Hosea 9–10

¹‘Rejoice not, O Israel, be not joyful like the peoples, For thou hast gone a-whoring from thy God, Thou hast loved a gift near all floors of corn. ²Floor and wine-press do not delight them, And new wine doth fail in her, ³They do not abide in the land of Jehovah, And turned back hath Ephraim to Egypt, And in Asshur an unclean thing they eat. ⁴They pour not out wine to Jehovah, Nor are they sweet to Him, Their sacrifices are as bread of mourners to them, All eating it are unclean: For their bread is for themselves, It doth not come into the house of Jehovah. ⁵What do ye at the day appointed? And at the day of Jehovah’s festival? ⁶For, lo, they have gone because of destruction, Egypt gathereth them, Moph burieth them, The desirable things of their silver, Nettles possess them—a thorn is in their tents.

⁷Come in have the days of inspection, Come in have the days of recompence, Israel doth know! a fool is the prophet, Mad is the man of the Spirit, Because of the abundance of thine iniquity, And great is the hatred. ⁸Ephraim is looking away from My God, The prophet! a snare of a fowler is over all his ways, Hatred is in the house of his God. ⁹They have gone deep—have done corruptly, As in the days of Gibeah, He doth remember their iniquity, He doth inspect their sins. ¹⁰As grapes in a wilderness I found Israel, As the first-fruit in a fig-tree, at its beginning, I have seen your fathers, They—they have gone in to Baal-Peor, And are separated to a shameful thing, And are become abominable like their love.

¹¹Ephraim is as a fowl, Fly away doth their honour, without birth, And without womb, and without conception. ¹²For though they nourish their sons, I have made them childless—without man, Surely also, woe to them, when I turn aside from them. ¹³Ephraim! when I have looked to the rock, Is planted in comeliness, And Ephraim is to bring out unto a slayer his sons. ¹⁴Give to them, Jehovah—what dost Thou give? Give to them miscarrying womb, and dry breasts. ¹⁵All their evil is in Gilgal, Surely there I have hated them, Because of the evil of their doings, Out of My house I do drive them, I add not to love them, all their heads are apostates. ¹⁶Ephraim hath been smitten, Their root hath dried up, fruit they yield not, Yea, though they bring forth, I have put to death the desired of their womb. ¹⁷Reject them doth my God, Because they have not hearkened to Him, And they are wanderers among nations!

Chapter 10

¹‘An empty vine is Israel, Fruit he maketh like to himself, According to the abundance of his fruit, He hath multiplied for the altars, According to the goodness of his land, They have made goodly standing-pillars. ²Their heart hath been divided, now they are guilty, He doth break down their altars, He doth destroy their standing-pillars. ³For now they say: We have no king, Because we have not feared Jehovah, And the king—what doth he for us? ⁴They have spoken words, To swear falsehood in making a covenant, And flourished as a poisonous herb hath judgment, on the furrows of a field. ⁵For the calves of Beth-Aven fear do inhabitants of Samaria, Surely mourned on account of it hath its people, And its priests on account of it leap about, Because of its honour, for it hath removed from it, ⁶Also it to Asshur is carried, a present to a warlike king, Shame doth Ephraim receive, And ashamed is Israel of its own counsel. ⁷Cut off is Samaria! Its king is as a chip on the face of the waters. ⁸And destroyed have been high places of Aven, the sin of Israel. Thorn and bramble go up on their altars, And they have said to hills, Cover us, And to heights, Fall upon us.

⁹From the days of Gibeah thou hast sinned, O Israel, There they have stood, Not overtake them in Gibeah doth battle, Because of sons of perverseness. ¹⁰When I desire, then I do bind them, And gathered against them have peoples, When they bind themselves to their two iniquities. ¹¹And Ephraim is a trained heifer—loving to thresh, And I—I have passed over on the goodness of its neck, I cause one to ride Ephraim, Plough doth Judah, harrow for him doth Jacob. ¹²Sow for yourselves in righteousness, Reap according to loving-kindness, Till for yourselves tillage of knowledge, To seek Jehovah, Till he come and shew righteousness to you. ¹³Ye have ploughed wickedness, Perversity ye have reaped, Ye have eaten the fruit of lying, For thou hast trusted in thy way, In the abundance of thy might. ¹⁴And rise doth a tumult among thy people, And all thy fortresses are spoiled, As the spoiling of Shalman of Beth-Arbel, In a day of battle, Mother against sons dashed in pieces. ¹⁵Thus hath Beth-El done to you, Because of the evil of your wickedness, In the dawn cut off utterly is a king of Israel!

Chapter 11