Add parallel Print Page Options

14 Give them, Lord!
    give them what?
Give them a miscarrying womb,
    and dry breasts!(A)
15 All their misfortune began in Gilgal;[a]
    yes, there I rejected them.
Because of their wicked deeds
    I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no longer;
    all their princes are rebels.
16 [b]Ephraim is stricken,
    their root is dried up;(B)
    they will bear no fruit.(C)
Were they to bear children,
    I would slay the beloved of their womb.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 9:15 Gilgal: possibly a reference to Saul’s disobedience to Samuel (1 Sm 13:7–14; 15), or to the idolatry practiced in that place (see note on Hos 4:15).
  2. 9:16 Wordplay on the Hebrew word for “fruit” (peri) and Ephraim (see note on 8:9). The whole passage (vv. 10–17) presents a reversal of Ephraim’s name (Gn 41:52). He will have no fruit, a condition which will result in extinction.