Hosea 9:10-14
New Catholic Bible
At the Roots of the Evil of Israel[a]
The Crimes of Baal-peor and Gilgal
10 It was like finding grapes in the desert
when I found Israel.
When I saw your fathers,
it was like seeing the early frost on a fig tree.
However, when they came to Baal-peor,
they consecrated themselves to a shameful idol,
and they became as loathsome as the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.
12 Even if they were to bear children,
I will take away from them every single one.
Woe to them
when I turn away from them!
13 Ephraim once seemed to me like Tyre,
planted in a beautiful meadow.
But now Ephraim will be required
to lead out his children for slaughter.
14 Give them, O Lord—
what will you give?
Give them wombs that miscarry[b]
and dried-up breasts.
Footnotes
- Hosea 9:10 In this last part of the Book of Hosea there are more warnings and threats occasioned by contemporary sins, but the root of the evil is looked for in the historical errors of Israel.
- Hosea 9:14 Wombs that miscarry: probably a reversal of the ancient blessing of Joseph (see Gen 49:25f) wherein the fruitfulness of the Patriarch is dignified by his son Ephraim’s name; now Hosea calls down the scourge of extinction upon the descendants of Ephraim.
