Hosea 8:1–10:15
1 aPut the trumpet to your 1lips!
bLike an eagle the enemy comes cagainst the house of the Lord,
Because they have dtransgressed My covenant
And rebelled against My elaw.
2 aThey cry out to Me,
“My God, bwe of Israel know You!”
3 Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
4 aThey have set up kings, but not by Me;
They have appointed princes, but I did not know it.
With their bsilver and gold they have made idols for themselves,
That 1they might be cut off.
5 1He has rejected your acalf, O Samaria, saying,
“My anger burns against them!”
How long will they be incapable of binnocence?
6 For from Israel is even this!
A acraftsman made it, so it is not God;
Surely the calf of Samaria will be broken to 1pieces.
7 For athey sow the wind
And they reap the bwhirlwind.
The standing grain has no 1heads;
Should it yield, strangers would swallow it up.
8 Israel is aswallowed up;
They are now among the nations
Like a bvessel in which no one delights.
9 For they have gone up to aAssyria,
Like ba wild donkey all alone;
10 Even though they hire allies among the nations,
Now I will agather them up;
And they will begin bto 1diminish
Because of the burden of the cking of princes.
11 Since Ephraim has amultiplied altars for sin,
They have become altars of sinning for him.
12 Though aI wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My blaw,
They are regarded as a strange thing.
13 As for My asacrificial gifts,
They bsacrifice the flesh and eat it,
But the Lord has taken no delight in them.
Now He will cremember their iniquity,
And dpunish them for their sins;
They will return to eEgypt.
14 For Israel has aforgotten his Maker and bbuilt palaces;
And Judah has multiplied fortified cities,
But I will send a cfire on its cities that it may consume its palatial dwellings.
1 aDo not rejoice, O Israel, 1with exultation like the 2nations!
For you have bplayed the harlot, 3forsaking your God.
You have loved harlots’ earnings on 4every threshing floor.
2 Threshing floor and wine press will anot feed them,
And the new wine will fail 1them.
3 They will not remain in athe Lord’s land,
But Ephraim will return to bEgypt,
And in cAssyria they will eat dunclean food.
4 They will not pour out drink offerings of awine to the Lord,
bTheir sacrifices will not please Him.
Their bread will 1be like 2mourners’ bread;
All who eat of it will be cdefiled,
For their bread will be for 3themselves alone;
It will not enter the house of the Lord.
5 aWhat will you do on the day of the appointed festival
And on the day of the bfeast of the Lord?
6 For behold, they will go because of destruction;
Egypt will gather them up, aMemphis will bury them.
Weeds will take over their treasures of silver;
bThorns will be in their tents.
7 The days of apunishment have come,
The days of bretribution have come;
1Let Israel know this!
The prophet is a cfool,
The 2inspired man is ddemented,
Because of the grossness of your einiquity,
And because your hostility is so great.
8 Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet;
Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways,
And there is only hostility in the house of his God.
9 They have gone adeep 1in depravity
As in the days of bGibeah;
He will cremember their iniquity,
He will punish their sins.
10 I found Israel like agrapes in the wilderness;
I saw your forefathers as the bearliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season.
But they came to cBaal-peor and devoted themselves to 1dshame,
And they became as edetestable as that which they loved.
11 As for Ephraim, their aglory will fly away like a bird—
No birth, no pregnancy and no conception!
12 Though they bring up their children,
Yet I will bereave them 1until not a man is left.
Yes, awoe to them indeed when I depart from them!
Is planted in a pleasant meadow like aTyre;
But Ephraim will bring out his children for slaughter.
14 Give them, O Lord—what will You give?
Give them a amiscarrying womb and dry breasts.
15 All their evil is at aGilgal;
Indeed, I came to hate them there!
Because of the bwickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of My house!
I will love them no more;
All their princes are crebels.
16 aEphraim is stricken, their root is dried up,
They will bear bno fruit.
Even though they bear children,
I will slay the cprecious ones of their womb.
Because they have anot listened to Him;
And they will be bwanderers among the nations.
1 Israel is a 1luxuriant avine;
He produces fruit for himself.
The more his fruit,
The more altars he bmade;
The 2richer his land,
The better 3he made the sacred cpillars.
Now they must bear their bguilt.
2The Lord will cbreak down their altars
And destroy their sacred pillars.
3 Surely now they will say, “We have ano king,
For we do not revere the Lord.
As for the king, what can he do for us?”
1With aworthless oaths they make covenants;
And bjudgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria will fear
Indeed, its people will mourn for it,
And its cidolatrous priests 2will cry out over it,
Over its dglory, since it has departed from it.
6 The thing itself will be carried to aAssyria
Ephraim will 2be cseized with shame
And Israel will be ashamed of its down counsel.
7 Samaria will be acut off with her king
Like a stick on the surface of the water.
8 Also the ahigh places of Aven, the bsin of Israel, will be destroyed;
cThorn and thistle will grow on their altars;
Then they will dsay to the mountains,
“Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”
9 From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel;
There they stand!
Will not the battle against the sons of iniquity overtake them in Gibeah?
10 When it is My adesire, I will 1bchastise them;
And cthe peoples will be gathered against them
When they are bound for their double guilt.
11 Ephraim is a trained aheifer that loves to thresh,
But I will bcome over her fair neck with a yoke;
I will harness Ephraim,
Judah will plow, Jacob will harrow for himself.
12 aSow with a view to righteousness,
Reap in accordance with 1kindness;
bBreak up your fallow ground,
For it is time to cseek the Lord
Until He dcomes to 2erain righteousness on you.
13 You have aplowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice,
You have eaten the fruit of blies.
Because you have trusted in your way, in your cnumerous warriors,
14 Therefore a tumult will arise among your people,
And all your afortresses will be destroyed,
As Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle,
When bmothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
15 Thus it will be done to you at Bethel because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel will be completely cut off.