Or palaces
- Hosea 8:14 Or citadels
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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