Hosea 10
1 “Israel was [like a large] healthy/luxuriant vine [MET] that produced [a lot of] grapes. But as the people became richer, they made more altars [at which to worship idols]. As the people prospered, they [built and] decorated sacred pillars [that they worshiped].
“Israel [is] an empty vine, He makes fruit like to himself, According to the abundance of his fruit, He has multiplied for the altars, According to the goodness of his land, They have made good standing-pillars.
2 They are deceitful; [so] now they are guilty and must be punished. [I], Yahweh, will tear down their altars and smash those pillars.
Their heart has been divided, now they are guilty, He breaks down their altars, He destroys their standing-pillars.
3 Then they will say, ‘It is because we did not revere Yahweh that we no [longer] have a king. But [even if we had] a king, he certainly could not [RHQ] do anything to help us.’
For now they say: We have no king, Because we have not feared YHWH, And the king—what does he do for us?
4 They falsely promise [that they will do many things]; they solemnly promise and make agreements, but they do not do what they promise. So people accuse and sue [each other in the courts]; they are like [SIM] poisonous weeds [that grow] in a plowed field.
They have spoken words, To swear falsehood in making a covenant, And flourished as a poisonous herb has judgment, on the furrows of a field.
5 The people who live in Samaria [city] are worried about [what may happen to the idol that resembles] a calf [that they set up] at Beth-Aven [town]. The people in Samaria will mourn, and the priests there will cry about it [if it is damaged or destroyed]. [Previously] they shouted joyfully about its being very great; but now it will not be great any more.
For the inhabitants of Samaria fear the calves of Beth-Aven, Surely its people have mourned on account of it, And its priests leap about on account of it, Because of its glory, for it has removed from it,
6 It will be taken to Assyria to be a gift for the great King [of Assyria]. [So the people of] Israel will be disgraced, and they will be ashamed because [they trusted in] that idol.
Also, it is carried to Asshur, a present to a warlike king, Ephraim receives shame, And Israel is ashamed of its own counsel.
7 The King of Samaria [and the other people in Samaria] will be gone; they will be like [SIM] a twig [that floats away] on the surface of the water [and disappears].
Samaria is cut off! Its king [is] as wrath on the face of the waters.
8 The altars on the tops of hills [where the people worshiped idols] will be destroyed; those have been the places where the people of Israel sinned greatly. Thorns and weeds will grow and cover those altars. Then the people will plead to the mountains and hills, ‘Fall [down and] cover us [to protect us from God punishing us]!’
And high places of Aven have been destroyed, the sin of Israel. Thorn and bramble go up on their altars, And they have said to hills, Cover us, And to heights, Fall on us.
9 [You people of] Israel, [ever since your ancestors did evil things] at Gibeah, you have continued to sin. [When the people at] [PRS] Gibeah [did evil things], the result was a war [in which thousands of people died].
From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel, There they have stood, Battle does not overtake them in Gibeah, Because of sons of perverseness.
10 [So now], when I want to, I will punish the Israeli people. Because of the many sins that they have committed, [the armies of other] nations will gather to attack them, and they will cause the Israeli people to become their slaves.
When I desire, then I bind them, And peoples have gathered against them, When they bind themselves to their two iniquities.
11 Israel is [like] [MET] a well-trained (heifer/young cow) that likes to thresh [grain]. [So now you will become slaves]. [It will be as though] I will put a yoke on your neck, and you will be forced to work hard for your enemies in their fields. [You people of] Israel and Judah [will be forced to go to Assyria]; there you [DOU] will pull plows to break up the ground [for planting seeds].
And Ephraim [is] a trained heifer—loving to thresh, And I have passed over on the goodness of its neck, I cause [one] to ride Ephraim, Judah plows, Jacob harrows for him.
12 [You plow your fields and plant your seeds] and harvest [your crops] [MET], [but what you need to do is] to act righteously and to faithfully love [me]; you need to repent [MET], because it is time to try to know [me], Yahweh; and if you do that, I will pour out [MET] many blessings on you.
Sow for yourselves in righteousness, Reap according to loving-kindness, Till for yourselves tillage of knowledge, To seek YHWH, Until He comes and shows righteousness to you.
13 You [plant seeds and harvest the crops and eat them]; [but what I consider that you have really done is] that you have planted wicked things and harvested evil things and eaten [MET] the results [IDM] of the lies [that you have told]. [Instead of trusting in me, ] you have (depended on/trusted in) your own power and in your many soldiers.
You have plowed wickedness, Perversity you have reaped, You have eaten the fruit of lying, For you have trusted in your way, In the abundance of your might.
14 As a result, you will [soon] hear the roar of battle, and all your cities that have walls around them will be destroyed, like [SIM] Shalman’s [army] destroyed Beth-Arbel [city] in a battle, and the women [in that city] and their children were bashed to death.
And a tumult rises among your people, And all your fortresses are spoiled, As the spoiling of Shalman of Beth-Arbel, In a day of battle, Mother against sons dashed in pieces.
15 [You people of] [APO] Bethel [city], that is what will happen to you, because you are very wicked. And when the sun rises [on that day], the King of Israel will be killed [in the battle].”
Thus has Beth-El done to you, Because of the evil of your wickedness, In the dawn a king of Israel is utterly cut off!”
