The Lord's Relentless Judgment on Israel

Hosea 13

1 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
b he was exalted in Israel,
but he incurred guilt c through Baal and died.
 2 And now they sin more and more,
and d make for themselves metal images,
idols skillfully made of their silver,
e all of them the work of craftsmen.
It is said of them,
"Those who offer human sacrifice f kiss calves!"
 3 Therefore they shall be g like the morning mist
or g like the dew that goes early away,
h like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor
or i like smoke from a window.

4 But j I am the Lord your God
from the land of Egypt;
k you know no God but me,
and l besides me there is no savior.
 5 m It was I who knew you in the wilderness,
in the land of drought;
 6 n but when they had grazed, 1 they became full,
o they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;
o therefore they forgot me.
 7 So p I am to them like a lion;
q like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
 8 I will fall upon them r like a bear robbed of her cubs;
I will tear open their breast,
and there I will devour them like a lion,
s as a wild beast would rip them open.

9 He destroys 2 you, O Israel,
for you are against me, against t your helper.
 10 u Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?
Where are all your rulers -
those of whom v you said,
"Give me a king and princes"?
 11 w I gave you a king in my anger,
and x I took him away in my wrath.

12 The iniquity of Ephraim is y bound up;
his sin is y kept in store.
 13 z The pangs of childbirth come for him,
but he is an unwise son,
for at the right time he does not present himself
a at the opening of the womb.

14 b Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?
b Shall I redeem them from Death?
c O d Death, where are your plagues?
c O d Sheol, where is your sting?
e Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

15 Though f he may flourish among his brothers,
g the east wind, the wind of the Lord, shall come,
rising from the wilderness,
h and his fountain shall dry up;
his spring shall be parched;
it shall strip i his treasury
of every precious thing.
 16 3 Samaria j shall bear her guilt,
because k she has rebelled against her God;
they shall fall by the sword;
l their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,
and their m pregnant women ripped open.

  1. Cross References
    Amos 6:13
    You who rejoice in Lo-debar, who say, "Have we not by our own strength captured Karnaim for ourselves?
  2. Cross References
    Hosea 11:2
    The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.
  3. Cross References
    Hosea 2:8
    And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.
  4. Cross References
    Psalms 115:4
    Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
    Isaiah 40:19 - 20
    An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.
  5. Cross References
    1 Kings 19:18
    Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.
    Job 31:26 - 27
    If I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor.
  6. Cross References
    Hosea 6:4
    What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.
  7. Cross References
    Hosea 6:4
    What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.
  8. Cross References
    Psalms 1:4
    The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
  9. Cross References
    Psalms 68:2
    As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God!
  10. Cross References
    Hosea 12:9
    I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; I will again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast.
  11. Cross References
    Exodus 20:3
    You shall have no other gods before me.
  12. Cross References
    Isaiah 43:11
    I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior.
    Isaiah 45:21
    Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord ? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.
  13. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 2:7
    For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing."
    Amos 3:2
    You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
  14. Cross References
    Hosea 4:7
    The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame.
  15. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 8:12
    Lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them.
    Deuteronomy 8:14
    Then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
    Deuteronomy 32:15
    But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
  16. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 8:12
    Lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them.
    Deuteronomy 8:14
    Then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
    Deuteronomy 32:15
    But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
  17. Cross References
    Hosea 5:14
    For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.
  18. Cross References
    Jeremiah 5:6
    Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down; a wolf from the desert shall devastate them. A leopard is watching their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great.
  19. Cross References
    2 Samuel 17:8
    Hushai said, "You know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war; he will not spend the night with the people.
    Proverbs 17:12
    Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly.
  20. Cross References
    Hosea 2:12
    And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, 'These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.' I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them.
  21. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 33:26
    There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty.
  22. Cross References
    Hosea 8:4
    They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.
    Hosea 10:3
    For now they will say: "We have no king, for we do not fear the Lord ; and a king - what could he do for us?
  23. Cross References
    1 Samuel 8:5
    And said to him, "Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.
    1 Samuel 8:19
    But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, "No! But there shall be a king over us.
  24. Cross References
    1 Samuel 8:22
    And the Lord said to Samuel, "Obey their voice and make them a king." Samuel then said to the men of Israel, "Go every man to his city.
  25. Cross References
    1 Samuel 15:23
    For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.
  26. Cross References
    Job 14:17
    My transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.
  27. Cross References
    Job 14:17
    My transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.
  28. Cross References
    Isaiah 13:8
    They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.
    1 Thessalonians 5:3
    While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
  29. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:3
    They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth.
  30. Cross References
    Isaiah 25:8
    He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.
    Isaiah 26:19
    Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.
    Ezekiel 37:12
    Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God : Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel.
  31. Cross References
    Isaiah 25:8
    He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.
    Isaiah 26:19
    Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.
    Ezekiel 37:12
    Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God : Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel.
  32. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 15:55
    "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
  33. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 15:55
    "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
  34. Cross References
    Ezekiel 14:21
    For thus says the Lord God : How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!
  35. Cross References
    Ezekiel 14:21
    For thus says the Lord God : How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!
  36. Cross References
    Ezekiel 9:10
    As for me, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will bring their deeds upon their heads.
  37. Cross References
    Genesis 41:52
    The name of the second he called Ephraim, "For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.
  38. Cross References
    Ezekiel 19:12
    But the vine was plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground; the east wind dried up its fruit; they were stripped off and withered. As for its strong stem, fire consumed it.
    Jonah 4:8
    When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, "It is better for me to die than to live.
    Habakkuk 1:9
    They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand.
  39. Cross References
    Ezekiel 17:10
    Behold, it is planted; will it thrive? Will it not utterly wither when the east wind strikes it - wither away on the bed where it sprouted?
  40. Cross References
    Hosea 12:8
    Ephraim has said, "Ah, but I am rich; I have found wealth for myself; in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin.
  41. Cross References
    Habakkuk 1:11
    Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!
  42. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:12
    Because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.
  43. Cross References
    Hosea 9:12
    Even if they bring up children, I will bereave them till none is left. Woe to them when I depart from them!
    Hosea 10:14
    Therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle; mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
  44. Cross References
    2 Kings 8:12
    And Hazael said, "Why does my lord weep?" He answered, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.
    2 Kings 15:16
    At that time Menahem sacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on, because they did not open it to him. Therefore he sacked it, and he ripped open all the women in it who were pregnant.
    Amos 1:13
    Thus says the Lord : "For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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