Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition

THE BOOK OF HOSEA

1 *The word of the LORD that came to Hose'a the son of Bee'ri, in the days of Uzzi'ah, Jo'tham, A'haz, and Hezeki'ah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jerobo'am the son of Jo'ash, king of Israel.

Hosea Marries a Harlot and Has Children

2 When the LORD first spoke through Hose'a, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry, for the land commits great harlotry by forsaking the LORD.” ³So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Dibla'im, and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 And the LORD said to him, “Call his name Jezre'el; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Je'hu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. ⁵And on that day, I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezre'el.”

6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Call her name Not pitied, for I will no more have pity on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. ⁷But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will deliver them by the LORD their God; I will not deliver them by bow, nor by sword, nor by war, nor by horses, nor by horsemen.”

8 When she had weaned Not pitied, she conceived and bore a son. ⁹And the LORD said, “Call his name Not my people, for you are not my people and I am not your God.”^a

Israel’s Restoration

10^b Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Sons of the living God.” ¹¹And the people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head; and they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezre'el.

Israel’s Infidelity, Punishment, and Redemption

2 ^c Say to your brother,^d “My people,” and to your sister, ^e “She has obtained pity.”

²“Plead with your mother, plead—

for she is not my wife,

and I am not her husband—

that she put away her harlotry from her face,

and her adultery from between her breasts;

³lest I strip her naked

and make her as in the day she was born,

and make her like a wilderness,

and set her like a parched land,

and slay her with thirst.

⁴Upon her children also I will have no pity,

because they are children of harlotry.

⁵For their mother has played the harlot;

she that conceived them has acted shamefully.

For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,

who give me my bread and my water,

my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

⁶Therefore I will hedge up her^f way with thorns;

and I will build a wall against her,

so that she cannot find her paths.

⁷She shall pursue her lovers,

but not overtake them;

and she shall seek them,

but shall not find them.

Then she shall say, ‘I will go

and return to my first husband,

for it was better with me then than now.’

⁸And she did not know

that it was I who gave her

the grain, the wine, and the oil,

and who lavished upon her silver

and gold which they used for Ba'al.

⁹Therefore I will take back

my grain in its time,

and my wine in its season;

and I will take away my wool and my flax,

which were to cover her nakedness.

¹⁰Now I will uncover her lewdness

in the sight of her lovers,

and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.

¹¹And I will put an end to all her mirth,

her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths,

and all her appointed feasts.

¹²And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,

of which she said,

‘These are my hire,

which my lovers have given me.’

I will make them a forest,

and the beasts of the field shall devour them.

¹³And I will punish her for the feast days of the Ba'als

when she burned incense to them

and decked herself with her ring and jewelry,

and went after her lovers,

and forgot me, says the LORD.

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

and bring her into the wilderness,

and speak tenderly to her.

¹⁵And there I will give her her vineyards,

and make the Valley of A'chor a door of hope.

And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,

as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

16 “And in that day, says the LORD, you will call me, ‘My husband,’ and no longer will you call me, ‘My Ba'al.’ ¹⁷For I will remove the names of the Ba'als from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more. ¹⁸And I will make for you^g a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish^h the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety. ¹⁹And I will espouse you for ever; I will espouse you in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. ²⁰I will espouse you in faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD.

²¹“And in that day, says the LORD,

I will answer the heavens

and they shall answer the earth;

²²and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,

and they shall answer Jezre'el;ⁱ

²³ and I will sow him^j for myself in the land.

And I will have pity on Not pitied,

and I will say to Not my people, ‘You are my people’;

and he shall say ‘You are my God.’”

The Lord’s Love for His Unfaithful People

3 And the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is beloved of a paramour and is an adulteress; even as the LORD loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” ²So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. ³And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days; you shall not play the harlot, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” ⁴For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or teraphim. ⁵Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days.

God Accuses Israel

4 Hear the word of the LORD, O people of Israel;

for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.

There is no faithfulness or kindness,

and no knowledge of God in the land;

²there is swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and committing adultery;

they break all bounds and murder follows murder.

³Therefore the land mourns,

and all who dwell in it languish,

and also the beasts of the field,

and the birds of the air;

and even the fish of the sea are taken away.

⁴Yet let no one contend,

and let none accuse,

for with you is my contention, O priest. ^k

⁵You shall stumble by day,

the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;

and I will destroy your mother.

⁶My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;

because you have rejected knowledge,

I reject you from being a priest to me.

And since you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

⁷The more they increased,

the more they sinned against me;

I will change their glory into shame.

⁸They feed on the sin of my people;

they are greedy for their iniquity.

⁹And it shall be like people, like priest;

I will punish them for their ways,

and repay them for their deeds.

¹⁰They shall eat, but not be satisfied;

they shall play the harlot, but not multiply;

because they have forsaken the LORD

to cherish harlotry.

¹¹Wine and new wine

take away the understanding.

¹²My people inquire of a thing of wood,

and their staff gives them oracles.

For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray,

and they have left their God to play the harlot.

¹³They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains,

and make offerings upon the hills,

under oak, poplar, and terebinth,

because their shade is good.

Therefore your daughters play the harlot,

and your brides commit adultery.

¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot,

nor your brides when they commit adultery;

for the men themselves go aside with harlots,

and sacrifice with cult prostitutes,

and a people without understanding shall come to ruin.

¹⁵Though you play the harlot, O Israel,

let not Judah become guilty.

Enter not into Gilgal,

nor go up to Beth-a'ven,

and swear not, “As the LORD lives.”

¹⁶Like a stubborn heifer,

Israel is stubborn;

can the LORD now feed them

like a lamb in a broad pasture?

¹⁷E'phraim is joined to idols,

let him alone.

¹⁸A band^l of drunkards, they give themselves to harlotry;

they love shame more than their glory.^m

¹⁹A wind has wrapped themⁿ in its wings,

and they shall be ashamed because of their altars.^o

Impending Judgment on Israel and Judah; and a Call to Repentance

5 Hear this, O priests!

Give heed, O house of Israel!

Listen, O house of the king!

For the judgment pertains to you;

for you have been a snare at Mizpah,

and a net spread upon Ta'bor.

²And they have made deep the pit of Shittim;^p

but I will chastise all of them.

³I know E'phraim,

and Israel is not hidden from me;

for now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot,

Israel is defiled.

⁴Their deeds do not permit them

to return to their God.

For the spirit of harlotry is within them,

and they know not the LORD.

⁵The pride of Israel testifies to his face;

E'phraim^q shall stumble in his guilt;

Judah also shall stumble with them.

⁶With their flocks and herds they shall go

to seek the LORD,

but they will not find him;

he has withdrawn from them.

⁷They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD;

for they have borne alien children.

Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

⁸Blow the horn in Gib'e-ah,

the trumpet in Ra'mah.

Sound the alarm at Beth-a'ven;

tremble,^r O Benjamin!

⁹E'phraim shall become a desolation

in the day of punishment;

among the tribes of Israel

I declare what is sure.

¹⁰The princes of Judah have become

like those who remove the landmark;

upon them I will pour out

my wrath like water.

¹¹E'phraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,

because he was determined to go after vanity.^s

¹²Therefore I am like a moth to E'phraim,

and like dry rot to the house of Judah.

¹³When E'phraim saw his sickness,

and Judah his wound,

then Ephraim went to Assyria,

and sent to the great king.^t

But he is not able to cure you

or heal your wound.

¹⁴For I will be like a lion to E'phraim,

and like a young lion to the house of Judah.

I, even I, will tear and go away,

I will carry off, and none shall rescue.

¹⁵I will return again to my place,

until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,

and in their distress they seek me, saying,

6 “Come, let us return to the LORD;

for he has torn, that he may heal us;

he has stricken, and he will bind us up.

²After two days he will revive us;

on the third day he will raise us up,

that we may live before him.

³Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD;

his going forth is sure as the dawn;

he will come to us as the showers,

as the spring rains that water the earth.”

⁴What shall I do with you, O E'phraim?

What shall I do with you, O Judah?

Your love is like a morning cloud,

like the dew that goes early away.

⁵Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,

I have slain them by the words of my mouth,

and my judgment goes forth as the light.^u

⁶For I desire mercy and not sacrifice,

the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.

⁷But at^v Adam they transgressed the covenant;

there they dealt faithlessly with me.

⁸Gilead is a city of evildoers,

tracked with blood.

⁹As robbers lie in wait^w for a man,

so the priests are banded together;^x

they murder on the way to She'chem,

yes, they commit villainy.

¹⁰In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;

E'phraim’s harlotry is there, Israel is defiled.

¹¹For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed.

When I would restore the fortunes of my people,

7 ¹when I would heal Israel,

the corruption of E'phraim is revealed,

and the wicked deeds of Samar'ia;

for they deal falsely,

the thief breaks in,

and the bandits raid without.

²But they do not consider

that I remember all their evil works.

Now their deeds encompass them,

they are before my face.

³By their wickedness they make the king glad,

and the princes by their treachery.

⁴They are all adulterers;

they are like a heated oven,

whose baker ceases to stir the fire,

from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.

⁵On the day of our king the princes

became sick with the heat of wine;

he stretched out his hand with mockers.

⁶For like an oven their hearts burn^y with intrigue;

all night their anger smolders;

in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

⁷All of them are hot as an oven,

and they devour their rulers.

All their kings have fallen;

and none of them calls upon me.

⁸E'phraim mixes himself with the peoples;

Ephraim is a cake not turned.

⁹Aliens devour his strength,

and he knows it not;

gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,

and he knows it not.

¹⁰The pride of Israel witnesses against him;

yet they do not return to the LORD their God,

nor seek him, for all this.

¹¹E'phraim is like a dove,

silly and without sense,

calling to Egypt, going to Assyria.

¹²As they go, I will spread over them my net;

I will bring them down like birds of the air;

I will chastise them for their wicked deeds.^z

¹³Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!

Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!

I would redeem them,

but they speak lies against me.

¹⁴They do not cry to me from the heart,

but they wail upon their beds;

for grain and wine they gash themselves,

they rebel against me.

¹⁵Although I trained and strengthened their arms,

yet they devise evil against me.

¹⁶They turn to Ba'al;^a

they are like a treacherous bow,

their princes shall fall by the sword

because of the insolence of their tongue.

This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

Israel’s Apostasy

8 Set the trumpet to your lips,

for^b a vulture is over the house of the LORD,

because they have broken my covenant,

and transgressed my law.

²To me they cry,

My God, we Israel know you.

³Israel has spurned the good;

the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴They made kings, but not through me.

They set up princes, but without my knowledge.

With their silver and gold they made idols

for their own destruction.

⁵I have^c spurned your calf, O Samar'ia.

My anger burns against them.

How long will it be

till they are pure ⁶in Israel?^d

A workman made it;

it is not God.

The calf of Samar'ia

shall be broken to pieces.^e

⁷For they sow the wind,

and they shall reap the whirlwind.

The standing grain has no heads,

it shall yield no meal;

if it were to yield,

aliens would devour it.

⁸Israel is swallowed up;

already they are among the nations

as a useless vessel.

⁹For they have gone up to Assyria,

a wild donkey wandering alone;

E'phraim has hired lovers.

¹⁰Though they hire allies among the nations,

I will soon gather them up.

And they shall cease^f for a little while

from anointing^g king and princes.

¹¹Because E'phraim has multiplied altars for sinning,

they have become to him altars for sinning.

¹²Were I to write for him my laws by ten thousands,

they would be regarded as a strange thing.

¹³They love sacrifice;^h

they sacrifice flesh and eat it;

but the LORD has no delight in them.

Now he will remember their iniquity,

and punish their sins;

they shall return to Egypt.

¹⁴For Israel has forgotten his Maker,

and built palaces;

and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;

but I will send a fire upon his cities,

and it shall devour his strongholds.

Punishment for Israel’s Sin

9 Rejoice not, O Israel!

Exult notⁱ like the peoples;

for you have played the harlot, forsaking your God.

You have loved a harlot’s hire

upon all threshing floors.

²Threshing floor and winevat shall not feed them,

and the new wine shall fail them.

³They shall not remain in the land of the LORD;

but E'phraim shall return to Egypt,

and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

⁴They shall not pour libations of wine to the LORD;

and they shall not please him with their sacrifices.

Their bread^j shall be like mourners’ bread;

all who eat of it shall be defiled;

for their bread shall be for their hunger only;

it shall not come to the house of the LORD.

⁵What will you do on the day of appointed festival,

and on the day of the feast of the LORD?

⁶For behold, they are going to Assyria;^k

Egypt shall gather them,

Memphis shall bury them.

Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;

thorns shall be in their tents.

⁷The days of punishment have come,

the days of recompense have come;

Israel shall know it.

The prophet is a fool,

the man of the spirit is mad,

because of your great iniquity

and great hatred.

⁸The prophet is the watchman of E'phraim,

the people of my God,

yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,

and hatred in the house of his God.

⁹They have deeply corrupted themselves

as in the days of Gib'e-ah:

he will remember their iniquity,

he will punish their sins.

¹⁰Like grapes in the wilderness,

I found Israel.

Like the first fruit on the fig tree,

in its first season,

I saw your fathers.

But they came to Ba'al-pe'or,

and consecrated themselves to Ba'al,^l

and became detestable like the thing they loved.

¹¹E'phraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—

no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!

¹²Even if they bring up children,

I will bereave them till none is left.

Woe to them

when I depart from them!

¹³E'phraim’s sons, as I have seen, are destined for a prey;^m

Ephraim must lead forth his sons to slaughter.

¹⁴Give them, O LORD—

what will you give?

Give them a miscarrying womb

and dry breasts.

¹⁵Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal;

there I began to hate them.

Because of the wickedness of their deeds

I will drive them out of my house.

I will love them no more;

all their princes are rebels.

¹⁶E'phraim is stricken,

their root is dried up,

they shall bear no fruit.

Even though they bring forth,

I will slay their beloved children.

¹⁷My God will cast them off,

because they have not listened to him;

they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Israel’s Sin and Captivity

10 Israel is a luxuriant vine

that yields its fruit.

The more his fruit increased

the more altars he built;

as his country improved

he improved his pillars.

²Their heart is false;

now they must bear their guilt.

The LORDⁿ will break down their altars,

and destroy their pillars.

³For now they will say:

“We have no king,

for we fear not the LORD,

and a king, what could he do for us?”

⁴They utter mere words;

with empty oaths they make covenants;

so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds

in the furrows of the field.

⁵The inhabitants of Samar'ia tremble

for the calf^o of Beth-a'ven.

Its people shall mourn for it,

and its idolatrous priests shall wail^p over it,

over its glory which has departed from it.

⁶Yes, the thing itself shall be carried to Assyria,

as tribute to the great king.^q

E'phraim shall be put to shame,

and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.^r

⁷Samar'ia’s king shall perish,

like a chip on the face of the waters.

⁸The high places of A'ven, the sin of Israel,

shall be destroyed.

Thorn and thistle shall grow up

on their altars;

and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us,

and to the hills, Fall upon us.

⁹From the days of Gib'e-ah, you have sinned, O Israel;

there they have continued.

Shall not war overtake them in Gibe-ah?

¹⁰I will come^s against the wayward people to chastise them;

and nations shall be gathered against them

when they are chastised^t for their double iniquity.

¹¹E'phraim was a trained heifer

that loved to thresh,

and I spared her fair neck;

but I will put Ephraim to the yoke,

Judah must plow,

Jacob must harrow for himself.

¹²Sow for yourselves righteousness,

reap the fruit^u of mercy;

break up your fallow ground,

for it is the time to seek the LORD,

that he may come and rain salvation upon you.

¹³You have plowed iniquity,

you have reaped injustice,

you have eaten the fruit of lies.

Because you have trusted in your chariots^v

and in the multitude of your warriors,

¹⁴therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people,

and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,

as Shal'man destroyed Beth-ar'bel on the day of battle;

mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.

¹⁵Thus it shall be done to you, O house of Israel,^w

because of your great wickedness.

In the storm^x the king of Israel

shall be utterly cut off.

God’s Compassion Despite Israel’s Unfaithfulness

11 When Israel was a child, I loved him,

and out of Egypt I called my son.

²The more I^y called them,

the more they went from me;^z

they kept sacrificing to the Ba'als,

and burning incense to idols.

³Yet it was I who taught E'phraim to walk,

I took them up in my^a arms;

but they did not know that I healed them.

⁴I led them with cords of compassion,^b

with the bands of love,

and I became to them as one

who raises an infant to his cheeks,

and I bent down to them and fed them.

⁵They shall return to the land of Egypt,

and Assyria shall be their king,

because they have refused to return to me.

⁶The sword shall rage against their cities,

consume the bars of their gates,

and devour them in their fortresses.^c

⁷My people are bent on turning away from me;^d

so they are appointed to the yoke,

and none shall remove it.

⁸How can I give you up, O E'phraim!

How can I hand you over, O Israel!

How can I make you like Admah!

How can I treat you like Zeboi'im!

My heart recoils within me,

my compassion grows warm and tender.

⁹I will not execute my fierce anger,

I will not again destroy E'phraim;

for I am God and not man,

the Holy One in your midst,

and I will not come to destroy.^e

¹⁰They shall go after the LORD,

he will roar like a lion;

yes, he will roar,

and his sons shall come trembling from the west;

¹¹they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt,

and like doves from the land of Assyria;

and I will return them to their homes, says the LORD.

¹²^f E'phraim has encompassed me with lies,

and the house of Israel with deceit;

but Judah is still known by^g God,

and is faithful to the Holy One.

The Long History of Israel’s Rebellion

12 E'phraim herds the wind,

and pursues the east wind all day long;

they multiply falsehood and violence;

they make a bargain with Assyria,

and oil is carried to Egypt.

²The LORD has an indictment against Judah,

and will punish Jacob according to his ways,

and repay him according to his deeds.

³In the womb he took his brother by the heel,

and in his manhood he strove with God.

⁴He strove with the angel and prevailed,

he wept and sought his favor.

He met God at Bethel,

and there God spoke with him^h—

⁵the LORD the God of hosts,

the LORD is his name:

⁶“So you, by the help of your God, return,

hold fast to love and justice,

and wait continually for your God.”

⁷A trader, in whose hands are false balances,

he loves to oppress.

⁸E'phraim has said, “Ah, but I am rich,

I have gained wealth for myself”;

but all his riches can never offsetⁱ

the guilt he has incurred.

⁹I am the LORD your God

from the land of Egypt;

I will again make you dwell in tents,

as in the days of the appointed feast.

¹⁰I spoke to the prophets;

it was I who multiplied visions,

and through the prophets gave parables.

¹¹If there is iniquity in Gilead

they shall surely come to nothing;

if in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,

their altars also shall be like stone heaps

on the furrows of the field.

¹²( Jacob fled to the land of Ar'am,

there Israel did service for a wife,

and for a wife he herded sheep.)

¹³By a prophet the LORD brought Israel up from Egypt,

and by a prophet he was preserved.

¹⁴E'phraim has given bitter provocation;

so his LORD will leave his bloodguilt upon him,

and will turn back upon him his reproaches.

God the Savior and Judge of Israel

13 When E'phraim spoke, men trembled;

he was exalted in Israel;

but he incurred guilt through Ba'al and died.

²And now they sin more and more,

and make for themselves molten images,

idols skilfully made of their silver,

all of them the work of craftsmen.

Sacrifice to these, they say.^j

Men kiss calves!

³Therefore they shall be like the morning mist

or like the dew that goes early away,

like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor

or like smoke from a window.

⁴I am the LORD your God

from the land of Egypt;

you know no God but me,

and besides me there is no savior.

⁵It was I who knew you in the wilderness,

in the land of drought;

⁶but when they had fed^k to the full,

they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;

therefore they forgot me.

⁷So I will be to them like a lion,

like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.

⁸I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs,

I will tear open their breast,

and there I will devour them like a lion,

as a wild beast would tear them.

⁹I will destroy you, O Israel;

who^l can help you?

¹⁰Where^m now is your king, to save you;

where are allⁿ your princes,^o to defend you^p—

those of whom you said,

“Give me a king and princes”?

¹¹I have given you kings in my anger,

and I have taken them away in my wrath.

¹²The iniquity of E'phraim is bound up,

his sin is kept in store.

¹³The pangs of childbirth come for him,

but he is an unwise son;

for now he does not present himself

at the mouth of the womb.

¹⁴Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?

Shall I redeem them from Death?

O Death, where^q are your plagues?

O Sheol, where^q is your destruction?

Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

¹⁵Though he may flourish as the reed plant,^r

the east wind, the wind of the LORD, shall come,

rising from the wilderness;

and his fountain shall dry up,

his spring shall be parched;

it shall strip his treasury

of every precious thing.

¹⁶^s Samar'ia shall bear her guilt,

because she has rebelled against her God;

they shall fall by the sword,

their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,

and their pregnant women ripped open.

A Plea for Repentance and a Promise

14 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,

for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

²Take with you words

and return to the LORD;

say to him,

“Take away all iniquity;

accept that which is good

and we will render

the fruit^t of our lips.

³Assyria shall not save us,

we will not ride upon horses;

and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’

to the work of our hands.

In you the orphan finds mercy.”

⁴I will heal their faithlessness;

I will love them freely,

for my anger has turned from them.

⁵I will be as the dew to Israel;

he shall blossom as the lily,

he shall strike root as the poplar;^u

⁶his shoots shall spread out;

his beauty shall be like the olive,

and his fragrance like Lebanon.

⁷They shall return and dwell beneath my^v shadow,

they shall flourish as a garden;^w

they shall blossom as the vine,

their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸O E'phraim, what have I to do with idols?

It is I who answer and look after you.^x

I am like an evergreen cypress,

from me comes your fruit.

⁹Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;

whoever is discerning, let him know them;

for the ways of the LORD are right,

and the upright walk in them,

but transgressors stumble in them.