Hosea 9; Hosea 10; Hosea 11

1 Don't rejoice, Israel! Don't celebrate as other nations do; for as whores you have gone away from your God. You have loved a prostitute's pay on all threshing floors of grain.

2 Threshing floor and wine vat won't feed them; the new wine will fail them.

3 They won't remain in the land of the LORD; but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.

4 They won't pour wine as an offering to the LORD; their sacrifices won't please him. Such sacrifices will be like food for those who touch the dead; all who eat of it will be unclean; their bread will be for their hunger alone; it will not come to the LORD's house.

5 What will you do on the day of appointed festival, on the day of the LORD's festival?

6 Even if they escape destruction, Egypt will gather them, Memphis will bury them. Briars will possess their precious things of silver; thorns will be in their tents.

7 The days of punishment have come; the days of judgment have arrived; Israel cries, "The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad!" Because of your great wickedness, your rejection of me is great.

8 The prophet is God's watchman looking over Ephraim, yet a hunter's trap is set, covering all his ways, and rejection is in his God's house.

9 They have corrupted themselves terribly as in the days of Gibeah; he will remember their wickedness; he will punish their sins.

10 Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. In its first season, like the first fruit on the fig tree, I saw your ancestors. But they came to Baal-peor, and worshipped a thing of shame; they became detestable like the thing they loved.

11 Ephraim's glory will fly away like a bird— no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!

12 Though they bring up children, I will make them childless until no one is left. Doom to them indeed when I leave them!

13 When I looked toward Tyre, Ephraim was planted in a lovely meadow; but now Ephraim must lead out his children for slaughter.

14 Give them, LORD— what will you give them? Give them a womb that miscarries and breasts that are dried up.

15 Every wickedness of theirs began at Gilgal; there I came 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 their officials are rebels.

16 Ephraim is sick, their root is dried up, they will bear no fruit. Even though they give birth, I will put to death their much-loved little ones.

17 Because they haven't listened to him, my God will reject them; they will wander among the nations.

1 Israel is a growing vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; the richer his land became, the more he set up sacred standing stones.

2 Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and destroy their standing stones.

3 For now they will say: "We have no king, because we don't love the LORD. What then could a king do for us?"

4 They have spoken empty words, swearing falsely when making covenants; so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

5 The inhabitants of Samaria shake because of the calf of Beth-aven. Its people will mourn over it, just as its idolatrous priests who rejoiced over its glory that is now gone.

6 To Assyria it will be carried as a gift for the great king. Ephraim will be put to shame; Israel will be ashamed of his own idol.

7 Samaria will be cut off; her king is like a chip of wood on the surface of the water.

8 The sin of Israel, the shrines of Aven will be torn down. Thorn and thistle will sprout up on their altars. They will say to the mountains, "Cover us," to the hills, "Fall on us."

9 Since the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, Israel; there they have continued. Will not war overtake them in Gibeah?

10 I will come and punish them; nations will be gathered against them when they are punished for their double crime.

11 Ephraim was a trained cow that loved to pull a plow; I spared her fair neck; but I will make Ephraim break through the ground; Judah will plow; Jacob will turn the soil for himself.

12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap faithful love; break up your unplanted ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

13 You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped depravity, you have eaten the fruit of lies, because you have trusted in your way and in your many warriors.

14 Therefore, the noise of war will rise against your people; all your fortresses will be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle, when mothers were dashed into pieces with their children.

15 It will indeed happen to you, Bethel, because of your great wickedness. At dawn, the king of Israel will be cut off completely.

1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

2 The more I called them, the further they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and they burned incense to idols.

3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up in my arms, but they did not know that I healed them.

4 I led them with bands of human kindness, with cords of love. I treated them like those who lift infants to their cheeks; I bent down to them and fed them.

5 They will return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria will be their king, because they have refused to return to me.

6 The sword will strike wildly in their cities; it will consume the bars of their gates and will take everything because of their schemes.

7 My people are bent on turning away from me; and though they cry out to the Most High, he will not raise them up.

8 How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart winces within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.

9 I won't act on the heat of my anger; I won't return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a human being, the holy one in your midst; I won't come in harsh judgment.

10 They will walk after the LORD, who roars like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west.

11 They will come trembling like a bird, and like a dove from the land of Assyria; and I will return them to their homes, says the LORD.

12 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, the house of Israel with faithless acts; but Judah still walks with God, and is faithful to the holy one.