Vayetzei
This translation was taken from the JPS Tanakh.
Hosea 12:13-14:10
Separadim read Hosea 11:7 – 12:14
Chapter 12
13 Then Jacob had to flee to the land of Aram;
There Israel served for a wife,
For a wife he had to guard [sheep].
14 But when the Lord
Brought Israel up from Egypt,
It was through a prophet;
Through a prophet they were guarded.
15 Ephraim gave bitter offense,
And his Lord cast his crimes upon him
And requited him for his mockery.
Chapter 13
1 When Ephraim spoke piety,
He was exalted in Israel;
But he incurred guilt through Baal,
And so he died.
2 And now they go on sinning;
They have made them molten images,
Idols, by their skill, from their silver,
Wholly the work of craftsmen.
Yet for these they appoint men to sacrifice;
They are wont to kiss calves!
3 Assuredly,
They shall be like morning clouds,
Like dew so early gone;
Like chaff whirled away from the threshing floor.
And like smoke from a lattice.
4 Only I the Lord have been your God
Ever since the land of Egypt;
You have never known a [true] God but Me,
You have never had a helper other than Me.
5 I looked after you in the desert,
In a thirsty land.
6 When they grazed, they were sated;
When they were sated, they grew haughty;
And so they forgot Me.
7 So I am become like a lion to them,
Like a leopard I lurk on the way;
8 Like a bear robbed of her young I attack them
And rip open the casing of their hearts;
I will devour them there like a lion,
The beasts of the field shall mangle them.
9 You are undone, O Israel!
You had no help but Me.
10 Where now is your king?
Let him save you!
Where are the chieftains in all your towns
Whom you demanded:
“Give me a king and officers”?
11 I give you kings in my ire,
And take them away in My wrath.
12 Ephraim’s guilt is bound up,
His sin is stored away.
13 Pangs of childbirth assail him,
And the babe is not wise–
For this is no time to survive
At the birthstool of babes.
14 From Sheol itself I will save them,
Redeem them from very Death.
Where, O Death, are your plagues?
Your pestilence where, O Sheol?
Revenge shall be far from My thoughts.
15 For though he flourish among reeds,
A blast, a wind of the Lord,
Shall come blowing up from the wilderness;
His fountain shall be parched,
His spring dried up.
That [wind] shall plunder treasures,
Every lovely object.
Chapter 14
1 Samaria must bear her guilt,
For she has defied her God.
They shall fall by the sword,
Their infants shall be dashed to death,
And their women with child ripped open.
2 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
For you have fallen because of your sin.
3 Take words with you
And return to the Lord.
Say to Him:
“Forgive all guilt
And accept what is good;
Instead of bulls we will pay
[The offering of] our lips.
4 Assyria shall not save us,
No more will we ride on steeds;
Nor ever again will we call
Our handiwork our god,
Since in You alone orphans find pity!”
5 I will heal their affliction,
Generously will I take them back in love;
For My anger has turned away from them.
6 I will be to Israel like dew;
He shall blossom like the lily,
He shall strike root like a Lebanon tree.
7 His boughs shall spread out far,
His beauty shall be like the olive tree’s,
His fragrance like that of Lebanon.
8 They who sit in his shade shall be revived:
They shall bring to life new grain,
They shall blossom like the vine;
His scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
9 Ephraim [shall say]:
“What more have I to do with idols?
When I respond and look to Him,
I become like a verdant cypress.”
Your fruit is provided by Me.
10 He who is wise will consider these words,
He who is prudent will take note of them.
For the paths of the Lord are smooth;
The righteous can walk on them,
While sinners stumble on them.
Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
No part of this text can be reproduced or forwarded without written permission.
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