Hosea 10–12

10TH CHAPTER

Israel Is Like a Rotten Vine

¹The people of Israel are like vines that used to produce fruit. 

The more fruit they produced, 

the more altars they built. 

The more their land produced, 

the more stone markers they set up ⸤to honor other gods⸥. 

²They are hypocrites. Now they must take their punishment. 

God will tear down their altars and destroy their stone markers. 

³So they’ll say, 

“We have no king because we didn’t fear the Lord. 

Even if we had a king, he couldn’t do anything for us.” 

⁴They say many things. They lie when they take oaths, 

and they make promises they don’t intend to keep. 

That’s why lawsuits spring up 

like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field. 

⁵Those who live in Samaria fear the calf-shaped idol at Beth Aven. 

The people will mourn over it. 

The priests will cry loudly 

because its glory will be taken away into captivity. 

⁶The thing itself will be carried to Assyria 

as a present to the great king.^a

Ephraim will be disgraced. 

Israel will be ashamed because of its plans. 

⁷The king of Samaria will be carried away 

like a piece of wood on water. 

⁸The illegal worship sites of Aven will be destroyed. 

Israel sins there. 

Thorns and weeds will grow over those altars. 

People will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” 

and to the hills, “Fall on us!” 

⁹Israel, you have sinned ever since the incident at Gibeah. 

You never change. 

War will overtake the wicked people in Gibeah. 

¹⁰“I will punish them when I’m ready. 

Armies will gather to attack them. 

They will be punished for their many sins. 

Israel Is Like a Cow That Threshed Grain

¹¹“Ephraim is like a trained calf that loves to thresh^bgrain. 

I will put a yoke^con its beautiful neck. 

I will harness Ephraim. 

Judah must plow. 

Jacob must break up the ground. 

¹²“Break new ground. 

Plant righteousness, 

and harvest the fruit that your loyalty will produce for me.” 

It’s time to seek the Lord! 

When he comes, he will rain righteousness on you. 

¹³You have planted wickedness and harvested evil. 

You have eaten the fruit that your lies produced. 

You have trusted your own power and your many warriors. 

¹⁴So your army will hear the noise of battle. 

All your fortresses will be destroyed 

like the time Shalman destroyed Beth Arbel in battle. 

Mothers and their children were smashed to death. 

¹⁵This is what will happen to you, Bethel, 

because you have done many wicked things. 

At daybreak, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed. 

11TH CHAPTER

Israel Is Like a Bad Son

¹“When Israel was a child, I loved him, 

and I called my son out of Egypt. 

²The more I called them,^athe farther they went away. 

They sacrificed to other gods—the Baals, 

and they burned incense to idols. 

³I was the one who taught the people of Ephraim to walk.^b

I took them by the hand. 

But they didn’t realize that I had healed them. 

⁴I led them with cords of human kindness, with ropes of love. 

I removed the yokes^cfrom their necks. 

I bent down and fed them. 

⁵“They will not return to Egypt. 

Instead, Assyria will rule them 

because they have refused to return to me. 

⁶War will sweep through their cities, 

demolish their city gates, 

and put an end to their plans. 

⁷My people are determined to turn away from me. 

Even if they call to the Most High, 

he will not pardon them. 

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 Zeboim? 

I have changed my mind. 

I am deeply moved. 

⁹I will not act on my burning anger. 

I will not destroy Ephraim again. 

I am God, not a human. 

I am the Holy One among you, 

and I will not come to you in anger. 

¹⁰“My people will follow me when I roar like a lion. 

When I roar, my children will come trembling from the west. 

¹¹They will come trembling like birds from Egypt 

and like doves from Assyria. 

I will settle them in their own homes,” 

declares the Lord.^d

¹²“Ephraim surrounds me with lies. 

The nation of Israel surrounds me with deceit.” 

Judah rebels against God, against the Holy One who is faithful. 

12TH CHAPTER^a

The People of Israel Ignored What the Lord Had Done for Them

¹The people of Ephraim try to catch the wind 

and try to chase the east wind all day. 

They are very violent and destructive. 

They make treaties with Assyria and take olive oil to Egypt. 

²The Lord brings charges against Judah and punishes Jacob 

because of the way their people act. 

He will pay them back for what they have done. 

³Their ancestor Jacob held on to his brother’s heel 

while the two of them were in their mother’s womb. 

When Jacob became a man, he struggled with God. 

⁴He struggled with the Messenger and won. 

Jacob cried and pleaded with him. 

Jacob found him at Bethel, 

and he talked with him there. 

⁵The Lord is the God of Armies. 

The Lord is the name by which he is remembered. 

⁶Return to your God. 

Be loyal and fair, and always wait with hope for your God. 

⁷⸤The Lord says,⸥ “The merchants use dishonest scales. 

They love to cheat people. 

⁸The people of Ephraim say, ‘We’re rich. We’ve made a fortune. 

With all this wealth, no one will find us guilty of any sin.’ 

⁹I am the Lord your God. 

I brought you out of Egypt. 

I will make you live in tents again 

as you did during your appointed festivals. 

¹⁰I spoke to the prophets and gave them many visions. 

I taught lessons through the prophets.”^b

¹¹The people of Gilead are evil. 

They are worthless. 

They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal. 

But their altars will become like piles of rubble 

beside a plowed field. 

¹²Jacob fled to the country of Syria. 

Israel worked to get a wife; he took care of sheep to pay for her. 

¹³The Lord used a prophet to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt. 

He used a prophet to take care of them. 

¹⁴The people of Ephraim made the Lord bitter. 

He will hold them guilty of murder. 

The Lord will pay them back for their insults.