Hosea

Historical Summary

When Ephraim spoke, everyone trembled; he was powerful in Israel, but he fell into Baal worship and ruined himself.

They continue to sin by making images from molten metal, shaping idols from silver, the work of artisans. Moreover, they call these idols God! They offer sacrifices to them, and humans worship calves!

That is why they will be like the morning mist and like dew that disappears, like straw swept away on the threshing floor, like smoke escaping through a window.

But I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt; you have no other God besides me, and there is no savior but me.

I knew you in the desert, in a land of scorching heat.

Once they had food, they felt satisfied; and when satisfied, they became proud and no longer remembered me.

So I became for them like a leopard; like a tiger, I watched out for them;

and attacked them with the fury of a bear that has lost its cubs. I tore out their hearts and, like a lion, I devoured them; like a savage beast, I tore them apart.

Israel, you once had me as a helper;now, will I be your destroyer?

Where is your king to rescue your cities?Where are your rulers, the ones you said: “Give us a king and commanders”?

So, in my anger, I gave you a king; and in my fury, I took him away.

The wickedness of Ephraim runs deep; his sin is stored up.

The pangs of a woman in labor come upon him, but the child is unpredictable. When the time comes, he does not exit the womb.

Will I ransom them from the power of the netherworld? Will I rescue them from death? Not at all! Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O netherworld, is your venom? Yet my eyes will not look with compassion

on the one who excelled among his brothers. The Lord will send the east wind from the desert to dry up his sources of water and parch his fountains, stripping him of all his treasures.