Hosea 8–11

Israel Will Harvest a Windstorm

8The Lord said to me,

“Put a trumpet to your lips!

Give a warning to my people!

Assyria is like an eagle.

It is ready to attack my land.

My people have broken the covenant I made with them.

They have refused to obey my law.

²Israel shouts to me,

‘We recognize you as our God!’

³But they have turned away from what is good.

So an enemy will chase them.

⁴My people appoint kings I do not want.

They choose princes without my permission.

They use their silver and gold

to make statues of gods.

That is how they destroy themselves.”

⁵The Lord says, “People of Samaria,

throw out your god that looks like a calf!

My anger burns against you.

How long will it be until you are able

to remain faithful to me?

⁶Your calf is not God.

A skilled worker from Israel made it.

But it will be broken to pieces.”

⁷The Lord says,

“Worshiping other gods is like worshiping the wind.

It is like planting worthless seeds.

Assyria is like a windstorm.

That is all my people will harvest.

There are no heads of grain

on the stems that will come up.

So they will not produce any flour.

Even if they did produce grain,

the Assyrians would eat all of it up.

⁸So the people of Israel are swallowed up.

Now they are like a worthless pot to me

among the nations.

⁹They have gone up to Assyria for help.

They are like a wild donkey

that wanders around by itself.

Ephraim’s people have sold themselves

to their Assyrian lovers.

¹⁰They have sold themselves to the nations

to get their help.

But now I will gather them together.

They will get weaker and weaker.

The mighty kings of Assyria will crush them.

¹¹“Ephraim built many altars where they sacrificed

sin offerings to other gods.

So their altars have become

places where they commit sin.

¹²I wrote down many things in my law for their good.

But they considered my laws as something strange.

¹³They offer sacrifices to me.

They eat the meat of the animals they bring.

But I am not pleased with any of that.

I will remember the evil things they have done.

I will punish them for their sins.

And they will return to Egypt.

¹⁴Israel has forgotten the One who made them.

They have built palaces for themselves.

Judah has built forts in many towns.

But I will send fire down on their cities.

It will burn up their forts.”

Israel Will Be Punished

9Israel, don’t be joyful.

Don’t be glad as the other nations are.

You haven’t been faithful to your God.

You love to get paid for being a prostitute.

Your pay is the grain at every threshing floor.

²But soon there won’t be any grain or wine to feed you.

There won’t even be any fresh wine.

³You won’t remain in the Lord’s land.

Ephraim, you will return to Egypt.

You will eat “unclean” food in Assyria.

⁴You won’t pour out wine offerings to the Lord.

Your sacrifices won’t please him.

They’ll be like the bread people eat when someone dies.

Everyone who eats those sacrifices will be “unclean.”

They themselves will have to eat that kind of food.

They can’t bring it into the Lord’s temple.

⁵What will you do when your appointed feasts come?

What will you do on the Lord’s special days?

⁶Some of you will escape without being destroyed.

But you will die in Egypt.

Your bodies will be buried at Memphis.

Weeds will cover your treasures of silver.

Thorns will grow up in your tents.

⁷The time when God will punish you is coming.

The day when he will judge you is near.

I want you to know that.

You have committed many sins.

And you hate me very much.

That’s why you think I’m foolish.

You think I’m crazy.

But the Lord speaks through me.

⁸People of Ephraim, I’m a true prophet.

My God is warning you through me.

But you set traps for me everywhere I go.

You hate me so much

you even wait for me in God’s house.

⁹You have sunk very deep into sin,

just as our people did at Gibeah long ago.

God will remember the evil things you have done.

He will punish you for your sins.

¹⁰The Lord says,

“When I first found Israel,

it was like finding grapes in the desert.

When I saw your people long ago,

it was like seeing the early fruit on a fig tree.

But then they went to Baal Peor.

There they gave themselves to that shameful god Baal.

They became as evil as the god they loved.

¹¹Ephraim’s greatness and glory will be gone.

It will fly away like a bird.

Women will no longer have children.

They will not be able to get pregnant.

¹²But suppose they do have children.

Then I will kill every one of them.

How terrible it will be for them

when I turn away from them!”

¹³Tyre is planted in a pleasant place.

And so is Ephraim.

But the Assyrians will kill

Ephraim’s children.

¹⁴Lord, what should you do to Ephraim’s people?

Give them women whose babies die before they are born.

Give them women whose breasts don’t have any milk.

¹⁵The Lord says,

“My people did many evil things in Gilgal.

That is why I hated them there.

They committed many sins.

So I will drive them out of my land.

I will not love them anymore.

All of their leaders refuse to obey me.

¹⁶Ephraim is like a worthless plant.

Its roots are dried up.

It does not produce any fruit.

Suppose Ephraim’s people have children.

Then I will kill the children they love so much.”

¹⁷My God will turn his back on his people.

They have not obeyed him.

So they will wander among other nations.

10Israel was like a spreading vine.

They produced fruit for themselves.

As they grew more fruit,

they built more altars.

As their land became richer,

they made the sacred stones they worshiped more beautiful.

²Their hearts are dishonest.

So now they must pay for their sins.

The Lord will tear their altars down.

He’ll destroy their sacred stones.

³Then they’ll say, “We don’t have a king.

That’s because we didn’t have

any respect for the Lord.

But suppose we did have a king.

What could he do for us?”

⁴They make a lot of promises.

They make agreements among themselves.

They take oaths they don’t mean to keep.

So court cases spring up

like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.

⁵The people who live in Samaria are filled with fear.

They are afraid their god that looks like a calf

will be carried off from Bethel.

They will sob over it.

So will the priests who lead them to worship it.

The priests were full of joy

because their statue was so glorious.

But it will be captured

and taken far away from them.

⁶It will be carried off to Assyria.

The people of Ephraim will be forced

to give it to the great king.

They will be dishonored.

Israel will be ashamed

that all they have left to worship is a wooden god.

⁷Samaria’s king will be carried off.

He will be like a twig floating away in a river.

⁸The high places where Israel worshiped other gods

will be destroyed.

That’s where they sinned against the Lord.

Thorns and weeds will grow up there.

They will cover the altars.

Then the people will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”

They’ll say to the hills, “Fall on us!”

⁹The Lord says,

“Israel, you have done evil things

ever since your people sinned at Gibeah long ago.

And you are still doing what is evil.

War caught up

with those who sinned at Gibeah.

¹⁰So I will punish you when I want to.

Nations will gather together to fight against you.

They will put you in chains

because you have committed so many sins.

¹¹Ephraim, you were like a well-trained young cow.

It loved to thresh grain.

I spared its pretty neck

from pulling heavy loads.

But now I will make you do hard work.

Judah also must plow.

So all of the people of Jacob

must break up the ground.

¹²Your hearts are as hard as a field

that has not been plowed.

If you change your ways,

you will produce good crops.

So plant the seeds of doing what is right.

Then you will harvest the fruit of your faithful love.

It is time to turn to me.

When you do, I will come

and shower my blessings on you.

¹³But you have planted the seeds of doing what is wrong.

So you have harvested the fruit of your evil conduct.

You have had to eat the fruit of your lies.

You have trusted in your own strength.

You have depended on your many soldiers.

¹⁴But the roar of battle will come against you.

All of your forts will be completely destroyed.

It will happen just as Shalman

destroyed Beth Arbel in a battle.

Mothers and their children

were smashed on the ground.

¹⁵People of Bethel, that will happen to you.

You have committed far too many sins.

When the time for me to punish you comes,

your king will be completely destroyed.”

The Lord Loves Israel

11The Lord continues,

“When Israel was a young nation, I loved them.

I chose to bring my son out of Egypt.

²But the more I called out to Israel,

the further they went away from me.

They brought sacrifices to the statues of the gods

that were named after Baal.

And they burned incense to them.

³I taught Israel to walk.

I took them up in my arms.

But they did not realize

I was the one who took care of them.

⁴I led them with kindness and love.

I did not lead them with ropes.

I lifted the heavy loads from their shoulders.

I bent down and fed them.

⁵“But they refuse to turn away from their sins.

So they will return to Egypt.

And Assyria will rule over them.

⁶Swords will flash in their cities.

The heavy metal bars on their gates will be destroyed.

Their plans will come to an end.

⁷My people have made up their minds

to turn away from me.

Even if they call out to me,

I will certainly not honor them.

I am the Most High God.”

⁸The Lord continues,

“People of Ephraim, how can I give you up?

Israel, how can I hand you over to your enemies?

Can I destroy you as I did the town of Admah?

Can I treat you like Zeboiim?

My heart is stirred inside me.

It is filled with pity for you.

⁹My anger will not burn against you anymore.

I will not completely destroy you.

After all, I am God.

I am not a mere man.

I am the Holy One among you.

My burning anger will not come against you.

¹⁰I will roar like a lion against my enemies.

You will follow me.

When I roar, my children will come home trembling with fear.

You will return from the west.

¹¹You will come trembling like birds from Egypt.

You will return like doves from Assyria.

I will settle you again in your homes,”

announces…