HUSHA 𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏
HOSEA
CHAPTER 1
1 The word of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) that came to Husha son of Baar’ya, in the days of UzaYah, Yahu’tham, Akhaz, and Khazaqa’Yah, sovereigns of Yahudah, and in the days of Yarabam son of Yahu’ash, sovereign of Yashar’AL.
2 The beginning of the word of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) with Husha. And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) said to Husha, “Go, take yourself a woman of whoring and children of whoring, for the land has utterly whored away from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH).”
3 So he went and took Gamar, daughter of Dabal’ym, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) said to him, “Call his name Yazara’AL, for in a little while I shall revenge the bloodshed of Yazara’AL on the house of Yahua, and put an end to the reign of the house of Yashar’AL.
5 “And it shall be in that day that I shall break the bow of Yashar’AL in the Valley of Yazara’AL.”
6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And He said to him, “Call her name La-Rakhamah*, for no longer do I have compassion on the house of Yashar’AL so as to forgive them at all.
*La-Rakhamah Means No Compassion
7 “But I shall have compassion on the house of Yahudah and save them by 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) Their ALUAH, and not save them by bow or by sword or battle, by horses or horsemen.”
8 And she weaned La-Rakhamah, and conceived and bore a son,
9 then He said, “Call his name La-Am’ya*, for you are not My people, and I am not for you.
*La-Am’ya Means Not My People
10 “Yet the number of the children of Yashar’AL shall be as the sand of the sea, which is not measured nor counted. And it shall be in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they shall be called, ‘You are the sons of the living AL.’
11 “And the children of Yahudah and the children of Yashar’AL shall be gathered together, and appoint for themselves one head, and shall come up out of the earth, for great is the day of Yazara’AL!
CHAPTER 2
1 “Say to your brothers, ‘O my people,’ and to your sisters, ‘O, compassioned one.’
2 “Strive with your mother, strive, for she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her whorings from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts,
3 lest I strip her naked, and shall place her up as on the day she was born, and shall make her like a wilderness, and shall make her like a dry land, and shall put her to death with thirst.
4 “And I shall not have compassion on her children, for they are the children of whorings.
5 “For their mother has whored, she who conceived them has acted shamelessly. For she said, ‘I go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.’
6 “Therefore, see, I am hedging up your way with thorns, and I shall wall her in, so that she does not find her paths.
7 “And she shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and shall seek them but not find them. Then she shall say, ‘Let me go and return to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now.’
8 “And she did not acknowledge that I gave her grain, and new wine, and oil, and increased her silver and gold which they prepared for Ba‛al.
9 “Therefore I shall turn back and shall take my grain in its time and My new wine in its season, and I shall take away My wool and My linen covering her nakedness.
10 “And now I shall uncover her shame before the eyes of her lovers, and no one shall save her from My hand.
11 “And I shall cause all her rejoicing, her festivals, her New Months, and her Shabath’ah (Sabbaths), even all her appointed times, to cease,
12 and lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, ‘these are my rewards that my lovers have given me.’ And I shall make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13 “And I shall punish her for the days of the Ba‛alym to which she burned incense and adorned herself with her rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, and forgot Me,” declares 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH).
14 “Therefore, see, I am alluring her, and shall lead her into the wilderness, and shall speak to her heart,
15 and give to her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Akur as a door of expectation. And there she shall respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Ma’tsara’ym.
16 “And it shall be, in that day,” declares 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), “that you call Me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘My Ba‛al.’*
*In today’s translations, ba’al means l-rd in the English. Hence why we do not refer to Our Creator with this pagan title. See also Exodus 23:13 and Yasha’Yahu 65:11
17 “And I shall remove the names of the Ba‛alym from her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
18 “And in that day I shall make a Bar’yath (covenant) for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the shama’ym, and with the creeping creatures of the ground, when bow, and sword, and battle I break from the earth. And I shall make them lie down in safety.
19 “And I shall take you as a bride unto Me forever, and take you as a bride unto Me in righteousness, and in right-ruling, and kindness and compassion.
20 “And I shall take you as a bride unto Me in trustworthiness, and you shall know 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH).
21 “And it shall be in that day that I answer,” declares 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), “that I answer the shama’ym, and they answer the earth,
22 and the earth answer the grain and the new wine and the oil, and they answer Yazara’AL.
23 “And I shall sow her for Myself in the earth, and I shall have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion. And I shall say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people,’ while they say, ‘My ALUAH!’ ”
CHAPTER 3
1 Then 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by a friend, and an adulteress, according to the love of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) for the children of Yashar'AL, though they are turning to other mighty ones and love their raisin cakes.”
2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver, and one and one-half khamar (homer) of barley.
3 And I said to her, “You are to remain with me many days, you are not to whore, nor become any man’s, and so I shall also be towards you.”
4 For many days the children of Yashar'AL are to remain without sovereign and without prince, and without slaughtering, and without pillar, and without shoulder garment or house idols.
5 Afterward the children of Yashar'AL shall return, and seek 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) their ALUAH, and Dau’yad (David) their sovereign, and fear 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) and His goodness, in the latter days.
CHAPTER 4
1 Hear the word of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), you children of Yashar'AL, for 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) has a case against the inhabitants of the land: “For there is no truth or kindness or knowledge of ALUAH in the land.
2 “Swearing, and lying, and murdering, and stealing, and committing adultery have increased. And bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 “Therefore the land mourns, and everyone living there languishes, with the beasts of the field and the birds of the shama’ym. And the fish of the sea are taken away.
4 “However, let no one strive or reprove another, for your people are like those striving with a ka'ahn (priest).
5 “And you shall stumble in the day, and the nab’ya (prophet) shall also stumble with you in the night. And I shall make your mother perish.
6 “My people have perished for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being ka'ahn (priest) for Me. Since you have forgotten the Thurah of your ALUAH, I also forget your children.
7 “As they were increased, so they transgressed against Me. My esteem they have changed into shame.
8 “They eat the sin of My people, and lift up their desire to their crookedness.
9 “And it shall be: like people, like ka'ahn. And I shall punish them for their ways, and reward them for their deeds.
10 “And they shall eat but not be satisfied, they shall whore but not increase, for they have stopped obeying 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH).
11 “Whoring, and wine, and new wine enslave the heart.
12 “My people ask from their Wood, and their Staff declares to them. For a rukh of whorings has led them astray, and they went whoring from under their ALUAH.
13 “They slaughter on the mountaintops, and burn incense on the hills, under oak and poplars and terebinth, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters commit whoring, and your brides commit adultery.
14 “I would not punish your daughters when they commit whoring, nor your brides when they commit adultery, for the men themselves go aside with whores, and offer with cult prostitutes – a people that do not understand are thrust down!
15 “Though you are a whore, Yashar'AL, let not Yahudah become guilty. Do not come up to Gal’gal, nor go up to Bayath A’un, nor swear an oath, saying, ‘As 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) Abides!’
16 “For Yashar'AL is stubborn, like a stubborn calf. Would 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) now feed them like a lamb in a broad place?
17 “Apara’ym is joined to idols, let him alone.
18 “Their drink is sour, they have whored continually. Her rulers wildly loved shame.
19 “A wind has bound her up in its wings, and they are ashamed because of their slaughterings.
CHAPTER 5
1 “Hear this, O ka’ahn’ym (priests)! And listen, O house of Yashar'AL! Give ear, O house of the sovereign! For the judgment is for you, for you have been a snare to Mats’pah and a net spread on Tabur.
2 “And the revolters are deep in slaughter, though I rebuke them all.
3 “I have known Apara’ym, and Yashar'AL has not been hidden from Me. For now, O Apara’ym, you have whored, Yashar'AL is defiled.
4 “Their deeds do not allow them to turn back to their ALUAH, for the RUKH of whorings is among them, and they do not know 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH).
5 “And the Excellency of Yashar'AL shall witness to his face, and Yashar'AL and Apara’ym stumble in their crookedness. Yahudah shall also stumble with them.
6 “With their flocks and herds they go to seek 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), but do not find Him – He has withdrawn from them.
7 “They have acted treacherously against 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), for they have brought forth strange children. Now a new month shall devour them with their portions.
8 “Blow the ram’s horn in Gaba‛ah, the trumpet in Ramah! Shout, O Bayath A’un! Behind you, O Ban'yama'yan!
9 “Apara’ym is laid waste in the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Yashar'AL I shall make known what is certain.
10 “The chiefs of Yahudah shall be like those who remove a border – on them I pour out my wrath like water.
11 “Apara’ym is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because it pleased him to walk after commandments of man.
12 “So I am to Apara’ym like a moth, and to the house of Yahudah like rottenness.
13 “When Apara’ym saw his sickness, and Yahudah saw his wound, then Apara’ym went to Ashur and sent to Sovereign Yarab. But he is unable to heal you, or to remove the wound from you.
14 “For I am like a lion to Apara’ym, and like a young lion to the house of Yahudah. I Myself tear them and go, I take them away, and there is no one to save.
15 “I shall go, I shall return to My place, until they confess their guilt and seek My face, in their distress diligently search for Me.
CHAPTER 6
1 ‘Come, and let us turn back to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH). For He has torn but He does heal us, He has stricken but He binds us up.
2 ‘After two days He shall revive us, on the third day He shall raise us up, so that we abide before Him.
3 ‘So let us know, let us pursue to know 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH). His going forth is as certain as the rising. And He comes to us like the rain, like the latter rain watering the earth.’
4 “Apara’ym, what would I do with you? Yahudah, what would I do with you? For your trustworthiness is like a rising cloud, and like the early dew it goes away.
5 “Therefore I have hewn them by the nab’ya’ym (prophets), I have slain them by the words of My mouth. And my right-rulings break forth as the light.
6 “For I delight in kindness and not slaughtering, and in the knowledge of ALUAH more than burnt offerings.
7 “But like Adam they transgressed the Bar’yath (covenant). There they acted treacherously against Me.
8 “Gal’ad is a city of workers of wickedness – tracked up with blood.
9 “And as bands of robbers lie in wait for a man, so the company of ka’ahn’ym (priests) murder on the way to Shakam, for they have done wickedness.
10 “I have seen a horrible matter in the house of Yashar'AL: the whoring of Apara’ym is there, Yashar'AL is defiled.
11 “Also, a harvest is appointed for you, O Yahudah, when I turn back the captivity of My people.
CHAPTER 7
1 “Whenever I would heal Yashar'AL, then the crookedness of Apara’ym is uncovered, and the evil deeds of Shamar’un. For they have wrought falsehood, and a thief comes in, a band of robbers raids outside.
2 “And they do not say to their hearts that I remember all their evil. Now their own deeds have surrounded them, they have been before Me.
3 “With their evil they make a sovereign glad, and rulers with their lies.
4 “All of them are adulterers, as an oven heated by a baker, who ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough, until it is leavened.
5 “In the day of our sovereign rulers became sick, inflamed with wine. He extended his hand with scoffers.
6 “For they have drawn near, their heart is like an oven. While they lie in wait all the night their baker sleeps. In the rising it burns like a flaming fire.
7 “All of them are as hot as an oven, and they consumed their rulers. All their sovereigns have fallen – not one among them calls on Me.
8 “Apara’ym mixes himself among the peoples, Apara’ym has become a cake unturned.
9 “Strangers have devoured his strength, but he does not know it. Grey hairs are also sprinkled on him, and he does not know it.
10 “And the Excellency of Yashar'AL did witness to his face, but they did not return to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) their ALUAH, nor did they seek Him for all this.
11 “And Apara’ym has become a simple dove without heart, they have called on Ma’tsara’ym, they have gone to Ashur.
12 “When they go I spread My net over them, I bring them down like the birds of the shama’ym, I chastise them as their congregation has heard.
13 “Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me! Destruction to them, because they have transgressed against Me! And I Myself have ransomed them, yet they have spoken falsehoods against Me,
14 and did not cry out to Me with their heart when they wailed upon their beds. For grain and new wine they assemble themselves; they turn away from Me.
15 “And I instructed, I strengthened their arms, but they plot evil against Me.
16 “They return, but not to the Most High. They have been like a slack bow. Their rulers fall by the sword for the cursings of their tongue. This is their scorn in the land of Ma’tsara’ym.
CHAPTER 8
1 “Put the ram’s horn to your mouth, like an eagle against the House of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), because they have transgressed My Bar’yath (covenant), and they have rebelled against My Thurah.
2 “They cry out to Me, ‘My ALUAH – we, Yashar'AL, know You!’
3 “Yashar'AL has rejected what is good, an enemy pursues him.
4 “They have made sovereigns, but not from Me. They have made rulers, but I have not known. From their silver and gold they made idols for themselves, so that they are cut off.
5 “O Shamar'un, your calf has been cast off! My wrath has burned against them. How long shall they be incapable of innocence?
6 “For from Yashar'AL is even this: a workman made it, and it is not ALUAH! For the calf of Shamar'un is splinters!
7 “For they sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no bud, it yields no grain. If it does yield, strangers swallow it up.
8 “Yashar'AL has been swallowed up. They have now become among the nations as a vessel in which is no pleasure.
9 “For they themselves have gone up to Ashur. A wild donkey alone by itself is Apara’ym, they have hired lovers.
10 “Also, although they sold themselves among the nations, this time I shall gather them, when they have suffered for a while from the burden of a sovereign, of rulers.
11 “Since Apara’ym has made many altars for transgression, they have been altars for iniquity to him.
12 “I have written for him numerous matters of My Thurah – they were regarded as strange.
13 “As for My offerings: they slaughter flesh and they eat. 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) shall not accept them. Now does He remember their crookedness and punish their iniquities. Let them return to Ma’tsara’ym!
14 “For Yashar'AL has forgotten his Maker, and has built palaces. And Yahudah has increased walled cities. But I shall send fire upon his cities, and it shall devour his strongholds.”
CHAPTER 9
1 O Yashar'AL, do not rejoice with exultation like the peoples, for you have whored from your ALUAH. You have loved a love-fee at all threshing-floors.
2 Threshing floor and winepress shall not feed them, and new wine shall fail in her.
3 They shall not dwell in the land of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), but Apara’ym shall return to Ma’tsara’ym, and eat unclean food in Ashur.
4 They do not pour wine offerings to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), nor are their offerings pleasing to Him – it being like bread of mourners to them, all who eat it are defiled. For their bread is for their napash (being), it does not come into the House of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH).
5 What do you do for the appointed meeting, and in the day of the festival of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH)?
6 For look, they shall go because of destruction – Ma’tsara’ym gathers them up, Mahp (Memphis) buries them, nettles possess their valuables of silver, thorns are in their tents.
7 The days of punishment have come, the days of retribution have come. Yashar'AL knows! The nab’ya (prophet) is a fool, the ‘man of the RUKH’ is mad, because of the greatness of your crookedness, and great is the enmity.
8 ALUAH’s watchman over you, Apara’ym, is the nab’ya (prophet), but a trapper’s snare is in all his ways. Enmity is in the House of his ALUAH.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gaba‛ah. He remembers their crookedness, He punishes their iniquities.
10 “I found Yashar'AL like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first-fruits on the fig tree in its beginning. They themselves have gone to Ba‛al Pa‛ur, and separated themselves to shame, and became as abominable as that which they loved.
11 “Apara’ym is like a bird, their esteem has flown away – no birth, and none with child, and no conception!
12 “Though they bring up their children, I shall make them childless, without man. For it is woe to them when I turn away from them!
13 “I have seen Apara’ym, like Tsur (Tyre), planted in a pleasant place. But Apara’ym shall bring out his children to the murderer.”
14 Give them, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) – give what? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
15 “All their evil is in Gal’gal, for there I have hated them. Because of the evil of their deeds I drive them from My house, no more do I love them. All their rulers are rebels.
16 “Apara’ym has been smitten, their root has dried up, they yield no fruit. Even if they bear children, I shall put to death the precious ones of their womb.”
17 My ALUAH rejects them, because they have not obeyed Him, so that they become wanderers among the gentiles!
CHAPTER 10
1 Yashar'AL is a degenerate vine, he brings forth fruit for himself. As his fruit increased, he increased the altars. And the better his land, the better they made the pillars.
2 Their heart has been slippery, now they are guilty. He breaks down their altars, He destroys their pillars.
3 For now they say, “We have no sovereign, because we did not fear 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH). What would the sovereign do for us?”
4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a Bar’yath (covenant). Therefore judgment shall spring up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Shamar'un fear because of the calf of Bayath A’un. For its people shall mourn for it, as well as its kamar’ym (priests) who used to rejoice over it, because of its esteem that has departed from it.
6 It is also brought to Ashur as a gift for Sovereign Yarab. Apara’ym does receive shame, and Yashar'AL is put to shame through his counsel.
7 Shamar'un is cut off, her sovereign is like a twig on the surface of the water.
8 And the high places of A’un, the iniquity of Yashar'AL, shall be destroyed, thorn and thistle come up on their altars. And they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
9 “O Yashar'AL, you have transgressed from the days of Gaba‛ah. There they stood! The battle in Gaba‛ah against the children of perversity did not overtake them.
10 “When I desire, then I bind them. And peoples shall be gathered against them when I bind them for their double guilt.
11 “And Apara’ym is a trained heifer, loving to thresh grain. But I Myself shall pass over her comely neck – I put Apara’ym to the yoke, Yahudah ploughs, Ya‛aqab harrows for him.”
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap according to kindness, break up your tillable ground, it is time to seek 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
13 You have ploughed wrongness, you have reaped unrighteousness, you have eaten the fruit of lying, because you trusted in your own way, in your many mighty men.
14 And uproar shall arise among your people, and all your strongholds shall be ravaged as Shalaman ravaged Bayath Arb’AL in the day of battle – a mother dashed in pieces on her children.
15 Thus it shall be done to you, O Bayath AL, because of the evil of your wickedness. At dawn the sovereign of Yashar'AL is completely cut off!
CHAPTER 11
1 “When Yashar'AL was a child, I loved him, and out of Ma’tsara’ym I called My son.
2 “They called to them, so they went from their face. They slaughtered to the Ba‛alym, and burned incense to carved images.
3 “And I taught Apara’ym to walk, taking them by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them.
4 “I drew them with ropes of man, with cords of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. And I bent down, fed them.
5 “No, let him return to the land of Ma’tsara’ym, and let Ashur be his sovereign, because they refused to repent!
6 “And the sword shall whirl in his cities, and it shall demolish his gate bars, and consume, because of their own counsels.
7 “My people are bent towards backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, He lifts none of them up.
8 “How could I give you up, Apara’ym? How could I hand you over, Yashar'AL? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Tsaba’ym? My heart turns within Me, all My compassion is kindled.
9 “I shall not let the heat of My wrath burn, I shall not turn to destroy Apara’ym. For I am AL, and not man, the Made-apart One in your midst, and I shall not come in enmity.
10 “Let them follow 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH). Like a lion He roars. When He roars, then sons shall tremble from the west.
11 “They shall tremble like a bird from Ma’tsara’ym, and like a dove from the land of Ashur. And I shall let them dwell in their own houses,” declares 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH).
12 “Apara’ym has surrounded Me with lying, and the house of Yashar'AL with deceit. But Yahudah is still wandering with AL, and is true to the Made-apart One.”
CHAPTER 12
1 Apara’ym is feeding on wind, and pursuing an east wind. All the day he increases falsehood and ruin. And they make a Bar’yath (covenant) with Ashur, and oil is sent to Ma’tsara’ym.
2 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) has a controversy with Yahudah, to punish Ya'aqab according to his ways, to repay him according to his deeds.
3 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and in his strength he strove with ALUAH.
4 He strove with the Messenger and overcame, he wept and sought His favor. He found Him in Bayath AL, and there He spoke to us –
5 even 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) ALUAH of hosts, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) is His remembrance.
6 Therefore, return to your ALUAH. Guard kindness and right-ruling, and wait on your ALUAH continually.
7 A merchant! In his hand are scales of deceit, he loved to oppress.
8 And Apara’ym says, “Indeed, I have become rich, I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors they shall find in me no crookedness that is transgression.”
9 “But I am 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) your ALUAH since the land of Ma’tsara’ym, again I shall make you dwell in tents as in the days of the appointed time.
10 “And I have spoken to the nab’ya’ym (prophets), and have increased visions. And through the nab’ya’ym (prophets) I gave parables.”
11 Is Gal’ad wicked? Certainly, they have been false! In Gal’gal they have offered bulls. Also their altars are as heaps on a ploughed field.
12 And when Ya'aqab fled to the country of Aram, Yashar'AL served for a wife, and for a wife he kept watch.
13 And by a nab’ya (prophet) 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) brought Yashar'AL out of Ma’tsara’ym, and by a nab’ya (prophet) he was watched over.
14 Apara’ym has provoked most bitterly. So his Sovereign left his blood-guilt on him, and repaid him for his reproach.
CHAPTER 13
1 When Apara’ym spoke there was trembling, he was lifted up in Yashar'AL. But through Ba‛al he became guilty, and he died.
2 And now they transgress more and more, and make for themselves moulded images from their silver, idols according to their skill, all of them the work of craftsmen. They say of them, “Let the men who slaughter kiss the calves!”
3 Therefore they shall be like a rising cloud, and like dew that goes away early, like chaff blown off from a threshing-floor, and like smoke from a window.
4 “But I am 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) your ALUAH since the land of Ma’tsara’ym, and an ALUAH besides Me you shall not know, for there is no Saviour besides Me.
5 “I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.
6 “When they were fed they were satisfied. They were satisfied and their heart was exalted, therefore they forgot Me.
7 “So I am become like a lion to them, like a leopard I watch by the way,
8 like a bear robbed of her young I attack them and rip open the enclosure of their heart. And there I devour them like a lion, a wild beast tear them apart.
9 “You have destroyed yourself, O Yashar'AL, but your help is in Me.
10 “Where is your sovereign now to save you in all your cities, and your rulers of whom you said, ‘Give me a sovereign and rulers’?
11 “I gave you a sovereign in My displeasure, but I took him away in My wrath.
12 “The crookedness of Apara’ym is bound up, his iniquity is hidden.
13 “Pains of a woman in labor shall come upon him. He is not a discerned son, for it is not the time that he should delay at the breaking forth of children.
14 “From the power of the grave I ransom them, from death I redeem them. Where is your plague, O Death? Where is your destruction, O Grave? Repentance is hidden from My eyes.
15 “Though he bears fruit among his brothers, an east wind comes, a wind from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) comes up from the wilderness, and it dries up his fountain, and his spring becomes dry – it plunders a treasure of all desirable objects.
16 “Shamar'un is held guilty, for she has rebelled against her ALUAH – they fall by the sword, their infants are dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.”
CHAPTER 14
1 O Yashar'AL, return to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) your ALUAH, for you have stumbled by your crookedness.
2 Take words with you, and return to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH). Say to Him, “Take away all crookedness, and accept what is good, and we render the bulls of our lips.
3 “Ashur does not save us. We do not ride on horses, nor ever again do we say to the work of our hands, ‘Our mighty ones.’ For the fatherless finds compassion in You.”
4 “I shall heal their backsliding, I shall love them spontaneously, for My displeasure has turned away from him.
5 “I shall be like the dew to Yashar'AL. He shall blossom like the lily, and cast out his roots like Laba’nun.
6 “His branches shall spread, and his splendor shall be like an olive tree, and his fragrance like Laba’nun.
7 “Those who dwell under his shadow shall return. They shall revive like grain, and blossom like the vine, and become as fragrant as the wine of Laba’nun.
8 “What more has Apara’ym to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after him. I am like a green cypress tree, your fruit comes from Me.”
9 Who is discerned and understands these words, discerning and knows them? For the ways of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) are straight, and the righteous walk in them, but the transgressors stumble in them.