Hosea 7

• 1. "I wanted to heal Israel, but its sins were far too great. Samaria is filled with liars, thieves, and bandits!
• 2. Its people don't realize I am watching them. Their sinful deeds are all around them; I see them all!
• 3. The people make the king glad with their wickedness. The princes laugh about the people's many lies.
• 4. They are all adulterers, always aflame with lust. They are like an oven that is kept hot even while the baker is still kneading the dough.
• 5. "On royal holidays, the princes get drunk. The king makes a fool of himself and drinks with those who are making fun of him.
• 6. Their hearts blaze like a furnace with intrigue. Their plot smolders through the night, and in the morning it flames forth like a raging fire.
• 7. They kill their kings one after another, and no one cries out to me for help.
• 8. "My people of Israel mingle with godless foreigners, picking up their evil ways. Now they have become as worthless as a half-baked cake!
• 9. Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength, but they don't even know it. Israel is like an old man with graying hair, unaware of how weak and old he has become.
• 10. His arrogance testifies against him, yet he doesn't return to the LORD his God or even try to find him.
• 11. "The people of Israel have become like silly, witless doves, first calling to Egypt, then flying to Assyria.
• 12. But as they fly about, I will throw my net over them and bring them down like a bird from the sky. I will punish them for all their evil ways.
• 13. "How terrible it will be for my people who have deserted me! Let them die, for they have rebelled against me. I wanted to redeem them, but they have only spoken lies about me.
• 14. They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts. Instead, they sit on their couches and wail. They cut themselves, begging foreign gods for crops and prosperity.
• 15. "I trained them and made them strong, yet now they plot evil against me.
• 16. They look everywhere except to heaven, to the Most High. They are like a crooked bow that always misses its target. Their leaders will be killed by their enemies because of their insolence toward me. Then the people of Egypt will laugh at them.

Hosea 8

• 1. "Sound the alarm! The enemy descends like an eagle on the people of the LORD, for they have broken my covenant and revolted against my law.
• 2. Now Israel pleads with me, `Help us, for you are our God!'
• 3. But it is too late! The people of Israel have rejected what is good, and now their enemies will chase after them.
• 4. The people have appointed kings and princes, but not with my consent. By making idols for themselves from their silver and gold, they have brought about their own destruction.
• 5. "O Samaria, I reject this calf--this idol you have made. My fury burns against you. How long will you be incapable of innocence?
• 6. This calf you worship was crafted by your own hands! It is not God! Therefore, it must be smashed to bits.
• 7. "They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind. The stalks of wheat wither, producing no grain. And if there is any grain, foreigners will eat it.
• 8. The people of Israel have been swallowed up; they lie among the nations like an old pot that no one wants.
• 9. Like a wild donkey looking for a mate, they have gone up to Assyria. The people of Israel have sold themselves to many lovers.
• 10. But though they have sold themselves to many lands, I will now gather them together. Then they will writhe under the burden of the great king!
• 11. "Israel has built many altars to take away sin, but these very altars became places for sinning!
• 12. Even though I gave them all my laws, they act as if those laws don't apply to them.
• 13. The people of Israel love their rituals of sacrifice, but to me their sacrifices are all meaningless! I will call my people to account for their sins, and I will punish them. They will go back down to Egypt.
• 14. "Israel has built great palaces, and Judah has fortified its cities. But they have both forgotten their Maker. Therefore, I will send down fire on their palaces and burn their fortresses."

Hosea 9

• 1. O people of Israel, do not rejoice as others do. For you have been unfaithful to your God, hiring yourselves out like prostitutes, offering sacrifices to other gods on every threshing floor.
• 2. So now your harvests will be too small to feed you. The grapes you gather will not quench your thirst.
• 3. You may no longer stay here in this land of the LORD. You will be carried off to Egypt and Assyria, where you will live on food that is ceremonially unclean.
• 4. There, far from home, you will not be allowed to pour out wine as a sacrifice to the LORD. None of the sacrifices you offer there will please him. Such sacrifices will be unclean, just as food touched by a person in mourning is unclean. All who present such sacrifices will be defiled. They may eat this food to feed themselves, but they may not offer it to the LORD.
• 5. What then will you do on festival days? What will you do on days of feasting in the LORD's presence?
• 6. Even if you escape destruction from Assyria, you will be conquered by Egypt. Memphis will bury you. Briers will take over your treasures of silver; brambles will fill your homes.
• 7. The time of Israel's punishment has come; the day of payment is almost here. Soon Israel will know this all too well. "The prophets are crazy!" the people shout. "The inspired men are mad!" So they taunt, for the nation is burdened with sin and shows only hatred for those who love God.
• 8. The prophet is a watchman for my God over Israel, yet traps are laid in front of him wherever he goes. He faces hostility even in the house of God.
• 9. The things my people do are as depraved as what they did in Gibeah long ago. God will not forget. He will surely punish them for their sins.
• 10. The LORD says, "O Israel, when I first found you, it was like finding fresh grapes in the desert! When I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season! But then they deserted me for Baal-peor, giving themselves to that shameful idol. Soon they became as vile as the god they worshiped.
• 11. The glory of Israel will fly away like a bird, for your children will die at birth or perish in the womb or never even be conceived.
• 12. Even if your children do survive to grow up, I will take them from you. It will be a terrible day when I turn away and leave you alone.
• 13. I have watched Israel become as beautiful and pleasant as Tyre. But now Israel will bring out her children to be slaughtered."
• 14. O LORD, what should I request for your people? I will ask for wombs that don't give birth and breasts that give no milk.
• 15. The LORD says, "All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their evil actions. I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels.
• 16. The people of Israel are stricken. Their roots are dried up; they will bear no more fruit. And if they give birth, I will slaughter their beloved children."
• 17. My God will reject the people of Israel because they will not listen or obey. They will be wanderers, homeless among the nations.

New Living Translation: 301 of 324 days.