Hosea 8
Christian Standard Bible
Israel’s False Hopes
8 Put the ram’s horn to your mouth!(A)
One like an eagle comes
against the house of the Lord,(B)
because they transgress my covenant(C)
and rebel against my law.(D)
2 Israel cries out to me,(E)
“My God, we know you!”
3 Israel has rejected what is good;(F)
an enemy will pursue him.
4 They have installed kings,(G)
but not through me.
They have appointed leaders,
but without my approval.
They make their silver and gold(H)
into idols for themselves
for their own destruction.[a]
5 Your calf-idol[b](I) is rejected, Samaria.(J)
My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of innocence?(K)
6 For this thing is from Israel—
a craftsman made it,(L) and it is not God.
The calf of Samaria will be smashed to bits!
7 Indeed, they sow the wind(M)
and reap the whirlwind.(N)
There is no standing grain;
what sprouts fails to yield flour.(O)
Even if they did,
foreigners would swallow it up.
8 Israel is swallowed up!(P)
Now they are among the nations
like discarded pottery.(Q)
9 For they have gone up to Assyria(R)
like a wild donkey going off on its own.
Ephraim has paid for love.(S)
10 Even though they hire lovers among the nations,
I will now round them up,
and they will begin to decrease in number(T)
under the burden of the king and leaders.(U)
11 When Ephraim multiplied his altars for sin,(V)
they became his altars for sinning.
12 Though I were to write out for him
ten thousand points of my instruction,(W)
they would be[c] regarded as something strange.
13 Though they offer sacrificial gifts[d](X)
and eat the flesh,(Y)
the Lord does not accept them.
Now he will remember their guilt(Z)
and punish their sins;(AA)
they will return to Egypt.(AB)
14 Israel has forgotten his Maker(AC) and built palaces;(AD)
Judah has also multiplied fortified cities.
I will send fire on their cities,(AE)
and it will consume their citadels.
Hosea 9
Christian Standard Bible
The Coming Exile
9 Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do,(A)
for you have acted promiscuously,(B) leaving your God.
You love the wages of a prostitute
on every grain-threshing floor.(C)
2 Threshing floor and wine vat will not sustain them,(D)
and the new wine will fail them.
3 They will not stay in the land of the Lord.
Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt,(E)
and they will eat unclean food(F) in Assyria.(G)
4 They will not pour out
their wine offerings to the Lord,(H)
and their sacrifices will not please him.
Their food will be like the bread of mourners;
all who eat it become defiled.(I)
For their bread will be for their appetites alone;
it will not enter the house of the Lord.
5 What will you do on a festival day,(J)
on the day of the Lord’s feast?(K)
6 For even if they flee from devastation,
Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them.(L)
Thistles will take possession of their precious silver;
thorns will invade their tents.(M)
7 The days of punishment have come;(N)
the days of retribution have come.(O)
Let Israel recognize it!
The prophet is a fool,(P)
and the inspired man is insane,(Q)
because of the magnitude
of your iniquity and hostility.(R)
8 Ephraim’s watchman is with my God.
Yet the prophet encounters a bird trap
on all his pathways.(S)
Hostility is in the house of his God!
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves(T)
as in the days of Gibeah.(U)
He will remember their iniquity;
he will punish their sins.(V)
Ephraim Bereaved of Offspring
10 I discovered Israel
like grapes in the wilderness.(W)
I saw your ancestors
like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season.(X)
But they went to Baal-peor,(Y)
consecrated themselves to Shame,[a](Z)
and became abhorrent,(AA)
like the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird:(AB)
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.(AC)
12 Even if they raise children,
I will bereave them of each one.
Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!(AD)
13 I have seen Ephraim like Tyre,(AE)
planted in a meadow,
so Ephraim will bring out his children
to the executioner.
14 Give them, Lord—
What should you give?
Give them a womb that miscarries
and breasts that are dry!(AF)
15 All their evil appears at Gilgal,(AG)
for there I began to hate them.
I will drive them from my house
because of their evil, wicked actions.(AH)
I will no longer love them;
all their leaders are rebellious.(AI)
16 Ephraim(AJ) is struck down;
their roots are withered;
they cannot bear fruit.(AK)
Even if they bear children,
I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs.(AL)
17 My God will reject them
because they have not listened to him;(AM)
they will become wanderers among the nations.(AN)
Footnotes
- 9:10 = Baal
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
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