Shared Word Translation
Hosea 11
When Israel Was a Child
When Israel was a child,
I loved him,
and out of Egypt
I called my son.
The more they called to them,
the more they went away from them.
They sacrificed to the Baals
and burned incense
to carved images.
Yet I was the one
who taught Ephraim to walk;
I took them by their arms,
but they did not know
that I healed them.
I drew them
with cords of humanity,
with bonds of love.
I was to them
like one who lifts a yoke
from their jaws,
and I bent down
and fed them.
My People Are Bent on Turning Away
They will not return
to the land of Egypt,
but Assyria will be their king,
because they refused
to return to me.
The sword will whirl
in their cities,
consume their bars,
and devour
because of their counsels.
My people are bent
on turning away from me.
Though they call them upward,
no one at all
will raise them up.
How Can I Give You Up, Ephraim?
How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I set you like Zeboiim?
My heart turns within me;
all my compassion grows warm.
I will not carry out
the fierceness of my anger.
I will not again destroy Ephraim,
for I am God and not a human being,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.
They Will Come Trembling
They will walk after the LORD.
He will roar like a lion;
when he roars,
children will come trembling
from the west.
They will come trembling
like a bird from Egypt
and like a dove
from the land of Assyria,
and I will settle them
in their houses,”
says the LORD.
Ephraim has surrounded me
with falsehood,
and the house of Israel
with deceit;
but Judah still wanders with God,
and with the Holy One who is faithful.