The princes and people threatened. HOSEA. 3 I know Ephraim, and Ifrael is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committeft whoredom, and Ifrael is defiled. 4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the fpirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord. 5 And the pride of Ifrael doth teftify to his face: therefore fhall Ifrael and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also fhall fall with them. 6 They fhall go with their flocks and with their herds to feek the LORD; but they fhall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them. 7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions. 8 Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Beth-aven, after thee, O Benjamin. 9 Ephraim fhall be defolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Ifrael have I made known that which fhall furely be. Io The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment. 12 Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottennefs. 13 When Ephraim faw his fickness, and Judah faw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Affyrian, and sent to king Jareb yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound. 14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the houfe of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him. 15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and feek my face: in their affliction they will feek me early. CHAP. VI. Exbortation to repentance. 4¶O Ephraim, what fhall I do unto thee? O Judah, what fhall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. 5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have flain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. 6 For I defired mercy, and not facri fice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 7 But they like men have tranfgreffed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. 8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood. 9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, fo the company of priests murder in the way by confent: for they commit lewdnefs. Io I have feen an horrible thing in the houfe of Ifrael: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Ifrael is defiled. 11 Alfo, O Judah, he hath fet an harveft for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people. CHAP. VII. A reproof of manifold fins. 11 God's wrath against the people for their hypocrifg. HEN I would have healed Ifrael, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers fpoileth without. 2 And they confider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face. 3 They make the king glad with their wickednefs, and the princes with their lies. 4 They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceafeth from raifing after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened. 5 In the day of our king the princes have made him fick with bottles of wines he stretched out his hand with scorners. 6 For they have made ready their heart 1 An exhortation to repentance. 4 A com-like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their plaint of their untowardness and iniquity. OME, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath fmitten, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we fhall live in his fight. 3 Then fhall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he fhall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. baker fleepeth all the night; in the morn ing it burneth as a flaming fire.. 7 They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kinge are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me. 8 Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. 9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. God threateneth Ifrael Chap. viii, ix. 10 And the pride of Ifrael teftifieth to his face and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor feek him for all this. IIT Ephraim alfo is like a filly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Affyria. 12 When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chaftife them, as their congregation hath heard. 13 Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! becaufe they have tranfgreffed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me. 14 And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they affemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me. 15 Though I have bound and ftrengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mifchief against me. 16 They return, but not to the most High they are like a deceitful bow: their princes fhall fall by the fword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derifion in the land of Egypt. CHAP. VIII. 1, 12 Destruction is threatened for their impiety, 5 and idolatry. SET the trumpet to thy mouth. He hall come as an eagle against the houfe of the LORD, because they have tranfgreffed my covenant, and trefpaffed against my law. 2 Ifrael fhall cry unto me, My God, we know thee. 3 Ifrael hath caft off the thing that is good: the enemy fhall purfue him. 4 They have fet up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their filver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off. 5 Thy calf, O Samaria, hath caft thee off; mine anger is kindled against them how long will it be ere they attain to innocency? 6 For from Ifrael was it alfo: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria fhall be broken in pieces. 7 For they have fown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no falk: the bud fhall yield no meal: if fo be it yield, the ftrangers fhall fwallow it up. 8 Ifrael is fwallowed up: now fhall they be among the Gentiles as a veffel wherein is no pleasure. 9 For they are gone up to Affyria, a wild afs alone by himfelf: Ephraim hath hired lovers. 10 Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and for their fins. they fhall forrow a little for the burden of the king of princes. 11 Becaufe Ephraim hath made many altars to fin, altars fhall be unto him to fin. 12 I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. 13 They facritice flefh for the facrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their fins: they fhall return to Egypt. 14 For Ifrael hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will fend a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof. CHAP. IX. The diftrefs and captivity of Ifrael for their fins and idolatry. REJOICE not, o Ifrael, for joy, as other people; for thou haft gone a whoring from thy God, thou haft loved a reward upon every cornfloor. 2 The floor and the winepress shall not 'feed them, and the new wine fhall fail in her. 3 They fhall not dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim fhall return to Egypt, and the fhall eat unclean things in Affyria., 4 They fhall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither fhall they be pleafing unto him: their facrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof thall be polluted: for their bread for their foul fhall not come into the houfe of the LORD. 5 What will ye do in the folemn day, and in the day of the feast of the LORD? 6 For, lo, they are gone because of deftruction: Egypt fhall gather them up, Memphis fhall bury them: the pleafaut places for their filver, nettles fall poflefs them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles. 7 The days of vifitation are come, the days of recompence are come; frael hall know it: the prophet is a fool, the fpiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred. 8 The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a fare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the houfe of his God. 9 They have deeply corrupted them" felves, as in the days of Gibeah there fore be will remember their iniquity, he will visit their fins. 10 I found Ifrael like grapes in the wildernefs; I faw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at her firft time:"but they went to Baal-peor, and feparatedthemselves unto that thame; and ther a bominations were according as they loved. A a a Ifrael reproved for HOSEA. their impiets and idolatry. 11 As for Ephraim, their glory fhall fly days of Gibeah: there they flood: the away like a bird, from the birth, and battle of Gibeah against the children of from the womb, and from the conception. finiquity did not overtake them. 12 Though they bring up their chil dren, yet will I bereave them, that there ball not be a man left: yea, woe alfo to them when I depart from them! 13 Ephraim, as I faw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place but Ephraim fhall bring forth his children to the murderer. 14 Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a mifcarrying womb and dry breafts. 10 It is in my defire that I fhould chaftife them; and the people fhall be ga thered against them, when they fhall bind themfelves in their two furrows. 11 And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn but I paffed over upon her fair neck: 1 will make Ephraim to ride; Judah fhall plow, and Jacob fhall break his clods. 12 Sow to yourfelves in righteousness, 15 All their wickednefs is in Gilgal: reap in mercy; break up your fallow for there I hated them for the wicked-ground: for it is time to feek the LORD, nefs of their doings I will drive them out till he come and rain righteousness upon of mine houfe, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters. 16 Ephraim is fmitten, their root is dried up, they fhall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I flay even the beloved fruit of their womb. you. 13 Ye have plowed wickednefs, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. 14 Therefore fhall a tumult arife among 17 My God will caft them away, be- thy people, and all thy fortreffes fhall be caufe they did not hearken unto him:fpoiled, as Shalman fpoiled Beth-arbel in and they fhall be wanderers among the the day of battle: the mother was dafhed nations. in pieces upon her children. CHAP. X. Ifrael is reproved and threatened for their impiety and idolatry. ISRAE SRAEL is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himfelf: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath in creafed the altars; according to the good nefs of his land they have made goodly images. 2 Their heart is divided; now fhall they be found faulty: he fhall break down their altars, he fhall fpoil their images. 3 For now they fhall fay, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then fhould a king do to us? 4 They have fpoken words, fwearing falfely in making a covenant: thus judge ment fpringeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. 15 So fhall Beth-el do unto you becaufe of your great wickednefs: in a morning thall the king of Ifrael utterly be cut off. CHAP. XI. The ingratitude of Ifrael unto God for bis benefits. Their judgment. him, and called my fon out of Egypt. HEN Ifrael avas a child, then I loved 2 As they called them, fo they went from them: they facrificed unto Baalim, and burned incenfe to graven images. 3 I taught Ephraim alfo to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them. 4 I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. 5 He fhall not return into the land of s The inhabitants of Samaria fhall Egypt, but the Affyrian fhall be his king, Fear becaufe of the calves of Beth-aven: becaufe they refufed to return. for the people thereof fhall mourn over 6 And the fword fhall abide on his cities, it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced and fhall confume his branches, and deon it, for the glory thereof, becaufe it is vour them, becaufe of their own counfels. departed from it. 7 And my people are bent to back6 It fhall be alfo carried unto Affyria fliding from me: though they called for a prefent to king Jareb: Ephraim them to the most High, none at all would fhall receive fhame, and Ifrael fhall be exalt bim. -afhamed of his own counsel. 7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water. 8 How fhall I give thee up, Ephraim? boa fhall I deliver thee, Ifrael? how fhall I make thee as Admah? bow fhall I fet 8 The high places alfo of Aven, the fin thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned of Ifrael, fhall be deftroyed: the thorn within me, my repentings are kindled and the thiftle fhall come up on their al-together. tars; and they fhall fay to the mountains, 9 I will not execute the fierceness of Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us. mine anger, I will not return to destroy 9 O Ifrael, thou haft finned from the Ephraim: for I am God, and not man ▲ A reproof of Ephraim, Judah, and Jacob. 3 An exhortation to repentance. 'PHRAIM feedeth on wind, and fol THEN Ephraim fpake trembling, he exalted himself in Ifrael; but when he offended in Baal, he died." 2 And now they fin more and more, and have made them molten images of their filver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they fay of them, Let the men that facrifice kifs the calves. Therefore the morn Eloweth after the caft wind: he daily ing cloud, an they thall be as dem that increaseth lies and defolation; and they do make a covenant with the Affyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt. 2 The LORD hath alfo a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his way; according to his doings will he recompenfe him. 31 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God: 4 Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made fupplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us; 5 Even the LORD God of hofts; the LORD is his memorial. 6 Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually. He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to opprefs. 8 And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out fubftance: in all my labours they fhall find none iniquity in me that were fin. And I that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the folemn feasts. . Io I have alfo spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied vifions, and ufed fimilitudes, by the miniftry of the prophets. II Is there iniquity in Gilead? furely they are vanity: they facrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields. 12 And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Ifrael served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep. 13 And by a prophet the LORD brought Ifrael out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preferved. 14 Ephraim provoked him to anger moft paffeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the fimoke out of the chimney. 4 Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me: for there is no faviour befide me. 5 TI did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. 6 According to their pafture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me. 7 7 Therefore I will be unto them as a lion as a leopard by the way will I observe them: 8 I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast fhall tear them. 9 TO Ifrael, thou haft deftroyed thyfelf; but in me is thine help. 10 I will be thy king: where is any other that may fave thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou faidft, Give me a king and princes? 11 I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. 12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his fin is hid. 13 The forrows of a travailing woman fhall come upon him: he is an unwife fon; for he fhould not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children. 14 I will ranfom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death; O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance fhall be hid from mine eyes. 15 T Though he be fruitful among bis brethren, an eaft wind fhall come, the wind of the LORD fhall come up from the wilderness, and his fprings shall Aaa 2 become Sundry judgments of God declared. JOEL. Joel prefcribeth a faft. become dry, and his fountain fhall be 4 ¶ I will heal their backfliding, I will dried up: he fhall fpoil the treasure of love them freely for mine anger is all pleasant veffels. turned away from him. 16 Samaria fhall become defolate; for the hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the fword: their infants fhall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child fhall be ripped up. CHAP. XIV. 1 An exhortation to repentance. 4 A promife of God's bleffing. Ifrael, rerum until the OR tiny God: for thou haft fallen by thine iniquity. 2 Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: fay unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us gracioufly: fo will we render the calves of our lips. 5 I will be as the dew unto Ifrael: he fhall grow as the lily, and caft forth his roots as Lebanon. 6 His branches fhall fpread, and his beauty fhall be as the olive tree, and his fmell as Lebanon. 7 They that dwell under his shadow fhall return; they fhall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. 8 Ephraim hall fay, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and obferved him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. 9 Who is wife, and he fhall under3 Asfhur fhall not fave us; we will ftand these things? prudent, and he fhall not ride upon horfes: neither will we know them? for the ways of the LORD fay any more to the work of our hands, are right, and the juft fhall walk in Ye are our gods: for in thee the father-them: but the tranfgreffors fhall fall lefs findeth mercy. therein. CHAP. I. JOE L. I foel declareth sundry judgments of God, exhorteth to obferve them, 8and to mourn. 14 He prefcribeth a faft. THE HE word of the LORD that came to 2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? 3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. 4 That which the palmerworn hath left hath the locuft eaten; and that which the locuft hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten. 5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, becaufe of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth. 6 For a nation is come up upon my land, ftrong, and without number, whofe teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. 7 He hath laid my vine wafte, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and caft it away; the branches thereof are made white. 8¶ Lament like a virgin girded with fackcloth for the hufband of her youth. 9 The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the houfe of the LORD; the priests, the LORD's minifters, mourn. 10 The field is wafted, the land mourn. eth; for the corn is wafted, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. II Be ye ashamed, O ye hufbandmen; howl, O ye vinedreffers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perifhed. 12 The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languifheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree alfo, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the fons of men. 13 Gird yourfelves, and lament, ye priefts: howl, ye minifters of the altar: come, lie all night in fackcloth, ye minifters of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God. 14 Sanctify ye a faft, call a folemn af. fembly gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD, 15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty fhall it come. 16 Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the houfe of our God? 17 The feed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid defolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. 18 How do the beafts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pafture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made defolate. 19 O LORD, |