Hosea 10-11

New Living Translation

The Lord’s Judgment against Israel

10 How prosperous Israel is—
    a luxuriant vine loaded with fruit.
But the richer the people get,
    the more pagan altars they build.
The more bountiful their harvests,
    the more beautiful their sacred pillars.
²The hearts of the people are fickle;
    they are guilty and must be punished.
The Lord will break down their altars
    and smash their sacred pillars.
³Then they will say, “We have no king
    because we didn’t fear the Lord.
But even if we had a king,
    what could he do for us anyway?”
⁴They spout empty words
    and make covenants they don’t intend to keep.
So injustice springs up among them
    like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field.

⁵The people of Samaria tremble in fear
    for their calf idol at Beth-aven,^[a]
    and they mourn for it.
Though its priests rejoice over it,
    its glory will be stripped away.^[b]
⁶This idol will be carted away to Assyria,
    a gift to the great king there.
Ephraim will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed,
    because its people have trusted in this idol.
⁷Samaria and its king will be cut off;
    they will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave.
⁸And the pagan shrines of Aven,^[c] the place of Israel’s sin, will crumble.
    Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars.
They will beg the mountains, “Bury us!”
    and plead with the hills, “Fall on us!”

⁹The Lord says, “O Israel, ever since Gibeah,
    there has been only sin and more sin!
You have made no progress whatsoever.
    Was it not right that the wicked men of Gibeah were attacked?
¹⁰Now whenever it fits my plan,
    I will attack you, too.
I will call out the armies of the nations
    to punish you for your multiplied sins.

¹¹“Israel^[d] is like a trained heifer treading out the grain—
    an easy job she loves.
    But I will put a heavy yoke on her tender neck.
I will force Judah to pull the plow
    and Israel^[e] to break up the hard ground.
¹²I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness,
    and you will harvest a crop of love.
Plow up the hard ground of your hearts,
    for now is the time to seek the Lord,
that he may come
    and shower righteousness upon you.’

¹³“But you have cultivated wickedness
    and harvested a thriving crop of sins.
You have eaten the fruit of lies—
    trusting in your military might,
believing that great armies
    could make your nation safe.
¹⁴Now the terrors of war
    will rise among your people.
All your fortifications will fall,
    just as when Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel.
Even mothers and children
    were dashed to death there.
¹⁵You will share that fate, Bethel,
    because of your great wickedness.
When the day of judgment dawns,
    the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.

The Lord’s Love for Israel

11 “When Israel was a child, I loved him,
    and I called my son out of Egypt.
²But the more I called to him,
    the farther he moved from me,^[f]
offering sacrifices to the images of Baal
    and burning incense to idols.
³I myself taught Israel^[g] how to walk,
    leading him along by the hand.
But he doesn’t know or even care
    that it was I who took care of him.
⁴I led Israel along
    with my ropes of kindness and love.
I lifted the yoke from his neck,
    and I myself stooped to feed him.

⁵“But since my people refuse to return to me,
    they will return to Egypt
    and will be forced to serve Assyria.
⁶War will swirl through their cities;
    their enemies will crash through their gates.
They will destroy them,
    trapping them in their own evil plans.
⁷For my people are determined to desert me.
They call me the Most High,
    but they don’t truly honor me.

⁸“Oh, how can I give you up, Israel?
    How can I let you go?
How can I destroy you like Admah
    or demolish you like Zeboiim?
My heart is torn within me,
    and my compassion overflows.
⁹No, I will not unleash my fierce anger.
    I will not completely destroy Israel,
for I am God and not a mere mortal.
    I am the Holy One living among you,
    and I will not come to destroy.
¹⁰For someday the people will follow me.
    I, the Lord, will roar like a lion.
And when I roar,
    my people will return trembling from the west.
¹¹Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt.
    Trembling like doves, they will return from Assyria.
And I will bring them home again,”
    says the Lord.

Charges against Israel and Judah

¹²^[h]Israel surrounds me with lies and deceit,
but Judah still obeys God
and is faithful to the Holy One.^[i]

Footnotes

10:5a Beth-aven means “house of wickedness”; it is being used as another name for Bethel, which means “house of God.”
10:5b Or will be taken away into exile.
10:8 Aven is a reference to Beth-aven; see 10:5a and the note there.
10:11a Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel.
10:11b Hebrew Jacob. The names “Jacob” and “Israel” are often interchanged throughout the Old Testament, referring sometimes to the individual patriarch and sometimes to the nation.
11:2 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads the more they called to him, the farther he moved from them.
11:3 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 11:8, 9, 12.
11:12a Verse 11:12 is numbered 12:1 in Hebrew text.
11:12b Or and Judah is unruly against God, the faithful Holy One. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.