LOVE, NOT SACRIFICE.

I will go back to My place,

Till they confess, and seek My face.

In their affliction they will seek Me:

O Come, let us return unto Jehovah,

For He hath torn, and will heal us;
He smiteth, and will bind us up.
He will revive us after two days,
On the third day raise us up,

That we may live before Him, and know.
Let us strive to know Jehovah,
Whose going forth is sure, like dawn,
That He may come like showers upon us,
Like early rain that watereth the earth."

What shall I do to thee, Ephraim ?
What shall I do to thee, Judah?
For thy love is like a morning-cloud,
And like the dew that riseth early.
Therefore I hewed them with prophets,
And slew them with words of My mouth
Like light goeth forth My judgment.

For I desire love and not sacrifice,

h;

And knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.

But they are like men that break covenant;

There were they faithless toward Me.

When I would heal Israel,

Then is Ephraim's sin revealed,

And the misdeeds of Samaria.

For they have wrought lies;
The thief entereth,

Bandits plunder without.

Gilead is a town of evil-doers,

417

Tracked with blood.

Like man-snarers, bandits, are the guild of priests,
That murder on the road to Shechem.

For they have wrought shame ;

In the house of Israel I have seen an horrible thing.

Hear Jehovah's word, O house of Israel,

For Jehovah hath a suit against the dwellers of the land; For there is no truth, and there is no love, and there is no knowledge of God in the land,

But swearing, and lying, and murdering, and stealing, and committing adultery;

Men riot, and blood is poured on blood.

Therefore the land shall mourn,

And all that dwell therein shall languish ;
The beasts of the field, and fowl of the air,
And the very fish of the sea be destroyed.

And Menahem did evil in the sight of Jehovah; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. And concerning the sins of Israel, the high places, and the golden calf, and the rebellion against the house of David, spake Hosea son of Beeri, saying:

Israel hath cast away the good,

Let the foe pursue him.

Kings they made, but not of Me,

Princes whom I knew not.

Of their silver and gold, made they idols,

That they might be cut off.

Loathsome is thy calf, Samaria ;

A smith made it, it is no god :
Yea, Samaria's calf shall be shivered.

ISRAEL SHALL GO CAPTIVE.

419

My wrath is hot against them,

How long ere they repent?

For they sow wind, and reap whirlwind.

Stalks they have not, the shoots yield no grain;
If they yield, strangers devour it.

Swallowed up is Israel;

Now are they among the nations

Like a vessel that none wanteth.

For they are gone up to Assyria—

A wild ass alone by himself—

Ephraim hath hired lovers.

But though they hire among the nations,

Yet will I gather them in ;

Soon shall they writhe beneath the tribute of the king of princes.

For Ephraim hath multiplied altars to sin;

For sin his altars serve him.

Though I write him the words of My law,

Like a strange thing are My burnt-offerings reckoned.

Flesh they cook and eat it ;

Jehovah accepteth them not.

Now remembereth He their guilt, and visiteth their sin: They shall return to Egypt (captivity).

And because Israel worshipped Jehovah, who had brought them out of Egypt, as the nations worshipped their Baals, their false gods, therefore Hosea prophesied that Assyria should be to them a land of captivity, even Egypt.

When Israel was young, I loved him;
Out of Egypt I called My son.

Others called them, so they left Me;

They sacrifice to Baals, and to images burn incense.

Yet I taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in Mine

arms.

But they know not that I healed them.

He shall return to Egypt,

And Assyria be his king;

Because they would not turn to Me.

And the sword shall whirl down on his cities,

And destroy his princes,

And devour his counsellors.

And at the joy of the Harvest-feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, spake Hosea, saying :

Rejoice not, Israel, for joy, like the nations,
For thou hast gone astray from thy God.

Threshing-floor and wine-press shall not feed them,
And the new wine shall fail her.

They shall not dwell in Jehovah's land,
But Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
In Assyria shall they eat the unclean.
They shall not pour out wine to Jehovah,
And their offerings shall not please Him;
Their bread shall be like mourners' bread,
All that eat it are unclean;

For their bread is for their hunger,
It cometh not to Jehovah's house.
What will ye do in the festal day,
In the day of Jehovah's feast?
Come are the days of visitation,
Come the days of recompense;
Israel shall know it.

II. KINGS, XV.-xvii.

CHAPTER VII.

II. CHRONICLES, xxviii. PSALMS, lxxx. ISAIAH, vii. HOSEA, vii., x.-xiv.

FALL OF SAMARIA.

Conspiracy of Pekah-League against Assyria—War with Judah— Siege of Jerusalem-Invasion of Tiglath-pileser-Pekah Assassinated-Hoshea King—Another League-Hosea Against the Foreign Policy-Hoshea a Captive-A Sermon of Warning-Capture of Samaria-Deportation-Beth-aven's Calf—Utter Destruction— Words of Comfort-An Assyrian Satrapy-Peopling SamariaLearning the Fear of Jehovah-Idols of the Nations-The Ruined Vineyard.

Now Menahem slept with his fathers; and Pekahiah (Jah Openeth) his son reigned in his stead. And Pekahiah son of Menahem reigned over Israel in Samaria two years. And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. And Pekah son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him, and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites; and he smote Pekahiah in Samaria, in the hold of the king's house, together with Argob and Arieh (Lion), and slew him, and reigned in his stead. And Pekah son of Remaliah reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty years. And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

And it came to pass in those days, that Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, and Rezin king of Damascus,