Hosea 10

¹Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit . The more his fruit increased , the more altars he built ; as his country improved , he improved his pillars .

²Their heart is false ; now they must bear their guilt . The Lord will break down their altars and destroy their pillars .

³For now they will say : We have no king , for we do not fear the Lord; and a king — what could he do for us?

⁴They utter mere words ; with empty oaths they make covenants ; so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field .

⁵The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf of Beth-aven . Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests — those who rejoiced over it and over its glory — for it has departed from them.

⁶The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria as tribute to the great king . Ephraim shall be put to shame , and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol .

⁷Samaria’s king shall perish like a twig on the face of the waters .

⁸The high places of Aven , the sin of Israel , shall be destroyed . Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars , and they shall say to the mountains , Cover us, and to the hills , Fall on us.

⁹From the days of Gibeah , you have sinned , O Israel ; there they have continued . Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah ?

¹⁰When I please , I will discipline them, and nations shall be gathered against them when they are bound up for their double iniquity .

¹¹Ephraim was a trained calf that loved to thresh , and I spared her fair neck ; but I will put Ephraim to the yoke ; Judah must plow ; Jacob must harrow for himself.

¹²Sow for yourselves righteousness ; reap steadfast love ; break up your fallow ground , for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

¹³You have plowed iniquity ; you have reaped injustice ; you have eaten the fruit of lies . Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors ,

¹⁴therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people , and all your fortresses shall be destroyed , as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle ; mothers were dashed in pieces with their children .

¹⁵Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel , because of your great evil . At dawn the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off .