9
Hosea

Exile Foretold and Judgment on Leaders

Hosea 9:1-10:15
1Do not rejoice, O Israel, toward rejoicing like the peoples, for you have fornicated from your God; you have loved wages upon every threshing floor of grain. 2Threshing floor and wine press will not pasture them, and new wine will deceive in her. 3They shall not dwell in the land of the LORD, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and in Assyria they shall eat what is unclean. 4They shall not pour wine to the LORD, and they shall not pledge to him; their sacrifices shall be like the bread of wickedness to them; all who eat of them shall defile themselves, for their bread is for their soul; it shall not come into the house of the LORD. 5What will you do for the day of meeting and for the day of the feast of the LORD? 6For behold, they have gone from violence; Egypt shall gather them; Memphis shall bury them; the desire of their silver shall possess them; nettle shall possess them; thistle shall be in their tents. 7The days of the punishment have come; the days of the recompense have come; Israel shall know; the prophet is a fool; the man of the spirit is mad upon the abundance of your iniquity and the greatness of hatred. 8Ephraim is a watchman with my God; a prophet is a fowler's snare on all his ways; hatred is in the house of his God. 9They have made deep their corruption; they have ruined like the days of Gibeah; he will remember their iniquity; he will reckon their sins. 10Like grapes in the wilderness I found Israel; like an early fig in a fig tree at its beginning I saw your fathers; they came to Baal of Peor and dedicated themselves to shame, and they became abominations like their loving. 11Ephraim is like a bird; their glory shall fly away from birth and from womb and from conception. 12Even if they rear their sons, I will bereave them of men; for woe also to them when I turn aside from them. 13Ephraim, as I have seen, is like Tyre planted in a meadow; and Ephraim must bring out his sons to the slayer. 14Give to them, O the LORD—what will you give? Give to them a womb that makes bereaved and breasts that shrivel. 15All their distress is in Gilgal, for there I hated them; upon the evil of their deeds I will drive them out from my house; I will not again love them; all their rulers are rebels. 16Ephraim is stricken; their root is withered; they shall make no fruit; even if they beget, I will cause the desires of their belly to die. 17My God will reject them, for they have not listened to him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
Chapter 10
1Israel is a luxuriant vine; he sets fruit for himself; according to the abundance of his fruit he multiplied altars; according to the goodness of his land they made good pillars. 2He has made their heart smooth; now they shall be guilty; he will break the neck of their altars; he will ruin their pillars. 3For now they will say, There is no king for us, for we have not feared the LORD; and the king—what will he do for us? 4They have spoken words; they have sworn oaths of vanity; they have cut a covenant; and judgment has sprouted like poison upon the furrows of the field. 5The inhabitants of Samaria shall dread for the heifers of Beth-aven; its neighboring people shall mourn over it, and its pagan priests shall rejoice over it upon its glory, for it has departed from it. 6It also shall be conducted to Assyria as an offering to the great king; Ephraim shall take shame, and Israel shall be ashamed from its counsel. 7Samaria's king shall cease like a splinter upon the face of the waters. 8The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed; thorn and thistle shall ascend upon their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us, and to the hills, Fall upon us. 9From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel; there they stood; the battle did not overtake them at Gibeah upon the sons of iniquity. 10In my desire I will discipline them; and peoples shall be gathered upon them when they are bound for their two iniquities. 11Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to tread; but I passed upon the goodness of her neck; I will cause Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow; Jacob shall harrow for him. 12Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap according to the lip of kindness; break fallow ground for yourselves; and it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and shows righteousness to you. 13You have plowed wickedness; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of a lie, for you trusted in your way, in the abundance of your mighty men. 14Therefore a roar shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be ruined like the violence of Shalman against Beth-arbel on the day of battle; a mother was dashed in pieces upon sons. 15Thus he has done to you, O Bethel, because of the evil of your evil; at dawn the king of Israel shall cease, shall cease.
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