Selections from Hose 6, 7, and 11
6:4 – 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.
[5] 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.
[6] For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
7:14 – 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;
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.
11:1 – When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
[2] The more they were called,
the more they went away;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals
and burning offerings to idols.
[3] Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
I took them up by their arms,
but they did not know that I healed them.
[4] I led them with cords of kindness,
with the bands of love,
and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,
and I bent down to them and fed them.
[5] They shall not return to the land of Egypt,
but Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me.
[6] The sword shall rage against their cities,
consume the bars of their gates,
and devour them because of their own counsels.
[7] My people are bent on turning away from me,
and though they call out to the Most High,
he shall not raise them up at all.
[8] How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
[9] I will not execute my burning anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and not a man,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.
[10] They shall go after the LORD;
he will roar like a lion;
when he roars,
his children shall come trembling from the west;
[11] they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt,
and like doves from the land of Assyria,
and I will return them to their homes, declares the LORD.
