Through My Bible Yr 3 – August 7

¹⁵ Then I will go back to my place
until they admit their guilt.
And they will seek my face;
in their misery they will earnestly seek me.”

Hosea 6

Israel Unrepentant

¹ “Come, let us return to the LORD.
He has torn us to pieces
but he will heal us;
he has injured us
but he will bind up our wounds.

² After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will restore us,
that we may live in his presence.

³ Let us acknowledge the LORD;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth.”

⁴ “What can I do with you, Ephraim?
What can I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears.

⁵ Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets,
I killed you with the words of my mouth;
my judgments flashed like lightning upon you.

⁶ For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

⁷ Like Adam, ^[a] they have broken the covenant—
they were unfaithful to me there.

⁸ Gilead is a city of wicked men,
stained with footprints of blood.

⁹ As marauders lie in ambush for a man,
so do bands of priests;
they murder on the road to Shechem,
committing shameful crimes.

¹⁰ I have seen a horrible thing
in the house of Israel.
There Ephraim is given to prostitution
and Israel is defiled.

¹¹ “Also for you, Judah,
a harvest is appointed.
“Whenever I would restore the fortunes of my people,

Hosea 7

¹ whenever I would heal Israel,
the sins of Ephraim are exposed
and the crimes of Samaria revealed.
They practice deceit,
thieves break into houses,
bandits rob in the streets;

² but they do not realize
that I remember all their evil deeds.
Their sins engulf them;
they are always before me.

³ “They delight the king with their wickedness,
the princes with their lies.

⁴ They are all adulterers,
burning like an oven
whose fire the baker need not stir
from the kneading of the dough till it rises.

⁵ On the day of the festival of our king
the princes become inflamed with wine,
and he joins hands with the mockers.

⁶ Their hearts are like an oven;
they approach him with intrigue.
Their passion smolders all night;
in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

⁷ All of them are hot as an oven;
they devour their rulers.
All their kings fall,
and none of them calls on me.

⁸ “Ephraim mixes with the nations;
Ephraim is a flat cake not turned over.

⁹ Foreigners sap his strength,
but he does not realize it.
His hair is sprinkled with gray,
but he does not notice.

¹⁰ Israel’s arrogance testifies against him,
but despite all this
he does not return to the LORD his God
or search for him.

¹¹ “Ephraim is like a dove,
easily deceived and senseless—
now calling to Egypt,
now turning to Assyria.

¹² When they go, I will throw my net over them;
I will pull them down like birds of the air.
When I hear them flocking together,
I will catch them.

¹³ Woe to them,
because they have strayed from me!
Destruction to them,
because they have rebelled against me!
I long to redeem them
but they speak lies against me.

¹⁴ They do not cry out to me from their hearts
but wail upon their beds.
They gather together ^[b] for grain and new wine
but turn away from me.

¹⁵ I trained them and strengthened them,
but they plot evil against me.

¹⁶ They do not turn to the Most High;
they are like a faulty bow.
Their leaders will fall by the sword
because of their insolent words.
For this they will be ridiculed
in the land of Egypt.

Hosea 8

Israel to Reap the Whirlwind

¹ “Put the trumpet to your lips!
An eagle is over the house of the LORD
because the people have broken my covenant
and rebelled against my law.

² Israel cries out to me,
‘O our God, we acknowledge you!’

³ But Israel has rejected what is good;
an enemy will pursue him.

⁴ They set up kings without my consent;
they choose princes without my approval.
With their silver and gold
they make idols for themselves
to their own destruction.

⁵ Throw out your calf-idol, O Samaria!
My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of purity?

⁶ They are from Israel!
This calf—a craftsman has made it;
it is not God.
It will be broken in pieces,
that calf of Samaria.

⁷ “They sow the wind
and reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no head;
it will produce no flour.
Were it to yield grain,
foreigners would swallow it up.

⁸ Israel is swallowed up;
now she is among the nations
like a worthless thing.

⁹ For they have gone up to Assyria
like a wild donkey wandering alone.
Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.

¹⁰ Although they have sold themselves among the nations,
I will now gather them together.
They will begin to waste away
under the oppression of the mighty king.

¹¹ “Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings,
these have become altars for sinning.

¹² I wrote for them the many things of my law,
but they regarded them as something alien.

¹³ They offer sacrifices given to me
and they eat the meat,
but the LORD is not pleased with them.
Now he will remember their wickedness
and punish their sins:
They will return to Egypt.

¹⁴ Israel has forgotten his Maker
and built palaces;
Judah has fortified many towns.
But I will send fire upon their cities
that will consume their fortresses.”

Footnotes:

1. Hosea 6:7 Or As at Adam ; or Like men
2. Hosea 7:14 Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint They slash themselves

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.