I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD…
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, there never is a moment when I don’t need you. Thank you for your constancy in everything that concerns me.
Read HOSEA 13
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
The Lord’s Anger Against Israel
13 When Ephraim spoke, people trembled;
he was exalted in Israel.
But he became guilty of Baal worship and died.
2 Now they sin more and more;
they make idols for themselves from their silver,
cleverly fashioned images,
all of them the work of craftsmen.
It is said of these people,
“They offer human sacrifices!
They kiss[a] calf-idols!”
3 Therefore they will be like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears,
like chaff swirling from a threshing floor,
like smoke escaping through a window.
4 “But I have been the Lord your God
ever since you came out of Egypt.
You shall acknowledge no God but me,
no Savior except me.
5 I cared for you in the wilderness,
in the land of burning heat.
6 When I fed them, they were satisfied;
when they were satisfied, they became proud;
then they forgot me.
7 So I will be like a lion to them,
like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
8 Like a bear robbed of her cubs,
I will attack them and rip them open;
like a lion I will devour them—
a wild animal will tear them apart.
9 “You are destroyed, Israel,
because you are against me, against your helper.
10 Where is your king, that he may save you?
Where are your rulers in all your towns,
of whom you said,
‘Give me a king and princes’?
11 So in my anger I gave you a king,
and in my wrath I took him away.
12 The guilt of Ephraim is stored up,
his sins are kept on record.
13 Pains as of a woman in childbirth come to him,
but he is a child without wisdom;
when the time arrives,
he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb.
14 “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?
“I will have no compassion,
15 even though he thrives among his brothers.
An east wind from the Lord will come,
blowing in from the desert;
his spring will fail
and his well dry up.
His storehouse will be plundered
of all its treasures.
16 The people of Samaria must bear their guilt,
because they have rebelled against their God.
They will fall by the sword;
their little ones will be dashed to the ground,
their pregnant women 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.
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.
Reflect
‘You are my Lord and my God. Amen.’The covenant had sealed the deal (v. 4; Deuteronomy 5:1–21). God had rescued his people from Egypt, cared for them in the wilderness, and led them home (vv. 4–6). But they turned against God (vv. 2, 9); now he would take action against them (vv. 7, 8). No wonder they trembled. Here, God brought charges and the sentence.
They had embraced idolatry, even the evil practices of human sacrifice (v. 2). Proud and self-satisfied, they rejected God’s help. So much for the earthly rulers they had demanded (1 Samuel 8:19, 20)—the people had gotten their own way—and what they deserved (vv. 9–11). Now self-centered dreams ‘disappeared like morning mist’ (v. 3). And their sins were not forgotten (v. 12). We can imagine God’s frustration with his people who wouldn’t respond to his loving call—like ‘stupid’ babies at the point of birth, they hadn’t had the sense to even be born! So, judgment would come—the east wind will blow, crops and rains would fail, storehouses would be emptied and plundered (v. 15). Rebellion against God would bring unimaginable atrocities (v 16). God would have no compassion. Even those who were doing well would not be safe (v. 15).
And yet, still there was a whisper of God’s final triumph: ‘Where, O death, is your victory?’ (1 Corinthians 15:55; v. 14). Judgment is not God’s final word.
Apply
Where do you see God’s judgment at work? How might we speak his Word into troubled situations?
Closing prayer
Sovereign God, wherever I walk, keep me on your path, pleasing to you and ready to do your will.
Book and Author Intros
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