Hosea 9–10

Ephraim Faces Punishment

9Do not rejoice, O Israel,

do not exult like the nations!

For you played the whore, departing from your God;

you loved a harlot’s wage

on all the threshing floors of grain.

²Threshing floor and wine vat will not feed them,

and new wine will fail her.^a

³They will not remain

in the land of Yahweh.

But Ephraim will return to Egypt,

and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.

⁴They will not pour drink offerings of wine to Yahweh,

and their sacrifices will not please him.

They are like mourners’ bread for them;

all those who eat it will be defiled.

For their bread will be for their hunger;^b

it will not come to the house of Yahweh.

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

and on the day of the festival of Yahweh?

⁶For look! If they flee from the destruction,

Egypt will gather them;

Memphis^c will bury them.

Nettles will possess

their precious things of silver;

thorns will be in their tents.

⁷The days of punishment have come;

the days of retribution have come;

Israel knows!

The prophet is a fool,

the man of the spirit is acting like a madman.

Because of the greatness of your sin,

your hostility is great.

⁸The prophet keeps watch over Ephraim for my God;

the snare of a fowler is on all his ways,

and hostility in the house of his God.

⁹They deeply corrupted themselves^d

as in the days of Gibeah;

he will remember their sin,

he will punish their sins.

¹⁰Like the grapes in the wilderness,

I found Israel.

Like early ripened fruit on the fig tree in the first season,^e

I saw your ancestors.^f

They themselves came to Baal Peor,

and they consecrated themselves to shame.

And they became detestable things,

like the thing they love.^g

¹¹Ephraim’s glory is like a bird;

it will fly away—

no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.

¹²Even though they bring up their children,

I will bereave them before maturity.^h

Woe to them indeed,

when I depart from them!

¹³Ephraim, as I see it,

is like a palm in a meadow;

but Ephraim must bring out

his children to the slayer.

¹⁴Give them, O Yahweh—

what will you give them?

Give them a miscarrying womb

and dry breasts.

¹⁵Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal,

so I began to hate them there;

because of the evil of their deeds

I will drive them out from my house.

I will love them no more;

all their officials are rebels.

¹⁶Ephraim is stricken,

their root is dried up,

they shall not bear fruit.

Even if they give birth,

I will kill the cherished offspring of their womb.

¹⁷My God will reject them

because they did not listen to him,

and they will be wanderers among the nations.

Israel Is Punished

10Israel is a luxuriant vine;^a

he yields fruit for himself.

The more his fruit increased,

the more he made numerous altars.

The more his land prospered,

the more he^b improved^c his stone pillars.

²Their heart is false;

now they must bear their guilt.

He himself^d will break down their altars;

he will destroy their stone pillars.

³For now they will say,

“We have no king;

indeed, we did not fear Yahweh,

and what can a king do for us?”

⁴They utter words of vain oaths

when making covenants,^e

and judgment blossoms like a poisonous plant

on the furrows of the field.

⁵The inhabitants^f of Samaria tremble

for the calf^g of Beth-aven.

Indeed, his people will mourn for it,

and his idolatrous priests will wail^h over it—

over its glory because it has departed from it.

⁶It will also be brought to Assyria,

as tribute to the great king.ⁱ

Ephraim will obtain disgrace

and Israel will be ashamed from his advice.^j

⁷Samaria will be destroyed;

her king is like a chip on the surface of the water.

⁸The high places of Aven,

the sin of Israel, will be destroyed.

Thorn and thistle will grow

on their altars.

They will say to the mountains, “Cover us,”

and to the hills, “Fall on us.”

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

there they have remained.^k

Will not war in Gibeah overtake them

against the children of evil?

¹⁰In my desire^l I will punish them;

nations will be gathered against them

when they are punished for their double iniquities.^m

¹¹Ephraim was a trained heifer,

that loved to thresh grain,

and I myself sparedⁿ

the fairness of her neck;

I will make Ephraim break the ground,

Judah will plow,

Jacob must till for himself.

¹²Sow for yourselves righteousness;

reap loyal love.^o

Break up for yourself fallow ground;

it is time to seek Yahweh

so he will come and rain

righteousness upon you.

¹³You have plowed wickedness,

you have reaped injustice,

you have eaten the fruit of lies,^p

because you have trusted in your strength,

in the multitude of your warriors.

¹⁴The tumult of war will rise up against your people,

and all your fortresses will be destroyed,

as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel;

on the day of war

mothers were dashed to pieces with their children.^q

¹⁵So it will be done to you, O Bethel,

because of the evil of your wickedness;

at dawn, the king of Israel

will be utterly destroyed.