Hosea 10

¹ Israel is a luxuriant vine whose fruit matches its growth. The more abundant his fruit, the more altars he built; The more productive his land, the more sacred pillars he set up.

² Their heart is false, now they pay for their guilt; God shall break down their altars and destroy their sacred pillars.

³ If they would say, "We have no king"-- Since they do not fear the LORD, what can the king do for them?

⁴ Nothing but make promises, swear false oaths, and make alliances, While justice grows wild like wormwood in a plowed field!

⁵ The inhabitants of Samaria fear for the calf of Beth-aven; The people mourn for it and its priests wail over it, because the glory has departed from it.

⁶ It too shall be carried to Assyria, as an offering to the great king. Ephraim shall be taken into captivity, Israel be shamed by his schemes.

⁷ The king of Samaria shall disappear, like foam upon the waters.

⁸ The high places of Aven shall be destroyed, the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles shall overgrow their altars. Then they shall cry out to the mountains, "Cover us!" and to the hills, "Fall upon us!"

⁹ Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel. There they took their stand; war was not to reach them in Gibeah.

¹⁰ Against the wanton people I came and I chastised them; I gathered troops against them when I chastised them for their two crimes.

¹¹ Ephraim was a trained heifer, willing to thresh; I myself laid a yoke upon her fair neck; Ephraim was to be harnessed, Judah was to plow, Jacob was to break his furrows:

¹² "Sow for yourselves justice, reap the fruit of piety; Break up for yourselves a new field, for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain down justice upon you."

¹³ But you have cultivated wickedness, reaped perversity, and eaten the fruit of falsehood. Because you have trusted in your chariots, and in your many warriors,

¹⁴ Turmoil shall break out among your tribes and all your fortresses shall be ravaged As Salman ravaged Beth-arbel in time of war, smashing mothers and their children.

¹⁵ So shall it be done to you, Bethel, because of your utter wickedness: At dawn the king of Israel shall perish utterly.