Hosea 10

¹ Israel was a luxuriant vine yielding plenty of fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; the richer his land became, the richer he made the sacred stones.

² Their heart is a divided heart; very well, they must pay for it: Yahweh is going to break their altars down and destroy their sacred stones.

³ Then they will say, ‘We have no king because we have not feared Yahweh’. But what can a king do for us?

⁴ Words, words! False oaths! Alliances! And judgement is only a poisonous weed that thrives in the furrows of the field.

⁵ The inhabitants of Samaria are trembling for the calf of Beth-aven; yes, its people mourn for it, its so-called priests bewail its glory, now this has vanished.

⁶ The calf itself shall be carried off to Assyria as tribute to the Great King. Ephraim will reap the shame, and Israel blush for his idol.

⁷ Samaria has had her day. Her king[*a] is like a straw drifting on the water.

⁸ The idolatrous high places shall be destroyed-that sin of Israel; thorn and thistle will grow on their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, ‘Cover us!’ and to the hills, ‘Fall on us!’

⁹ Ever since the days at Gibeah, Israel, you have sinned. Things are still the same. And will not war overtake the guilty at Gibeah?

¹⁰ I shall come and punish them. The nations will muster against them to punish them for their double crime.

¹¹ Ephraim is a well trained heifer that loves to tread the threshing-floor; very well, I myself mean to lay the yoke on that fine neck of hers, I am going to put Ephraim in harness, Israel will have to plough, Jacob must draw the harrow.

¹² Sow integrity for yourselves, reap a harvest of kindness, break up your fallow ground: it is time to go seeking Yahweh until he comes to rain salvation on you.

¹³ Why have you ploughed iniquity, reaped injustice, and eaten the produce, lies? Because you have trusted in your chariots, and in your host of warriors,

¹⁴ turmoil is going to break out in your towns, and all your fortresses will be laid waste, as Shalman[*b] laid Beth-arbel waste on the day of the battle, when mothers fell, dashed to pieces, on their children.

¹⁵ That is what I mean to do to you, House of Israel, because of your great wickedness; and in the storm the king of Israel is going to disappear for ever.