Hosea 9-11
Contemporary English Version
Israel Will Be Punished
9 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]
2 But you will run short
of grain and wine,
3 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.
4 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.
5 You will no longer be able
to celebrate the festival
of the Lord.[c]
6 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.
7 (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.
8 Israel, the Lord sent me
to look after you.[f]
But you trap his prophets
and flood his temple
with your hatred.
9 (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.
2 You are deceitful and disloyal.
So you will pay
for your sins,
because the Lord will destroy
your altars and images.
3 “We don't have a king,”
you will say.
“We don't fear the Lord.
And what good are kings?”
4 Israel, you break treaties
and don't keep promises;
you turn justice
into poisonous weeds
where healthy plants should grow.[j]
5 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.
6 It will be taken to Assyria
and given to the great king.
Then Israel will be disgraced
for worshiping that idol.
7 Like a twig in a stream,
the king of Samaria
will be swept away.
8 (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
9 (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.
2 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.
3 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.
4 I led them with kindness
and with love,
not with ropes.
I held them close to me;[r]
I bent down to feed them.
5 But they rejected me,
and so must return to Egypt;
now Assyria will rule them.
6 War will visit their cities,
and their plans will fail.[s]
7 My people are determined
to reject me for a god
they think is stronger,
but he can't help.[t]
8 (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.
9 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
- 9.1 or … shouts: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 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.
- 9.5 festival of the Lord: Probably the Festival of Shelters.
- 9.6 Memphis: An Egyptian city with a famous cemetery.
- 9.6 Your silver … weeds: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 9.8 Israel … you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 9.9 the men of Gibeah: They raped and murdered a woman (see Judges 19).
- 9.13 Israel, when … ground: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 9.15 Gilgal: See 4.15.
- 10.4 you turn … grow: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 10.5 idols: The Hebrew text has “calves,” referring to the idols made in the shape of calves.
- 10.5 sinful Bethel: See the note at 4.15.
- 10.9 never stopped sinning: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 10.9 Gibeah: See the note at 9.9.
- 10.9 That's why … Gibeah: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 10.14 Shalman: Perhaps a Moabite king, also known as Salamanu.
- 11.2 But … rebelled: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 11.4 I held … to me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 11.6 fail: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 6.
- 11.7 help: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 7.
- 11.8 Admah and Zeboiim: When the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he also destroyed these two towns (see Deuteronomy 29.23).
- 11.12 and Judah worships other gods: Or “but Judah remains faithful.”
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