Hosea 10:1-12
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
Israel’s Sin and Captivity
10 Israel is a luxuriant vine
that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased
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[a] will break down their altars,
and destroy their pillars.
3 For now they will say:
“We have no king,
for we fear not the Lord,
and a king, what could he do for us?”
4 They utter mere words;
with empty oaths they make covenants;
so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds
in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samar′ia tremble
for the calf[b] of Beth-a′ven.
Its people shall mourn for it,
and its idolatrous priests shall wail[c] over it,
over its glory which has departed from it.
6 Yea, the thing itself shall be carried to Assyria,
as tribute to the great king.[d]
E′phraim shall be put to shame,
and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.[e]
7 Samar′ia’s king shall perish,
like a chip on the face of the waters.
8 The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
shall be destroyed.
Thorn and thistle shall grow up
on their altars;
and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us,
and to the hills, Fall upon us.
9 From the days of Gib′e-ah, you have sinned, O Israel;
there they have continued.
Shall not war overtake them in Gib′e-ah?
10 I will come[f] against the wayward people to chastise them;
and nations shall be gathered against them
when they are chastised[g] for their double iniquity.
11 E′phraim was a trained heifer
that loved to thresh,
and I spared her fair neck;
but I will put E′phraim to the yoke,
Judah must plow,
Jacob must harrow for himself.
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness,
reap the fruit[h] of steadfast love;
break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the Lord,
that he may come and rain salvation upon you.
Footnotes
- Hosea 10:2 Heb he
- Hosea 10:5 Gk Syr: Heb calves
- Hosea 10:5 Cn: Heb exult
- Hosea 10:6 Cn: Heb a king that will contend
- Hosea 10:6 Cn: Heb counsel
- Hosea 10:10 Cn Compare Gk: Heb in my desire
- Hosea 10:10 Gk: Heb bound
- Hosea 10:12 Gk: Heb according to
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.