Day 262: Hosea 11–14; Joel 1

1When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

2As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

3I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.

4I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that ^atake off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.

5He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.

6And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.

7And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, ^bnone at all would exalt him.

8How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.

9I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.

10They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.

11They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, saith the LORD.

12Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the ^csaints.

1Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.

2The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will ^apunish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.

3He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he ^bhad power with God:

4Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us;

5Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.

6Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.

7He is ^ca merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to ^doppress.

8And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: ^ein all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me ^fthat were sin.

9And 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 solemn feast.

10I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ^gministry of the prophets.

11Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.

12And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.

13And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.

14Ephraim provoked him to anger ^hmost bitterly: therefore shall he leave his ⁱblood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.

1When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died.

2And now ^athey sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let ^bthe men that sacrifice kiss the calves.

3Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

4Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.

5I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of ^cgreat drought.

6According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.

7Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:

8I 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 ^dwild beast shall tear them.

9O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me ^eis thine help.

10^fI will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?

11I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.

12The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid.

13The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay ^glong in the place of the breaking forth of children.

14I will ransom them from the ^hpower of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

15Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of all ⁱpleasant vessels.

16Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

1O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

2Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and ^areceive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.

3Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

4I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

5I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall ^bgrow as the lily, and ^ccast forth his roots as Lebanon.

6His branches shall ^dspread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

7They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and ^egrow as the vine: the ^fscent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

8Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.

9Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.

1The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

2Hear 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?

3Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

4^aThat which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.

5Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

6For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.

7He hath laid my vine waste, and ^bbarked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

8Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

9The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD's ministers, mourn.

10The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

11Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.

12The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.

13Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.

14Sanctify ye a fast, call a ^csolemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,

15Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

16Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

17The ^dseed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.

18How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

19O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the ^epastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.

20The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.