Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today we finish the second half of
the book of Hosea with chapters 7 through 14.
Chapter 7 When I would have healed Israel, the
iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, and the wickedness
of Samaria. For they have committed fraud. A
thief comes in, a band of robbers takes spoil
outside. They do not consider in their hearts
that I remember all their wickedness. Now their
own deeds have surrounded them. They are before
my face. They make a king glad with their wickedness
and princes with their lies. They are all adulterers.
Like an oven heated by a baker, he ceases stirring
the fire after kneading the dough until it is
leavened. In the day of our king, princes have
made him sick, inflamed with wine. He stretched
out his hand with scoffers. They prepare their
heart like an oven while they lie in wait. Their
baker sleeps all night. In the morning it burns
like a flaming fire. They are all hot like an
oven, and have devoured their judges. All their
kings have fallen. None among them calls upon
me. Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples.
Ephraim is a cake unturned. Aliens have devoured
his strength, but he does not know it. Yes, gray
hairs are here and there on him, yet he does
not know it. And the pride of Israel testifies
to his face. But they do not return to the Lord
their God, nor seek him for all this. Ephraim
also is like a silly dove without sense. They
call to Egypt. They go to Assyria. Wherever they
go, I will spread my net on them. I will bring
them down like birds of the air. I will chastise
them according to what their congregation has
heard. Woe to them, for they have fled from me.
Destruction to them, because they have transgressed
against me. Though I redeemed them, yet they
have spoken lies against me. They did not cry
out to me with their heart when they wailed upon
their beds. They assemble together for grain
and new wine. They rebel against me. Though I
disciplined and strengthened their arms, yet
they devise evil against me. They return, but
not to the Most High. They are like a treacherous
bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword. For
the cursings of their tongue, this shall be their
derision in the land of Egypt. Set the trumpet
to your mouth. He shall come like an eagle against
the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed
my covenant and rebelled against my law. Israel
will cry to me, My God, we know you. Israel has
rejected the good, the enemy will pursue him.
They set up kings, but not by me. They made princes,
but I did not acknowledge them. From their silver
and gold, they made idols for themselves, that
they might be cut off. Your calf is rejected,
O Samaria. My anger is aroused against them.
How long until they attain to innocence? For
from Israel is even this, a workman made it,
and it is not God. But the calf of Samaria shall
be broken to pieces. They sow the wind and reap
the whirlwind. The stock has no bud. It shall
never produce meal. If it should produce, aliens
would swallow it up. Israel is swallowed up.
Now they are among the Gentiles like a vessel
in which is no pleasure. For they have gone up
to Assyria like a wild donkey alone by itself.
Ephraim has hired lovers. Yes, though they have
hired among the nations, now I will gather them.
And they shall sorrow a little. because of the
burden of the king of princes. Because Ephraim
has made many altars for sin, they have become
for him altars for sinning. I have written for
him the great things of my law, but they were
considered a strange thing. For the sacrifices
of my offerings, they sacrifice flesh 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. For Israel
has forgotten his maker and has built temples.
Judah also has multiplied fortified cities, but
I will send fire upon his cities, and it shall
devour his palaces. Do not rejoice, O Israel,
with joy like other peoples, for you have played
the harlot against your God. You have made love
for hire on every threshing floor. The threshing
floor and the winepress shall not feed them,
and the new wine shall fail in her. They shall
not dwell in the Lord's land, but Ephraim shall
return to Egypt, and shall eat unclean things
in Assyria. They shall not offer wine offerings
to the Lord, nor shall their sacrifices be pleasing
to him. It shall be like bread of mourners to
them. All who eat it shall be defiled, for their
bread shall be for their own life. It shall not
come into the house of the Lord. What will you
do in the appointed day and in the day of the
feast of the Lord? For indeed they are gone because
of destruction. Egypt shall gather them up. Memphis
shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their
valuables of silver. Thorns shall be in their
tents. The days of punishment have come. The
days of recompense have come. Israel knows. The
prophet is a fool. The spiritual man is insane.
Because of the greatness of your iniquity and
great enmity. The watchman of Ephraim is with
my God. But the prophet is with a fowler's snare
in all his ways. Enmity in the house of his God.
They are deeply corrupted, as in the days of
Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity. He will
punish their sins. I found Israel like grapes
in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the
first fruits on the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to Baal Peor and separated themselves
to that shame. They became an abomination like
the thing they loved. As for Ephraim, their glory
shall fly away like a bird. No birth, no pregnancy,
and no conception. though they bring up their
children, yet I will bereave them to the last
man. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them,
just as I saw Ephraim like Tyre planted in a
pleasant place. So Ephraim will bring out his
children to the murderer. Give them, O Lord,
what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb
and dry breasts. All their wickedness is in Gilgal,
for there I hated them, because of the evil of
their deeds. I will drive them from my house,
I will love them no more. All their princes are
rebellious. Ephraim is stricken. Their root is
dried up. They shall bear no fruit. Yes, were
they to bear children, I would kill the darlings
of their womb. My God will cast them away, because
they did not obey him. And they shall be wanderers
among the nations. Israel empties his vine. He
brings forth fruit for himself, according to
the multitude of his fruit. He has increased
the altars, according to the bounty of his land.
They have embellished his sacred pillars, their
heart is divided. Now they are held guilty. He
will break down their altars, he will ruin their
sacred pillars. For now they say, we have no
king, because we did not fear the Lord. And as
for a king, what would he do for us? They have
spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant.
Thus judgment springs up like a hemlock in the
furrows of the field. The inhabitants of Samaria
fear because of the calf of Beit Avin, for its
people mourn for it, and its priests shriek for
it. Because its glory has departed from it, the
idol also shall be carried to Assyria as a present
to King Jerob. Ephraim shall receive shame, and
Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel. As
for Samaria, her king is cut off, like a twig
on the water. Also the high places of Avin, the
sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. The thorn
and thistle shall grow on their altars. They
shall say to the mountains, Cover us, and to
the hills, Fall on us. O Israel, you have sinned
from the days of Gibeah. There they stood. The
battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity
did not overtake them. When it is my desire,
I will chasten them. Peoples shall be gathered
against them, when I bind them for their two
transgressions. Ephraim is a trained heifer that
loves to thresh grain. But I harnessed her fat
neck, I will make Ephraim pull a plow. Judah
shall plow, Jacob shall break his cloths. So
for yourselves righteousness, reap in mercy.
Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to
seek the Lord, till he comes and rains righteousness
on you. You have plowed wickedness, you have
reaped iniquity, you have eaten the fruit of
lies, because you trusted in your own way in
the multitude of your mighty men. Therefore tumult
shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses
shall be plundered as Shaman plundered Beit Arbel
in the day of battle. A mother dashed in pieces
upon her children. Thus it shall be done to you,
O Bethel, because of your great wickedness. At
dawn the king of Israel shall be cut off utterly.
Chapter 11 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son. As they called
them, so they went from them. They sacrificed
to the Baals, and burnt incense to carved images.
I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their
arms. But they did not know that I healed them.
I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of
love. And I was to them as those who take the
yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them.
He shall not return to the land of Egypt, but
the Assyrian shall be his king. because they
refuse to repent. And the sword shall slash in
his cities, devour his districts, and consume
them, because of their own counsels. My people
are bent on backsliding from me. Though they
call to the Most High, none at all exalt him.
How can I give up Ephraim? How can I hand over
Israel? How can I make you like Adma? How can
I set you like Zeboim? My heart churns within
me. My sympathy is stirred. I will not execute
the fierceness of my anger. I will not again
destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not man, the
Holy One in your midst, and I will not come with
terror. They shall walk after the Lord. He will
roar like a lion. When he roars, then his sons
shall come trembling from the west. They shall
come trembling like a bird from Egypt, like a
dove from the land of Assyria, and I will let
them dwell in their houses, says the Lord. Ephraim
has encircled me with lies, and the house of
Israel with deceit. But Judah still walks with
God, even with the Holy One who is faithful.
Ephraim feeds on the wind, and pursues the east
wind. He daily increases lies and desolation.
Also they make a covenant with the Assyrians,
and oil is carried to Egypt. The Lord also brings
a charge against Judah. and will punish Jacob
according to his ways. According to his deeds
he will recompense him. He took his brother by
the heel in the womb, and in his strength he
struggled with God. Yes, he struggled with the
angel and prevailed. He wept and sought favor
from him. He found him in Bethel, and there he
spoke to us. That is the Lord God of hosts. The
Lord is his memorable name. So you, by the help
of your God, return, observe mercy and justice,
and wait on your God continually. A cunning Canaanite,
deceitful scales are in his hand. He loves to
oppress. And Ephraim said, Surely I have become
rich. I have found wealth for myself. In all
my labors they shall find in me no iniquity that
is sin. But I am the Lord your God. Ever since
the land of Egypt, I will again make you dwell
in tents. As in the days of the appointed feast,
I have also spoken by the prophets and have multiplied
visions. I have given symbols through the witness
of the prophets. Though Gilead has idols, surely
they are vanity. Though they sacrifice bulls
in Gilgal, indeed their altars shall be heaps
in the furrows of the field. Jacob fled to the
country of Syria. Israel served for a spouse,
and for a wife he tended sheep. By a prophet
the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by
a prophet he was preserved. Ephraim provoked
him to anger most bitterly. Therefore his Lord
will leave him the guilt of his bloodshed upon
him. and return his reproach upon him chapter
13 when ephraim spoke trembling he exalted himself
in israel but when he offended through baal worship
he died now they sin more and more and have made
for themselves molded images idols of their silver
according to their skill All of it is the work
of craftsmen. They say to them, Let the men who
sacrifice kiss the calves. Therefore they shall
be like the morning cloud, and like the early
dew that passes away, like chaff blown off from
a threshing floor, and like smoke from a chimney.
Yet I am the Lord your God, ever since the land
of Egypt, and you shall know no God but Me. For
there is no Saviour besides Me. I knew you in
the wilderness, in the land of great drought.
When they had pasture, they were filled. They
were filled and their heart was exalted. Therefore
they forgot me. So I will be to them like a lion,
like a leopard by the road I will lurk. I will
meet them like a bear deprived of her cubs. I
will tear open their ribcage, and there I will
devour them like a lion. The wild beast shall
tear them. O Israel, you are destroyed, but your
help is from me. I will be your king. Where is
any other that he may save you in all your cities?
and your judges to whom you said, Give me a king
and princes. I gave you a king in my anger, and
took him away in my wrath. The iniquity of Ephraim
is bound up, his sin is stored up. The sorrows
of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him.
He is an unwise son. For he should not stay long
where children are born. I will ransom them from
the power of the grave. I will redeem them from
death. O death, I will be your plagues. O grave,
I will be your destruction. Pity is hidden from
my eyes, though he is fruitful among his brethren,
and east wind shall come. The wind of the Lord
shall come up from the wilderness, then his spring
shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried
up. He shall plunder the treasury of every desirable
prize. Samaria is held guilty, for she has rebelled
against her God. They shall fall by the sword,
their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and
their women with child ripped open. Chapter 14
O Israel, return to the Lord your God, for you
have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take
words with you, and return to the Lord. Say to
him, Take away all iniquity, receive us graciously,
for we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.
Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride on
horses, nor will we say any more to the work
of our hands, You are our gods, for in you the
fatherless finds mercy. I will heal their backsliding,
I will love them freely. For my anger has turned
away from him. I will be like the dew to Israel.
He shall grow like the lily and lengthen his
roots like Lebanon. His branches shall spread.
His beauty shall be like an olive tree and his
fragrance like Lebanon. Those who dwell under
his shadow shall return. They shall be revived
like grain and grow like a vine. Their scent
shall be like the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim shall
say, What have I to do anymore with idols? I
have heard and observed them. I am like a green
cypress tree, your fruit is found in me. Who
is wise? Let him understand these things. Who
is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of
the Lord are right. The righteous walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them. I hope you
enjoyed today's reading as much as I did, and
I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow to
continue on our journey. God bless you and have
a great day.