Daniel 9:17–Hosea 10:7

17 Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord,1 pmake your face to shine upon qyour sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 rO my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see sour desolations, and tthe city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. uDelay not, vfor your own sake, O my God, because tyour city and wyour people are called by your name.

20 xWhile I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for ythe holy hill of my God, 21 while I was speaking in prayer, the man zGabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, acame to me in swift flight at bthe time of the evening sacrifice. 22 cHe made me understand, speaking with me and saying, O Daniel, I have now come out to give you dinsight and understanding. 23 eAt the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, fand I have come to tell it to you, for gyou are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word hand understand the vision.

24 iSeventy weeks2 are decreed about your people and jyour holy city, to finish kthe transgression, to put an end to sin, land to atone for iniquity, mto bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and nto anoint a most holy place.3 25 oKnow therefore and understand that pfrom the going out of the word to restore and qbuild Jerusalem to the coming of an ranointed one, a sprince, there shall be seven weeks. And for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again4 with squares and moat, tbut in a troubled time. 26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall ube cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come vshall destroy the city and the sanctuary. wIts5 end shall come with a flood, xand to the end there shall be war. yDesolations are decreed. 27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week,6 and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. zAnd on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until athe decreed end is poured out on the desolator.

bIn the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, cwho was named Belteshazzar. And dthe word was true, and it was a great conflict.7 And ehe understood the word and ehad understanding of the vision.

In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for fthree weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I ganoint myself at all, for fthe full three weeks. On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing hon the bank of the great river (ithat is, the Tigris) jI lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, ka man clothed in linen, lwith a belt of fine mgold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like nberyl, his face olike the appearance of lightning, phis eyes like flaming torches, his arms and qlegs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and qthe sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. rAnd I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves. So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and sno strength was left in me. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed,8 tand I retained no strength. Then I heard the sound of his words, uand as I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in deep sleep uwith my face to the ground.

10 And behold, va hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. 11 And he said to me, O Daniel, wman greatly loved, xunderstand the words that I speak to you, and ystand upright, for znow I have been sent to you. And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. 12 Then he said to me, aFear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you bset your heart to understand and bhumbled yourself before your God, cyour words have been heard, dand I have come because of your words. 13 eThe prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me ftwenty-one days, but gMichael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, 14 dand came to make you understand what is to happen to your people hin the latter days. For ithe vision is for days yet to come.

15 When he had spoken to me according to these words, jI turned my face toward the ground kand was mute. 16 And behold, lone in the likeness of the children of man mtouched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke. I said to him who stood before me, O my lord, by reason of the vision pains have come upon me, and nI retain no strength. 17 How can my lord’s servant talk with my lord? For now no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me.

18 Again lone having the appearance of a man mtouched me and strengthened me. 19 And he said, oO man greatly loved, pfear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage. And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me. 20 Then he said, Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the qprince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of rGreece will come. 21 But I will tell you swhat is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except tMichael, your prince.

And as for me, uin the first year of uDarius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.

And now I will show you vthe truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. Then wa mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and xdo as he wills. And as soon as he has arisen, yhis kingdom shall be broken and divided ytoward the zfour winds of heaven, but anot to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these.

Then the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he band shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority. After some years cthey shall make an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his arm shall not endure, but she shall be given up, and her attendants, he who fathered her, and he who supported9 her in those times.

And from a branch from her roots one shall arise in his place. He shall come against the army and enter the dfortress of the king of the north, and he shall deal with them and shall prevail. He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious evessels of silver and gold, and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north. Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land.

10 His sons shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall keep coming fand overflow and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his dfortress. 11 Then the king of the south, gmoved with rage, shall come out and fight against the king of the north. hAnd he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand. 12 And when the multitude is taken away, his heart shall be exalted, and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail. 13 For the king of the north shall again iraise a multitude, greater than the first. And jafter some years10 he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies.

14 In those times many shall rise against the king of the south, and the violent among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but kthey shall fail. 15 Then the king of the north shall come and lthrow up siegeworks and take a well-fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not stand, or even his best troops, for there shall be no strength to stand. 16 But he who comes against him shall mdo as he wills, and nnone shall stand before him. And he shall stand in othe glorious land, with destruction in his hand. 17 He shall pset his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them. He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom,11 but it shall not stand or be to his advantage. 18 Afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them, but a commander shall put an end to his insolence. Indeed,12 he qshall turn his insolence back upon him. 19 Then he shall turn his face back toward the rfortresses of his own land, but he shall sstumble and fall, tand shall not be found.

20 Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an uexactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle. 21 In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. vHe shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom wby flatteries. 22 Armies shall be xutterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant. 23 And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully, and he shall become strong with a small people. 24 yWithout warning he shall come into zthe richest parts13 of the province, and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time. 25 And he shall stir up his power and his heart against athe king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him. 26 Even those who eat his food shall break him. His army shall be bswept away, and many shall fall down slain. 27 And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for cthe end is yet to be at the time appointed. 28 And he shall return to his land with great wealth, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant. And he shall work his will and return to his own land.

29 At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before. 30 For ships of dKittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and ebe enraged and etake action against the holy covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 Forces from him shall appear and fprofane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And gthey shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. 32 He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. 33 hAnd the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. 34 When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, 35 and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, ipurified, and jmade white, until kthe time of the end, kfor it still awaits the appointed time.

36 And the king shall ldo as he wills. mHe shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, nand shall speak astonishing things against othe God of gods. pHe shall prosper qtill the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done. 37 He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for mhe shall magnify himself above all. 38 He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor rwith gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. 39 He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and sshall divide the land for a price.14

40 tAt the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack15 him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him ulike a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and vshall overflow and pass through. 41 He shall come into wthe glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: xEdom and xMoab and the main part of the xAmmonites. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the yLibyans and the zCushites shall follow in his train. 44 But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. 45 And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him.

At that time shall arise aMichael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And bthere shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, ceveryone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who dsleep in ethe dust of the earth shall eawake, fsome to everlasting life, and fsome to shame and everlasting contempt. gAnd those who are wise hshall shine like the brightness of the sky above;16 and ithose who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, jshut up the words and kseal the book, until lthe time of the end. mMany shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.

Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on nthis bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. And someone said to othe man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream,17 pHow long shall it be till the end of these wonders? And I heard othe man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; qhe raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and rswore by him who lives forever that it would be for a stime, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of tthe power of tthe holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished. I heard, ubut I did not understand. Then I said, O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things? He said, vGo your way, Daniel, wfor the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. 10 xMany shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but ythe wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, gbut those who are wise shall understand. 11 And from the time that zthe regular burnt offering is taken away and athe abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. 12 bBlessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. 13 cBut go your way till the end. dAnd you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at ethe end of the days.

The word of the Lord that 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.

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord. So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

And the Lord said to him, Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.

She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, Call her name No Mercy,18 for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.

When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said, Call his name Not My People,19 for you are not my people, and I am not your God.20

10 21 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, it shall be said to them, Children22 of the living God. 11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

23 Say to your brothers, You are my people,24 and to your sisters, You have received mercy.25

Plead with your mother, plead

for she is not my wife,

and I am not her husband

that she put away her whoring from her face,

and her adultery from between her breasts;

lest I strip her naked

and make her as in the day she was born,

and make her like a wilderness,

and make her like a parched land,

and kill her with thirst.

Upon her children also I will have no mercy,

because they are children of whoredom.

For their mother has played the whore;

she who conceived them has acted shamefully.

For she said, I will go after my lovers,

who give me my bread and my water,

my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.

Therefore I will hedge up her26 way with thorns,

and I will build a wall against her,

so that she cannot find her paths.

She shall pursue her lovers

but not overtake them,

and she shall seek them

but shall not find them.

Then she shall say,

I will go and return to my first husband,

for it was better for me then than now.

And she did not know

that it was I who gave her

the grain, the wine, and the oil,

and who lavished on her silver and gold,

which they used for Baal.

Therefore I will take back

my grain in its time,

and my wine in its season,

and I will take away my wool and my flax,

which were to cover her nakedness.

10  Now I will uncover her lewdness

in the sight of her lovers,

and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.

11  And I will put an end to all her mirth,

her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths,

and all her appointed feasts.

12  And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,

of which she said,

These are my wages,

which my lovers have given me.

I will make them a forest,

and the beasts of the field shall devour them.

13  And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals

when she burned offerings to them

and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,

and went after her lovers

and forgot me, declares the Lord.

14  Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

and bring her into the wilderness,

and speak tenderly to her.

15  And there I will give her her vineyards

and make the Valley of Achor27 a door of hope.

And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,

as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

16 And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me My Husband, and no longer will you call me My Baal. 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish28 the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.

21  And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord,

I will answer the heavens,

and they shall answer the earth,

22  and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,

and they shall answer Jezreel,29

23  and I will sow her for myself in the land.

And I will have mercy on No Mercy,30

and I will say to Not My People,31 You are my people;

and he shall say, You are my God.

And the Lord said to me, Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins. So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech32 of barley. And I said to her, You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you. For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.

Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel,

for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.

There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,

and no knowledge of God in the land;

there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;

they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

Therefore the land mourns,

and all who dwell in it languish,

and also the beasts of the field

and the birds of the heavens,

and even the fish of the sea are taken away.

Yet let no one contend,

and let none accuse,

for with you is my contention, O priest.33

You shall stumble by day;

the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;

and I will destroy your mother.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;

because you have rejected knowledge,

I reject you from being a priest to me.

And since you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The more they increased,

the more they sinned against me;

I will change their glory into shame.

They feed on the sin34 of my people;

they are greedy for their iniquity.

And it shall be like people, like priest;

I will punish them for their ways

and repay them for their deeds.

10  They shall eat, but not be satisfied;

they shall play the whore, but not multiply,

because they have forsaken the Lord

to cherish 11 whoredom, wine, and new wine,

which take away the understanding.

12  My people inquire of a piece of wood,

and their walking staff gives them oracles.

For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray,

and they have left their God to play the whore.

13  They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains

and burn offerings on the hills,

under oak, poplar, and terebinth,

because their shade is good.

Therefore your daughters play the whore,

and your brides commit adultery.

14  I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,

nor your brides when they commit adultery;

for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes

and sacrifice with cult prostitutes,

and a people without understanding shall come to ruin.

15  Though you play the whore, O Israel,

let not Judah become guilty.

Enter not into Gilgal,

nor go up to Beth-aven,

and swear not, As the Lord lives.

16  Like a stubborn heifer,

Israel is stubborn;

can the Lord now feed them

like a lamb in a broad pasture?

17  Ephraim is joined to idols;

leave him alone.

18  When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring;

their rulers35 dearly love shame.

19  A wind has wrapped them36 in its wings,

and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

Hear this, O priests!

Pay attention, O house of Israel!

Give ear, O house of the king!

For the judgment is for you;

for you have been a snare at Mizpah

and a net spread upon Tabor.

And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter,

but I will discipline all of them.

I know Ephraim,

and Israel is not hidden from me;

for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore;

Israel is defiled.

Their deeds do not permit them

to return to their God.

For the spirit of whoredom is within them,

and they know not the Lord.

The pride of Israel testifies to his face;37

Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt;

Judah also shall stumble with them.

With their flocks and herds they shall go

to seek the Lord,

but they will not find him;

he has withdrawn from them.

They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord;

for they have borne alien children.

Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

Blow the horn in Gibeah,

the trumpet in Ramah.

Sound the alarm at Beth-aven;

we follow you,38 O Benjamin!

Ephraim shall become a desolation

in the day of punishment;

among the tribes of Israel

I make known what is sure.

10  The princes of Judah have become

like those who move the landmark;

upon them I will pour out

my wrath like water.

11  Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,

because he was determined to go after filth.39

12  But I am like a moth to Ephraim,

and like dry rot to the house of Judah.

13  When Ephraim saw his sickness,

and Judah his wound,

then Ephraim went to Assyria,

and sent to the great king.40

But he is not able to cure you

or heal your wound.

14  For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,

and like a young lion to the house of Judah.

I, even I, will tear and go away;

I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.

15  I will return again to my place,

until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,

and in their distress earnestly seek me.

Come, let us return to the Lord;

for he has torn us, that he may heal us;

he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.

After two days he will revive us;

on the third day he will raise us up,

that we may live before him.

Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;

his going out is sure as the dawn;

he will come to us as the showers,

as the spring rains that water the earth.

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?

What shall I do with you, O Judah?

Your love is like a morning cloud,

like the dew that goes early away.

Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;

I have slain them by the words of my mouth,

and my judgment goes forth as the light.

For I desire steadfast love41 and not sacrifice,

the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

But like Adam they transgressed the covenant;

there they dealt faithlessly with me.

Gilead is a city of evildoers,

tracked with blood.

As robbers lie in wait for a man,

so the priests band together;

they murder on the way to Shechem;

they commit villainy.

10  In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;

Ephraim’s whoredom is there; Israel is defiled.

11  For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed.

When I restore the fortunes of my people,

when I would heal Israel,

the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,

and the evil deeds of Samaria,

for they deal falsely;

the thief breaks in,

and the bandits raid outside.

But they do not consider

that I remember all their evil.

Now their deeds surround them;

they are before my face.

By their evil they make the king glad,

and the princes by their treachery.

They are all adulterers;

they are like a heated oven

whose baker ceases to stir the fire,

from the kneading of the dough

until it is leavened.

On the day of our king, the princes

became sick with the heat of wine;

he stretched out his hand with mockers.

For with hearts like an oven they approach their intrigue;

all night their anger smolders;

in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

All of them are hot as an oven,

and they devour their rulers.

All their kings have fallen,

and none of them calls upon me.

Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples;

Ephraim is a cake not turned.

Strangers devour his strength,

and he knows it not;

gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,

and he knows it not.

10  The pride of Israel testifies to his face;42

yet they do not return to the Lord their God,

nor seek him, for all this.

11  Ephraim is like a dove,

silly and without sense,

calling to Egypt, going to Assyria.

12  As they go, I will spread over them my net;

I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;

I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation.

13  Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!

Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!

I would redeem them,

but they speak lies against me.

14  They do not cry to me from the heart,

but they wail upon their beds;

for grain and wine they gash themselves;

they rebel against me.

15  Although I trained and strengthened their arms,

yet they devise evil against me.

16  They return, but not upward;43

they are like a treacherous bow;

their princes shall fall by the sword

because of the insolence of their tongue.

This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

Set the trumpet to your lips!

One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord,

because they have transgressed my covenant

and rebelled against my law.

To me they cry,

My God, weIsraelknow you.

Israel has spurned the good;

the enemy shall pursue him.

They made kings, but not through me.

They set up princes, but I knew it not.

With their silver and gold they made idols

for their own destruction.

I have44 spurned your calf, O Samaria.

My anger burns against them.

How long will they be incapable of innocence?

For it is from Israel;

a craftsman made it;

it is not God.

The calf of Samaria

shall be broken to pieces.45

For they sow the wind,

and they shall reap the whirlwind.

The standing grain has no heads;

it shall yield no flour;

if it were to yield,

strangers would devour it.

Israel is swallowed up;

already they are among the nations

as a useless vessel.

For they have gone up to Assyria,

a wild donkey wandering alone;

Ephraim has hired lovers.

10  Though they hire allies among the nations,

I will soon gather them up.

And the king and princes shall soon writhe

because of the tribute.

11  Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning,

they have become to him altars for sinning.

12  Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands,

they would be regarded as a strange thing.

13  As for my sacrificial offerings,

they sacrifice meat and eat it,

but the Lord does not accept them.

Now he will remember their iniquity

and punish their sins;

they shall return to Egypt.

14  For Israel has forgotten his Maker

and built palaces,

and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;

so I will send a fire upon his cities,

and it shall devour her strongholds.

Rejoice not, O Israel!

Exult not like the peoples;

for you have played the whore, forsaking your God.

You have loved a prostitute’s wages

on all threshing floors.

Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,

and the new wine shall fail them.

They shall not remain in the land of the Lord,

but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,

and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,

and their sacrifices shall not please him.

It shall be like mourners’ bread to them;

all who eat of it shall be defiled;

for their bread shall be for their hunger only;

it shall not come to the house of the Lord.

What will you do on the day of the appointed festival,

and on the day of the feast of the Lord?

For behold, they are going away from destruction;

but Egypt shall gather them;

Memphis shall bury them.

Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;

thorns shall be in their tents.

The days of punishment have come;

the days of recompense have come;

Israel shall know it.

The prophet is a fool;

the man of the spirit is mad,

because of your great iniquity

and great hatred.

The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God;

yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,

and hatred in the house of his God.

They have deeply corrupted themselves

as in the days of Gibeah:

he will remember their iniquity;

he will punish their sins.

10  Like grapes in the wilderness,

I found Israel.

Like the first fruit on the fig tree

in its first season,

I saw your fathers.

But they came to Baal-peor

and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,

and became detestable like the thing they loved.

11  Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird

no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!

12  Even if they bring up children,

I will bereave them till none is left.

Woe to them

when I depart from them!

13  Ephraim, as I have seen, was like a young palm46 planted in a meadow;

but Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.47

14  Give them, O Lord

what will you give?

Give them a miscarrying womb

and dry breasts.

15  Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal;

there I began to hate them.

Because of the wickedness of their deeds

I will drive them out of my house.

I will love them no more;

all their princes are rebels.

16  Ephraim is stricken;

their root is dried up;

they shall bear no fruit.

Even though they give birth,

I will put their beloved children to death.

17  My God will reject them

because they have not listened to him;

they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Israel is a luxuriant vine

that yields its fruit.

The more his fruit increased,

the more altars he built;

as his country improved,

he improved his pillars.

Their heart is false;

now they must bear their guilt.

The Lord48 will break down their altars

and destroy their pillars.

For now they will say:

We have no king,

for we do not fear the Lord;

and a kingwhat could he do for us?

They utter mere words;

with empty49 oaths they make covenants;

so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds

in the furrows of the field.

The inhabitants of Samaria tremble

for the calf50 of Beth-aven.

Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests

those who rejoiced over it and over its glory

for it has departed51 from them.

The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria

as tribute to the great king.52

Ephraim shall be put to shame,

and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.53

Samaria’s king shall perish

like a twig on the face of the waters.

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2 View All Leviticus 19:27