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Hosea 13
The Message
Hosea 13
The Message
Religion Customized to Taste
13 1-3 God once let loose against Ephraim
a terrifying sentence against Israel:
Caught and convicted
in the lewd sex-worship of Baal—they died!
And now they’re back in the sin business again,
manufacturing god-images they can use,
Religion customized to taste. Professionals see to it:
Anything you want in a god you can get.
Can you believe it? They sacrifice live babies to these dead gods—
kill living babies and kiss golden calves!
And now there’s nothing left to these people:
hollow men, desiccated women,
Like scraps of paper blown down the street,
like smoke in a gusty wind.
4-6 “I’m still your God,
the God who saved you out of Egypt.
I’m the only real God you’ve ever known.
I’m the one and only God who delivers.
I took care of you during the wilderness hard times,
those years when you had nothing.
I took care of you, took care of all your needs,
gave you everything you needed.
You were spoiled. You thought you didn’t need me.
You forgot me.
7-12 “I’ll charge them like a lion,
like a leopard stalking in the brush.
I’ll jump them like a sow grizzly robbed of her cubs.
I’ll rip out their guts.
Coyotes will make a meal of them.
Crows will clean their bones.
I’m going to destroy you, Israel.
Who is going to stop me?
Where is your trusty king you thought would save you?
Where are all the local leaders you wanted so badly?
All these rulers you insisted on having,
demanding, ‘Give me a king! Give me leaders!’?
Well, long ago I gave you a king, but I wasn’t happy about it.
Now, fed up, I’ve gotten rid of him.
I have a detailed record of your infidelities—
Ephraim’s sin documented and stored in a safe-deposit box.
13-15 “When birth pangs signaled it was time to be born,
Ephraim was too stupid to come out of the womb.
When the passage into life opened up,
he didn’t show.
Shall I intervene and pull them into life?
Shall I snatch them from a certain death?
Who is afraid of you, Death?
Who cares about your threats, Tomb?
In the end I’m abolishing regret,
banishing sorrow,
Even though Ephraim ran wild,
the black sheep of the family.
15-16 “God’s tornado is on its way,
roaring out of the desert.
It will devastate the country,
leaving a trail of ruin and wreckage.
The cities will be gutted,
dear possessions gone for good.
Now Samaria has to face the charges
because she has rebelled against her God:
Her people will be killed, babies smashed on the rocks,
pregnant women ripped open.”
Hosea 13
New International Version
Hosea 13
New International Version
The Lord’s Anger Against Israel
13 When Ephraim spoke, people trembled;(A)
he was exalted(B) in Israel.
But he became guilty of Baal worship(C) and died.
2 Now they sin more and more;
they make(D) idols for themselves from their silver,(E)
cleverly fashioned images,
all of them the work of craftsmen.(F)
It is said of these people,
“They offer human sacrifices!
They kiss[a](G) calf-idols!(H)”
3 Therefore they will be like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears,(I)
like chaff(J) swirling from a threshing floor,(K)
like smoke(L) escaping through a window.
4 “But I have been the Lord your God
ever since you came out of Egypt.(M)
You shall acknowledge(N) no God but me,(O)
no Savior(P) except me.
5 I cared for you in the wilderness,(Q)
in the land of burning heat.
6 When I fed them, they were satisfied;
when they were satisfied, they became proud;(R)
then they forgot(S) me.(T)
7 So I will be like a lion(U) to them,
like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
8 Like a bear robbed of her cubs,(V)
I will attack them and rip them open;
like a lion(W) I will devour them—
a wild animal will tear them apart.(X)
9 “You are destroyed, Israel,
because you are against me,(Y) against your helper.(Z)
10 Where is your king,(AA) that he may save you?
Where are your rulers in all your towns,
of whom you said,
‘Give me a king and princes’?(AB)
11 So in my anger I gave you a king,(AC)
and in my wrath I took him away.(AD)
12 The guilt of Ephraim is stored up,
his sins are kept on record.(AE)
13 Pains as of a woman in childbirth(AF) come to him,
but he is a child without wisdom;
when the time(AG) arrives,
he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb.(AH)
14 “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;(AI)
I will redeem them from death.(AJ)
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?(AK)
“I will have no compassion,
15 even though he thrives(AL) among his brothers.
An east wind(AM) from the Lord will come,
blowing in from the desert;
his spring will fail
and his well dry up.(AN)
His storehouse will be plundered(AO)
of all its treasures.
16 The people of Samaria(AP) must bear their guilt,(AQ)
because they have rebelled(AR) against their God.
They will fall by the sword;(AS)
their little ones will be dashed(AT) to the ground,
their pregnant women(AU) ripped open.”[b]
Footnotes
- Hosea 13:2 Or “Men who sacrifice / kiss
- Hosea 13:16 In Hebrew texts this verse (13:16) is numbered 14:1.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.