Hosea 10:2-12

2 Their heart is divided. Now they will be found guilty. He will demolish their altars. He will destroy their sacred stones.

3 Surely now they will say, "We have no king; for we don't fear the LORD; And the king, what can he do for us?"

4 They make promises, swearing falsely in making covenants. Therefore judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

5 The inhabitants of Shomron will be in terror for the calves of Beit-Aven; For its people will mourn over it, Along with its Kohanim who rejoiced over it, For its glory, because it has departed from it.

6 It also will be carried to Ashshur for a present to king Yarev. Efrayim will receive shame, And Yisra'el will be ashamed of his own counsel.

7 Shomron and her king float away, Like a twig on the water.

8 The high places also of Aven, the sin of Yisra'el, will be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars. They will tell the mountains, "Cover us!" and the hills, "Fall on us!"

9 "Yisra'el, you have sinned from the days of Gevah. There they remained. The battle against the children of iniquity doesn't overtake them in Gevah.

10 When it is my desire, I will chastise them; And the nations will be gathered against them, When they are bound to their two transgressions.

11 Efrayim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh; So I will put a yoke on her beautiful neck. I will set a rider on Efrayim. Yehudah will plow. Ya`akov will break his clods.

12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, Reap according to kindness. Break up your fallow ground; For it is time to seek the LORD, Until he comes and rains righteousness on you.

Hosea 10:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 10

This chapter is of the same argument with the former, and others before that; setting forth the sins of the ten tribes, and threatening them with the judgments of God for them; and exhorting them to repentance, and works of righteousness. They are charged with unfruitfulness and ingratitude; increasing in idolatry, as they increased in temporal good things, Ho 10:1; with a divided heart, and with irreverence of God, and their king; and with false swearing, covenant breaking, and injustice, Ho 10:2-4; and are threatened with a removal of their king, and with the destruction of their idols, and places of idolatry, which should cause fear in the common people, and mourning among the priests, Ho 10:1,5-8. It is observed, that their sin had been of long continuance, though the Lord had been kind and good unto them, in chastising them in love, giving them good laws, sending his prophets to exhort them to repentance and reformation, but all in vain, Ho 10:9-13; wherefore they are threatened with the spoiling of their fortresses, the destruction of the people, and the cutting off of their king, Ho 10:14,15.