II.

1.

Complaint of corrupt manners, violence, and political misconduct.

WHEN I was about to deliver my people from captivity,
When I would have healed Israel,

Then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered,

And the wickedness of Samaria;

For they practise fraud, and the thief entereth in,
And the band of robbers spoileth without.

2. And they think not in their hearts,

That I remember all their wickedness.
Now shall their doings encompass them;
They are before my face.

3. With their wickedness they gladden the king,
And with their falsehoods the princes;

All of them are adulterers.

4. They are as an oven heated by the baker;

He ceaseth to stir the fire,

Until the dough, which he hath kneaded, be leavened.

5. On the feast-day of our king, the princes are sick with the heat of wine,

And he stretcheth out his hand with revilers.

6. For they make ready their heart like an oven, while they lie in

wait;

All night the baker sleepeth;

In the morning it gloweth like a flaming fire.

7. They all glow as an oven; they have devoured their judges; All their kings have fallen;

And none among them calleth upon me.

8. Ephraim hath mixed himself with the nations; Ephraim is a cake not turned.

9. Strangers have devoured his strength,

And he knoweth it not;

10. The pride of Israel testifieth to his face;

Yet do they not return to the LORD their God,
Nor seek him for all this.

11. Ephraim is like a silly dove, without understanding;
They call upon Egypt; they go to Assyria.

12. When they go, I will spread my net over them; As birds of heaven will I bring them down

I will chastise them, as hath been proclaimed in their

gation.

congre

HOSEA.

13. Woe to them, for they have wandered from me!

63

Though I myself would redeem them, they speak falsely to me. 14. They cry not to me from their heart,

But howl upon their beds;

For corn and wine they assemble themselves;

They rebel against me.

15. I have chastened them; I have also strengthened their arms;

Yet do they devise evil against me.

16. They return, but not to the Most High;

They are like a deceitful bow;

Their princes shall fall by the sword for the haughtiness of their tongues

This shall be their reproach in the land of Egypt.

III.

(Chap. VII.)

Complaint of idolatry in Israel, and threats of punishment on account

1.

of their reliance upon foreign nations.

PUT the trumpet to thy mouth!

Like an eagle cometh an enemy against the house of the LORD,
Because they have transgressed my covenant,

And have rebelled against my law.

2. They shall say to me,

My God, we know thee, we, thine Israel!

3. Israel hath cast away what is good;

The enemy shall pursue him.

4. They have set up kings but not by me;

They have made princes, but I knew it not.

Of their silver and gold they have made themselves idols,
That they may be brought to destruction.

5. An abomination is thy calf, O Samaria!

Mine anger is kindled against them;

How long will it be ere they can attain to purity!

6. For from Israel it came;

The workman made it, and it is no God;

Yea, into fragraments shall the calf of Samaria be broken.

7. They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.

(Chap. VIII; 1-7.)

Ephraim compasseth me about with falsehood,

8.

And the house of Israel with deceit;

Judah also is inconstant toward God,

Toward the holy and faithful One.

9. Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind; Every day he multiplieth falsehood and violence;

They make a league with Assyria,

And oil is carried into Egypt.

10. Therefore the LORD hath a controversy with Israel,

And he will punish Jacob for his ways,

And requite him according to his doings.

(Chap. XII; 1—2.)

11. Yet I, the LORD, have been thy God from the land of Egypt,

And thou hast known no God but me;

Yea, there was no saviour besides me.

12. I cared for thee in the desert, in the land of great drought.

As they were fed, so they were filled;

They were filled, and their heart was lifted up;
Therefore they forgot me.

(Chap. XIII; 4-6.)

13. Therefore turn thou to thy God;

Observe mercy and justice, and hope in thy God always!

(Chapt XII; 6.)

IV.

1.

Israel's ingratitude, and its punishment. Promise of restoration. WHEN Israel was a child, I loved him,

And called my son out of Egypt.

2. But they turned away from those that called them,

They sacrificed to images of Baal; they burned incense to idols. 3. I helped Ephraim to go, yea, I took them up in my arms; ; Yet they marked not that I healed them.

4. I drew them with human cords, with bands of love;

I was to them as those who lift up the yoke from their jaws;
I dealt gently with them and gave them food.

5. They shall no more go down to Egypt;
For the Assyrain shall be their king,
Because they refuse to return to me.

6. The sword shall fall upon their cities,
It shall consume their bars, and devour
Because of their devices.

7. For my people persevere in turning away from me:
Though they are called to the Most High,

9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim ;

For I am God, and not man,

The Holy One in the midst of thee, And I will not come in anger. 10. They shall walk after the LORD, 11. They shall hasten as a bird from Egypt, And as a dove from the land of Assyria,

12.

And I will place them in their houses, saith the LORD.

(Chap; 1-11.)

I will ransom them from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death;

O Death where is thy plague?

O Grave, where is thy destruction?

Repentance is not hidden from mine eyes.

V.

(Chap; XIII: 14.)

1.

Exhortation to repentance, and promise of the future
favor of God.

COME, and let us return to the LORD!
For he hath torn, and he will heal us;
He hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
2. After two days will he revive us;
On the third day he will raise us up,
And we shall live in his presence.

3. Let us, therefore, know him;
Let us ever strive to know the LORD
His coming forth is sure as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain;

4.

Like the latter rain which watereth the earth.

Return, O Israel to the LORD thy God;
For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

(Chap; VI.)

5. Take with you words, and return to the LORD, saying,
"Forgive all our iniquity, and receive us graciously.
And we will render to thee the sacrifices of our lips!
6. Assyria shall not help us; we wil not ride on horses;
And no more will we say to the work of our hands,
Ye are our Gods!

For from thee the fatherless obtaineth mercy.

7.

"I will heal their rebellion; I will love them freely;

For my anger is turned away from them.

8. I will be as the dew to Israel; he shall blossom as the lily, And strike his roots like Lebanon.

9. His sprouts shall spread forth,

And his beauty shall be as the olive-tree,

And his fragrance as Lebanon.

10. They that dwell under his shadow shall revive as the corn; They shall shoot forth as the vine;

Their name shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

11. Ephraim shall say, What have I more to do with idols? I will hear him; I will be like a green cypress-tree; From me shall thy fruit be found."

12.

Who is wise, that he may understand these things,
Prudent, that he may know them?
For the ways of the LORD are right,
And the righteous walk in them;
But in them transgressors stumble.

(Chap. XIV.)

MICAH.

About 745-702, B. C. E.

I.

Punishment threatened on account of injustice and corruption. The preacher of righteousness has no hearing; the frivolous are the favorite prophets. Various sins of the people denounced. Concerning the false prophets.

1. THE word of the LORD which came to Micah, the Morasthite; in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which was revealed to him concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Hear all ye nations,

2.

Give ear, O earth, and all that is therein !

The LORD the Eternal, appeareth as a witness against you,
The LORD from his holy palace.

3. For the transgression of Jacob is all this,

And for the sin of the house of Israel.

(Chap. I; 1-3.)