Hosea 9–11

Judgment of Israel’s Sin

9Do ^anot rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples,

For you have played the harlot against your God.

You have made love for ^bhire on every threshing floor.

²The threshing floor and the winepress

Shall not feed them,

And the new wine shall fail in her.

³They shall not dwell in ^cthe Lord’s land,

^dBut Ephraim shall return to Egypt,

And ^eshall eat unclean things in Assyria.

⁴They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord,

Nor ^fshall their ^gsacrifices be pleasing to Him.

It shall be like bread of mourners to them;

All who eat it shall be defiled.

For their bread shall be for their own life;

It shall not come into the house of the Lord.

⁵What will you do in the appointed day,

And in the day of the feast of the Lord?

⁶For indeed they are gone because of destruction.

Egypt shall gather them up;

Memphis shall bury them.

^hNettles shall possess their valuables of silver;

Thorns shall be in their tents.

⁷The ⁱdays of punishment have come;

The days of recompense have come.

Israel knows!

The prophet is a ^jfool,

^kThe spiritual man is insane,

Because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity.

⁸The ^lwatchman of Ephraim is with my God;

But the prophet is a ¹fowler’s snare in all his ways—

Enmity in the house of his God.

^9mThey are deeply corrupted,

As in the days of ⁿGibeah.

He will remember their iniquity;

He will punish their sins.

¹⁰“I found Israel

Like grapes in the ^owilderness;

I saw your fathers

As the ^pfirstfruits on the fig tree in its first season.

But they went to ^qBaal Peor,

And ²separated themselves to that shame;

^rThey became an abomination like the thing they loved.

¹¹As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird—

No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!

¹²Though they bring up their children,

Yet I will bereave them to the last man.

Yes, ^swoe to them when I depart from them!

¹³Just ^tas I saw Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place,

So Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer.”

¹⁴Give them, O Lord—

What will You give?

Give them ^ua miscarrying womb

And dry breasts!

¹⁵“All their wickedness is in ^vGilgal,

For there I hated them.

Because of the evil of their deeds

I will drive them from My house;

I will love them no more.

^wAll their princes are rebellious.

¹⁶Ephraim is ^xstricken,

Their root is dried up;

They shall bear no fruit.

Yes, were they to bear children,

I would kill the darlings of their womb.”

¹⁷My God will ^ycast them away,

Because they did not obey Him;

And they shall be ^zwanderers among the nations.

Israel’s Sin and Captivity

10Israel ^aempties his vine;

He brings forth fruit for himself.

According to the multitude of his fruit

^bHe has increased the altars;

According to the bounty of his land

They have embellished his sacred pillars.

²Their heart is ^cdivided; ¹

Now they are held guilty.

He will break down their altars;

He will ruin their sacred pillars.

³For now they say,

“We have no king,

Because we did not fear the Lord.

And as for a king, what would he do for us?”

⁴They have spoken words,

Swearing falsely in making a covenant.

Thus judgment springs up ^dlike hemlock in the furrows of the field.

⁵The inhabitants of Samaria fear

Because of the ^ecalf ²of Beth Aven.

For its people mourn for it,

And ³its priests shriek for it—

Because its ^fglory has departed from it.

⁶The idol also shall be carried to Assyria

As a present for King ^gJareb.

Ephraim shall receive shame,

And Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

⁷As for Samaria, her king is cut off

Like a twig on the water.

⁸Also the ^hhigh places of ⁴Aven, ⁱthe sin of Israel,

Shall be destroyed.

The thorn and thistle shall grow on their altars;

^jThey shall say to the mountains, “Cover us!”

And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

⁹“O Israel, you have sinned from the days of ^kGibeah;

There they stood.

The ^lbattle in Gibeah against the children of ⁵iniquity

Did not ⁶overtake them.

¹⁰When it is My desire, I will chasten them.

^mPeoples shall be gathered against them

When I bind them ⁷for their two transgressions.

¹¹Ephraim is ⁿa trained heifer

That loves to thresh grain;

But I harnessed her fair neck,

I will make Ephraim ⁸pull a plow.

Judah shall plow;

Jacob shall break his clods.”

¹²Sow for yourselves righteousness;

Reap in mercy;

^oBreak up your fallow ground,

For it is time to seek the Lord,

Till He ^pcomes and rains righteousness on you.

^13qYou have plowed wickedness;

You have reaped iniquity.

You have eaten the fruit of lies,

Because you trusted in your own way,

In the multitude of your mighty men.

¹⁴Therefore tumult shall arise among your people,

And all your fortresses shall be plundered

As Shalman plundered Beth Arbel in the day of battle—

A mother dashed in pieces upon her children.

¹⁵Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,

Because of your great wickedness.

At dawn the king of Israel

Shall be cut off utterly.

God’s Continuing Love for Israel

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

And out of Egypt ^aI called My ^bson.

²²As they called them,

So they ^cwent ³from them;

They sacrificed to the Baals,

And burned incense to carved images.

³“I ^dtaught Ephraim to walk,

Taking them by ⁴their arms;

But they did not know that ^eI healed them.

⁴I drew them with ⁵gentle cords,

With bands of love,

And ^fI was to them as those who take the yoke from their ⁶neck.

^gI stooped and fed them.

⁵“He shall not return to the land of Egypt;

But the Assyrian shall be his king,

Because they refused to repent.

⁶And the sword shall slash in his cities,

Devour his districts,

And consume them,

Because of their own counsels.

⁷My people are bent on ^hbacksliding from Me.

Though ⁷they call ⁸to the Most High,

None at all exalt Him.

⁸“How ⁱcan I give you up, Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, Israel?

How can I make you like ^jAdmah?

How can I set you like Zeboiim?

My heart ⁹churns within Me;

My sympathy is stirred.

⁹I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;

I will not again destroy Ephraim.

^kFor I am God, and not man,

The Holy One in your midst;

And I will not ¹come with terror.

¹⁰“They shall walk after the Lord.

^lHe will roar like a lion.

When He roars,

Then His sons shall come trembling from the west;

¹¹They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt,

^mLike a dove from the land of Assyria.

ⁿAnd I will let them dwell in their houses,”

Says the Lord.

God’s Charge Against Ephraim

¹²“Ephraim has encircled Me with lies,

And the house of Israel with deceit;

But Judah still walks with God,

Even with the ²Holy One who is faithful.