20 July - Hosea 1-7

Jude Sat Dec 29, 2018 5:31 pm

My soul doth magnify my YAH, and my spirit hath rejoiced in EL my Saviour; For HE that is mighty hath done to me great things; and Holy is HIS Name. Now unto HIM who is ever present in my helpless estate; who is able to keep me from falling and to present me faultless before the presence of His Glory with exceeding joy, unto the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the only wise EL our Saviour be honour and glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and for ever Halleluyah!

HOSEA 1

1The word of יהוה that came to Hoshĕa son of Be’ĕri, in the days of Uzziyah, Yotham, Aḥaz, and Ḥizqiyah, sovereigns of Yehuḏah, and in the days of Yaroḇ‛am son of Yo’ash, sovereign of Yisra’ĕl.

2The beginning of the word of יהוה with Hoshĕa. And יהוה said to Hoshĕa, “Go, take yourself a woman of whoring and children of whoring, for the land has utterly whored away from יהוה.”

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

4And יהוה said to him, “Call his name Yizre‛ĕl, for in a little while I shall revenge the bloodshed of Yizre‛ĕl on the house of Yĕhu, and put an end to the reign of the house of Yisra’ĕl.

5“And it shall be in that day that I shall break the bow of Yisra’ĕl in the Valley of Yizre‛ĕl.”

6And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And He said to him, “Call her name Lo-Ruḥamah, for no longer do I have compassion on the house of Yisra’ĕl so as to forgive them at all.

7“But I shall have compassion on the house of Yehuḏah and save them by יהוה their Elohim, and not save them by bow or by sword or battle, by horses or horsemen.”

8And she weaned Lo-Ruḥamah, and conceived and bore a son,

9then He said, “Call his name Lo-Ammi, for you are not My people, and I am not for you.

10“Yet the number of the children of Yisra’ĕl shall be as the sand of the sea, which is not measured nor counted. And it shall be in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they shall be called, ‘You are the sons of the living Ěl.’

11“And the children of Yehuḏah and the children of Yisra’ĕl shall be gathered together, and appoint for themselves one head, and shall come up out of the earth, for great is the day of Yizre‛ĕl!

HOSEA 2

1“Say to your brothers, ‘O my people,’ and to your sisters, ‘O, compassioned one.’

2“Strive with your mother, strive, for she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her whorings from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts,

3lest I strip her naked, and shall set her up as on the day she was born, and shall make her like a wilderness, and shall set her like a dry land, and shall put her to death with thirst.

4“And I shall not have compassion on her children, for they are the children of whorings.

5“For their mother has whored, she who conceived them has acted shamelessly. For she said, ‘I go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.’

6“Therefore, see, I am hedging up your way with thorns, and I shall wall her in, so that she does not find her paths.

7“And she shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and shall seek them but not find them. Then she shall say, ‘Let me go and return to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now.’

8“And she did not acknowledge that I gave her grain, and new wine, and oil, and increased her silver and gold which they prepared for Ba‛al.

9“Therefore I shall turn back and shall take my grain in its time and My new wine in its season, and I shall take away My wool and My linen covering her nakedness.

10“And now I shall uncover her shame before the eyes of her lovers, and no one shall deliver her from My hand.

11“And I shall cause all her rejoicing, her festivals, her New Moons, and her Sabbaths, even all her appointed times, to cease,

12and lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, ‘these are my rewards that my lovers have given me.’ And I shall make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

13“And I shall punish her for the days of the Ba‛als to which she burned incense and adorned herself with her rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, and forgot Me,” declares יהוה.

14“Therefore, see, I am alluring her, and shall lead her into the wilderness, and shall speak to her heart,

15and give to her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Aḵor as a door of expectation. And there she shall respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Mitsrayim.

16“And it shall be, in that day,” declares יהוה, “that you call Me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘My Ba‛al.’

17“And I shall remove the names of the Ba‛als from her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.

18“And in that day I shall make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping creatures of the ground, when bow, and sword, and battle I break from the earth. And I shall make them lie down in safety.

19“And I shall take you as a bride unto Me forever, and take you as a bride unto Me in righteousness, and in right-ruling, and kindness and compassion.

20“And I shall take you as a bride unto Me in trustworthiness, and you shall know יהוה.

21“And it shall be in that day that I answer,” declares יהוה, “that I answer the heavens, and they answer the earth,

22and the earth answer the grain and the new wine and the oil, and they answer Yizre‛ĕl.

23“And I shall sow her for Myself in the earth, and I shall have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion. And I shall say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people,’ while they say, ‘My Elohim!’ ”

HOSEA 3

1Then יהוה said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by a friend, and an adulteress, according to the love of יהוה for the children of Yisra’ĕl, though they are turning to other mighty ones and love their raisin cakes.”

2So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver, and one and one-half ḥomers of barley.

3And I said to her, “You are to remain with me many days, you are not to whore, nor become any man’s, and so I shall also be towards you.”

4For many days the children of Yisra’ĕl are to remain without sovereign and without prince, and without slaughtering, and without pillar, and without shoulder garment or house idols.

5Afterward the children of Yisra’ĕl shall return, and seek יהוה their Elohim, and Dawiḏ their sovereign, and fear יהוה and His goodness, in the latter days.

HOSEA 4

1Hear the word of יהוה, you children of Yisra’ĕl, for יהוה has a case against the inhabitants of the land: “For there is no truth or kindness or knowledge of Elohim in the land.

2“Swearing, and lying, and murdering, and stealing, and committing adultery have increased. And bloodshed follows bloodshed.

3“Therefore the land mourns, and everyone living there languishes, with the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens. And the fish of the sea are taken away.

4“However, let no one strive or reprove another, for your people are like those striving with a priest.

5“And you shall stumble in the day, and the prophet shall also stumble with you in the night. And I shall make your mother perish.

6“My people have perished for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being priest for Me. Since you have forgotten the Torah of your Elohim, I also forget your children.

7“As they were increased, so they sinned against Me. My esteem they have changed into shame.

8“They eat the sin of My people, and lift up their desire to their crookedness.

9“And it shall be: like people, like priest. And I shall punish them for their ways, and reward them for their deeds.

10“And they shall eat but not be satisfied, they shall whore but not increase, for they have stopped obeying יהוה.

11“Whoring, and wine, and new wine enslave the heart.

12“My people ask from their Wood, and their Staff declares to them. For a spirit of whorings has led them astray, and they went whoring from under their Elohim.

13“They slaughter on the mountaintops, and burn incense on the hills, under oak and poplars and terebinth, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters commit whoring, and your brides commit adultery.

14“I would not punish your daughters when they commit whoring, nor your brides when they commit adultery, for the men themselves go aside with whores, and offer with cult prostitutes – a people that do not understand are thrust down!

15“Though you are a whore, Yisra’ĕl, let not Yehuḏah become guilty. Do not come up to Gilgal, nor go up to Bĕyth Awen, nor swear an oath, saying, ‘As יהוה lives!’

16“For Yisra’ĕl is stubborn, like a stubborn calf. Would יהוה now feed them like a lamb in a broad place?

17“Ephrayim is joined to idols, let him alone.

18“Their drink is sour, they have whored continually. Her rulers wildly loved shame.

19“A wind has bound her up in its wings, and they are ashamed because of their slaughterings.

HOSEA 5

1“Hear this, O priests! And listen, O house of Yisra’ĕl! Give ear, O house of the sovereign! For the judgment is for you, for you have been a snare to Mitspah and a net spread on Taḇor.

2“And they have made deep the pit of Shittim, so I reprove them all.

3“I have known Ephrayim, and Yisra’ĕl has not been hidden from Me. For now, O Ephrayim, you have whored, Yisra’ĕl is defiled.

4“Their deeds do not allow them to turn back to their Elohim, for the spirit of whorings is among them, and they do not know יהוה.

5“And the Excellency of Yisra’ĕl shall witness to his face, and Yisra’ĕl and Ephrayim stumble in their crookedness. Yehuḏah shall also stumble with them.

6“With their flocks and herds they go to seek יהוה, but do not find Him – He has withdrawn from them.

7“They have acted treacherously against יהוה, for they have brought forth strange children. Now a new moon shall devour them with their portions.

8“Blow the ram’s horn in Gib‛ah, the trumpet in Ramah! Shout, O Bĕyth Awen! Behind you, O Binyamin!

9“Ephrayim is laid waste in the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Yisra’ĕl I shall make known what is certain.

10“The chiefs of Yehuḏah shall be like those who remove a border – on them I pour out my wrath like water.

11“Ephrayim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because it pleased him to walk after Tsawa.

12“So I am to Ephrayim like a moth, and to the house of Yehuḏah like rottenness.

13“When Ephrayim saw his sickness, and Yehuḏah saw his wound, then Ephrayim went to Ashshur and sent to Sovereign Yarĕḇ. But he is unable to heal you, or to remove the wound from you.

14“For I am like a lion to Ephrayim, and like a young lion to the house of Yehuḏah. I Myself tear them and go, I take them away, and there is no one to deliver.

15“I shall go, I shall return to My place, until they confess their guilt and seek My face, in their distress diligently search for Me, and say,

HOSEA 6

1‘Come, and let us turn back to יהוה. For He has torn but He does heal us, He has stricken but He binds us up.

2‘After two days He shall revive us, on the third day He shall raise us up, so that we live before Him.

3‘So let us know, let us pursue to know יהוה. His going forth is as certain as the morning. And He comes to us like the rain, like the latter rain watering the earth.’

4“Ephrayim, what would I do with you? Yehuḏah, what would I do with you? For your trustworthiness 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 the words of My mouth. And my right-rulings break forth as the light.

6“For I delight in kindness and not slaughtering, and in the knowledge of Elohim more than burnt offerings.

7“But like Aḏam they transgressed the covenant. There they acted treacherously against Me.

8“Gil‛aḏ is a city of workers of wickedness – tracked up with blood.

9“And as bands of robbers lie in wait for a man, so the company of priests murder on the way to Sheḵem, for they have done wickedness.

10“I have seen a horrible matter in the house of Yisra’ĕl: the whoring of Ephrayim is there, Yisra’ĕl is defiled.

11“Also, a harvest is appointed for you, O Yehuḏah, when I turn back the captivity of My people.

HOSEA 7

1“Whenever I would heal Yisra’ĕl, then the crookedness of Ephrayim is uncovered, and the evil deeds of Shomeron. For they have wrought falsehood, and a thief comes in, a band of robbers raids outside.

2“And they do not say to their hearts that I remember all their evil. Now their own deeds have surrounded them, they have been before Me.

3“With their evil they make a sovereign glad, and rulers with their lies.

4“All of them are adulterers, as an oven heated by a baker, who ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough, until it is leavened.

5“In the day of our sovereign rulers became sick, inflamed with wine. He extended his hand with scoffers.

6“For they have drawn near, their heart is like an oven. While they lie in wait all the night their baker sleeps. In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.

7“All of them are as hot as an oven, and they consumed their rulers. All their sovereigns have fallen – not one among them calls on Me.

8“Ephrayim mixes himself among the peoples, Ephrayim has become a cake unturned.

9“Strangers have devoured his strength, but he does not know it. Grey hairs are also sprinkled on him, and he does not know it.

10“And the Excellency of Yisra’ĕl did witness to his face, but they did not return to יהוה their Elohim, nor did they seek Him for all this.

11“And Ephrayim has become a simple dove without heart, they have called on Mitsrayim, they have gone to Ashshur.

12“When they go I spread My net over them, I bring them down like the birds of the heavens, I chastise them as their congregation has heard.

13“Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me! Destruction to them, because they have transgressed against Me! And I Myself have ransomed them, yet they have spoken falsehoods against Me,

14and did not cry out to Me with their heart when they wailed upon their beds. For grain and new wine they assemble themselves; they turn away from Me.

15“And I instructed, I strengthened their arms, but they plot evil against Me.

16“They return, but not to the Most High. They have been like a slack bow. Their rulers fall by the sword for the cursings of their tongue. This is their scorn in the land of Mitsrayim.