Hosea 9-11

English Standard Version

^4 (H)They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,
    ^(I)and their sacrifices shall not please him.
It shall be like ^(J)mourners' bread to them;
    all who eat of it shall be defiled;
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
    ^(K)it shall not come to the house of the Lord.

^5 (L)What will you do on the day of the appointed festival,
    and on the day of the feast of the Lord?
⁶ For behold, they are going away from destruction;
    but ^(M)Egypt shall gather them;
    Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess ^(N)their precious things of silver;
    ^(O)thorns shall be in their tents.

^7 (P)The days of punishment have come;
    the days of recompense have come;
    Israel shall know it.
^(Q)The prophet is a fool;
    the man of the spirit is mad,
because of your great iniquity
    and great hatred.
⁸ The prophet is ^(R)the watchman of Ephraim with my God;
yet ^(S)a fowler's snare is on all his ways,
    and hatred in the house of his God.
^9 (T)They have deeply corrupted themselves
    as ^(U)in the days of Gibeah:
^(V)he will remember their iniquity;
    he will punish their sins.

¹⁰ Like grapes in the wilderness,
    ^(W)I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree
    in its first season,
    I saw your fathers.
But ^(X)they came to Baal-peor
    and ^(Y)consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,
    and ^(Z)became detestable like the thing they loved.
¹¹ Ephraim's ^(AA)glory shall fly away like a bird—
    ^(AB)no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
^12 (AC)Even if they bring up children,
    I will bereave them till none is left.
^(AD)Woe to them
    when ^(AE)I depart from them!
¹³ Ephraim, ^(AF)as I have seen, was like a young palm^[a] planted in a meadow;
    but ^(AG)Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.^[b]
14 Give them, O Lord—
    what will you give?
Give them ^(AH)a miscarrying womb
    and dry breasts.

¹⁵ Every evil of theirs is in ^(AI)Gilgal;
    there I began to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
    I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
    all ^(AJ)their princes are ^(AK)rebels.

¹⁶ Ephraim is stricken;
    ^(AL)their root is dried up;
    they shall bear no fruit.
Even ^(AM)though they give birth,
    ^(AN)I will put their beloved children to death.
^17 (AO)My God will reject them
    because they have not listened to him;
    ^(AP)they shall be wanderers among the nations.

10 ^(AQ)Israel is a luxuriant vine
    that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased,
    ^(AR)the more altars he built;
as his country improved,
    he improved his pillars.
² Their heart is false;
    now they must bear their guilt.
The Lord^[c] will break down their altars
    and destroy their pillars.

³ For now they will say:
    ^(AS)“We have no king,
for we do not fear the Lord;
    and a king—what could he do for us?”
⁴ They utter ^(AT)mere words;
    with empty^[d] oaths they make covenants;
so ^(AU)judgment springs up like poisonous weeds
    ^(AV)in the furrows of the field.
⁵ The inhabitants of Samaria tremble
    for ^(AW)the calf^[e] of ^(AX)Beth-aven.
Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests—
    those who rejoiced over it and ^(AY)over its glory—
    for it has departed^[f] from them.
^6 (AZ)The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria
    as tribute to ^(BA)the great king.^[g]
Ephraim shall be put to shame,
    and Israel shall be ashamed ^(BB)of his idol.^[h]

^7 (BC)Samaria's king shall perish
    like a twig on the face of the waters.
⁸ The high places of ^(BD)Aven, ^(BE)the sin of Israel,
    shall be destroyed.
^(BF)Thorn and thistle shall grow up
    on their altars,
and ^(BG)they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”
    and to the hills, “Fall on us.”

⁹ From ^(BH)the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel;
    there they have continued.
    Shall not the war against the unjust^[i] overtake them in Gibeah?
^10 (BI)When I please, ^(BJ)I will discipline them,
    and nations shall be gathered against them
    when they are bound up for ^(BK)their double iniquity.

¹¹ Ephraim was a trained calf
    that ^(BL)loved to thresh,
    and I spared her fair neck;
but I will put ^(BM)Ephraim to the yoke;
    ^(BN)Judah must plow;
    Jacob must harrow for himself.
^12 (BO)Sow for yourselves righteousness;
    reap steadfast love;
    ^(BP)break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the Lord,
    that he may come and ^(BQ)rain righteousness upon you.

^13 (BR)You have plowed iniquity;
    you have reaped injustice;
    you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your own way
    and in the multitude of your warriors,
¹⁴ therefore ^(BS)the tumult of war shall arise among your people,
    and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,
as ^(BT)Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle;
    ^(BU)mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
¹⁵ Thus it shall be done to you, O ^(BV)Bethel,
    because of your great evil.
At dawn ^(BW)the king of Israel
    shall be utterly cut off.

³ Yet it was ^(CD)I who taught Ephraim to walk;
    I took them up by their arms,
    but they did not know that ^(CE)I healed them.
^4 (CF)I led them with cords of kindness,^[j]
    with the bands of love,
and ^(CG)I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,
    and ^(CH)I bent down to them and fed them.

^5 (CI)They shall not^[k] return to the land of Egypt,
    but ^(CJ)Assyria shall be their king,
    ^(CK)because ^(CL)they have refused to return to me.
^6 (CM)The sword shall rage against their cities,
    consume the bars of their gates,
    and devour them ^(CN)because of their own counsels.
⁷ My people are bent ^(CO)on turning away from me,
    and though ^(CP)they call out to the Most High,
    he shall not raise them up at all.

⁸ How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
    How can I hand you over, O Israel?
^(CQ)How can I make you ^(CR)like Admah?
    How can I treat you ^(CS)like Zeboiim?
^(CT)My heart recoils within me;
    my compassion grows warm and tender.
⁹ I will not execute my burning anger;
    I will not again destroy Ephraim;
^(CU)for I am God and not a man,
    ^(CV)the Holy One in your midst,
    and I will not come in wrath.^[l]

^10 (CW)They shall go after the Lord;
    ^(CX)he will roar like a lion;
when he roars,
    his children shall come trembling ^(CY)from the west;
¹¹ they shall come trembling like birds ^(CZ)from Egypt,
    and ^(DA)like doves ^(DB)from the land of Assyria,
    and I will return them to their homes, declares the Lord.
^12 [m] Ephraim ^(DC)has surrounded me with lies,
    and the house of Israel with deceit,
but Judah still walks with God
    and is faithful to the Holy One.