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## Hoshea

### Chapter 1

1YHWH’s word that came to Hoshea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uziyahu, Yotam, Achaz, and Chizkiyahu, kings of Yehudah, and in the days of Yarov'am the son of Yoash, king of Yisrael. 2When YHWH spoke at first by Hoshea, YHWH said to Hoshea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking YHWH.” 3So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and bore him a son. 4YHWH said to him, “Call his name Yizre'el, for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Yizre'el on the house of Yehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Yisrael to cease. 5It will happen in that day that I will break the bow of Yisrael in the valley of Yizre'el.” 6She conceived again, and bore a daughter. Then he said to him, “Call her name Lo-Ruchamah, for I will no longer have chesed on the house of Yisrael, that I should in any way pardon them. 7But I will have chesed on the house of Yehudah, and will save them by YHWH their Elohim, and will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.” 8Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruchamah, she conceived, and bore a son. 9He said, “Call his name Lo-Ami, for you are not my people, and I will not be yours. 10Yet the number of the children of Yisrael will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured or counted; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living Elohim.’ 11The children of Yehudah and the children of Yisrael will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one head, and will go up from the land; for great will be the day of Yizre'el.

### Chapter 2

1“Say to your brothers, ‘My people!’ and to your sisters, ‘My loved one!’ 2Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts; 3lest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst. 4Indeed, on her children I will have no chesed, for they are children of unfaithfulness. 5For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done 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.’ 6Therefore behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can’t find her way. 7She will follow after her lovers, but she won’t overtake them; and she will seek them, but won’t find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now.’ 8For she didn’t know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Ba'al. 9Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness. 10Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand. 11I will also cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Shabbats, and all her solemn assemblies. 12I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me,’ and I will make them a forest, and the animals of the field shall eat them. 13I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burnt incense when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers and forgot me,” says YHWH. 14“Therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 15I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Mitzrayim. 16It will be in that day,” says YHWH, “that you will call me ‘my husband,’ and no longer call me ‘my master.’ 17For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name. 18In that day I will make a Brit for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely. 19I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in chesed, and in compassion. 20I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know YHWH. 21It will happen in that day, that I will respond,” says YHWH. “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth; 22and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Yizre'el. 23I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have chesed on her who had not obtained chesed; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they will say, ‘You are My Elohim!’”

### Chapter 3

1YHWH said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as YHWH loves the children of Yisrael, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins.” 2So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley. 3I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days. You shall not play the prostitute, and you shall not be with any other man. I will also be so towards you.” 4For the children of Yisrael shall live many days without king, without prince, without sacrifice, without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols. 5Afterward the children of Yisrael shall return and seek YHWH their Elohim, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to YHWH and to his blessings in the last days.

### Chapter 4

1Hear YHWH’s word, you children of Yisrael, for YHWH has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “Indeed there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of Elohim in the land. 2There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed. 3Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells in it will waste away, with all living things in her, even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky; yes, the fish of the sea also die. 4“Yet let no man bring a charge, neither let any man accuse; for your people are like those who bring charges against a priest. 5You will stumble in the day, and the prophet will also stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother. 6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten your Elohim’s law, I will also forget your children. 7As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me. I will change their glory into shame. 8They feed on the sin of my people, and set their heart on their iniquity. 9It will be like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them for their deeds. 10They will eat, and not have enough. They will play the prostitute, and will not increase; because they have abandoned listening to YHWH. 11Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding. 12My people consult with their wooden idol, and answer to a stick of wood. Indeed the spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have been unfaithful to their Elohim. 13They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery. 14I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, nor your brides when they commit adultery; because the men consort with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes; so the people without understanding will come to ruin. 15“Though you, Yisrael, play the prostitute, yet don’t let Yehudah offend; and don’t come to Gilgal, neither go up to Beit Aven, nor swear, ‘As YHWH lives.’ 16For Yisrael has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will YHWH feed them like a lamb in a meadow? 17Ephraim is joined to idols. Leave him alone! 18Their drink has become sour. They play the prostitute continually. Her rulers dearly love their shameful way. 19The wind has wrapped her up in its wings; and they shall be disappointed because of their sacrifices.

### Chapter 5

1“Listen to this, you priests! Listen, house of Yisrael, and give ear, house of the king! For the judgement is against you; for you have been a snare at Mitzpah, and a net spread on Tavor. 2The rebels are deep in slaughter, but I discipline all of them. 3I know Ephraim, and Yisrael is not hidden from me; for now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute. Yisrael is defiled. 4Their deeds won’t allow them to turn to their Elohim, for the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they don’t know YHWH. 5The pride of Yisrael testifies to his face. Therefore Yisrael and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity. Yehudah also will stumble with them. 6They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek YHWH, but they won’t find him. He has withdrawn himself from them. 7They are unfaithful to YHWH; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their fields. 8“Blow the cornet in Giv'ah, and the trumpet in Ramah! Sound a battle cry at Beit Aven, behind you, Binyamin! 9Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke. Amongst the tribes of Yisrael, I have made known that which will surely be. 10The princes of Yehudah are like those who remove a landmark. I will pour out my wrath on them like water. 11Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgement, because he is intent in his pursuit of idols. 12Therefore I am to Ephraim like a moth, and to the house of Yehudah like rottenness. 13“When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Yehudah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to King Yarev: but he is not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound. 14For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Yehudah. I myself will tear in pieces and go away. I will carry off, and there will be no one to deliver. 15I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.”

### Chapter 6

1“Come! Let’s return to YHWH; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds. 2After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him. 3Let’s acknowledge YHWH. Let’s press on to know YHWH. As surely as the sun rises, YHWH will appear. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth.” 4“Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Yehudah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears early. 5Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets; I killed them with the words of my mouth. Your judgements are like a flash of lightning. 6For I desire chesed, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of Elohim more than burnt offerings. 7But they, like Adam, have broken the Brit. They were unfaithful to me there. 8Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; it is stained with blood. 9As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man, so the company of priests murder on the path towards Shechem, committing shameful crimes. 10In the house of Yisrael I have seen a horrible thing. There is prostitution in Ephraim. Yisrael is defiled. 11“Also, Yehudah, there is a harvest appointed for you, when I restore the fortunes of my people.

### Chapter 7

1When I would heal Yisrael, then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered, also the wickedness of Shomron; for they commit falsehood, and the thief enters in, and the gang of robbers ravages outside. 2They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own deeds have engulfed them. They are before my face. 3They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. 4They are all adulterers. They are burning like an oven that the baker stops stirring, from the kneading of the dough, until it is leavened. 5On the day of our king, the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine. He joined his hand with mockers. 6For they have prepared their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait. Their anger smoulders all night. In the morning it burns as a flaming fire. 7They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges. All their kings have fallen. There is no one amongst them who calls to me. 8Ephraim mixes himself amongst the nations. Ephraim is a pancake not turned over. 9Strangers have devoured his strength, and he doesn’t realise it. Indeed, grey hairs are here and there on him, and he doesn’t realise it. 10The pride of Yisrael testifies to his face; yet they haven’t returned to YHWH their Elohim, nor sought him, for all this. 11“Ephraim is like an easily deceived dove, without understanding. They call to Mitzrayim. They go to Assyria. 12When they go, I will spread my net on them. I will bring them down like the birds of the sky. I will chastise them, as their congregation has heard. 13Woe to them! For they have wandered from me. Destruction to them! For they have trespassed against me. Though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against me. 14They haven’t cried to me with their heart, but they howl on their beds. They assemble themselves for grain and new wine. They turn away from me. 15Though I have taught and strengthened their arms, yet they plot evil against me. 16They return, but not to the Elyon. They are like a faulty bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Mitzrayim.

### Chapter 8

1“Put the trumpet to your lips! Something like an eagle is over YHWH’s house, because they have broken my Brit and rebelled against my law. 2They cry to me, ‘My Elohim, we, Yisrael, acknowledge you!’ 3Yisrael has cast off that which is good. The enemy will pursue him. 4They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made princes, and I didn’t approve. Of their silver and their gold they have made themselves idols, that they may be cut off. 5Let Shomron throw out his calf idol! My anger burns against them! How long will it be until they are capable of purity? 6For this is even from Yisrael! The workman made it, and it is no Elohim; indeed, the calf of Shomron shall be broken in pieces. 7For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The stalk will yield no head. If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up. 8Yisrael is swallowed up. Now they are amongst the nations like a worthless thing. 9For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has hired lovers for himself. 10But although they sold themselves amongst the nations, I will now gather them; and they begin to waste away because of the oppression of the king of mighty ones. 11Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they became for him altars for sinning. 12I wrote for him the many things of my law, but they were regarded as a strange thing. 13As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but YHWH doesn’t accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins. They will return to Mitzrayim. 14For Yisrael has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; and Yehudah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire on his cities, and it will devour its fortresses.”

### Chapter 9

1Don’t rejoice, Yisrael, to jubilation like the nations; for you were unfaithful to your Elohim. You love the wages of a prostitute at every grain threshing floor. 2The threshing floor and the wine press won’t feed them, and the new wine will fail her. 3They won’t dwell in YHWH’s land; but Ephraim will return to Mitzrayim, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria. 4They won’t pour out wine offerings to YHWH, neither will they be pleasing to him. Their sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat of it will be polluted; for their bread will be for their appetite. It will not come into YHWH’s house. 5What will you do in the day of solemn assembly, and in the day of the feast of YHWH? 6For, behold, when they flee destruction, Mitzrayim will gather them up. Memphis will bury them. Nettles will possess their pleasant things of silver. Thorns will be in their tents. 7The days of visitation have come. The days of reckoning have come. Yisrael will consider the prophet to be a fool, and the man who is inspired to be insane, because of the abundance of your sins, and because your hostility is great. 8A prophet watches over Ephraim with my Elohim. A fowler’s snare is on all of his paths, and hostility in the house of his Elohim. 9They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Giv'ah. He will remember their iniquity. He will punish them for their sins. 10I found Yisrael like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season; but they came to Ba'al Peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved. 11As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird. There will be no birth, no one with child, and no conception. 12Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them, so that not a man shall be left. Indeed, woe also to them when I depart from them! 13I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place; but Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer. 14Give them—YHWH what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. 15“All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated 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. 16Ephraim is struck. Their root has dried up. They will bear no fruit. Even though they give birth, yet I will kill the beloved ones of their womb.” 17My Elohim will cast them away, because they didn’t listen to him; and they will be wanderers amongst the nations.

### Chapter 10

1Yisrael is a luxuriant vine that produces his fruit. According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. As their land has prospered, they have adorned their sacred stones. 2Their heart is divided. Now they will be found guilty. He will demolish their altars. He will destroy their sacred stones. 3Surely now they will say, “We have no king; for we don’t fear YHWH; and the king, what can he do for us?” 4They make promises, swearing falsely in making covenants. Therefore judgement springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field. 5The inhabitants of Shomron will be in terror for the calves of Beit Aven, for its people will mourn over it, along with its priests who rejoiced over it, for its glory, because it has departed from it. 6It also will be carried to Assyria for a present to a great king. Ephraim will receive shame, and Yisrael will be ashamed of his own counsel. 7Shomron and her king float away like a twig on the water. 8The high places also of Aven, the sin of Yisrael, will be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars. They will tell the mountains, “Cover us!” and the hills, “Fall on us!” 9“Yisrael, you have sinned from the days of Giv'ah. There they remained. The battle against the children of iniquity doesn’t overtake them in Giv'ah. 10When it is my desire, I will chastise them; and the nations will be gathered against them when they are bound to their two transgressions. 11Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh, so I will put a yoke on her beautiful neck. I will set a rider on Ephraim. Yehudah will plough. Yaakov will break his clods. 12Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness. Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek YHWH, until he comes and rains righteousness on you. 13You have ploughed wickedness. You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, for you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men. 14Therefore a battle roar will arise amongst your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beit Arbel in the day of battle. The mother was dashed in pieces with her children. 15So Beit El will do to you because of your great wickedness. At daybreak the king of Yisrael will be destroyed.

### Chapter 11

1“When Yisrael was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Mitzrayim. 2They called to them, so they went from them. They sacrificed to the Baals, and burnt incense to engraved images. 3Yet I taught Ephraim to walk. I took them by their arms, but they didn’t know that I healed them. 4I drew them with cords of a man, with ties of love; and I was to them like those who lift up the yoke on their necks; and I bent down to him and I fed him. 5“They won’t return into the land of Mitzrayim; but the Ashuri will be their king, because they refused to repent. 6The sword will fall on their cities, and will destroy the bars of their gates, and will put an end to their plans. 7My people are determined to turn from me. Though they call to the Elyon, he certainly won’t exalt them. 8“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Yisrael? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused. 9I will not execute the fierceness of my anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim, for I am Elohim, and not man—the Kodesh One amongst you. I will not come in wrath. 10They will walk after YHWH, who will roar like a lion; for he will roar, and the children will come trembling from the west. 11They will come trembling like a bird out of Mitzrayim, and like a dove out of the land of Assyria; and I will settle them in their houses,” says YHWH. 12Ephraim surrounds me with falsehood, and the house of Yisrael with deceit. Yehudah still strays from Elohim, and is unfaithful to the Kodesh One.

### Chapter 12

1Ephraim feeds on wind, and chases the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and desolation. They make a Brit with Assyria, and oil is carried into Mitzrayim. 2YHWH also has a controversy with Yehudah, and will punish Yaakov according to his ways; according to his deeds he will repay him. 3In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he contended with Elohim. 4Indeed, he struggled with the malak, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication to him. He found him at Beit El, and there he spoke with us— 5even YHWH, the Elohim Tzeva'ot. YHWH is his name of renown! 6Therefore turn to your Elohim. Keep kindness and justice, and wait continually for your Elohim. 7A merchant has dishonest scales in his hand. He loves to defraud. 8Ephraim said, “Surely I have become rich. I have found myself wealth. In all my wealth they won’t find in me any iniquity that is sin.” 9“But I am YHWH your Elohim from the land of Mitzrayim. I will yet again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast. 10I have also spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the ministry of the prophets I have used parables. 11If Gilead is wicked, surely they are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the field. 12Yaakov fled into the country of Aram. Yisrael served to get a wife. For a wife he tended flocks and herds. 13By a prophet YHWH brought Yisrael up out of Mitzrayim, and by a prophet he was preserved. 14Ephraim has bitterly provoked anger. Therefore his blood will be left on him, and his Adonai will repay his contempt.

### Chapter 13

1When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He exalted himself in Yisrael, but when he became guilty through Ba'al, he died. 2Now they sin more and more, and have made themselves molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, ‘They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves.’ 3Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the dew that passes away early, like the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing floor, and like the smoke out of the chimney. 4“Yet I am YHWH your Elohim from the land of Mitzrayim; and you shall acknowledge no god but me, and besides me there is no Saviour. 5I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. 6According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me. 7Therefore I am like a lion to them. Like a leopard, I will lurk by the path. 8I will meet them like a bear that is bereaved of her cubs, and will tear the covering of their heart. There I will devour them like a lioness. The wild animal will tear them. 9You are destroyed, Yisrael, because you are against me, against your helper. 10Where is your king now, that he may save you in all your cities? And your judges, of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes’? 11I have given you a king in my anger, and have taken him away in my wrath. 12The guilt of Ephraim is stored up. His sin is stored up. 13The sorrows of a travailing woman will come on him. He is an unwise son, for when it is time, he doesn’t come to the opening of the womb. 14I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction? “Compassion will be hidden from my eyes. 15Though he is fruitful amongst his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of YHWH coming up from the wilderness; and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up. He will plunder the storehouse of treasure. 16Shomron will bear her guilt, for she has rebelled against her Elohim. They will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open.”

### Chapter 14

1Yisrael, return to YHWH your Elohim; for you have fallen because of your sin. 2Take words with you, and return to YHWH. Tell him, “Forgive all our sins, and accept that which is good; so we offer bulls as we vowed of our lips. 3Assyria can’t save us. We won’t ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ‘Our gods!’ for in you the fatherless finds chesed.” 4“I will heal their waywardness. I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from them. 5I will be like the dew to Yisrael. He will blossom like the lily, and send down his roots like Lebanon. 6His branches will spread, and his beauty will be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon. 7Men will dwell in his shade. They will revive like the grain, and blossom like the vine. Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon. 8Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? I answer, and will take care of him. I am like a green cypress tree; from me your fruit is found.” 9Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of YHWH are right, and the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.

## KWS — KodeshWay Scriptures

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