Hosea 8-10

Hosea 8

¹Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He cometh as an eagle against the house of Jehovah, because they have transgressed my covenant, and rebelled against my law.

²They shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee; we, Israel.

³Israel hath cast off good: the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not; of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

⁵Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will they be incapable of purity?

⁶For from Israel is this also: -- a workman made it, and it is no God: for the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

⁷For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk; should it sprout, it would yield no meal; if so be it yield, strangers shall swallow it up.

⁸Israel is swallowed up: now are they become among the nations as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.

⁹For they are gone up to Assyria as a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

¹⁰Although they hire among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall begin to be straitened under the burden of the king of princes.

¹¹Because Ephraim hath multiplied altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.

¹²I have prescribed unto him the manifold things of my law: they are counted as a strange thing.

¹³They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; Jehovah hath no delight in them. Now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.

¹⁴For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

Hosea 9

¹Rejoice not, Israel, exultingly, as the peoples; for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved harlot's hire upon every corn-floor.

²The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail her.

³They shall not dwell in Jehovah's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and in Assyria shall they eat that which is unclean.

⁴They shall pour out no offerings of wine to Jehovah, neither shall their sacrifices be pleasing unto him: they shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be defiled: for their bread shall be for themselves; it shall not come into the house of Jehovah.

⁵What will ye do in the day of assembly, and in the day of the feast of Jehovah?

⁶For behold, they are gone away because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Moph shall bury them: their pleasant things of silver, nettles shall possess them; thorns shall be in their tents.

⁷The days of visitation are come; the days of recompence are come: Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the inspired man is mad, because of the greatness of thine iniquity, and the great enmity.

⁸Is Ephraim a watchman with my God? nay the prophet is a fowler's snare on all his ways, enmity in the house of his God.

⁹They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

¹⁰I found Israel as grapes in the wilderness; as first-ripe fruit on the fig-tree, I saw your fathers at the beginning: they went to Baal-Peor, and separated themselves unto that shame, and became abominations like their lover.

¹¹As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away as a bird, -- no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!

¹²For even should they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that not a man remain: for woe also to them when I shall have departed from them!

¹³Ephraim, as I saw him, was a Tyre planted in a beautiful place; but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the slayer.

¹⁴Give them, Jehovah -- what wilt thou give? -- give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

¹⁵All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them: because of the wickedness of their doings, I will drive them out of my house, I will love them no more: all their princes are rebellious.

¹⁶Ephraim is smitten: their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit; yea, though they should bring forth, yet will I slay the beloved fruit of their womb.

¹⁷My God hath rejected them, because they hearkened not unto him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Hosea 10

¹Israel is an unpruned vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the abundance of his fruit he hath multiplied altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly statues.

²Their heart is divided; now shall they be found guilty: he will break down their altars, he will destroy their statues.

³For now they will say, We have no king, for we feared not Jehovah; and a king, what can he do for us?

⁴They speak mere words, swearing falsely in making a covenant; therefore shall judgment spring up as hemlock in the furrows of the fields.

⁵The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calf of Beth-aven; for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the idolatrous priests thereof shall tremble for it, for its glory, because it is departed from it.

⁶Yea, it shall be carried unto Assyria as a present for king Jareb: Ephraim shall be seized with shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

⁷As for Samaria her king is cut off as chips upon the face of the waters.

⁸And the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up upon their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us! and to the hills, Fall on us!

⁹From the days of Gibeah hast thou sinned, O Israel: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.

¹⁰At my pleasure will I chastise them; and the peoples shall be assembled against them, when they are bound for their two iniquities.

¹¹And Ephraim is a trained heifer, that loveth to tread out the corn; I have passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to draw; Judah shall plough, Jacob shall break his clods.

¹²Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek Jehovah, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

¹³Ye have ploughed wickedness, reaped iniquity, eaten the fruit of lies; for thou didst confide in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

¹⁴And a tumult shall arise among thy peoples, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces with the children.

¹⁵So shall Bethel do unto you because of the wickedness of your wickedness: at day-break shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.