Hosea 8-9

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁴ They made kings but not through me;
    they set up princes but without my knowledge.
With their silver and gold they made idols
    for their own destruction.^(C)
5 Your calf is rejected, O Samaria.
    My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of innocence?^(D)
6     For it is from Israel,
an artisan made it;
    it is not God.
The calf of Samaria
    shall be broken to pieces.^(E)

⁷ For they sow the wind,
    and they shall reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain has no heads;
    it shall yield no meal;
if it were to yield,
    foreigners would devour it.^(F)
8 Israel is swallowed up;
    now they are among the nations
    as a useless vessel.^(G)
9 For they have gone up to Assyria,
    a wild ass wandering alone;
    Ephraim has bargained for lovers.^(H)
10 Though they bargain with the nations,
    I will now gather them up.
They shall soon writhe
    under the burden of kings and princes.^(I)

¹¹ When Ephraim multiplied altars to expiate sin,
    they became to him altars for sinning.
¹² Though I write for him the multitude of my instructions,
    they are regarded as a strange thing.^(J)
13 Though they offer choice sacrifices,^[c]
    though they eat flesh,
    the Lord does not accept them.
Now he will remember their iniquity
    and punish their sins;
    they shall return to Egypt.^(K)
14 Israel has forgotten his Maker
    and built palaces,
and Judah has multiplied fortified cities,
    but I will send a fire upon his cities,
    and it shall devour his strongholds.^(L)

⁴ They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,
    and their sacrifices shall not please him.
Such sacrifices shall be like mourners’ bread;
    all who eat of it shall be defiled,
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
    it shall not come to the house of the Lord.^(P)

⁵ What will you do on the day of appointed festival
    and on the day of the festival of the Lord?^(Q)
6 For even if they escape destruction,
    Egypt shall gather them;
    Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;^[e]
    thorns shall be in their tents.^(R)

⁷ The days of punishment have come;
    the days of recompense have come.
Israel will cry out,^[f]
“The prophet is a fool;
    the man of the spirit is mad!”
Because of your great iniquity,
    your hostility is great.^(S)
8 The prophet is a sentinel for my God over Ephraim,
yet a hunter’s snare is on all his ways
    and hostility in the house of his God.^(T)
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves
    as in the days of Gibeah;
he will remember their iniquity;
    he will punish their sins.^(U)

¹⁰ Like grapes in the wilderness,
    I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree,
    in its first season,
    I saw your ancestors.
But they came to Baal-peor
    and consecrated themselves to a thing of shame
    and became detestable like the thing they loved.^(V)
11 Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—
    no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!^(W)
12 Even if they bring up children,
    I will bereave them until no one is left.
Woe to them indeed
    when I depart from them!^(X)
13 Once I saw Ephraim as a young palm planted in a lovely meadow,^[g]
    but now Ephraim must lead out his children for slaughter.^(Y)
14 Give them, O Lord—
    what will you give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
    and dry breasts.

¹⁵ Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal;
    there I came 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 their officials are rebels.^(Z)

¹⁶ Ephraim is stricken,
    their root is dried up,
    they shall bear no fruit.
Even though they give birth,
    I will kill the cherished offspring of their womb.^(AA)
17 Because they have not listened to him,
    my God will reject them;
    they shall become wanderers among the nations.^(AB)