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Israel Will Be Punished

Israel, don't celebrate
or make noisy shouts[a]
    like other nations.
You have been unfaithful
    to your God.
Wherever grain is threshed,
    you behave like prostitutes
because you enjoy
    the money you receive.[b]
But you will run short
    of grain and wine,
and you will have to leave
    the land of the Lord.
Some of you will go to Egypt;
others will go to Assyria
    and eat unclean food.

You won't be able to offer
sacrifices of wine
    to the Lord.
None of your sacrifices
    will please him—
they will be unclean
    like food offered to the dead.
Your food will only be used
    to satisfy your hunger;
none of it will be brought
    to the Lord's temple.
You will no longer be able
to celebrate the festival
    of the Lord.[c]
Even if you escape alive,
you will end up in Egypt
    and be buried in Memphis.[d]
Your silver treasures
    will be lost among weeds;[e]
thorns will sprout in your tents.

(A) Israel, the time has come.
You will get what you deserve,
    and you will know it.
“Prophets are fools,” you say.
“And God's messengers
    are crazy.”
Your terrible guilt
    has filled you with hatred.

Israel, the Lord sent me
    to look after you.[f]
But you trap his prophets
and flood his temple
    with your hatred.
(B) You are brutal and corrupt,
    as were the men of Gibeah.[g]
But God remembers your sin,
    and you will be punished.

Sin's Terrible Results

10 (C) Israel, when I, the Lord,
    found you long ago
it was like finding
grapes in a barren desert
    or tender young figs.
Then you worshiped Baal Peor,
    that disgusting idol,
and you became as disgusting
    as the idol you loved.

11 And so, Israel, your glory
    will fly away like birds—
your women will no longer
    be able to give birth.
12 Even if you do have children,
I will take them all
    and leave you to mourn.
I will turn away,
and you will sink down
    in deep trouble.
13 Israel, when I first met you,
I thought of you as palm trees
    growing in fertile ground.[h]
Now you lead your people out,
    only to be slaughtered.

Hosea's Advice

14 Our Lord, do just one thing
    for your people—
make their women unable
to have children
    or to nurse their babies.

The Lord's Judgment on Israel

15 Israel, I first began
to hate you because
    you did evil at Gilgal.[i]
Now I will chase you
    out of my house.
No longer will I love you;
    your leaders betrayed me.
16 Israel, you are a vine
with dried-up roots
    and fruitless branches.
Even if you had more children
and loved them dearly,
    I would slaughter them all.

Hosea Warns Israel

17 Israel, you disobeyed my God.
Now he will force you to roam
    from nation to nation.

10 You were a healthy vine
    covered with grapes.
But the more grapes you grew,
    the more altars you built;
the better off you became,
the better shrines you set up
    for pagan gods.
You are deceitful and disloyal.
So you will pay
    for your sins,
because the Lord will destroy
    your altars and images.

“We don't have a king,”
    you will say.
“We don't fear the Lord.
    And what good are kings?”
Israel, you break treaties
    and don't keep promises;
you turn justice
    into poisonous weeds
where healthy plants should grow.[j]

All who live in Samaria tremble
with concern for the idols[k]
    at sinful Bethel.[l]
The idol there was the pride
    of the priests,
but it has been put to shame;
    now everyone will cry.
It will be taken to Assyria
    and given to the great king.
Then Israel will be disgraced
    for worshiping that idol.

Like a twig in a stream,
the king of Samaria
    will be swept away.
(D) The altars at sinful Bethel
will be destroyed
    for causing Israel to sin;
they will be grown over
    with thorns and thistles.
Then everyone will beg
the mountains and hills
    to cover and protect them.

The Lord Promises To Punish Israel

(E) Israel, you have never
stopped sinning[m]
    since that time at Gibeah.[n]
That's why you
    will be attacked at Gibeah.[o]
10 Your sins have doubled,
    and you are rebellious.
Now I have decided
to send nations to attack
    and put you in chains.

11 Once you were obedient
like a calf
    that loved to thresh grain.
But I will put a harness
    on your beautiful neck;
you and Judah must plow
    and cultivate the ground.
12 (F) Plow your fields,
scatter seeds of justice,
    and harvest faithfulness.
Worship me, the Lord,
and I will send my saving power
    down like rain.
13 You have planted evil,
harvested injustice, and eaten
    the fruit of your lies.
You trusted your own strength
    and your powerful forces.
14 So war will break out,
and your fortresses
    will be destroyed.
Your enemies will do to you
what Shalman[p] did to the people
    of Beth-Arbel—
mothers and their children
will be beaten to death
    against rocks.
15 Bethel, this will be your fate
    because of your evil.
Israel, at dawn your king
    will be killed.

God's Love for His People

11 (G) When Israel was a child,
I loved him, and I called
    my son out of Egypt.
But as the saying goes,
“The more they were called,
    the more they rebelled.”[q]
They never stopped offering
incense and sacrifices
    to the idols of Baal.

I took Israel by the arm
    and taught them to walk.
But they would not admit
that I was the one
    who had healed them.
I led them with kindness
and with love,
    not with ropes.
I held them close to me;[r]
    I bent down to feed them.

But they rejected me,
and so must return to Egypt;
    now Assyria will rule them.
War will visit their cities,
    and their plans will fail.[s]
My people are determined
    to reject me for a god
they think is stronger,
    but he can't help.[t]

(H) Israel, I can't let you go.
    I can't give you up.
How could I possibly destroy you
as I did the towns of Admah
    and Zeboiim?[u]
I just can't do it.
My feelings for you
    are much too strong.
Israel, I won't lose my temper
    and destroy you again.
I am the Holy God—
not merely some human,
    and I won't stay angry.

10 I, the Lord, will roar like a lion,
and my children will return,
    trembling from the west.
11 They will come back,
fluttering like birds from Egypt
    or like doves from Assyria.
Then I will bring them
back to their homes.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!

Israel and Judah Compared

12 Israel is deceitful to me,
    their loyal and holy God;
they surround me with lies,
and Judah worships
    other gods.[v]

Footnotes

  1. 9.1 or … shouts: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  2. 9.1 Wherever … receive: Grain was threshed on hills or other places where the wind could blow away the husks. People also met at these places to worship Baal, the god they thought had given them the grain harvest.
  3. 9.5 festival of the Lord: Probably the Festival of Shelters.
  4. 9.6 Memphis: An Egyptian city with a famous cemetery.
  5. 9.6 Your silver … weeds: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  6. 9.8 Israel … you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  7. 9.9 the men of Gibeah: They raped and murdered a woman (see Judges 19).
  8. 9.13 Israel, when … ground: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  9. 9.15 Gilgal: See 4.15.
  10. 10.4 you turn … grow: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  11. 10.5 idols: The Hebrew text has “calves,” referring to the idols made in the shape of calves.
  12. 10.5 sinful Bethel: See the note at 4.15.
  13. 10.9 never stopped sinning: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  14. 10.9 Gibeah: See the note at 9.9.
  15. 10.9 That's why … Gibeah: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  16. 10.14 Shalman: Perhaps a Moabite king, also known as Salamanu.
  17. 11.2 But … rebelled: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  18. 11.4 I held … to me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  19. 11.6 fail: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 6.
  20. 11.7 help: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 7.
  21. 11.8 Admah and Zeboiim: When the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he also destroyed these two towns (see Deuteronomy 29.23).
  22. 11.12 and Judah worships other gods: Or “but Judah remains faithful.”

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