Hosea 10:1-15
10 “Israel is a degenerating* vine.+ Fruit he keeps putting forth for himself.+ In proportion to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied [his] altars.+ In proportion to the goodness of his land, they put up good pillars.+
2 Their heart has become hypocritical;*+ now they will be found guilty.
“There is one who will break their altars; he will despoil their pillars.+
3 For now they will say, ‘We have no king,+ for we have not feared Jehovah. And as regards the king, what will he do for us?’
4 “They speak words, making false oaths,+ concluding a covenant;+ and judgment has sprouted like a poisonous plant in the furrows of the open field.+
5 For the calf [idol] of Beth-aʹven+ the residents of Sa·marʹi·a will get frightened; for over it its people will certainly mourn, as well as its foreign-god priests* [who] used to be joyful over it, on account of its glory, because it will have gone into exile away from it.+
6 Even it someone will bring to As·syrʹi·a itself as a gift to a great king.*+ Shame is what Eʹphra·im himself will get,+ and Israel will be ashamed of its counsel.+
7 Sa·marʹi·a [and] her king will certainly be silenced,+ like a snapped-off twig on the surface of waters.
8 And the high places of [Beth-]aʹven,+ the sin of Israel,+ will actually be annihilated. Thorns and thistles+ themselves will come up upon their altars.+ And people will in fact say to the mountains, ‘Cover us!’ and to the hills, ‘Fall over us!’+
9 “From the days of Gibʹe·ah+ you have sinned,+ O Israel. There they stood still. In Gibʹe·ah war against the sons of unrighteousness did not get to overtake them.+
10 When it is my craving I shall also discipline them.+ And against them peoples will certainly be gathered when there is a harnessing of them to their two errors.+
11 “And Eʹphra·im was a trained heifer loving to thresh;+ and I, for my part, passed over her good-looking neck. I make [someone] ride Eʹphra·im.+ Judah plows;+ Jacob harrows+ for him.
12 Sow seed for yourselves in righteousness;+ reap in accord with loving-kindness.+ Till for yourselves arable land,+ when there is time for searching for Jehovah until he comes+ and gives instruction in righteousness to YOU.+
13 “YOU people have plowed wickedness.+ Unrighteousness is what YOU have reaped.+ YOU have eaten the fruitage of deception,+ for you have trusted in your way,+ in the multitude of your mighty ones.+
14 And an uproar has risen among your people,+ and your own fortified cities will all be despoiled,+ as with the despoiling by Shalʹman of the house of Arʹbel, in the day of battle [when] a mother herself was dashed to pieces alongside [her] own sons.+
15 In this way one* will certainly do to YOU people, O Bethʹel,* because of YOUR extreme badness.+ In the dawn the king of Israel will positively have to be silenced.”+
Footnotes
^ “Luxuriant; outspreading,” if derived from another Heb. verb of the same form.
^ Or, “smooth; slippery.”
^ “As well as its foreign-god priests.” Heb., u·khema·ravʹ, “Chemarim”; Vg, “temple keepers.”
^ Or, “he,” MVg; LXX, “I”; Sy, “they.”
^ “Bethel,” MSyVg; LXX, “house of Israel.”
