1The word of the LORD that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of aUzziah, bJotham, cAhaz, and dHezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of eJeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
The Family of Hosea
2When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea:
f“Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry
And children of harlotry,
For gthe land has committed great 1harlotry
By departing from the LORD.”
3So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4Then the LORD said to him:
“Call his name Jezreel,
For in a little while
hI will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu,
iAnd bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5jIt shall come to pass in that day
That I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him:
“Call her name 2Lo-Ruhamah,
kFor I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel,
3But I will utterly take them away.
7lYet I will have mercy on the house of Judah,
Will save them by the LORD their God,
And mwill not save them by bow,
Nor by sword or battle,
By horses or horsemen.”
8Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.
9Then God said:
The Restoration of Israel
10“Yet nthe number of the children of Israel
Shall be as the sand of the sea,
Which cannot be measured or numbered.
oAnd it shall come to pass
In the place where it was said to them,
There it shall be said to them,
‘You are qsons of the living God.’
11rThen the children of Judah and the children of Israel
Shall be gathered together,
And appoint for themselves one head;
And they shall come up out of the land,
For great will be the day of Jezreel!
God’s Unfaithful People
2“Bring3 charges against your mother, 4bring charges;
For ashe is not My wife, nor am I her Husband!
Let her put away her bharlotries from her sight,
And her adulteries from between her breasts;
And expose her, as in the day she was dborn,
And make her like a wilderness,
And set her like a dry land,
And slay her with ethirst.
4“I will not have mercy on her children,
For they are the fchildren of harlotry.
5For their mother has played the harlot;
She who conceived them has behaved shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
gWho give me my bread and my water,
My wool and my linen,
My oil and my drink.’
6“Therefore, behold,
hI will hedge up your way with thorns,
And 5wall her in,
So that she cannot find her paths.
7She will 6chase her lovers,
But not overtake them;
Yes, she will seek them, but not find them.
Then she will say,
i‘I will go and return to my jfirst husband,
For then it was better for me than now.’
8For she did not kknow
That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil,
And multiplied her silver and gold—
Which they prepared for Baal. The Baal in Hosea
9“Therefore I will return and take away
My grain in its time
And My new wine in its season,
And will take back My wool and My linen,
Given to cover her nakedness.
10Now lI will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,
And no one shall deliver her from My hand.
11mI will also cause all her mirth to cease,
Her feast days,
Her New Moons,
Her Sabbaths—
All her appointed feasts.
12“And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,
Of which she has said,
‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me.’
So I will make them a forest,
And the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13I will punish her
For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense.
She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry,
And went after her lovers;
But Me she forgot,” says the LORD.
God’s Mercy on His People
14“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
Will bring her into the wilderness,
And speak 7comfort to her.
15I will give her her vineyards from there,
And nthe Valley of Achor as a door of hope;
She shall sing there,
As in othe days of her youth,
pAs in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
16“And it shall be, in that day,”
Says the LORD,
“That you will call Me 8‘My Husband,’
And no longer call Me 9‘My Master,’
17For qI will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more.
18In that day I will make a rcovenant for them
With the beasts of the field,
With the birds of the air,
And with the creeping things of the ground.
Bow and sword of battle sI will shatter from the earth,
To make them tlie down safely.
19“I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
20I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And uyou shall know the LORD.
21“It shall come to pass in that day
That vI will answer,” says the LORD;
“I will answer the heavens,
And they shall answer the earth.
22The earth shall answer
With grain,
With new wine,
And with oil;
They shall answer 10Jezreel.
23Then wI will sow her for Myself in the earth,
xAnd I will have mercy on her who had 11not obtained mercy;
Then yI will say to those who were 12not My people,
‘You are 13My people!’
And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’ ”
Israel Will Return to God
1Then the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a alover1 and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.”
2So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley.
3And I said to her, “You shall bstay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.”
4For the children of Israel shall abide many days cwithout king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without dephod or eteraphim.
5Afterward the children of Israel shall return and fseek the LORD their God and gDavid their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the hlatter days.
God’s Charge Against Israel
1Hear the word of the LORD,
You children of Israel,
For the LORD brings a acharge1 against the inhabitants of the land:
“There is no truth or mercy
Or bknowledge of God in the land.
2By swearing and lying,
Killing and stealing and committing adultery,
They break all restraint,
With bloodshed 2upon bloodshed.
3Therefore cthe land will mourn;
And deveryone who dwells there will waste away
With the beasts of the field
And the birds of the air;
Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.
4“Now let no man contend, or rebuke another;
For your people are like those ewho contend with the priest.
5Therefore you shall stumble fin the day;
The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night;
And I will destroy your mother.
6gMy people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being priest for Me;
hBecause you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
7“The more they increased,
The more they sinned against Me;
iI3 will change 4their glory into shame.
8They eat up the sin of My people;
They set their 5heart on their iniquity.
9And it shall be: jlike people, like priest.
So I will punish them for their ways,
And 6reward them for their deeds.
10For kthey shall eat, but not have enough;
They shall commit harlotry, but not increase;
Because they have ceased obeying the LORD.
The Idolatry of Israel
11“Harlotry, wine, and new wine lenslave the heart.
12My people ask counsel from their mwooden idols,
And their 7staff informs them.
For nthe spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray,
And they have played the harlot against their God.
13oThey offer sacrifices on the mountaintops,
And burn incense on the hills,
Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths,
Because their shade is good.
pTherefore your daughters commit harlotry,
And your brides commit adultery.
14“I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry,
Nor your brides when they commit adultery;
For the men themselves go apart with harlots,
And offer sacrifices with a qritual harlot.
Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled.
15“Though you, Israel, play the harlot,
Let not Judah offend.
rDo not come up to Gilgal,
tNor swear an oath, saying, ‘As the LORD lives’—
16“For Israel uis stubborn
Like a stubborn calf;
Now the LORD will let them forage
Like a lamb in 9open country.
17“Ephraim is joined to idols,
vLet him alone.
18Their drink 10is rebellion,
They commit harlotry continually.
wHer 11rulers 12dearly love dishonor.
19xThe wind has wrapped her up in its wings,
And ythey shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
Impending Judgment on Israel and Judah
1“Hear this, O priests!
Take heed, O house of Israel!
Give ear, O house of the king!
For 1yours is the judgment,
Because ayou have been a snare to Mizpah
And a net spread on Tabor.
2The revolters are bdeeply involved in slaughter,
Though I rebuke them all.
3cI know Ephraim,
And Israel is not hidden from Me;
For now, O Ephraim, dyou commit harlotry;
Israel is defiled.
4“They2 do not direct their deeds
Toward turning to their God,
For ethe spirit of harlotry is in their midst,
And they do not know the LORD.
5The fpride of Israel testifies to his face;
Therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;
Judah also stumbles with them.
6“With their flocks and herds
gThey shall go to seek the LORD,
But they will not find Him;
He has withdrawn Himself from them.
7They have hdealt treacherously with the LORD,
For they have begotten 3pagan children.
Now a New Moon shall devour them and their heritage.
8“Blowi the ram’s horn in Gibeah,
The trumpet in Ramah!
‘Look behind you, O Benjamin!’
9Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke;
Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.
10“The princes of Judah are like those who lremove a landmark;
I will pour out My wrath on them like water.
11Ephraim is moppressed and broken in judgment,
Because he willingly walked by nhuman precept.
12Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth,
And to the house of Judah olike rottenness.
13“When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah saw his pwound,
Then Ephraim went qto Assyria
And sent to King Jareb;
Yet he cannot cure you,
Nor heal you of your wound.
14For rI will be like a lion to Ephraim,
And like a young lion to the house of Judah.
sI, even I, will tear them and go away;
I will take them away, and no one shall rescue.
15I will return again to My place
Till they 4acknowledge their offense.
Then they will seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”
A Call to Repentance
1Come,a and let us return to the LORD;
For bHe has torn, but cHe will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will 1bind us up.
2dAfter two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD.
His going forth is established fas the morning;
gHe will come to us hlike the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth.
Impenitence of Israel and Judah
4“O Ephraim, what shall I do to you?
O Judah, what shall I do to you?
For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud,
And like the early dew it goes away.
5Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
I have slain them by ithe words of My mouth;
And 2your judgments are like light that goes forth.
6For I desire jmercy3 and knot sacrifice,
And the lknowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7“But like 4men they transgressed the covenant;
There they dealt treacherously with Me.
8mGilead is a city of evildoers
And 5defiled with blood.
9As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man,
So the company of npriests omurder on the way to Shechem;
Surely they commit plewdness.
10I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:
There is the 6harlotry of Ephraim;
Israel is defiled.
11Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you,
When I return the captives of My people.
1“When I would have healed Israel,
Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered,
And the wickedness of Samaria.
For athey have committed fraud;
A thief comes in;
A band of robbers 1takes spoil outside.
2They 2do not consider in their hearts
That bI remember all their wickedness;
Now their own deeds have surrounded them;
They are before My face.
3They make a cking glad with their wickedness,
And princes dwith their lies.
Like an oven heated by a baker—
He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough,
Until it is leavened.
5In the day of our king
Princes have made him sick, 3inflamed with fwine;
He stretched out his hand with scoffers.
6They prepare their heart like an oven,
While they lie in wait;
4Their baker sleeps all night;
In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
7They are all hot, like an oven,
And have devoured their judges;
All their kings have fallen.
gNone among them calls upon Me.
8“Ephraim hhas mixed himself among the peoples;
Ephraim is a cake unturned.
9iAliens 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.
10And the jpride of Israel testifies to his face,
But kthey do not return to the LORD their God,
Nor seek Him for all this.
Futile Reliance on the Nations
11“Ephraiml also is like a silly dove, without 5sense—
mThey call to Egypt,
They go to nAssyria.
12Wherever they go, I will ospread My net on them;
I will bring them down like birds of the air;
I will chastise them
pAccording to what their congregation has heard. Image
13“Woe to them, for they have fled from Me!
Destruction to them,
Because they have transgressed against Me!
Though qI redeemed them,
Yet they have spoken lies against Me.
14rThey did not cry out to Me with their heart
When they wailed upon their beds.
“They 6assemble together for grain and new swine,
7They rebel against Me;
15Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms,
Yet they devise evil against Me;
16They return, but not 8to the Most High;
tThey are like a treacherous bow.
Their princes shall fall by the sword
For the ucursings of their tongue.
This shall be their derision vin the land of Egypt.
The Apostasy of Israel
1“Set the 1trumpet to your mouth!
He shall come alike an eagle against the house of the LORD,
Because they have transgressed My covenant
And rebelled against My law.
2bIsrael will cry to Me,
‘My God, cwe know You!’
3Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
4“Theyd 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.
5Your 2calf 3is rejected, O Samaria!
My anger is aroused against them—
eHow long until they attain to innocence?
6For from Israel is even this:
A fworkman made it, and it is not God;
But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.
7“Theyg sow the wind,
And reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no bud;
It shall never produce meal.
If it should produce,
hAliens would swallow it up.
8iIsrael is swallowed up;
Now they are among the Gentiles
jLike a vessel in which is no pleasure.
9For they have gone up to Assyria,
Like ka wild donkey alone by itself;
Ephraim lhas hired lovers.
10Yes, though they have hired among the nations,
Now mI will gather them;
And they shall 4sorrow a little,
Because of the 5burden of nthe king of princes.
11“Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin,
They have become for him altars for sinning.
12I have written for him othe great things of My law,
But they were considered a strange thing.
13For the sacrifices of My offerings pthey sacrifice flesh and eat it,
qBut the LORD does not accept them.
rNow He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
They shall return to Egypt.
14“Fors Israel has forgotten this Maker,
And has built 6temples;
Judah also has multiplied ufortified cities;
But vI will send fire upon his cities,
And it shall devour his 7palaces.”
Judgment of Israel’s Sin
1Doa not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples,
For you have played the harlot against your God.
You have made love for bhire on every threshing floor.
2The threshing floor and the winepress
Shall not feed them,
And the new wine shall fail in her.
3They shall not dwell in cthe LORD’s land,
dBut Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
And eshall eat unclean things in Assyria.
4They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD,
Nor fshall their gsacrifices 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.
5What will you do in the appointed day,
And in the day of the feast of the LORD?
6For indeed they are gone because of destruction.
Egypt shall gather them up;
Memphis shall bury them.
hNettles shall possess their valuables of silver;
Thorns shall be in their tents.
7The idays of punishment have come;
The days of recompense have come.
Israel knows!
The prophet is a jfool,
kThe spiritual man is insane,
Because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity.
8The lwatchman of Ephraim is with my God;
But the prophet is a 1fowler’s snare in all his ways—
Enmity in the house of his God.
As in the days of nGibeah.
He will remember their iniquity;
He will punish their sins.
10“I found Israel
Like grapes in the owilderness;
I saw your fathers
As the pfirstfruits on the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to qBaal Peor,
And 2separated themselves to that shame;
rThey became an abomination like the thing they loved.
11As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird—
No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!
12Though they bring up their children,
Yet I will bereave them to the last man.
Yes, swoe to them when I depart from them!
13Just tas I saw Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place,
So Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer.”
14Give them, O LORD—
What will You give?
Give them ua miscarrying womb
And dry breasts!
15“All their wickedness is in vGilgal,
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.
wAll their princes are rebellious.
16Ephraim is xstricken,
Their root is dried up;
They shall bear no fruit.
Yes, were they to bear children,
I would kill the darlings of their womb.”
17My God will ycast them away,
Because they did not obey Him;
And they shall be zwanderers among the nations.
Israel’s Sin and Captivity
He brings forth fruit for himself.
According to the multitude of his fruit
bHe has increased the altars;
According to the bounty of his land
They have embellished his sacred pillars.
Now they are held guilty.
He will break down their altars;
He will ruin their sacred pillars.
3For 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?”
4They have spoken words,
Swearing falsely in making a covenant.
Thus judgment springs up dlike hemlock in the furrows of the field.
5The inhabitants of Samaria fear
Because of the ecalf2 of Beth Aven.
For its people mourn for it,
And 3its priests shriek for it—
Because its fglory has departed from it.
6The idol also shall be carried to Assyria
As a present for King gJareb.
Ephraim shall receive shame,
And Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
7As for Samaria, her king is cut off
Like a twig on the water.
8Also the hhigh places of 4Aven, ithe sin of Israel,
Shall be destroyed.
The thorn and thistle shall grow on their altars;
jThey shall say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
And to the hills, “Fall on us!”
9“O Israel, you have sinned from the days of kGibeah;
There they stood.
The lbattle in Gibeah against the children of 5iniquity
Did not 6overtake them.
10When it is My desire, I will chasten them.
mPeoples shall be gathered against them
When I bind them 7for their two transgressions.
11Ephraim is na trained heifer
That loves to thresh grain;
But I harnessed her fair neck,
I will make Ephraim 8pull a plow.
Judah shall plow;
Jacob shall break his clods.”
12Sow for yourselves righteousness;
Reap in mercy;
oBreak up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the LORD,
Till He pcomes and rains righteousness on you.
13qYou 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.
14Therefore tumult shall arise among your people,
And all your fortresses shall be plundered
As Shalman plundered Beth Arbel in the day of battle—
A mother dashed in pieces upon her children.
15Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
Because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel
Shall be cut off utterly.
God’s Continuing Love for Israel
1“When Israel was a 1child, I loved him,
And out of Egypt aI called My bson.
22As they called them,
They sacrificed to the Baals,
And burned incense to carved images.
3“Id taught Ephraim to walk,
Taking them by 4their arms;
But they did not know that eI healed them.
4I drew them with 5gentle cords,
With bands of love,
And fI was to them as those who take the yoke from their 6neck.
gI stooped and fed them.
5“He shall not return to the land of Egypt;
But the Assyrian shall be his king,
Because they refused to repent.
6And the sword shall slash in his cities,
Devour his districts,
And consume them,
Because of their own counsels.
7My people are bent on hbacksliding from Me.
Though 7they call 8to the Most High,
None at all exalt Him.
8“Howi can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I make you like jAdmah?
How can I set you like Zeboiim?
My heart 9churns within Me;
My sympathy is stirred.
9I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim.
kFor I am God, and not man,
The Holy One in your midst;
And I will not 10come with terror.
10“They shall walk after the LORD.
lHe will roar like a lion.
When He roars,
Then His sons shall come trembling from the west;
11They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt,
mLike a dove from the land of Assyria.
nAnd I will let them dwell in their houses,”
Says the LORD.
God’s Charge Against Ephraim
12“Ephraim has encircled Me with lies,
And the house of Israel with deceit;
But Judah still walks with God,
Even with the 11Holy One who is faithful.
And pursues the east wind;
He daily increases lies and 1desolation.
bAlso they make a 2covenant with the Assyrians,
And coil is carried to Egypt.
2“Thed LORD also brings a 3charge against Judah,
And will punish Jacob according to his ways;
According to his deeds He will recompense him.
3He took his brother eby the heel in the womb,
And in his strength he fstruggled with God.
4Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed;
He wept, and sought favor from Him.
He found Him in gBethel,
And there He spoke to us—
5That is, the LORD God of hosts.
The LORD is His hmemorable name.
6iSo you, by the help of your God, return;
Observe mercy and justice,
And wait on your God continually.
jDeceitful scales are in his hand;
He loves to oppress.
8And Ephraim said,
k‘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.’
9“But I am the LORD your God,
Ever since the land of Egypt;
lI will again make you dwell in tents,
As in the days of the appointed feast.
10mI have also spoken by the prophets,
And have multiplied visions;
I have given 5symbols 6through the witness of the prophets.”
Surely they are 7vanity—
Though they sacrifice bulls in oGilgal,
Indeed their altars shall be heaps in the furrows of the field.
12Jacob pfled to the country of Syria;
qIsrael served for a spouse,
And for a wife he tended sheep.
13rBy a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt,
And by a prophet he was preserved.
14Ephraim sprovoked Him to anger most bitterly;
Therefore his Lord will leave the guilt of his bloodshed upon him,
tAnd return his reproach upon him.
Relentless Judgment on Israel
1When Ephraim spoke, trembling,
He exalted himself in Israel;
But when he offended through Baal worship, he died.
2Now 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 of them,
“Let 1the men who sacrifice 2kiss the calves!”
3Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud
And like the early dew that passes away,
aLike chaff blown off from a threshing floor
And like smoke from a chimney.
4“Yet bI am the LORD your God
Ever since the land of Egypt,
And you shall know no God but Me;
For cthere is no savior besides Me.
5dI 3knew you in the wilderness,
eIn the land of 4great drought.
6fWhen they had pasture, they were filled;
They were filled and their heart was exalted;
Therefore they forgot Me.
7“So gI will be to them like a lion;
Like ha leopard by the road I will lurk;
8I will meet them ilike a bear deprived of her cubs;
I will tear open their rib cage,
And there I will devour them like a lion.
The 5wild beast shall tear them.
9“O Israel, 6you are destroyed,
But 7your help is from Me.
108I will be your King;
jWhere is any other,
That he may save you in all your cities?
And your judges to whom kyou said,
‘Give me a king and princes’?
11lI gave you a king in My anger,
And took him away in My wrath.
12“Them iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
His sin is stored up.
13nThe 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.
14“I will ransom them from the 9power of 10the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
oO Death, 11I will be your plagues!
O 12Grave, 13I will be your destruction!
pPity is hidden from My eyes.”
15Though he is fruitful among his brethren,
qAn 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.
For she has rrebelled against her God.
They shall fall by the sword,
Their infants shall be dashed in pieces,
And their women with child sripped open.
Israel Restored at Last
1O Israel, areturn to the LORD your God,
For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;
2Take words with you,
And return to the LORD.
Say to Him,
“Take away all iniquity;
Receive us graciously,
For we will offer the bsacrifices1 of our lips.
3Assyria shall cnot save us,
dWe will not ride on horses,
Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands,
‘You are our gods.’
eFor in You the fatherless finds mercy.”
4“I will heal their fbacksliding,
I will glove them freely,
For My anger has turned away from him.
5I will be like the hdew to Israel;
He shall 2grow like the lily,
And 3lengthen his roots like Lebanon.
iHis beauty shall be like an olive tree,
And jhis fragrance like Lebanon.
7kThose who dwell under his shadow shall return;
They shall be revived like grain,
And 5grow like a vine.
Their 6scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
8“Ephraim shall say,
‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’
I have heard and observed him.
I am like a green cypress tree;
lYour fruit is found in Me.”
9Who is wise?
Let him understand these things.
Who is prudent?
Let him know them.
For mthe ways of the LORD are right;
The righteous walk in them,
But transgressors stumble in them.