Hosea 8-9

English Standard Version

Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind

8 Set ^(A)the trumpet to your lips!
    One ^(B)like a vulture is over the house of the Lord,
because ^(C)they have transgressed my covenant
    and rebelled against my law.
²To me they cry,
    ^(D)“My God, we—Israel—know you.”
³Israel has spurned the good;
    the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴^(E)They made kings, ^(F)but not through me.
    They set up princes, but I knew it not.
With their silver and gold they made idols
    for their own destruction.
⁵^(G)I have^[a] spurned your calf, O Samaria.
    My anger burns against them.
^(H)How long will they be incapable of innocence?
⁶For it is from Israel;
a craftsman made it;
    it is not God.
^(I)The calf of Samaria
    ^(J)shall be broken to pieces.^[b]

⁷For ^(K)they sow the wind,
    and they shall reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain has no heads;
    it shall yield no flour;
if it were to yield,
    ^(L)strangers would devour it.
⁸^(M)Israel is swallowed up;
    already they are among the nations
    as ^(N)a useless vessel.
⁹For ^(O)they have gone up to Assyria,
    ^(P)a wild donkey wandering alone;
    Ephraim has hired lovers.
¹⁰Though they hire allies among the nations,
    I will soon gather them up.
And ^(Q)the king and princes ^(R)shall soon writhe
    because of the tribute.

¹¹Because Ephraim ^(S)has multiplied altars for sinning,
    they have become to him altars for sinning.
¹²^(T)Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands,
    they would be regarded as a strange thing.
¹³As for my sacrificial offerings,
    ^(U)they sacrifice meat and eat it,
    but the Lord does not accept them.
^(V)Now he will remember their iniquity
    and punish their sins;
    ^(W)they shall return to Egypt.
¹⁴For ^(X)Israel has forgotten ^(Y)his Maker
    and ^(Z)built palaces,
and ^(AA)Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
    so ^(AB)I will send a fire upon his cities,
    and it shall devour her strongholds.

The Lord Will Punish Israel

9 Rejoice not, O Israel!
    Exult not like the peoples;
^(AC)for you have played the whore, forsaking your God.
    ^(AD)You have loved a prostitute's wages
    on all threshing floors.
²^(AE)Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,
    and ^(AF)the new wine shall fail them.
³They shall not remain in ^(AG)the land of the Lord,
    but ^(AH)Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
    and ^(AI)they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

⁴^(AJ)They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,
    ^(AK)and their sacrifices shall not please him.
It shall be like ^(AL)mourners' bread to them;
    all who eat of it shall be defiled;
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
    ^(AM)it shall not come to the house of the Lord.

⁵^(AN)What will you do on the day of the appointed festival,
    and on the day of the feast of the Lord?
⁶For behold, they are going away from destruction;
    but ^(AO)Egypt shall gather them;
    Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess ^(AP)their precious things of silver;
    ^(AQ)thorns shall be in their tents.

⁷^(AR)The days of punishment have come;
    the days of recompense have come;
    Israel shall know it.
^(AS)The prophet is a fool;
    the man of the spirit is mad,
because of your great iniquity
    and great hatred.
⁸The prophet is ^(AT)the watchman of Ephraim with my God;
yet ^(AU)a fowler's snare is on all his ways,
    and hatred in the house of his God.
⁹^(AV)They have deeply corrupted themselves
    as ^(AW)in the days of Gibeah:
^(AX)he will remember their iniquity;
    he will punish their sins.

¹⁰Like grapes in the wilderness,
    ^(AY)I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree
    in its first season,
    I saw your fathers.
But ^(AZ)they came to Baal-peor
    and ^(BA)consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,
    and ^(BB)became detestable like the thing they loved.
¹¹Ephraim's ^(BC)glory shall fly away like a bird—
    ^(BD)no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
¹²^(BE)Even if they bring up children,
    I will bereave them till none is left.
^(BF)Woe to them
    when ^(BG)I depart from them!
¹³Ephraim, ^(BH)as I have seen, was like a young palm^[c] planted in a meadow;
    but ^(BI)Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.^[d]
¹⁴Give them, O Lord—
    what will you give?
Give them ^(BJ)a miscarrying womb
    and dry breasts.

¹⁵Every evil of theirs is in ^(BK)Gilgal;
    there I began to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
    I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
    all ^(BL)their princes are ^(BM)rebels.

¹⁶Ephraim is stricken;
    ^(BN)their root is dried up;
    they shall bear no fruit.
Even ^(BO)though they give birth,
    ^(BP)I will put their beloved children to death.
¹⁷^(BQ)My God will reject them
    because they have not listened to him;
    ^(BR)they shall be wanderers among the nations.