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Hosea 9-12
Easy-to-Read Version
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. 2 But the grain from those threshing floors will not provide enough food for Israel. There will not be enough wine for Israel.
3 The 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. 4 They 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. 5 They will not be able to celebrate the Lord’s feasts or festivals.[b]
6 The 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
7 The 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.” 8 God 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.
9 The 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. 12 But 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.”
13 I can see that Ephraim is leading his children into a trap. Ephraim will lead his children out to the killer. 14 Lord, give them what you will. Give them a womb that loses babies and breasts that cannot give milk.
15 All 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.
16 Ephraim 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.
17 Those 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.
2 The 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
3 Now the Israelites say, “We have no king. We don’t honor the Lord. And his king cannot do anything to us.”
4 They 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.
5 The 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. 6 It 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] 7 Samaria’s false god[h] will be destroyed. It will be like a piece of wood floating away on the water’s surface.
8 Israel 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. 10 I 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.”
12 If 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.
13 But you planted evil, and you harvested trouble. You ate the fruit of your lies, because you had trusted in your power and your soldiers. 14 So 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. 15 And 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.
2 But 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.
4 I 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. 6 The 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.
9 I 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.
10 I, the Lord, will roar like a lion,
and my children will come and follow me.
They will come from the west,
shaking with fear.
11 They 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.
2 The Lord says, “I have a complaint against Israel.[u] Jacob must be punished for the bad things he did. 3 While 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. 4 Jacob wrestled with God’s angel and won.[w] He cried and asked for a favor. That happened at Bethel. There he spoke to us. 5 Yes, Yahweh is the God of the armies.[x] His name is Yahweh. 6 So 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. 8 Ephraim 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] 10 I spoke to the prophets and gave them many visions. I gave the prophets many ways to teach my lessons to you. 11 But 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. 13 But the Lord used a prophet and brought Israel out of Egypt. He used a prophet and kept Israel safe. 14 But 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.
Hosea 9-12
New International Version
Hosea 9-12
New International Version
Punishment for Israel
9 Do not rejoice, Israel;
do not be jubilant(A) like the other nations.
For you have been unfaithful(B) to your God;
you love the wages of a prostitute(C)
at every threshing floor.
2 Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people;
the new wine(D) will fail them.
3 They will not remain(E) in the Lord’s land;
Ephraim will return to Egypt(F)
and eat unclean food in Assyria.(G)
4 They will not pour out wine offerings(H) to the Lord,
nor will their sacrifices please(I) him.
Such sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners;(J)
all who eat them will be unclean.(K)
This food will be for themselves;
it will not come into the temple of the Lord.(L)
5 What will you do(M) on the day of your appointed festivals,(N)
on the feast days of the Lord?
6 Even if they escape from destruction,
Egypt will gather them,(O)
and Memphis(P) will bury them.(Q)
Their treasures of silver(R) will be taken over by briers,
and thorns(S) will overrun their tents.
7 The days of punishment(T) are coming,
the days of reckoning(U) are at hand.
Let Israel know this.
Because your sins(V) are so many
and your hostility so great,
the prophet is considered a fool,(W)
the inspired person a maniac.(X)
8 The prophet, along with my God,
is the watchman over Ephraim,[a]
yet snares(Y) await him on all his paths,
and hostility in the house of his God.(Z)
9 They have sunk deep into corruption,(AA)
as in the days of Gibeah.(AB)
God will remember(AC) their wickedness
and punish them for their sins.(AD)
10 “When I found Israel,
it was like finding grapes in the desert;
when I saw your ancestors,
it was like seeing the early fruit(AE) on the fig(AF) tree.
But when they came to Baal Peor,(AG)
they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol(AH)
and became as vile as the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim’s glory(AI) will fly away like a bird(AJ)—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.(AK)
12 Even if they rear children,
I will bereave(AL) them of every one.
Woe(AM) to them
when I turn away from them!(AN)
13 I have seen Ephraim,(AO) like Tyre,
planted in a pleasant place.(AP)
But Ephraim will bring out
their children to the slayer.”(AQ)
14 Give them, Lord—
what will you give them?
Give them wombs that miscarry
and breasts that are dry.(AR)
15 “Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal,(AS)
I hated them there.
Because of their sinful deeds,(AT)
I will drive them out of my house.
I will no longer love them;(AU)
all their leaders are rebellious.(AV)
16 Ephraim(AW) is blighted,
their root is withered,
they yield no fruit.(AX)
Even if they bear children,
I will slay(AY) their cherished offspring.”
17 My God will reject(AZ) them
because they have not obeyed(BA) him;
they will be wanderers among the nations.(BB)
10 Israel was a spreading vine;(BC)
he brought forth fruit for himself.
As his fruit increased,
he built more altars;(BD)
as his land prospered,(BE)
he adorned his sacred stones.(BF)
2 Their heart is deceitful,(BG)
and now they must bear their guilt.(BH)
The Lord will demolish their altars(BI)
and destroy their sacred stones.(BJ)
3 Then they will say, “We have no king
because we did not revere the Lord.
But even if we had a king,
what could he do for us?”
4 They make many promises,
take false oaths(BK)
and make agreements;(BL)
therefore lawsuits spring up
like poisonous weeds(BM) in a plowed field.
5 The people who live in Samaria fear
for the calf-idol(BN) of Beth Aven.[b](BO)
Its people will mourn over it,
and so will its idolatrous priests,(BP)
those who had rejoiced over its splendor,
because it is taken from them into exile.(BQ)
6 It will be carried to Assyria(BR)
as tribute(BS) for the great king.(BT)
Ephraim will be disgraced;(BU)
Israel will be ashamed(BV) of its foreign alliances.
7 Samaria’s king will be destroyed,(BW)
swept away like a twig on the surface of the waters.
8 The high places(BX) of wickedness[c](BY) will be destroyed—
it is the sin of Israel.
Thorns(BZ) and thistles will grow up
and cover their altars.(CA)
Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”(CB)
and to the hills, “Fall on us!”(CC)
9 “Since the days of Gibeah,(CD) you have sinned,(CE) Israel,
and there you have remained.[d]
Will not war again overtake
the evildoers in Gibeah?
10 When I please, I will punish(CF) them;
nations will be gathered against them
to put them in bonds for their double sin.
11 Ephraim is a trained heifer
that loves to thresh;
so I will put a yoke(CG)
on her fair neck.
I will drive Ephraim,
Judah must plow,
and Jacob must break up the ground.
12 Sow(CH) righteousness(CI) for yourselves,
reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;(CJ)
for it is time to seek(CK) the Lord,
until he comes
and showers his righteousness(CL) on you.
13 But you have planted wickedness,
you have reaped evil,(CM)
you have eaten the fruit of deception.(CN)
Because you have depended on your own strength
and on your many warriors,(CO)
14 the roar of battle will rise against your people,
so that all your fortresses will be devastated(CP)—
as Shalman(CQ) devastated Beth Arbel on the day of battle,
when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children.(CR)
15 So will it happen to you, Bethel,
because your wickedness is great.
When that day dawns,
the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.(CS)
God’s Love for Israel
11 “When Israel was a child,(CT) I loved(CU) him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.(CV)
2 But the more they were called,
the more they went away from me.[e](CW)
They sacrificed to the Baals(CX)
and they burned incense to images.(CY)
3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them by the arms;(CZ)
but they did not realize
it was I who healed(DA) them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with ties of love.(DB)
To them I was like one who lifts
a little child to the cheek,
and I bent down to feed(DC) them.(DD)
5 “Will they not return to Egypt(DE)
and will not Assyria(DF) rule over them
because they refuse to repent?(DG)
6 A sword(DH) will flash in their cities;
it will devour(DI) their false prophets
and put an end to their plans.
7 My people are determined to turn(DJ) from me.(DK)
Even though they call me God Most High,
I will by no means exalt them.
8 “How can I give you up,(DL) Ephraim?(DM)
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I treat you like Admah?
How can I make you like Zeboyim?(DN)
My heart is changed within me;
all my compassion(DO) is aroused.(DP)
9 I will not carry out my fierce anger,(DQ)
nor will I devastate(DR) Ephraim again.
For I am God, and not a man(DS)—
the Holy One(DT) among you.
I will not come against their cities.
10 They will follow the Lord;
he will roar(DU) like a lion.(DV)
When he roars,
his children will come trembling(DW) from the west.(DX)
11 They will come from Egypt,
trembling like sparrows,
from Assyria,(DY) fluttering like doves.(DZ)
I will settle them in their homes,”(EA)
declares the Lord.
Israel’s Sin
12 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,(EB)
Israel with deceit.
And Judah is unruly against God,
even against the faithful(EC) Holy One.[f](ED)
12 [g]1 Ephraim(EE) feeds on the wind;(EF)
he pursues the east wind all day
and multiplies lies and violence.(EG)
He makes a treaty with Assyria(EH)
and sends olive oil to Egypt.(EI)
2 The Lord has a charge(EJ) to bring against Judah;(EK)
he will punish(EL) Jacob[h] according to his ways
and repay him according to his deeds.(EM)
3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel;(EN)
as a man he struggled(EO) with God.
4 He struggled with the angel and overcame him;
he wept and begged for his favor.
He found him at Bethel(EP)
and talked with him there—
5 the Lord God Almighty,
the Lord is his name!(EQ)
6 But you must return(ER) to your God;
maintain love and justice,(ES)
and wait for your God always.(ET)
7 The merchant uses dishonest scales(EU)
and loves to defraud.
8 Ephraim boasts,(EV)
“I am very rich; I have become wealthy.(EW)
With all my wealth they will not find in me
any iniquity or sin.”
9 “I have been the Lord your God
ever since you came out of Egypt;(EX)
I will make you live in tents(EY) again,
as in the days of your appointed festivals.
10 I spoke to the prophets,
gave them many visions
and told parables(EZ) through them.”(FA)
11 Is Gilead wicked?(FB)
Its people are worthless!
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?(FC)
Their altars will be like piles of stones
on a plowed field.(FD)
12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram[i];(FE)
Israel served to get a wife,
and to pay for her he tended sheep.(FF)
13 The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt,(FG)
by a prophet he cared for him.(FH)
14 But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;
his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed(FI)
and will repay him for his contempt.(FJ)
Footnotes
- Hosea 9:8 Or The prophet is the watchman over Ephraim, / the people of my God
- Hosea 10:5 Beth Aven means house of wickedness (a derogatory name for Bethel, which means house of God).
- Hosea 10:8 Hebrew aven, a reference to Beth Aven (a derogatory name for Bethel); see verse 5.
- Hosea 10:9 Or there a stand was taken
- Hosea 11:2 Septuagint; Hebrew them
- Hosea 11:12 In Hebrew texts this verse (11:12) is numbered 12:1.
- Hosea 12:1 In Hebrew texts 12:1-14 is numbered 12:2-15.
- Hosea 12:2 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives.
- Hosea 12:12 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
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