Hosea 10

Retribution for Israel’s Sin

¹Israel is a luxuriant vine;

He produces fruit for himself.

The more his fruit,

The more altars he made;

The richer his land,

The better he made the memorial stones.

²Their heart is deceitful;[#10:2 Lit slippery; or divided]

Now they must suffer for their guilt.

The Lord will break down their altars

And destroy their memorial stones.

³¶Certainly now they will say, “We have no king,

For we do not revere the Lord .

As for the king, what can he do for us?”

⁴They speak mere words,

With worthless oaths they make covenants;

And judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

⁵The inhabitants of Samaria will fear

For the calf of Beth-aven.

Indeed, its people will mourn for it,

And its idolatrous priests will cry out over it,

Over its glory, since it has left it.

⁶The thing itself will be brought to Assyria

As a gift of tribute to King Jareb;

Ephraim will be seized with shame,

And Israel will be ashamed of its own plan.

⁷Samaria will be destroyed with her king,

Like a twig on the surface of the water.

⁸Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed;

Thorns and thistles will grow on their altars;

Then they will say to the mountains,

“Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

⁹Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, Israel;

There they stand!

Will the battle against the sons of injustice not overtake them in Gibeah?

¹⁰When it is My desire, I will discipline them;[#10:10 Or instruct]

And the peoples will be gathered against them

When they are bound for their double guilt.

¹¹¶Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh,

And I passed over her lovely neck;

I will harness Ephraim,

Judah will plow, Jacob will harrow for himself.

¹²Sow for yourselves, with a view to righteousness;

Harvest in accordance with kindness.

Break up your uncultivated ground,

For it is time to seek the Lord

Until He comes and rains righteousness on you.

¹³You have plowed wickedness, you have harvested injustice,

You have eaten the fruit of lies.

Because you have trusted in your way, in your many warriors,

¹⁴An uproar will arise among your people,

And all your fortresses will be destroyed,

As Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle,

When mothers were slaughtered with their children.

¹⁵So it will be done to you at Bethel because of your great wickedness.

At dawn the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.