December 4 – Hosea 12 thru 14 from the Old Testament
Hosea 12 thru 14 –
12:1 Ephraim continually feeds on the wind;
he chases the east wind all day;
he multiplies lies and violence.
They make treaties with Assyria,
and send olive oil as tribute to Egypt.
12:2 The Lord also has a covenant lawsuit against Judah;
he will punish Jacob according to his ways
and repay him according to his deeds.
Israel Must Return to the God of Jacob
12:3 In the womb he attacked his brother;
in his manly vigor he struggled with God.
12:4 He struggled with an angel and prevailed;
he wept and begged for his favor.
He found God at Bethel,
and there he spoke with him!
12:5 As for the Lord God Almighty,
the Lord is the name by which he is remembered!
12:6 But you must return to your God,
by maintaining love and justice,
and by waiting for your God to return to you.
The Lord Refutes Israel’s False Claim of Innocence
12:7 The businessmen love to cheat;
they use dishonest scales.
12:8 Ephraim boasts, “I am very rich!
I have become wealthy!
In all that I have done to gain my wealth,
no one can accuse me of any offense that is actually sinful.”
12:9 “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt;
I will make you live in tents again as in the days of old.
12:10 I spoke to the prophets;
I myself revealed many visions;
I spoke in parables through the prophets.”
12:11 Is there idolatry in Gilead?
Certainly its inhabitants will come to nothing!
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?
Surely their altars will be like stones heaped up on a plowed field!
Jacob in Aram, Israel in Egypt, and Ephraim in Trouble
12:12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram,
then Israel worked to acquire a wife;
he tended sheep to pay for her.
12:13 The Lord brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet,
and due to a prophet Israel was preserved alive.
12:14 But Ephraim bitterly provoked him to anger;
so he will hold him accountable for the blood he has shed,
his Lord will repay him for the contempt he has shown.
Baal Worshipers and Calf Worshipers to be Destroyed
13:1 When Ephraim spoke, there was terror;
he was exalted in Israel,
but he became guilty by worshiping Baal and died.
13:2 Even now they persist in sin!
They make metal images for themselves,
idols that they skillfully fashion from their own silver;
all of them are nothing but the work of craftsmen!
There is a saying about them:
“Those who sacrifice to the calf idol are calf kissers!”
13:3 Therefore they will disappear like the morning mist,
like early morning dew that evaporates,
like chaff that is blown away from a threshing floor,
like smoke that disappears through an open window.
Well-Fed Israel Will Be Fed to Wild Animals
13:4 But I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of Egypt.
Therefore, you must not acknowledge any God but me;
except me there is no Savior.
13:5 I cared for you in the wilderness,
in the dry desert where no water was.
13:6 When they were fed, they became satisfied;
when they were satisfied, they became proud;
as a result, they forgot me!
13:7 So I will pounce on them like a lion;
like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
13:8 I will attack them like a bear robbed of her cubs –
I will rip open their chests.
I will devour them there like a lion –
like a wild animal would tear them apart.
Israel’s King Unable to Deliver the Nation
13:9 I will destroy you, O Israel!
Who is there to help you?
13:10 Where then is your king,
that he may save you in all your cities?
Where are your rulers for whom you asked, saying,
“Give me a king and princes”?
13:11 I granted you a king in my anger,
and I will take him away in my wrath!
Israel’s Punishment Will Not Be Withheld Much Longer
13:12 The punishment of Ephraim has been decreed;
his punishment is being stored up for the future.
13:13 The labor pains of a woman will overtake him,
but the baby will lack wisdom;
when the time arrives,
he will not come out of the womb!
The Lord Will Not Relent from the Threatened Judgment
13:14 Will I deliver them from the power of Sheol? No, I will not!
Will I redeem them from death? No, I will not!
O Death, bring on your plagues!
O Sheol, bring on your destruction!
My eyes will not show any compassion!
The Capital of the Northern Empire Will Be Destroyed
13:15 Even though he flourishes like a reed plant,
a scorching east wind will come,
a wind from the Lord rising up from the desert.
As a result, his spring will dry up;
his well will become dry.
That wind will spoil all his delightful foods
in the containers in his storehouse.
13:16 (14:1) Samaria will be held guilty,
because she rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword,
their infants will be dashed to the ground –
their pregnant women will be ripped open.
Prophetic Call to Genuine Repentance
14:1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for your sin has been your downfall!
14:2 Return to the Lord and repent!
Say to him: “Completely forgive our iniquity;
accept our penitential prayer,
that we may offer the praise of our lips as sacrificial bulls.
14:3 Assyria cannot save us;
we will not ride warhorses.
We will never again say, ‘Our gods’
to what our own hands have made.
For only you will show compassion to Orphan Israel!”
Divine Promise to Relent from Judgment and to Restore Blessings
14:4 “I will heal their waywardness
and love them freely,
for my anger will turn away from them.
14:5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he will blossom like a lily,
he will send down his roots like a cedar of Lebanon.
14:6 His young shoots will grow;
his splendor will be like an olive tree,
his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
14:7 People will reside again in his shade;
they will plant and harvest grain in abundance.
They will blossom like a vine,
and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon.
14:8 O Ephraim, I do not want to have anything to do with idols anymore!
I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a luxuriant cypress tree;
your fruitfulness comes from me!
Concluding Exhortation
14:9 Who is wise?
Let him discern these things!
Who is discerning?
Let him understand them!
For the ways of the Lord are right;
the godly walk in them,
but in them the rebellious stumble.
