The Eighth Sunday After Pentecost

Scripture Reading: Hosea 11:1-11

Divine love

11 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
        and out of Egypt I called my son.
² The more I called them,
        the further they went from me;
    they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
        and they burned incense to idols.
³ Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
        I took them up in my arms,
        but they did not know that I healed them.
⁴ I led them
        with bands of human kindness,
        with cords of love.
    I treated them like those
        who lift infants to their cheeks;
        I bent down to them and fed them.

Divine frustration

⁵ They will return to the land of Egypt,
        and Assyria will be their king,
        because they have refused to return to me.
⁶ The sword will strike wildly in their cities;
        it will consume the bars of their gates
        and will take everything because of their schemes.
⁷ My people are bent on turning away from me;
        and though they cry out to the Most High,^[a]
        he will not raise them up.

Divine compassion

⁸ How can I give you up, Ephraim?
        How can I hand you over, Israel?
    How can I make you like Admah?
        How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
    My heart winces within me;
        my compassion grows warm and tender.

Israel’s and Judah’s responses

⁹ I won’t act on the heat of my anger;
        I won’t return to destroy Ephraim;
    for I am God and not a human being,
        the holy one in your midst;
    I won’t come in harsh judgment.
¹⁰ They will walk after the Lord,
        who roars like a lion.
        When he roars,
        his children will come trembling from the west.
¹¹ They will come trembling like a bird,
        and like a dove from the land of Assyria;
        and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord.

Footnotes:

1. Hosea 11:7 Heb uncertain