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Hosea 5:7-9
New Catholic Bible
Hosea 5:7-9
New Catholic Bible
7 They have betrayed the Lord,
for they have borne illegitimate children.[a]
Now the new moon shall devour them
along with their fields.
War between Israel and Judah[b]
8 Blow the horn in Gibeah,[c]
the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound the alarm at Beth-aven:
“Look behind you, O Benjamin!”
9 Ephraim shall become a wasteland
on the day of punishment.
Against the tribes of Israel
I have decreed certain doom.
Footnotes
- Hosea 5:7 Illegitimate children: the description continues the image of marital infidelity: the mother of these children had given herself to Baal.
- Hosea 5:8 In 734 B.C., the northern kingdom endeavored, with the help of Syria, to take possession of Judah. Judah called on Assyria, and the threat was removed, so much so that the Judeans pursued the armies of Israel and annexed territories not belonging to them. Both countries had entered into alliances with pagans, making pacts with nothingness instead of relying on God.
- Hosea 5:8 Gibeah and Ramah were in Judah; Beth-aven was in Israel. All three were on the border between the two kingdoms.
