Hosea 11-14
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 11
The Disappointment of a Parent
1 [a]When Israel was a child I loved him,(A)
out of Egypt[b] I called my son.(B)
2 The more I called them,
the farther they went from me,
Sacrificing to the Baals
and burning incense to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
who took them in my arms;(C)
but they did not know that I cared for them.
4 I drew them with human cords,
with bands of love;[c]
I fostered them like those
who raise an infant to their cheeks;
I bent down to feed them.(D)
5 He shall return to the land of Egypt,(E)
Assyria shall be his king,
because they have refused to repent.
6 The sword shall rage in his cities:
it shall destroy his diviners,
and devour them because of their schemings.
7 My people have their mind set on apostasy;
though they call on God in unison,
he shall not raise them up.
But Love Is Stronger and Restores
8 How could I give you up, Ephraim,
or deliver you up, Israel?
How could I treat you as Admah,
or make you like Zeboiim?[d](F)
My heart is overwhelmed,
my pity is stirred.
9 I will not give vent to my blazing anger,
I will not destroy Ephraim again;
For I am God and not a man,(G)
the Holy One present among you;
I will not come in wrath.
10 They shall follow the Lord,
who roars like a lion;(H)
When he roars,
his children shall come frightened from the west,
11 Out of Egypt they shall come trembling, like birds,
like doves, from the land of Assyria;
And I will resettle them in their homes,
oracle of the Lord.
Chapter 12
Infidelity of Israel[e]
1 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,
the house of Israel, with deceit;
Judah still wanders about with gods,
and is faithful to holy ones.[f]
2 [g]Ephraim shepherds the wind,
and pursues the east wind all day long.
He multiplies lies and violence:
They make a covenant with Assyria,
and oil is carried to Egypt.
3 The Lord has a dispute with Judah,
and will punish Jacob[h] for his conduct,
and repay him for his deeds.
4 In the womb he supplanted his brother,(I)
and in his vigor he contended with a divine being;
5 He contended with an angel and prevailed,(J)
he wept and entreated him.
At Bethel he met with him,
and there he spoke with him.(K)
6 The Lord is the God of hosts,
the Lord is his name!(L)
7 You must return to your God.
Maintain loyalty and justice
and always hope in your God.
8 A merchant who holds a false balance,
he loves to extort!
9 Ephraim has said,
“How rich I have become;
I have made a fortune!”(M)
All his gain will not suffice
for the guilt of his sin.
10 I the Lord have been your God,
since the land of Egypt;(N)
I will again have you live in tents,
as on feast days.
11 I spoke to the prophets,
I granted many visions,(O)
and through the prophets I told parables.
12 In Gilead is falsehood, they have come to nothing;
in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,
But their altars are like heaps of stones(P)
in the furrows of the field.
13 Jacob fled to the land of Aram,
and Israel served for a wife;
for a wife he tended sheep.(Q)
14 But by a prophet[i] the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,
and by a prophet Israel was tended.(R)
15 Ephraim has aroused bitter anger,
so his Lord shall cast his bloodguilt upon him
and repay him for his scorn.
Chapter 13
The Death of Ephraim
1 When Ephraim spoke there was terror;
he was exalted in Israel;[j]
but he became guilty through Baal and died.
2 Now they continue to sin,
making for themselves molten images,
Silver idols according to their skill,(S)
all of them the work of artisans.
“To these, offer sacrifice,” they say.
People kiss calves
3 Therefore, they will be like a morning cloud
or like the dew that vanishes with the dawn,
Like chaff storm-driven from the threshing floor(U)
or like smoke out of the window.
4 I, the Lord, am your God,
since the land of Egypt;[l](V)
Gods apart from me you do not know;
there is no savior but me.(W)
5 I fed you in the wilderness,
in the parched land.
6 When I fed them, they were satisfied;
when satisfied, they became proud,
therefore they forgot me.
7 So, I will be like a lion to them,
like a leopard by the road I will keep watch.
8 (X)I will attack them like a bear robbed of its young,
and tear their hearts from their breasts;
I will devour them on the spot like a lion,
as a wild animal would rip them open.
9 [m]I destroy you, Israel!
who is there to help you?
10 Where now is your king,
that he may rescue you?
And all your princes,
that they may defend you?
Of whom you said,
“Give me a king and princes”?(Y)
11 I give you a king in my anger,
and I take him away in my wrath.[n]
12 The guilt of Ephraim is wrapped up,
his sin is stored away.
13 [o]The birth pangs will come for him,(Z)
but this is an unwise child,
Who, when it is time, does not present himself
at the mouth of the womb.(AA)
14 [p]Shall I deliver them from the power of Sheol?
shall I redeem them from death?
Where are your plagues, O death!
where is your sting, Sheol!(AB)
Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
15 Though Ephraim[q] may flourish among his brothers,
an east wind(AC) will come, a wind from the Lord,
rising from the wilderness,
That will dry up his spring,
and leave his fountain dry.
It will loot his treasury
of every precious thing.
Chapter 14
1 Samaria[r] has become guilty,
for she has rebelled against her God.
They shall fall by the sword,
their infants shall be dashed to pieces,(AD)
their pregnant women shall be ripped open.(AE)
Sincere Conversion and New Life
2 Return, Israel, to the Lord, your God;
you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
3 Take with you words,
and return to the Lord;
Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,
and take what is good.
Let us offer the fruit of our lips.(AF)
4 [s]Assyria will not save us,
nor will we mount horses;(AG)
We will never again say, ‘Our god,’
to the work of our hands;
for in you the orphan finds compassion.”(AH)
5 I will heal their apostasy,
I will love them freely;
for my anger is turned away from them.
6 I will be like the dew for Israel:(AI)
he will blossom like the lily;
He will strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
7 and his shoots will go forth.(AJ)
His splendor will be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like Lebanon cedar.(AK)
8 Again they will live in his shade;
they will raise grain,
They will blossom like the vine,
and his renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.
9 Ephraim! What more have I to do with idols?(AL)
I have humbled him, but I will take note of him.
I am like a verdant cypress tree.[t]
From me fruit will be found for you!
Epilogue
10 [u]Who is wise enough to understand these things?(AM)
Who is intelligent enough to know them?
Straight are the paths of the Lord,(AN)
the just walk in them,(AO)
but sinners stumble in them.
Footnotes
- 11:1–3 After the image of husband-wife (chaps. 1–3), Hosea uses the image of parent-child (Ex 4:22; Is 1:2; Jer 3:19).
- 11:1 Out of Egypt: Hosea dates the real beginning of Israel from the time of the exodus. Mt 2:15 applies this text to the return of Jesus from Egypt.
- 11:4 I drew them…with bands of love: perhaps a reversal of the yoke imagery of the previous chapter, i.e., not forcing them like draft animals, but drawing them with kindness and affection.
- 11:8 Admah…Zeboiim: cities in the vicinity of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gn 14:2, 8) and destroyed with them (Gn 19:24–25; Dt 29:22).
- 12:1–15 This chapter draws a parallel between the history of Israel and events in the life of Jacob-Israel, the ancestor.
- 12:1 An attack on the idolatry of both kingdoms, Israel and Judah. Holy ones: subordinate gods, members of the divine council.
- 12:2 Hosea frequently condemns the alliances with Assyria and Egypt, the two world powers (7:8–16).
- 12:3 Jacob: whose name was changed to Israel (Gn 35:10).
- 12:14 A prophet: Moses.
- 13:1 Exalted in Israel: Ephraim enjoyed a privileged position in Israel (Gn 48:14–19).
- 13:2 Kiss calves: apparently a reference to a ritual gesture associated with the worship of Baal represented as a calf (1 Kgs 19:18).
- 13:4 I, the Lord…land of Egypt: according to 1 Kgs 12:28, Jeroboam introduced the calves used in the worship at the sanctuaries in Bethel and Dan with the words: “Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
- 13:9–10 Only God can save Israel, not the king, whom Israel had requested from the Lord (1 Sm 8:1–9).
- 13:11 I give you a king…in my wrath: the Lord punished the people of the Northern Kingdom by giving them kings who were soon deposed (see notes on 7:3–7 and 8:4).
- 13:13 Ephraim will die along with its stored-up sin, just as a mother dies along with a child that she cannot deliver.
- 13:14 God calls upon “death” and “Sheol” to send their auxiliaries, “plagues” and “sting,” to punish Israel (Hb 3:5; Ps 91:6). Paul uses this text in a different way to speak about the victory over death (1 Cor 15:54–55).
- 13:15 Although “Ephraim” is not explicitly mentioned in the text (the Hebrew text has the word “he”), the wordplay with the Hebrew word for “flourish” (yaphrî’) suggests the use of “Ephraim” in the translation. Wind: possibly Assyria.
- 14:1 Samaria: the capital of the Northern Kingdom will fall; this is the punishment predicted for Ephraim, the Northern Kingdom.
- 14:4 These good intentions promise a reversal of Israel’s sins: no more reliance on “Assyria,” i.e., on foreign alliances (see notes on 8:9 and 12:2), on “horses,” i.e., on human power (10:13), and on idolatry (8:4–6; 13:2). Israel will trust in the Lord alone.
- 14:9 Verdant cypress tree: the symbol of lasting life, the opposite of the sacred trees of the Baal cult (4:13). The Lord provides the “fruit” (peri) to Israel (2:7, 10), another instance of the wordplay on Ephraim (see notes on 9:16 and 13:15).
- 14:10 A challenge to the reader in the style of the wisdom literature.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.