Hosea
Chapter 10
1 Israel is like a vine with no value; it produces fruit for itself. The more fruit it has, the more altars it builds; the better the land, the finer the idols.
2 Their heart is not united; they will be seen as guilty: God will destroy their altars, God will ruin their statues.
3 Now they will say, “We have no king, because we did not fear God; what can a king do for us?”
4 They have said things, lying when they make a promise. So unfairness grows like poison plants in the field’s rows.
5 The people of Samaria will be scared because of the fake gods of Bethaven; they will be sad for them, and the priests who were happy about them will mourn, because their honor is gone.
6 It will be taken to Assyria as a gift for King Jareb: Ephraim will feel shame, and Israel will be embarrassed by its own advice.
7 Samaria’s king is gone like foam on water.
8 The worship sites of Aven, Israel’s sin, will be ruined: thorns and thistles will grow on their altars; and people will ask the mountains to hide them and the hills to fall on them.
9 Israel, you have sinned since the time of Gibeah: there they remained: the fight in Gibeah against the wicked people did not defeat them.
10 I want to punish them, and people will come together against them when they get stuck in their own wrong ways.
11 Ephraim is like a trained young cow that likes to crush grain; but I will put a yoke on her beautiful neck. I will make Ephraim work; Judah will plow and Jacob will break up the soil.
12 Plant for yourselves the right way, gather with kindness; prepare your unused land: it’s time to look for God, until He comes and showers you with the right way to live.
13 You have planted evil, you have harvested sin; you have eaten the fruit of lies: because you trusted in your own path, in the strength of your warriors.
14 So, your people will be in chaos, and all your strongholds will be ruined, just like when Shalman destroyed Betharbel on the day of war: the mother was shattered against her children.
15 Bethel will do the same to you because of your great evil; by morning the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.