Hosea 8-9

New American Standard Bible

Israel Reaps the Whirlwind

8 ^(A)Put the trumpet to your ^[a]lips!
^(B)Like an eagle the enemy comes ^(C)against the house of the Lord,
Because they have ^(D)violated My covenant
And rebelled against My ^(E)Law.
²^(F)They cry out to Me,
“My God, ^(G)we of Israel know You!”
³Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
⁴^(H)They have set up kings, but not by Me;
They have appointed officials, but I did not know it.
With their ^(I)silver and gold they have made idols for themselves,
So that ^[b]they will be eliminated.
⁵^[c]He has rejected your ^(J)calf, Samaria, saying,
“My anger burns against them!”
How long will they be incapable of ^(K)innocence?
⁶For from Israel comes even this!
A ^(L)craftsman made it, so it is not God;
Assuredly, the calf of Samaria will be broken to ^[d]pieces.
⁷For ^(M)they sow wind
And they harvest a ^(N)storm.
The standing grain has no ^[e]kernels;
It yields ^(O)no ^[f]grain.
If it were to yield, strangers would swallow it.

⁸Israel has been ^(P)swallowed up;
They are now among the nations
Like a ^(Q)vessel in which no one delights.
⁹For they have gone up to ^(R)Assyria,
Like ^(S)a wild donkey all alone;
Ephraim has ^(T)paid fees for ^[g]lovers.
¹⁰Even though they ^[h]pay for allies among the nations,
I will ^(U)gather them up now;
And they will begin ^(V)to diminish
Because of the burden of the ^(W)king of officials.

¹¹Since Ephraim has ^(X)multiplied altars for sin,
They have become altars of sinning for him.
¹²Though ^(Y)I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My ^(Z)Law,
They are regarded as a strange thing.
¹³As for My ^(AA)sacrificial gifts,
They ^(AB)sacrifice the flesh and eat it,
But the Lord has taken no delight in them.
Now He will ^(AC)remember their guilt,
And ^(AD)punish them for their sins;
They will return to ^(AE)Egypt.
¹⁴For Israel has ^(AF)forgotten his Maker and ^(AG)built palaces;
And Judah has multiplied fortified cities,
But I will send a ^(AH)fire on its cities, and it will consume its palatial buildings.

Ephraim Punished

9 ^(AI)Do not rejoice, Israel, ^[i]with jubilation like the ^[j]nations!
For you have ^(AJ)been unfaithful, ^[k]abandoning your God.
You have loved the earnings of unfaithfulness on ^[l]every threshing floor.
²Threshing floor and wine press will ^(AK)not feed them,
And the new wine will fail ^[m]them.
³They will not remain in ^(AL)the Lord’s land,
But Ephraim will return to ^(AM)Egypt,
And in ^(AN)Assyria they will eat ^(AO)unclean food.
⁴They will not pour out drink offerings of ^(AP)wine to the Lord,
^(AQ)Nor will ^[n]their sacrifices please Him.
Their bread will be to them like ^[o]mourners’ bread;
All who eat it will be ^(AR)defiled,
Because their bread will be for ^[p]themselves alone;
It will not enter the house of the Lord.
⁵^(AS)What will you do on the day of the appointed festival
And on the day of the ^(AT)feast of the Lord?
⁶For behold, they will be gone because of destruction;
Egypt will gather them together, ^(AU)Memphis will bury them.
Weeds will take possession of their treasures of silver;
^(AV)Thorns will be in their tents.

⁷The days of ^(AW)punishment have come,
The days of ^(AX)retribution have come;
^[q]Let Israel know this!
The prophet is a ^(AY)fool,
The ^[r]inspired person is ^(AZ)insane,
Because of the grossness of your ^(BA)wrongdoing,
And because your ^[s]hostility is so great.
⁸Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet;
Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways,
And there is only ^[t]hostility in the house of his God.
⁹They are ^(BB)deeply depraved
As in the days of ^(BC)Gibeah;
He will ^(BD)remember their guilt,
He will punish their sins.

¹⁰I found Israel like ^(BE)grapes in the wilderness;
I saw your forefathers as the ^(BF)earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season.
But they came to ^(BG)Baal-peor and devoted themselves to ^[u]^(BH)shame,
And they became as ^(BI)detestable as that which they loved.
¹¹As for Ephraim, their ^(BJ)glory will fly away like a bird—
No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!
¹²Though they bring up their children,
Yet I will bereave them of their children ^[v]until not a person is left.
Yes, ^(BK)woe to them indeed when I depart from them!
¹³Ephraim, as I have seen,
Is planted in a pasture like ^(BL)Tyre;
But Ephraim is going to bring out his children for slaughter.
¹⁴Give to them, Lord—what will You give?
Give them a ^(BM)miscarrying womb and dried-up breasts.

¹⁵All their evil is at ^(BN)Gilgal;
Indeed, I came to hate them there!
Because of the ^(BO)wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of My house!
I will no longer love them;
All their leaders are ^(BP)rebels.
¹⁶^(BQ)Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up,
They will produce ^(BR)no fruit.
Even though they give birth to children,
I will put to death the ^(BS)precious ones of their womb.
¹⁷My God will reject them
Because they have ^(BT)not listened to Him;
And they will be ^(BU)wanderers among the nations.