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The people of Samaria tremble in fear
    for their calf idol at Beth-aven,[a]
    and they mourn for it.
Though its priests rejoice over it,
    its glory will be stripped away.[b]
This idol will be carted away to Assyria,
    a gift to the great king there.
Ephraim will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed,
    because its people have trusted in this idol.
Samaria and its king will be cut off;
    they will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave.
And the pagan shrines of Aven,[c] the place of Israel’s sin, will crumble.
    Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars.
They will beg the mountains, “Bury us!”
    and plead with the hills, “Fall on us!”

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Footnotes

  1. 10:5a Beth-aven means “house of wickedness”; it is being used as another name for Bethel, which means “house of God.”
  2. 10:5b Or will be taken away into exile.
  3. 10:8 Aven is a reference to Beth-aven; see 10:5a and the note there.

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.

Shame and punishment

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

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