HOSEA.
1 The word of Yahweh which came unto Hosea son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah,—and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel.
2 The beginning of the word of Yahweh with Hosea was,—that Yahweh said unto Hosea, Go take thee a woman of unchastity and the children of unchastity, for unchastely indeed hath the land been going away from following Yahweh.
3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim,—and she conceived and bare him a son.
4 Then said Yahweh unto him, Call his name Jezreël: for yet a little and I will visit the bloodshed of Jezreël upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5 And it shall come to pass in that day that I will break the bow of Israel, in the vale of Jezreël.
6 Then conceived she again and bare a daughter, and he said to him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah [“Uncompassionated”],—for not again any more will I have compassion upon the house of Israel, that I should forgive them;
7 but on the house of Judah will I have compassion, and I will save them as Yahweh their God,—but will not save them by bow or by sword or by battle, by horses or by horsemen.
8 And when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah she conceived and bare a son.
9 Then said he, Call his name Lo-ammi [“No people of mine”],—for ye are Lo-ammi [“No people of mine”], and I will not be yours.
10 Yet shall the number of the sons of Israel become like the sand of the sea, which can neither be measured nor numbered,—and it shall come to pass in the place where it used to be said to them No people of mine are ye it shall be said to them Sons of a Living God!
11 Then shall the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel gather themselves together as one, and shall appoint them one head and come up out of the earth,—for great shall be the day of Jezreël.
2 Say ye unto your brethren, O Ammi [“O my people”], And unto your sisters, O Ruhamah [“O compassionated one”]:
2 Contend ye with your mother, contend, For she is no wife of mine, And I am no husband of hers, Let her then put away her paramours from before her, And her partners in adultery from her embraces:
3 Lest I strip off her under-clothing, And set her forth to view as in the day she was born,—And make her like a wilderness And render her like a land that is parched, And suffer her to die of thirst;
4 And on her children not have compassion,—Because the children of paramours they are.
5 For their mother hath been unchaste, And she that conceived them hath caused shame,—For she said, Let me go after my lovers! who used to give my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.
6 Therefore behold me! hedging up her way with thorns,—And I will wall her in, and her footpaths shall she not find.
7 And when she shall pursue her lovers and not overtake them, And shall seek them and not find Then will she say, Let me go my way now! and return unto my first husband, For it was better with me then than now!
8 But she owneth not, that I gave her—the corn and the new wine and the oil,—silver also increased I unto her and gold—[which] they offered to Baal!
9 Therefore will I again take away my corn in the time thereof, And my new wine in the season thereof,—And will recover my wool and my flax [given] to hide her shame.
10 Now therefore will I expose her unseemliness before the eyes of her lovers,—And no man shall deliver her out of my hand!
11 And I will cause to cease all her mirth, Her pilgrim-festival, her new moon and her sabbath,—and her every appointed meeting;
12 And will lay waste her vine and her fig-tree, As to which she hath said, A present are they for myself, which my lovers have given me,—And I will make of them a thicket, and the wild beasts of the field shall devour them.
13 So will I visit upon her the days of the Baals, Unto whom she used to burn incense and decked herself with her nose-ring and her jewelry, and went her way after her lovers,—Whereas me she forgat, Declareth Yahweh.
14 Therefore lo! I am going to persuade her, And though I conduct her forth into wilderness, Yet will I speak unto her heart.
15 Then will I give to her her vineyards from thence, And the vale of Achor [“trouble”] 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 Egypt.
16 And it shall come to pass in that day Declareth Yahweh, That she will call me Ishi [“My husband”], And will not call me any more Baali [“Mine owner”].
17 So will I take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth,—And they shall not be called to mind any more by their name.
18 And I will solemnize to them a covenant in that day, With the wild-beast of the field And with the bird of the heavens, And the creeping thing of the ground,—And bow and sword and battle will I break in pieces out of the land, So will I cause them to lie down in security.
19 And I will take thee unto myself, unto times age-abiding,—Yea I will take thee unto myself in righteousness and in justice, and in lovingkindness and in abounding compassion:
20 Yea I will take thee unto myself in faithfulness,—So shalt thou know Yahweh.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day that I will respond, Declareth Yahweh, I will respond to the heavens,—And they shall respond to the earth;
22 And the earth shall respond to the corn and to the new wine and to the oil,—And they shall respond to Jezreël [“Whom God scattereth,” “Whom God soweth”].
23 So will I sow her unto me in the land, And will have compassion upon the Uncompassionated one [“Lo-ruhamah”],—And will say to him who was No-people-of-mine [to “Lo-ammi”] My people thou art, And he shall say, My God!
3 Then said Yahweh unto me, Once more go love a woman who loveth a friend and is an adulteress,—according to the love of Yahweh unto the sons of Israel, though they keep turning away unto other gods, and love [idolatrous] raisin-cakes.
2 So I secured her to me, for fifteen pieces of silver,—and a homer of barley and a half-homer of barley;
3 and I said unto her, Many days shalt thou tarry for me, Thou shalt not be unchaste, Neither shalt thou become another man’s,—Moreover also I [will tarry] for thee.
4 For many days shall the sons of Israel tarry, Without king and Without ruler, and Without sacrifice and Without pillar; and Without ephod or household gods.
5 Afterwards shall the sons of Israel return, And seek Yahweh their God and David their king,—And shall turn with throbbing hearts unto Yahweh and unto his goodness In the afterpart of the days.
4 Hear the word of Yahweh, ye sons of Israel,—That a controversy hath Yahweh with the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no faithfulness nor lovingkindness nor knowledge of God in the land:
2 Cursing and lying, and killing and stealing and committing adultery have broken forth, And blood-shedding unto blood-shedding doth extend.
3 For this cause shall the land mourn And everyone who dwelleth therein shall languish, With the wild beast of the field and With the bird of the heavens,—Moreover also the fishes of the sea shall be withdrawn.
4 Howbeit let no man contend Nor let him rebuke another,—Since thy people are as they who contend against a priest:
5 So shouldst thou stumble in the daytime, And even the prophet stumble with thee in the night,—And I should destroy thine own mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,—Because thou hast rejected knowledge Therefore will I reject thee from ministering as priest unto me, And because thou hast forgotten the law of thy God I also will forget thy children.
7 As they were magnified so they sinned against me,—My glory—for what was contemptible did they exchange.
8 The sin of my people they do eat,—And unto their iniquity lift they up every man his desire.
9 So doth it come to be—Like people, like priest,—Therefore will I visit upon him his ways, And his doings will I bring back to him;
10 And they shall eat and not be satisfied, They have encouraged unchastity yet have not been making increase,—For unto Yahweh have they left off giving heed:—
11 Unchastity and wine and new wine, take away the heart.
12 My people of their Wood do ask,—Let their Staff then tell them,—For the spirit of unchastity hath led them astray, And they have unchastely departed from under their God.
13 On the headlands of the mountains they sacrifice And on the hills burn they incense, Under oak and poplar and terebinth Because pleasant is the shade thereof: For this cause do your daughters become unchaste, And your brides commit adultery.
14 I do not bring punishment upon your daughters when they become unchaste Nor upon your brides when they commit adultery, For the men themselves with unchaste women do seclude themselves, And with the common women of the shrine do offer sacrifice,—And a people who will not discern must be ruined.
15 Though unchaste art thou O Israel Let not Judah become guilty, Neither let them enter Gilgal Nor go up to Beth-aven, And [then] swear By the life of Yahweh!
16 For as a heifer that is stubborn hath Israel been stubborn,—Now can Yahweh turn them out to pasture, like a young ram in a wide place?
17 Mated with idols is Ephraim, let him alone.
18 Their drinking-bout having passed,—they became unchaste, They loved wildly, A contempt became her great men.
19 The wind hath bound her up in its wings,—That they may be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
5 Hear ye this—O priests, And attend, O house of Israel, And ye House of the King give ear, For to you pertaineth the sentence,—For a snare have ye been to Mizpah, And a net spread on Tabor.
2 And a slaughter have apostates deeply designed,—Though I was a rebuker to them all.
3 I have known Ephraim, And Israel hath not been hidden from me,—For now hast thou committed unchastity, O Ephraim, Israel hath made himself impure.
4 Their doings will not suffer them to return unto their God,—For the spirit of unchastity is within them, And Yahweh have they not known.
5 Therefore will the Excellency of Israel answer to his face,—And Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in their iniquity, Even Judah with them hath stumbled.
6 With their flocks and with their herds will they go to seek Yahweh But shall not find him; He hath withdrawn himself from them.
7 With Yahweh have they dealt treacherously, For to alien children have they given birth,—Now a new moon shall devour them with their portions.
8 Blow ye a horn in Gibeah, A trumpet in Ramah,—Sound an alarm at Beth-aven, Behind thee, O Benjamin!
9 Ephraim shall become a desolation, in the day of rebuke: Throughout the tribes of Israel have I made known what is sure.
10 The rulers of Judah have become as they who remove a land-mark. Upon them will I pour out like water my wrath.
11 Oppressed is Ephraim, crushed in judgment,—Because he hath wilfully walked after falsehood.
12 But I was like a moth to Ephraim,—And like rotten wood to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his injury And Judah his wound Then went Ephraim unto Assyria, And [Judah] sent unto a hostile king,—Yet he cannot heal you, Nor will the wound remove from you.
14 For I will be as a lion unto Ephraim, And as a young lion to the house of Judah,—I, I will tear in pieces and depart, I will carry off and none be able to rescue.
15 I will depart, will return unto my place! Till what time they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,—In their trouble will they make for me diligent search.
6 Come and let us return unto Yahweh! For he hath torn that he might heal us,—smitten that he might bind us up.
2 He will bring us to life after two days,—On the third day will he raise us up that we may live before him.
3 Then let us know—let us press on to know—Yahweh, Like the dawn is his coming forth assured,—That he may come Like a down-pour upon us, Like the harvest-rain [and] the seed-rain of the land.
4 What can I do unto thee, O Ephraim? What can I do unto thee, O Judah? For your lovingkindness is like a morning cloud, Yea like the dew early departing!
5 For this cause have I hewn them in pieces by the prophets, I have slain them by the sayings of my mouth,—And my justice as a light goeth forth.
6 For lovingkindness I desired and not sacrifice,—And the knowledge of God more than ascending-offerings.
7 But they like Adam have transgressed a covenant,—There have they dealt treacherously with me.
8 Gilead is a city of workers of iniquity,—tracked with blood.
9 And like liers in wait for a man in troops is a band of priests, On the road will they murder towards Shechem,—Because a shameful deed they have done.
10 In the house of Israel have I seen a horrible thing,—There the unchastity of Ephraim, Defiled is Israel.
11 Judah too! a harvest is appointed for thee,—In that I will bring back the captivity of my people.
7 When I would have brought healing to Israel Then was disclosed the iniquity of Ephraim And the wicked doings of Samaria, For they have wrought falsehood,—When a thief would enter a band roamed about outside,
2 And they say not to their own hearts, That all their wickedness I remember, Now have their doings beset them about, Right before my face have they been done.
3 By their wickedness they gladden a king, And by their flatteries—rulers.
4 They all are adulterers, Like an oven too hot for the baker,—Who leaveth off stoking after kneading the dough, till the whole be leavened.
5 In the day of our king the rulers have made themselves ill with the heat of wine,—He hath extended his hand with scoffers.
6 For they have made ready like an oven their heart by their lying in wait,—All the night their baker sleepeth, In the morning he kindleth up as it were a blazing fire.
7 They all become hot as an oven, and devour their judges,—All their kings have fallen, There hath been none among them crying unto me.
8 As for Ephraim! with the peoples hath he been mingling himself,—Ephraim is a cake not turned.
9 Foreigners have eaten up his strength, And he knoweth it not,—Even gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, And he knoweth it not.
10 Therefore doth the Excellency of Israel answer to his face; Yet have they not returned unto Yahweh their God, Nor have they sought him in spite of all this!
11 So then Ephraim hath become like a simple dove having no understanding, On Egypt have they called, To Assyria have they gone.
12 Whithersoever they go I will spread over them my net, Like a bird of the heavens will I bring them down, I will chastise them by the time the report can reach the flock of them.
13 Woe to them! for they have taken flight from me, Destruction to them! for they have transgressed against me,—When I would have ransomed them Then they spake—concerning me—falsehoods.
14 Neither made they outcry unto me in their heart, Although they kept on howling upon their beds, Over corn and new wine they gathered themselves together, They rebelled against me.
15 When I had warned them I strengthened their arm,—Yet against me kept they on devising wickedness.
16 They would return—not to him who is on high! They have become like a deceitful bow, Their rulers shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue, This [shall be] their derision in the land of Egypt.
8 To thy mouth with a horn! Like an eagle on the house of Yahweh,—Because they have violated my covenant, And against my law have they transgressed.
2 Unto me shall they make outcry, My God! we acknowledge thee—[we] Israel!
3 Israel hath cast away what is good,—An enemy shall pursue him.
4 They have appointed kings But not from me, Have made rulers But I have not acknowledged them: Of their silver and their gold they made themselves idols, To the end they might be cut off.
5 He hath cast away thy calf, O Samaria, Kindled is mine anger upon them,—How long shall they not endure to be innocent?
6 For of Israel is even that thing! A craftsman made it, And a No-god it is! For into fragments shall the Calf of Samaria be broken.
7 For to the wind they sow And to the whirlwind they reap: Stalk hath it none, That which shooteth forth shall yield no meal, If so be it yield foreigners swallow it up.
8 Swallowed up is Israel; Now have they gone among the nations, Like a vessel in which no man taketh delight.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria, A wild ass going alone for himself is Ephraim! They have hired lovers!
10 Even though they hire them among the nations At once will I gather them, when they have begun to be diminished by reason of the burden of the king of rulers.
11 Because Ephraim hath multiplied altars sinfully They have become to him the altars of Sin.
12 I have been wont to write for him the myriad things of my law,—Like something alien have they been accounted.
13 My sacrificial gifts have they been sacrificing as [common] flesh and have eaten, Yahweh hath not accepted them,—Now will he call to mind their iniquity, that he may punish their sin, They to Egypt will return.
14 And so Israel hath forgotten his Maker and hath built temples, And Judah hath multiplied fortified cities,—Therefore will I send a fire upon his cities, And it shall consume the palaces thereof.
9 Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the peoples, For thou hast gone away unchastely from beside thy God,—Thou hast loved a present, upon all the threshing-floors of corn!
2 Threshing-floor and wine-vat will not feed them, And new wine will deny them.
3 They shall not dwell in the land of Yahweh, But Ephraim shall return to Egypt, And in Assyria—that which is unclean shall they eat.
4 They shall not pour out to Yahweh—wine Neither shall they be pleasing to him, Their sacrifices are as the food of mourning to them, All that eat thereof shall defile themselves, Because their food for their appetite entereth not into the house of Yahweh.
5 What will ye do for the day of appointed meeting? And in the day of the festival of Yahweh?
6 For though they have gone from destruction Yet Egypt shall gather them, Memphis shall bury them,—As for their silver favourites! Thistles shall possess them, Thorns in their tents.
7 Come are the days of visitation, Come are the days of recompense, Let Israel know! The prophet is foolish, The man of the spirit doth rave, Because of the greatness of thine iniquity Therefore great is the prosecution.
8 The watchman of Ephraim [should have been] with my God: As for the prophet The snare of the fowler is on all his ways, A prosecution [awaiteth him] in the house of his God.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves like the days of Gibeah: He will call to mind their iniquity, He will punish their sins.
10 Like grapes in the desert found I Israel, Like the first-ripe in the fig-tree when it is young saw I your fathers,—They entered Baal-peor And devoted themselves to the Shameful Thing, Then became their abominations like their lusts.
11 As for Ephraim! like a bird did their glory fly away,—No birth and None with child, No conception.
12 Yea though they rear their children yet will I make them childless till there be no human being,—For it is nothing less than woe to them when I depart from them!
13 Ephraim! just as I provided for Tyre was planted in a meadow,—Yet Ephraim must needs bring forth for a murderer his children.
14 Give them, O Yahweh—what wilt thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb, and breasts dried up.
15 All their wickedness is in Gilgal, Yea there have I come to hate them, For the wickedness of their doings—out of my house will I drive them forth,—No more will I love them, All their rulers are unruly.
16 Smitten is Ephraim, Their root hath dried up, Fruit shall they not bear,—Yea though they do bring forth yet will I slay the darlings of their womb.
17 My God will reject them, because they hearkened not unto him,—That they may become wanderers throughout the nations.
10 A luxuriant vine is Israel, Fruit beseemeth him,—According to the abundance of his fruit hath he brought abundance to the altars, According to the goodliness of his land hath he made goodly statues.
2 Hypocritical is their heart, Now shall they be held guilty,—He will break down their altars, He will destroy their statues.
3 For now will they say, We have no king,—For we revere not Yahweh, And what could a king do for us?
4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in solemnizing a covenant,—Therefore shall judgment spring up like a poisonous plant on the ridges of the field.
5 About the calves of Beth-aven will the inhabitant of Samaria be concerned,—For the people thereof have mourned over it And the ascetics thereof who over it used to exult [shall mourn] for the glory thereof because it hath departed therefrom.
6 Itself also to Assyria shall be borne along, as a present to a hostile king,—Shame shall Ephraim receive, that Israel may be ashamed of his own counsel.
7 Silenced is Samaria: Her king is as a chip on the face of the waters.
8 So shall the high places of Aven be destroyed, the sin of Israel, Thorn and prickle shall come up on their altars,—Therefore shall they say to the mountains, Cover us, and to the hills, Fall on us.
9 Beyond the days of Gibeah hast thou sinned, O Israel: There came they to a stand, The battle against the sons of perversity touched them not in Gibeah.
10 When I please then will I chastise them,—And there shall be gathered together against them—peoples, They being harnessed to their two Iniquities;
11 But Ephraim shall be a heifer broken in, loving to tread out corn, when I have passed over upon her fair neck,—I will drive Ephraim, Judah shall plow, Jacob shall harrow to him.
12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, Reap ye at the bidding of lovingkindness, Furrow to yourselves the newly-ploughed soil,—Then will be the time to seek Yahweh, Until he come that he may rain down righteousness for you.
13 Ye have plowed lawlessness, Perversity have ye reaped, Ye have eaten the fruit of deception,—Because thou didst trust in thy chariots, In the multitude of thy mighty men.
14 Therefore shall there arise a tumult among thy peoples, And all thy fortresses shall be plundered, As Shalman plundered Beth-arbêl in the day of battle,—The mother upon her children dashed to the ground.
15 Even so hath Bethel done to you, because of your exceeding wickedness,—In the dawn shall the king of Israel be utterly silenced.
11 When Israel was a child then I loved him,—And out of Egypt called I my son.
2 They invited them,—At once they departed from before me, They to the Baals sacrificed, And to the images offered incense.
3 Yet I had taught Ephraim to walk, I used to take them upon mine arms,—But they acknowledged not that I had healed them.
4 With human cords used I to draw them, With the bands of love, So became I unto them Like those who remove the yoke [that was] on their jaws,—And holding out [food] to him I let him eat.
5 He was not to turn back into the land of Egypt, Howbeit the Assyrian—he became his king, For they refused to turn.
6 Therefore shall the sword rage in his cities, And make an end of his multitudes and consume them,—Because of their counsels.
7 But my people are bent towards turning from me, Though upwards they call them none of them can lift them.
8 How can I give thee up, Ephraim? abandon thee, Israel? How can I make thee as Admah? set thee as Zeboim? Mine own heart turneth against me, At once are kindled my compassions.
9 I cannot execute the glow of mine anger, I cannot turn to destroy Ephraim,—For God am I, and not man, When thou drawest near [I am] a Holy One, though I do not enter a city.
10 After Yahweh let them go, Like a lion will he roar,—When he shall roar Then let sons come trembling out of the West.
11 Let them come trembling like a small bird out of Egypt, And like a dove out of the land of Assyria,—So will I cause them to dwell by their own houses, Declareth Yahweh.
12 They have compassed me about—With denial Ephraim, With deceit the house of Israel,—But Judah hath again and again run riot with God, Though with the holy places entrusted.
12 Ephraim feedeth on wind And pursueth the east wind, All the day falsehood and force doth he magnify,—And a covenant with Assyria would they solemnize, And oil into Egypt must be borne along.
2 But a controversy hath Yahweh with Judah,—So that he may bring punishment on Jacob according to his ways According to his doings repay him.
3 In the womb took he his brother by the heel; And in his manly vigour strove he with God:
4 Yea he strove against a Messenger and prevailed, He wept and made supplication unto him,—At Bethel he found him, And there he spake with us;
5 And Yahweh is God of hosts,—Yahweh is his memorial.
6 Thou therefore by thy God shalt return,—Lovingkindness and justice do thou keep, So wait thou for thy God continually.
7 A trafficker! in his hand are balances of deceit, To oppress he loveth.
8 So then Ephraim said, Surely I have gotten me riches, I have found wealth for myself,—In all my toils they cannot find in me perversity which is sin.
9 But I Yahweh have been thy God from the land of Egypt,—I will yet make thee dwell in tents as in the days of appointed meeting.
10 And I will lay my word upon the prophets, Yea I myself have magnified vision,—And by the hand of the prophets will I use similitudes.
11 If Gilead is in sorrow surely false have they been, In Gilgal have they sacrificed bullocks,—Their very altars shall become as heaps upon the furrows of the field.
12 When Jacob fled to the country of Syria Then Israel served for a wife, And for a wife he watched over a flock.
13 And by a prophet Yahweh brought up Israel out of Egypt,—And by a prophet was he watched over.
14 Ephraim hath provoked very bitterly,—His own blood therefore upon him will he leave, And his reproach shall his Lord bring back to him.
13 When Ephraim spake there was terror, Exalted was he in Israel,—But when he became guilty with Baal Then he died.
2 Now therefore they go on to sin And have made them a Molten Thing out of their silver After the notion of idols, The workmanship of craftsmen all of it! Of them are they saying—Ye sacrificers of men! The Great Calf shall ye surely kiss!
3 Therefore shall they become Like the morning cloud, And like the dew early departing,—Like chaff storm-driven out of the threshing-floor, And like smoke out of a chimney.
4 Yet I Yahweh have been thy God from the land of Egypt,—And god beside me shalt thou not acknowledge, For saviour is there none besides me.
5 I tended thee in the desert,—In a land parched with drought:
6 Whenever they were pastured then were they satisfied, They were satisfied and their heart was lifted up,—Because of this they forgat me.
7 Therefore am I become to them as a lion,—As a leopard by the way do I watch.
8 I will fall upon them as a bear bereaved, And will rend asunder the enclosure of their heart,—That I may devour them there like a lioness, The wild beast of the field shall tear them in pieces.
9 It hath utterly destroyed thee, O Israel, For it was against me as thy helper!
10 Where is thy king then, That he may save thee throughout all thy cities? And thy judges, Concerning whom thou saidst, Oh give me a king and rulers?
11 I might give thee a king in mine anger, And take him away in my wrath.
12 Bound up is the iniquity of Ephraim, Stored away his sin.
13 The pangs of a woman in labour shall overtake him,—He is a son not wise, For now he cannot stand still when children are about to be born.
14 Out of the hand of hades will I ransom them, Out of death will I redeem them,—Where is thy pestilence, O death? Where thy plague, O hades? Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
15 Though he among brethren be fruitful, There shall come in an east wind, The blast of Yahweh out of the desert coming up, That his spring may dry up and his fountain be exhausted, He will rob the treasure-house of all the vessels of delight.
16 Samaria shall be held guilty, for she hath rebelled against her God, By the sword shall they fall, Their infants shall be dashed to the ground, And his women with child shall be ripped up.
14 Return thou, O Israel, unto Yahweh thy God,—For thou hast stumbled by thine iniquity.
2 Take with you words, and return to Yahweh: Say unto him—Wholly shalt thou take away iniquity, Accept then with favour, And we will make good the boldness of our lips!
3 Assyria shall not save us, Upon horses will we not ride, Neither will we say any more—Our god! to the work of our own hands! For in thee shall the fatherless find compassion.
4 I will heal their apostacy, I will love them freely,—For mine anger hath turned from them.
5 I will become as the dew unto Israel, He shall break forth as the lily,—And he shall strike his roots as Lebanon:
6 His branches shall spread, That like an olive-tree may be his fresh beauty,—And his fragrance like Lebanon.
7 They who dwell in his shade shall again Show life like the corn And break forth as the vine,—And the remembrance of him shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim [saith]—What to me any more are idols? I have answered and have closely observed him, I am like a fir-tree that is green, From me is thy fruit found.
9 Who is wise that he may understand these things? Intelligent that he may take knowledge of them? For straightforward are the ways of Yahweh, And the righteous shall travel therein, But transgressors shall stumble therein.