JOEL 1

1 The word of the Lordthat came toJoel, the son of Pethuel.

The Devastation of Locusts

2 Hear this, O elders,

Listen closely, all inhabitants of the land!

Hassuch a thing asthis occurred in your days,

Or even in the days of your fathers?

3 Tell your children about it,

And let your children tell their children,

And their children the next generation.

4 What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten;

And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;

And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten [in judgment of Judah].

5 Awake [from your intoxication], you drunkards, and weep;

Wail, all you drinkers of wine,

Because of the [fresh] sweet wine

That is cut off from your mouth.

6 For a [pagan and hostile] nation has invaded My land [like locusts],

Mighty and without number;

Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,

And it has the fangs of a lioness.

7 It has made My vine (My people) a wasteandobject of horror,

And splinteredandbroken My fig tree.

It has stripped them completely bare and thrown them away;

Their branches have become white.

8 Wail like a virgin [bride] clothed withsackcloth

For the bridegroom of her youth [who has died].

9 The [daily] grain offering and the drink offering are cut off

From the house of the Lord;

The priests mourn

Who minister to the Lord.

10 The field is ruined,

The ground mourns;

For the grain is ruined,

The new wine is dried up,

The fresh oil fails.

11 Be ashamed, O farmers;

Wail, O vinedressers,

For the wheat and for the barley,

Because the harvest of the field has perished.

12 The vine dries up

And the fig tree fails;

The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree,

All the trees of the field dry up,

Indeed, joy dries upandwithdraws

From the sons of men.

13 Clothe yourselveswith sackcloth

And lament (cry out in grief), O priests;

Wail, O ministers of the altar!

Come, spend the night in sackcloth [and pray without ceasing],

O ministers of my God,

For the grain offering and the drink offering

Are withheld from the house of your God.

Starvation and Drought

14 Consecrate a fast,

Proclaim a solemn assembly,

Gather the elders

And all the inhabitants of the land

To the house of the Lordyour God,

And cry out to the Lord[in penitent pleadings].

15 Alas for the day!

For the [judgment] day of the Lordis at hand,

And it will come [upon the nation] as a destruction from theAlmighty.

16 Has not the food been cut off before our eyes,

Joy and gladness from the house of our God?

17 The seeds [of grain] shrivel under the clods,

The storehouses are desolateandempty,

The barns are in ruins

Because the grain is dried up.

18 How the animals groan!

The herds of cattle are bewilderedandwander aimlessly

Because they have no pasture;

Even the flocks of sheep suffer.

19 O Lord, I cry out to You,

For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,

And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.

20 Even the wild animals pant [in longing] for You;

For the water brooks are dried up

And fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.

JOEL 2

The Terrible Visitation

1 Blow the trumpet in Zion [warning of impending judgment],

Sound an alarm on My holy mountain [Zion]!

Let all the inhabitants of the land trembleandshudder in fear,

For the [judgment] day of the Lordis coming;

It is close at hand,

2 A day of darkness and gloom,

A day of clouds and of thick [dark] mist,

Like the dawn spread over the mountains;

There is a [pagan, hostile] people numerous and mighty,

The like of which has never been before

Nor will be again afterward

Even for years of many generations.

3 Before them a fire devours,

And behind them a flame burns;

Before them the land is like the Garden of Eden,

But behind them a desolate wilderness;

And nothing at all escapes them.

4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,

And they run like war horses.

5 Like the noise of chariots

They leap on the tops of the mountains,

Like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble,

Like a mighty people set in battle formation.

6 Before them the people are in anguish;

All faces become pale [with terror].

7 They run like warriors;

They climb the wall like soldiers.

They each march [straight ahead] in line,

And they do not deviate from their paths.

8 They do not crowd each other;

Each one marches in his path.

When they burst through the defenses (weapons),

They do not break ranks.

9 They rush over the city,

They run on the wall;

They climb up into the houses,

They enter at the windows like a thief.

10 The earth quakes before them,

The heavens tremble,

The sun and the moon grow dark

And the stars lose their brightness.

11 The Lordutters His voice before His army,

For His camp is very great,

Because strongandpowerful is he who [obediently] carries out His word.

For the day of the Lordis indeed great and very terrible [causing dread];

Who can endure it?

12 “Even now,” says the Lord,

“Turnandcome to Me with all your heart [in genuine repentance],

With fasting and weeping and mourning [until every barrier is removed and the broken fellowship is restored];

13 Rip your heart to pieces [in sorrow and contrition] and not your garments.”

Now return [in repentance] to the Lordyour God,

For He is gracious and compassionate,

Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness [faithful to His covenant with His people];

And He relents [His sentence of] evil [when His people genuinely repent].

14 Who knows whether He will relent [and revoke your sentence],

And leave a blessing behind Him,

Even a grain offering and a drink offering [from the bounty He provides you]

For the Lordyour God?

15 Blow a trumpet in Zion [warning of impending judgment],

Dedicate a fast [as a day of restraint and humility], call a solemn assembly.

16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation,

Assemble the elders,

Gather the children and the nursing infants.

Let the bridegroom come out of his room

And the bride out of her bridal chamber. [No one is excused from the assembly.]

17 Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord,

Weep between the porch and the altar,

And let them say, “Have compassionandspare Your people, O Lord,

And do not make Your inheritance (Israel) an object of ridicule,

Or a [humiliating] byword among the [Gentile] nations.

Why should they say among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’”

Deliverance Promised

18 Then the Lordwill be jealous for His land [ready to defend it since it is rightfully and uniquely His]

And will have compassion on His people [and will spare them].

19 The Lordwill answer and say to His people,

“Behold, I am going to send you grain and new wine and oil,

And you will be satisfiedin fullwith them;

And I will never again make you an object of ridicule among the [Gentile] nations.

20 “But I will remove the northernarmyfar away from you,

And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land,

With its forward guard into the eastern sea (Dead Sea)

And with its rear guard into the western sea (Mediterranean Sea).

And its stench will arise and its foul odor of decay will come up [this is the fate of the northern army in the final day of the Lord],

ForHe has done great things.”

21 Do not fear, O land; be glad and rejoice,

For the Lordhas done great things!

22 Do not be afraid, you animals of the field,

For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green;

The tree has produced its fruit,

And the fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.

23 So rejoice, O children of Zion,

And delight in the Lord, your God;

For He has given you the early [autumn] rain in vindication

And He has poured down the rain for you,

The early [autumn] rain and the late [spring] rain, as before.

24 And the threshing floors shall be full of grain,

And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.

25 “And I will compensate you for the years

That the swarming locust has eaten,

The creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust–

My great army which I sent among you.

26 “You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied

And praise the name of the Lordyour God

Who has dealt wondrously with you;

And My people shall never be put to shame.

27 “And you shall know [without any doubt] that I am in the midst of Israel [to protect and bless you],

And that I am the Lordyour God,

And there is no other;

My people will never be put to shame.

The Promise of the Spirit

28 “It shall come about after this

That I shall pour out My Spirit on all mankind;

And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,

Your old men will dream dreams,

Your young men will see visions.

29 “Even on the male and female servants

I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

The Day of the Lord

30 “I will show signsandwonders [displaying My power] in the heavens and on the earth,

Blood and fire and columns of smoke.

31 “The sun will be turned into darkness

And the moon into blood

Before the great and terrible day of the Lordcomes.

32 “And it shall come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord

Will be saved [from the coming judgment]

For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem

There will be those who escape,

As the Lordhas said,

Even among the remnant [of survivors] whom the Lordcalls.

JOEL 3

The Nations Will Be Judged

1 “For behold, in those [climactic] days and at that time,

When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will gather together all the [Gentile] nations [that were hostile to My people]

And bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat (the Lordhas judged).

And there I will deal with themandenter into judgment with them there

For [their treatment of] My people, My inheritance, Israel,

Whom they have scattered among the nations,

And [because] they have encroached on My landanddivided it up.

3 “They have also cast lots for My people,

And have traded a boy for a prostitute

And have sold a girl for wine that they may drink.

4 Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre and Sidon and all the [five small] regions of Philistia? Will you pay Me back for something [I have supposedly done to you]? Even if you do pay Me back, I will swiftly and speedily return your deed [of retaliation] on your own head.

5 Because you have taken My silver and My gold and have carried My precious treasures to your templesandpalaces,

6 and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the Greeks, so that you may send them far away from their territory,

7 behold, I am going to stir them up from the place where you have sold them [and return them to their land], and I shall return your action [of retaliation] on your own head.

8 Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to theSabeans, to a distant nation,” for the Lordhas spoken.

9 Proclaim this among the [pagan] nations:

Prepare a war! Stir up the mighty men!

Let all the men of war come near, let them come up!

10 Beat your plowshares into swords

And your pruning hooks into spears;

Let the weak say, “I am strong!”

11 Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations,

And gather yourselves there;

Bring down, O Lord, Your mighty ones (Your warriors).

12 Let the nations be stirred [to action]

And come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat,

For there I will sit to judgeandpunish

All the surrounding nations.

13 Put in the sickle [of judgment], for the harvest is ripe;

Come, tread [the grapes], for the wine press is full;

The vats overflow, for the wickedness [of the people] is great.

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision (judgment)!

For the day of the Lordis near in the valley of decision [when judgment is executed].

15 The sun and the moon grow dark

And the stars lose their brightness.

16 The Lordthundersandroars from Zion

And utters His voice from Jerusalem [in judgment of His enemies],

And the heavens and the earth trembleandshudder;

But the Lordis a refuge for His people

And a stronghold [of protection] to the children of Israel.

17 Then you will knowandunderstand fully that I am the Lordyour God,

Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.

Then Jerusalem will be holy,

And strangers [who do not belong] will no longer pass through it.

Judah Will Be Blessed

18 And in that day

The mountains will drip with sweet wine

And the hills will flow with milk;

And all the brooksandriverbeds of Judah will flow with water,

And a fountain will go out from the house of the Lord

To water the [desert] Valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt will become a waste,

And Edom will become a desolate wilderness,

Because of their violence against the children of Judah,

In whose land they have shed innocent blood.

20 But Judah shall be inhabited forever

And Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 And I shall avenge their blood which I have not avenged,

For the Lorddwells in Zion.

HOSEA 1

Hosea’s Wife and Children

1 The word of the Lordthat came to Hosea the son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel.

2 When the Lordfirst spoke through Hosea, the Lordsaid to him, “Go, take for yourself awife of prostitution and have children of [her] prostitution; for the land commits great acts of prostitution bynot following the Lord.”

3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 And the Lordsaid to him, “Name him Jezreel; for yet in a little while I will avenge the blood [that was shed in the Valley] of Jezreelandinflict the punishment for it on the house ofJehu, and I will put an end to the kingdom of thehouse of Israel.

5 On that day I will break the bow [of the military power] of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

6 Then Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the Lordsaid to Hosea, “Name her Lo-Ruhamah (not shown mercy), for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them.

7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah and will rescue them by the Lordtheir God, and willnot rescue them by bow, sword, war, horses, or horsemen.”

8 Now when Gomer had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son.

9 And the Lordsaid, “Name him Lo-Ammi (not my people), for you are not My people and I am not your God.”

10 Yet the number of thesons of Israel

Shall be like the sand of the sea,

Which cannot be measured or numbered;

And in the place

Where it is said to them,

“You are not My people,”

It will be said to them,

“You arethe sons of the living God.”

11 Then the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together,

And they will appoint for themselves one leader,

And they will go up from the land,

For greatandglorious will be the day ofJezreel.

HOSEA 2

Israel’s Unfaithfulness Condemned

1 “[Hosea,] say to your brothers, ‘Ammi (you are my people),’ and to your sisters, ‘Ruhamah (you have been pitied and have obtained mercy).’

2 “Contend with your mother (nation); contend,

For she is not my wife and I am not her husband;

And have her remove her [marks of] prostitution from her face

And her adultery from between her breasts

3 Or I will strip her naked

And expose her as on the day she was born,

And make her like a wilderness

And make her like a parched land

And slay her with thirst.

4 “Also, I will have no mercy on her children,

Because they are the children of prostitution.

5 “For their mother has played the prostitute;

She who conceived them has acted shamefully,

For she said, ‘I will pursue my lovers

Who give me my food and my water,

My wool and my flax, my oil and my [refreshing] drinks.’

6 “Therefore, behold, I [the LordGod] will hedge up her way with thorns;

And I will build a wall against her [shutting off her way] so that she cannot find her paths.

7 “She will [passionately] pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them;

And she will seek them, but will not find them.

Then she will say, ‘Let me go and return to my first husband,

For it was better for me then than now!’

8 “For she (Israel) has not noticednorunderstoodnorrealized that it was I [the LordGod] who gave her the grain and the new wine and the oil,

And lavished on her silver and gold,

Which they used for Baalandmade into his image.

9 “Therefore, I will returnandtake back My grain at harvest time

And My new wine in its season.

I will also take away My wool and My flax

Givento cover her nakedness.

10 “And now I will uncover her lewdnessandshame

In the sight of her lovers,

And no one will rescue her from My hand.

11 “I will also put an end to all her rejoicing,

Her feasts, her New Moons, her Sabbaths,

And all her festivals.

12 “I will destroy her vines and her fig trees

Of which she has said, ‘These are my wages

Which my lovers have given me.’

And I will make them a forest,

And the animals of the open country will devour them.

13 “And I will punish her for the [feast] days of the Baals,

When she used to offer sacrificesandburn incense to them

And adorn herself with her earringsandnose rings and her jewelry,

And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” says the Lord.

Restoration of Israel

14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure Israel

And bring her into the wilderness,

And I will speak tenderly to her [to reconcile her to Me].

15 “Then I will give her her vineyards from there,

And make the Valley of Achor a door of hopeandexpectation [anticipating the time when I will restore My favor on her].

And she will sing thereandrespond as in the days of her youth

As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

16 “It shall come about in that day,” says the Lord,

“That you will call Me Ishi (my husband)

And will no longer call Me Baali (myBaal).

17 “For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth,

So that they will no longer be mentionedorremembered by their names.

18 “And in that day I will make a covenant for Israel

With the animals of the open country

And with the birds of the heavens

And with the creeping things of the ground.

And I will abolish the bow and the sword and [banish] war from the land

And will make them lie down in safety.

19 “And I will betroth you (Israel) to Me forever;

Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice,

In lovingkindnessandloyalty, and in compassion.

20 “I will betroth you to Me in stabilityandin faithfulness.

Then you will know (recognize, appreciate) the Lord[and respond with loving faithfulness].

21 “It will come about in that day that I will respond,” says the Lord.

“I will respond to the heavens [which ask for rain to pour on the earth], and they will respond to the earth [which begs for the rain],

22 And the earth shall respond to the grain and the new wine and the oil [which beg it to bring them forth],

And they will respond to Jezreel [My Israel, who will now be restored].

23 “I will sow her for Myself in the land.

I will also have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy;

And I will say to those who were not My people,

‘You are My people,’

And they will say, ‘You aremy God!’”

HOSEA 3

Hosea’s Second Symbolic Marriage

1 Then the Lordsaid to me, “Go again, love a woman (Gomer) who is beloved by her husband and yet is an adulteress, even as the Lordloves thechildren of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love the raisin cakes [used in the feasts in pagan worship].”

2 So I bought her for myself forfifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley [the price of a common slave].

3 And I said to her, “You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the prostitute nor shall you have a man; so I will also be toward you [until you have proved your faithfulness].”

4 For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or [idolatrous] pillar, and withoutephod or teraphim (household idols).

5 Afterward the sons of Israel will return [in deep repentance] and seek the Lordtheir God and [seek from the line of] David their king [the King of kings–the Messiah]; and they will come trembling to the Lordand to His goodnessandblessing in the last days.

HOSEA 4

God’s Controversy with Israel

1 Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel,

For the Lordhas a [legal] case with the inhabitants of the land,

Because there is no faithfulness [no steadfast love, no dependability] or loyaltyorkindness

Or knowledge of God [from personal experience with Him] in the land.

2 There is [false] swearingof oaths, deception (broken faith), murder, stealing, and adultery;

They employ violence, so that one [act of] bloodshed follows closely on another.

3 Therefore the land [continually] mourns,

And everyone who lives in it languishes [in tragic suffering]

Together with the animals of the open country and the birds of the heavens;

Even the fish of the sea disappear.

4 Yet let no one find fault, nor let any rebuke [others];

For your people are like those who contend with the priest.

5 So you will stumble in the daytime,

And the [false] prophet will also stumble with you in the night;

And I will destroy your mother (Israel).

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge [of My law, where I reveal My will].

Because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge,

I will also reject you from being My priest.

Since you have forgotten the law of your God,

I will also forget your children.

7 The more they multiplied [in numbers and increased in power], the more they sinned against Me;

I will change their glory into shame.

8 They (the priests)feed on the sin offering of My people

And set their heart on their wickedness.

9 And it shall be: like people, like priest [both are wicked and both will be judged];

So I will punish them for their ways

And repay them for their deeds.

10 They will eat, but not have enough;

They will play the prostitute, but not increase [their descendants],

Because they have stopped giving heed to the Lord.

11 Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away the mindandthe [spiritual] understanding.

12 My people consult their [lifeless] wooden idol, and their [diviner’s] wand gives them oracles.

For a spirit of prostitution has led them astray [morally and spiritually],

And they have played the prostitute,withdrawing themselvesfrom their God.

13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains

And burn incense on the hills,

Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths,

Because the shade is pleasant there.

Therefore your daughters play the prostitute

And your brides commit adultery.

14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute

Or your brides when they commit adultery,

For the men themselves slip away with prostitutes,

And they offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes [who give their bodies in honor of the idol].

So the people without understanding [stumble and fall and] come to ruin.

15 Though you, Israel, play the prostitute [by worshiping idols],

Do not let Judah become guilty [of the same thing];

And do not go to Gilgal [where idols are worshiped],

Or go up toBeth-aven (House of Wickedness),

Nor swear [oaths in idolatrous worship, saying],

“As the Lordlives!”

16 For Israel is stubborn,

Like a stubborn heifer.

Can the Lordnow pasture them

Like a lamb in a large field?

17 Ephraim is joined to idols,

So let him alone [to suffer the consequences].

18 When their liquor is gone [and their drinking parties are over],

They habitually go to play the prostitute;

Ephraim’s rulers continue to dearly love shame [more than her glory which is the Lord, Israel’s God].

19 The wind [of God’s relentless wrath] has wrapped up Israel in its wings,

And [in captivity] they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices [to calves, to sun, to moon, to stars, and to pagan gods].

HOSEA 5

The People’s Apostasy Rebuked

1 Hear thisandpay close attention, O priests!

Give heed, O house of Israel!

Listen, O house of the king!

For the [pronounced] judgment pertains to youandis meant for you to hear,

Because you have been a snare at Mizpah

And a net spread out over Tabor (military strongholds on either side of the Jordan River).

2 The revolters have gone deep into depravity,

But I [the LordGod] will chastise them all.

3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me;

For now, O Ephraim, you have played the prostituteandhave worshiped idols;

Israel has defiled itself.

4 Their [immoral] practices will not permit them

To return to their God,

For the spirit of prostitution is within them

And they do not know the Lord[they do not recognize, appreciate, heed or cherish Him].

5 But the prideandself-reliance of Israel testifies against him.

Therefore Israel, and [especially]Ephraim, stumbleandfall in their wickednessandguilt;

Judah also has stumbled with them.

6 They will go with their flocks and with their herds

To seek the Lord[diligently searching for Him], but they will not find Him;

He has withdrawn from them [refusing to hear the prayers of the unrepentant].

7 They have dealt treacherously against the Lord,

For they have borne illegitimate (pagan) children.

Now theNew Moon will devour them along with their land [bringing judgment and captivity].

8 Blow the horn in Gibeah,

The trumpet in Ramah [the lofty hills on Benjamin’s northern border].

Sound the alarm at Beth-aven:

“Behind youandcoming after you [is the enemy], O Benjamin [be on guard]!”

9 Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke;

Among the tribes of Israel I declare what is certain.

10 The princes of Judah are like those whomove a boundarymarker;

I will pour out My wrath on them like [an unrestrained flood of] water.

11 Ephraim is oppressed; he is brokenandcrushed by [divine] judgment,

Because he was determined to followman’scommand(vanities, filth, secular precepts).

12 Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim

And like dry rot to the house of Judah [in My judgment against them].

13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,

And Judah his wound,

Then Ephraim went to Assyria [instead of the Lord]

And sent to [Assyria’s] great King Jareb [for help].

But he cannot heal you

Nor will he cure you of your wound [received in judgment].

14 For Iwill belike a lion to Ephraim

And like a young lion to the house of Judah.

I, even I, will tear to pieces and go on [tearing];

I will carry off [the prey] and there will be no one to rescuethem.

15 I will go away and return to My place [on high]

Until they acknowledge their offenseandbear their guilt and seek My face;

In their distress they will earnestly seek Me,saying,

HOSEA 6

The Response to God’s Rebuke

1 “Come and let us return [in repentance] to the Lord,

For He has torn us, but He will heal us;

He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

2 “After two days He will revive us;

On the third day He will raise us up

That we may live before Him.

3 “So let us knowandbecome personally acquainted with Him; let us press on to knowandunderstand fully the [greatness of the] Lord[to honor, heed, and deeply cherish Him].

His appearing is preparedandis as certain as the dawn,

And He will come to us [in salvation] like the [heavy] rain,

Like the spring rain watering the earth.”

The Reply of the Lord

4 O Ephraim, what shall I do with you?

O Judah, what shall I do with you?

For your [wavering] loyaltyandkindness are [transient] like the morning cloud

And like the dew that goes away early.

5 Therefore, I have hewn them in pieces by [the words of] the prophets;

I have slain them by the words of My mouth;

My judgments [pronounced upon them by the prophets] are like the light that shines forth [obvious to all].

6 For I desireanddelight in [steadfast] loyalty [faithfulness in the covenant relationship], rather than sacrifice,

And in the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

7 But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant;

There they have dealt treacherously against Me.

8 Gilead is a city of wrongdoers;

It is tracked with bloodyfootprints.

9 And as bands of robbers [lie in] wait for a man,

So a band of priests murder on the road towardShechem [covering their crimes in that city of refuge];

Certainly they have committed crimesandoutrages.

10 I have seen a horrible thing [sins of every kind] in the house of Israel!

Ephraim’s prostitution (idolatry) is there; Israel has defiled itself.

11 Also, O Judah, there is a harvest [of divine judgment] appointed for you,

When I restore the fortunes of My people [who have been slaves to the misery of sin].

HOSEA 7

Ephraim’s Sin

1 When I would heal Israel,

The sin (guilt) of Ephraim is uncovered,

And the wickedness ofSamaria,

Because they practice false dealing;

The thief enters,

Bandits ravageandraid outside.

2 But they do not consider in their hearts (minds)

That I remember [always] all their wickedness.

Now their deeds surroundandentangle them;

They are before My face.

3 They make the king glad with their wickedness,

And the princes with their lies.

4 They are all adulterers;

Like the heat of an oven

When the baker ceases to stirthe fire,[their passion smolders]

From the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.

5 On the [special] day of our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine;

The king stretched out his hand [in association] with scoffers (lawless people).

6 As they approach their plotting,

Their mind burns [with intrigue] like an oven [while they lie in wait].

Their anger smolders all night;

In the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

7 They are all hot like an oven

And they consume their judges (rulers);

All their kings have fallen.

There is no one among them who calls to Me.

8 Ephraim mixes himself with the [Gentile] nations [seeking favor with one country, then another];

Ephraim is a cake not turned [worthless; ready to be thrown away].

9 Strangers have devoured his strength,

Yet he does not know it;

Gray hairs are sprinkled on him,

Yet he does not know.

10 Though the pride of Israel testifies against him,

Yet they do not return [in repentance] to the Lordtheir God,

Nor seeknorsearch fornordesire Him [as essential] in spite of all this.

11 Ephraim also is like a silly dove, without heartorgood sense;

They call to Egypt [for help], they go to Assyria.

12 When they go, I will spread My net over them;

I will bring them down like birds of the heavens [into Assyrian captivity].

I will chastise them in accordance with the proclamation (prophecy) to their congregation.

13 Woe (judgment is coming) to them, for they have wandered away from Me!

Devastation is theirs, because they have rebelledandtrespassed against Me!

I would redeem them, but they speak lies against Me.

14 They do not cry out to Me from their heart

When they wail on their beds [in unbelieving despair];

For the sake of grain and new wine theyassemble themselves [as if worshiping Baal];

They rebel against Me.

15 Although I trained and strengthened their arms [for victory over their enemies],

Yet they devise evil against Me.

16 They turn, but they do not turn upward to the Most High.

They are like a poorly crafted bow [that misses the mark];

Their princes shall fall by the sword

Because of the insolence of their tongue.

Thiswill because for their mockeryanddisdain in the land of Egypt.