Hosea 9–10

Punishment for Israel

9Do not rejoice, Israel;

do not be jubilant^b like the other nations.

For you have been unfaithful^c to your God;

you love the wages of a prostitute^d

at every threshing floor.

²Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people;

the new wine^e will fail them.

³They will not remain^f in the Lord’s land;

Ephraim will return to Egypt^g

and eat unclean food in Assyria.^h

⁴They will not pour out wine offeringsⁱ to the Lord,

nor will their sacrifices please^j him.

Such sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners;^k

all who eat them will be unclean.^l

This food will be for themselves;

it will not come into the temple of the Lord.^m

⁵What will you doⁿ on the day of your appointed festivals,^o

on the feast days of the Lord?

⁶Even if they escape from destruction,

Egypt will gather them,^p

and Memphis^q will bury them.^r

Their treasures of silver^s will be taken over by briers,

and thorns^t will overrun their tents.

⁷The days of punishment^u are coming,

the days of reckoning^v are at hand.

Let Israel know this.

Because your sins^w are so many

and your hostility so great,

the prophet is considered a fool,^x

the inspired person a maniac.^y

⁸The prophet, along with my God,

is the watchman over Ephraim,^a

yet snares^z await him on all his paths,

and hostility in the house of his God.^a

⁹They have sunk deep into corruption,^b

as in the days of Gibeah.^c

God will remember^d their wickedness

and punish them for their sins.^e

¹⁰“When I found Israel,

it was like finding grapes in the desert;

when I saw your ancestors,

it was like seeing the early fruit^f on the fig^g tree.

But when they came to Baal Peor,^h

they consecrated themselves to that shameful idolⁱ

and became as vile as the thing they loved.

¹¹Ephraim’s glory^j will fly away like a bird^k—

no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.^l

¹²Even if they rear children,

I will bereave^m them of every one.

Woeⁿ to them

when I turn away from them!^o

¹³I have seen Ephraim,^p like Tyre,

planted in a pleasant place.^q

But Ephraim will bring out

their children to the slayer.”^r

¹⁴Give them, Lord—

what will you give them?

Give them wombs that miscarry

and breasts that are dry.^s

¹⁵“Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal,^t

I hated them there.

Because of their sinful deeds,^u

I will drive them out of my house.

I will no longer love them;^v

all their leaders are rebellious.^w

¹⁶Ephraim^x is blighted,

their root is withered,

they yield no fruit.^y

Even if they bear children,

I will slay^z their cherished offspring.”

¹⁷My God will reject^a them

because they have not obeyed^b him;

they will be wanderers among the nations.^c

10Israel was a spreading vine;^d

he brought forth fruit for himself.

As his fruit increased,

he built more altars;^e

as his land prospered,^f

he adorned his sacred stones.^g

²Their heart is deceitful,^h

and now they must bear their guilt.ⁱ

The Lord will demolish their altars^j

and destroy their sacred stones.^k

³Then they will say, “We have no king

because we did not revere the Lord.

But even if we had a king,

what could he do for us?”

⁴They make many promises,

take false oaths^l

and make agreements;^m

therefore lawsuits spring up

like poisonous weedsⁿ in a plowed field.

⁵The people who live in Samaria fear

for the calf-idol^o of Beth Aven.^ap

Its people will mourn over it,

and so will its idolatrous priests,^q

those who had rejoiced over its splendor,

because it is taken from them into exile.^r

⁶It will be carried to Assyria^s

as tribute^t for the great king.^u

Ephraim will be disgraced;^v

Israel will be ashamed^w of its foreign alliances.

⁷Samaria’s king will be destroyed,^x

swept away like a twig on the surface of the waters.

⁸The high places^y of wickedness^bz will be destroyed—

it is the sin of Israel.

Thorns^a and thistles will grow up

and cover their altars.^b

Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”^c

and to the hills, “Fall on us!”^d

⁹“Since the days of Gibeah,^e you have sinned,^f Israel,

and there you have remained.^c

Will not war again overtake

the evildoers in Gibeah?

¹⁰When I please, I will punish^g them;

nations will be gathered against them

to put them in bonds for their double sin.

¹¹Ephraim is a trained heifer

that loves to thresh;

so I will put a yoke^h

on her fair neck.

I will drive Ephraim,

Judah must plow,

and Jacob must break up the ground.

¹²Sowⁱ righteousness^j for yourselves,

reap the fruit of unfailing love,

and break up your unplowed ground;^k

for it is time to seek^l the Lord,

until he comes

and showers his righteousness^m on you.

¹³But you have planted wickedness,

you have reaped evil,ⁿ

you have eaten the fruit of deception.^o

Because you have depended on your own strength

and on your many warriors,^p

¹⁴the roar of battle will rise against your people,

so that all your fortresses will be devastated^q—

as Shalman^r devastated Beth Arbel on the day of battle,

when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children.^s

¹⁵So will it happen to you, Bethel,

because your wickedness is great.

When that day dawns,

the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.^t