Hosea 10-12
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 10
Destruction of Idolatrous Cultic Objects
1 (A)Israel is a luxuriant vine
whose fruit matches its growth.
The more abundant his fruit,
the more altars he built;
The more productive his land,
the more sacred pillars[a] he set up.
2 Their heart is false!
Now they will pay for their guilt:
God will break down their altars
and destroy their sacred pillars.
3 For now they will say,
“We have no king![b]
Since we do not fear the Lord,
the king—what could he do for us?”
4 They make promises,
swear false oaths, and make covenants,
While lawsuits sprout
like poisonous weeds[c] in the furrows of a field!
5 The inhabitants of Samaria are afraid
for the calf of Beth-aven;[d]
Its people mourn for it
and its idolatrous priests wail over it,
—over its glory which has departed from it.(B)
6 It too will be carried to Assyria,
as an offering to the great king.[e](C)
Ephraim will be put to shame,
Israel will be shamed by his schemes.
7 Samaria and her king will disappear,
like a twig upon the waters.
8 The high places of Aven[f] will be destroyed,
the sin of Israel;
thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars.
Then they will cry out to the mountains, “Cover us!”
and to the hills, “Fall upon us!”(D)
War Because of Israel’s Wickedness
9 Since the days of Gibeah(E)
you have sinned, Israel.
There they took their stand;
will war not reach them in Gibeah?
Against a perverse people
10 I came and I chastised them;
Peoples will be gathered against them
when I bind them to their two crimes.[g]
11 Ephraim was a trained heifer,
that loved to thresh;
I myself laid a yoke
upon her beautiful neck;
I will make Ephraim break ground, Judah must plow,
Jacob must harrow for himself:
12 “Sow for yourselves justice,
reap the reward of loyalty;
Break up for yourselves a new field,(F)
for it is time to seek the Lord,
till he comes and rains justice upon you.”(G)
13 But you have plowed wickedness,
reaped perversity,
and eaten the fruit of falsehood.
Because you have trusted in your own power,
and in your many warriors,(H)
14 The clamor of war shall break out among your people
and all your fortresses shall be ravaged
As Salman ravaged Beth-arbel[h] on the day of war,
smashing mothers along with their children.(I)
15 So it will be done to you, Bethel,
because of your utter wickedness:
At dawn[i] the king of Israel
will utterly disappear.
Chapter 11
The Disappointment of a Parent
1 [j]When Israel was a child I loved him,(J)
out of Egypt[k] I called my son.(K)
2 The more I called them,
the farther they went from me,
Sacrificing to the Baals
and burning incense to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
who took them in my arms;(L)
but they did not know that I cared for them.
4 I drew them with human cords,
with bands of love;[l]
I fostered them like those
who raise an infant to their cheeks;
I bent down to feed them.(M)
5 He shall return to the land of Egypt,(N)
Assyria shall be his king,
because they have refused to repent.
6 The sword shall rage in his cities:
it shall destroy his diviners,
and devour them because of their schemings.
7 My people have their mind set on apostasy;
though they call on God in unison,
he shall not raise them up.
But Love Is Stronger and Restores
8 How could I give you up, Ephraim,
or deliver you up, Israel?
How could I treat you as Admah,
or make you like Zeboiim?[m](O)
My heart is overwhelmed,
my pity is stirred.
9 I will not give vent to my blazing anger,
I will not destroy Ephraim again;
For I am God and not a man,(P)
the Holy One present among you;
I will not come in wrath.
10 They shall follow the Lord,
who roars like a lion;(Q)
When he roars,
his children shall come frightened from the west,
11 Out of Egypt they shall come trembling, like birds,
like doves, from the land of Assyria;
And I will resettle them in their homes,
oracle of the Lord.
Chapter 12
Infidelity of Israel[n]
1 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,
the house of Israel, with deceit;
Judah still wanders about with gods,
and is faithful to holy ones.[o]
2 [p]Ephraim shepherds the wind,
and pursues the east wind all day long.
He multiplies lies and violence:
They make a covenant with Assyria,
and oil is carried to Egypt.
3 The Lord has a dispute with Judah,
and will punish Jacob[q] for his conduct,
and repay him for his deeds.
4 In the womb he supplanted his brother,(R)
and in his vigor he contended with a divine being;
5 He contended with an angel and prevailed,(S)
he wept and entreated him.
At Bethel he met with him,
and there he spoke with him.(T)
6 The Lord is the God of hosts,
the Lord is his name!(U)
7 You must return to your God.
Maintain loyalty and justice
and always hope in your God.
8 A merchant who holds a false balance,
he loves to extort!
9 Ephraim has said,
“How rich I have become;
I have made a fortune!”(V)
All his gain will not suffice
for the guilt of his sin.
10 I the Lord have been your God,
since the land of Egypt;(W)
I will again have you live in tents,
as on feast days.
11 I spoke to the prophets,
I granted many visions,(X)
and through the prophets I told parables.
12 In Gilead is falsehood, they have come to nothing;
in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,
But their altars are like heaps of stones(Y)
in the furrows of the field.
13 Jacob fled to the land of Aram,
and Israel served for a wife;
for a wife he tended sheep.(Z)
14 But by a prophet[r] the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,
and by a prophet Israel was tended.(AA)
15 Ephraim has aroused bitter anger,
so his Lord shall cast his bloodguilt upon him
and repay him for his scorn.
Footnotes
- 10:1 Sacred pillars: see note on 3:4.
- 10:3 No king: the instability of the monarchy (7:3–7) and its vassalage to foreign kings (7:8–16) render the monarchy ineffective. The kings do the opposite of what they are supposed to do (10:4).
- 10:4 Lawsuits…like poisonous weeds: the administration of justice, which should have been the mainstay of the people, has in corrupt hands become another instrument of oppression; cf. Am 6:12.
- 10:5 The calf of Beth-aven: see note on 4:15.
- 10:6 The great king: a title used by the Assyrian kings. See also note on 5:13.
- 10:8 Aven: wickedness, first of all at Bethel (v. 5), but also at all the high places.
- 10:10 Two crimes: the allusion is not clear; a possible reference is the outrage described in Jgs 19.
- 10:14 As Salman ravaged Beth-arbel: perhaps Salamanu, king of Moab, mentioned in an inscription of Tiglath-pileser III, after an invasion in Gilead (Transjordan), where there was a Beth-arbel, close to present Irbid.
- 10:15 At dawn: normally the moment of God’s victory over Israel’s enemies, and thus his salvation (Is 17:14; Ps 46:6). Here it is a reversal of this expectation.
- 11:1–3 After the image of husband-wife (chaps. 1–3), Hosea uses the image of parent-child (Ex 4:22; Is 1:2; Jer 3:19).
- 11:1 Out of Egypt: Hosea dates the real beginning of Israel from the time of the exodus. Mt 2:15 applies this text to the return of Jesus from Egypt.
- 11:4 I drew them…with bands of love: perhaps a reversal of the yoke imagery of the previous chapter, i.e., not forcing them like draft animals, but drawing them with kindness and affection.
- 11:8 Admah…Zeboiim: cities in the vicinity of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gn 14:2, 8) and destroyed with them (Gn 19:24–25; Dt 29:22).
- 12:1–15 This chapter draws a parallel between the history of Israel and events in the life of Jacob-Israel, the ancestor.
- 12:1 An attack on the idolatry of both kingdoms, Israel and Judah. Holy ones: subordinate gods, members of the divine council.
- 12:2 Hosea frequently condemns the alliances with Assyria and Egypt, the two world powers (7:8–16).
- 12:3 Jacob: whose name was changed to Israel (Gn 35:10).
- 12:14 A prophet: Moses.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.