Hosea 8:1–11:1

Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind

8Set ^ethe trumpet to your lips!

One ^flike a vulture is over the house of the Lord,

because ^gthey have transgressed my covenant

and rebelled against my law.

²To me they cry,

^h“My God, we—Israel—know you.”

³Israel has spurned the good;

the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴ⁱThey made kings, ^jbut not through me.

They set up princes, but I knew it not.

With their silver and gold they made idols

for their own destruction.

^5kI have¹ spurned your calf, O Samaria.

My anger burns against them.

^lHow long will they be incapable of innocence?

⁶For it is from Israel;

a craftsman made it;

it is not God.

^kThe calf of Samaria

^mshall be broken to pieces.²

⁷For ⁿthey sow the wind,

and they shall reap the whirlwind.

The standing grain has no heads;

it shall yield no flour;

if it were to yield,

^ostrangers would devour it.

^8pIsrael is swallowed up;

already they are among the nations

as ^qa useless vessel.

⁹For ^rthey have gone up to Assyria,

^sa wild donkey wandering alone;

Ephraim has hired lovers.

¹⁰Though they hire allies among the nations,

I will soon gather them up.

And ^tthe king and princes ^ushall soon writhe

because of the tribute.

¹¹Because Ephraim ^vhas multiplied altars for sinning,

they have become to him altars for sinning.

^12wWere I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands,

they would be regarded as a strange thing.

¹³As for my sacrificial offerings,

^xthey sacrifice meat and eat it,

but the Lord does not accept them.

^yNow he will remember their iniquity

and punish their sins;

^zthey shall return to Egypt.

¹⁴For ^aIsrael has forgotten ^bhis Maker

and ^cbuilt palaces,

and ^aJudah has multiplied fortified cities;

so ^dI will send a fire upon his cities,

and it shall devour her strongholds.

The Lord Will Punish Israel

9Rejoice not, O Israel!

Exult not like the peoples;

^efor you have played the whore, forsaking your God.

^fYou have loved a prostitute’s wages

on all threshing floors.

^2gThreshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,

and ^gthe new wine shall fail them.

³They shall not remain in ^hthe land of the Lord,

but ⁱEphraim shall return to Egypt,

and ^jthey shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

^4kThey shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,

^land their sacrifices shall not please him.

It shall be like ^mmourners’ bread to them;

all who eat of it shall be defiled;

for their bread shall be for their hunger only;

ⁿit shall not come to the house of the Lord.

^5oWhat will you do on the day of the appointed festival,

and on the day of the feast of the Lord?

⁶For behold, they are going away from destruction;

but ^pEgypt shall gather them;

Memphis shall bury them.

Nettles shall possess ^qtheir precious things of silver;

^rthorns shall be in their tents.

^7sThe days of punishment have come;

the days of recompense have come;

Israel shall know it.

^tThe prophet is a fool;

the man of the spirit is mad,

because of your great iniquity

and great hatred.

⁸The prophet is ^uthe watchman of Ephraim with my God;

yet ^va fowler’s snare is on all his ways,

and hatred in the house of his God.

^9wThey have deeply corrupted themselves

as ^xin the days of Gibeah:

^whe will remember their iniquity;

he will punish their sins.

¹⁰Like grapes in the wilderness,

^yI found Israel.

Like the first fruit on the fig tree

in its first season,

I saw your fathers.

But ^zthey came to Baal-peor

and ^aconsecrated themselves to the thing of shame,

and ^bbecame detestable like the thing they loved.

¹¹Ephraim’s ^cglory shall fly away like a bird—

^dno birth, no pregnancy, no conception!

^12eEven if they bring up children,

I will bereave them till none is left.

^fWoe to them

when ^gI depart from them!

¹³Ephraim, ^has I have seen, was like a young palm¹ planted in a meadow;

but ^eEphraim must lead his children out to slaughter.²

¹⁴Give them, O Lord—

what will you give?

Give them ⁱa miscarrying womb

and dry breasts.

¹⁵Every evil of theirs is in ^jGilgal;

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 ^ktheir princes are ^lrebels.

¹⁶Ephraim is stricken;

^mtheir root is dried up;

they shall bear no fruit.

Even ⁿthough they give birth,

^eI will put their beloved children to death.

^17oMy God will reject them

because they have not listened to him;

^pthey shall be wanderers among the nations.

10^qIsrael is a luxuriant vine

that yields its fruit.

The more his fruit increased,

^rthe more altars he built;

as his country improved,

he improved his pillars.

²Their heart is false;

now they must bear their guilt.

The Lord¹ will break down their altars

and destroy their pillars.

³For now they will say:

^s“We have no king,

for we do not fear the Lord;

and a king—what could he do for us?”

⁴They utter ^tmere words;

with empty² oaths they make covenants;

so ^ujudgment springs up like poisonous weeds

^vin the furrows of the field.

⁵The inhabitants of Samaria tremble

for ^wthe calf³ of ^xBeth-aven.

Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests—

those who rejoiced over it and ^yover its glory—

for it has departed⁴ from them.

^6zThe thing itself shall be carried to Assyria

as tribute to ^athe great king.⁵

Ephraim shall be put to shame,

and Israel shall be ashamed ^bof his idol.⁶

^7cSamaria’s king shall perish

like a twig on the face of the waters.

⁸The high places of ^xAven, ^dthe sin of Israel,

shall be destroyed.

^eThorn and thistle shall grow up

on their altars,

and ^fthey shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”

and to the hills, “Fall on us.”

⁹From ^gthe days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel;

there they have continued.

Shall not the war against the unjust⁷ overtake them in Gibeah?

^10hWhen I please, ⁱI will discipline them,

and nations shall be gathered against them

when they are bound up for ^jtheir double iniquity.

¹¹Ephraim was a trained calf

that ^kloved to thresh,

and I spared her fair neck;

but I will put ^lEphraim to the yoke;

^lJudah must plow;

Jacob must harrow for himself.

^12mSow for yourselves righteousness;

reap steadfast love;

ⁿbreak up your fallow ground,

for it is the time to seek the Lord,

that he may come and ^orain righteousness upon you.

^13pYou have plowed iniquity;

you have reaped injustice;

you have eaten the fruit of lies.

Because you have trusted in your own way

and in the multitude of your warriors,

¹⁴therefore ^qthe tumult of war shall arise among your people,

and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,

as ^rShalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle;

^smothers were dashed in pieces with their children.

¹⁵Thus it shall be done to you, O ^tBethel,

because of your great evil.

At dawn ^athe king of Israel

shall be utterly cut off.

The Lord’s Love for Israel

11^uWhen Israel was a child, ^vI loved him,

and out of Egypt I ^wcalled ^xmy son.