Hosea 10

Israel’s False Security

1 Israel is like a spreading vine that produces fruit for itself. The more fruit he gets, the more altars he builds. The richer his land gets, the more fancy his sacred pillars become.

2 Their hearts are divided, now they must pay for it. He will tear down their altars and destroy their sacred stones.

3 For now they say, “We got no king, because we do not fear the LORD. And even if we did have a king, what could he do for us?”

4 They make empty promises, swear fake oaths, sign useless treaties. So lawsuits grow like weeds in a plowed field.

Judgment Is Coming

5 The people of Samaria will panic over the calf idol of Beth Aven. Its people will mourn for it, and its priests will cry over it, over its glory that is about to be taken away.

6 That idol will be carried to Assyria as a gift for the great king. Ephraim will be humiliated, and Israel will be ashamed of their own plans.

7 Samaria’s king will be swept away like a twig on water.

8 The high places of wickedness will be destroyed. Thorns and thistles will grow over their altars. They will say to the mountains, “Fall on us,” and to the hills, “Cover us.”

9 Since the days of Gibeah, you have been sinning, Israel, and you are still standing in it. Did not war catch up with the sinners at Gibeah,

10 When I feel like it, I will discipline them. Nations will gather against them to chain them up for their double guilt.

A Call to Righteousness

11 Ephraim was like a trained heifer that loved to thresh grain. I spared her neck from the yoke, but now I will make Ephraim pull the plow. Judah will have to plow, Jacob will have to break up hard ground.

12 Plant righteousness for yourselves, harvest faithful love. Break up your hard ground, because it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and rains righteousness on you.

13 But you planted wickedness, you harvested evil, you ate the fruit of lies. Because you trusted in your own way and in your many warriors,

14 war will rise up against your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed. Like when Shalman wrecked Beth Arbel in battle, mothers and children smashed together.

15 That is what is going to happen to you, Bethel, because of your deep evil. At dawn, the king of Israel will be completely wiped out.