Hosea 8:7

The Fertility Cultists Will Become Infertile

8:7 They sow the wind,

and so they will reap the whirlwind!

The stalk does not have any standing grain;

it will not produce any flour.

Even if it were to yield grain,

foreigners would swallow it all up.

Hosea 9:1-4

Fertility Cult Festivals Have Intoxicated Israel

9:1 O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly ¹  like the nations,

for you are unfaithful ²  to your God.

You love to receive a prostitute's wages ³ 

on all the floors where you thresh your grain.

9:2 Threshing floors and wine vats will not feed the people, ⁴ 

and new wine only deceives them. ⁵ 

Assyrian Exile Will Reverse the Egyptian Exodus

9:3 They will not remain in the Lord’s land.

Ephraim will return to Egypt;

they will eat ritually unclean food in Assyria.

9:4 They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord;

they will not please him with their sacrifices.

Their sacrifices will be like bread eaten while in mourning;

all those who eat them will make themselves ritually unclean.

For their bread will be only to satisfy their appetite;

it will not come into the temple of the Lord.

Hosea 9:16

9:16 Ephraim will be struck down ⁶  –

their root will be dried up;

they will not yield any fruit.

Even if they do bear children,

I will kill their precious offspring.

Hosea 10:12-15

10:12 Sow righteousness for yourselves,

reap unfailing love.

Break up the unplowed ground for yourselves,

for it is time to seek the Lord,

until he comes and showers deliverance ⁷  on you.

10:13 But you have plowed wickedness;

you have reaped injustice;

you have eaten the fruit of deception.

Because you have depended on your chariots; ⁸ 

you have relied ⁹  on your many warriors.

Bethel Will Be Destroyed Like Beth Arbel

10:14 The roar of battle will rise against your people;

all your fortresses will be devastated,

just as Shalman devastated ¹⁰  Beth Arbel on the day of battle,

when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children.

10:15 So will it happen to you, O Bethel, ¹¹ 

because of your great wickedness!

When that day dawns, ¹² 

the king of Israel will be destroyed. ¹³ 

[9:1]  ¹ tn Heb “do not rejoice unto jubilation”; KJV “Rejoice not…for joy”; NASB “Do not rejoice…with exultation.”

[9:1]  ² tn Heb “you have committed adultery”; NRSV “you have played the whore.”

[9:1]  ³ tn Heb “you love the wages of the prostitute” (NIV similar); NAB “loving a harlot’s hire.”

[9:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “her” (so KJV, ASV). This is taken as a collective singular (so also most modern English versions).

[9:16]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, following the plant metaphor, “will be blighted” (NIV similar).

[10:12]  ⁷ tn Or “righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “justice.”

[10:13]  ⁸ tc The MT (followed by KJV, NASB) reads the enigmatic בְּדַרְכְּךָ (bÿdarkÿkha, “in your own way”) which does not seem to fit the context or the parallelism with בְּרֹב גִּבּוֹרֶיךָ (bÿrov gibborekha, “in your multitude of warriors”). The BHS editors suggest the original reading was בְרִכְבְּךָ (vÿrikhbÿkha, “in your chariots”), a reading followed by NAB, TEV. If this is correct, the textual corruption was caused by orthographic confusion between רֶכֶב (rekhev, “chariot”) and דֶּרֶכ (derekh, “way”).

[10:13]  ⁹ tn The phrase “you have relied” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the parallelism in the preceding line.

[10:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “as the devastation of Shalman.” The genitive noun שַׁלְמַן (shalman, “Shalman”) functions as a subjective genitive: “as Shalman devastated [Beth Arbel].”

[10:15]  ¹¹ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[10:15]  ¹² tn Heb “when the dawn is cut off” or “when the day ceases.” Cf. NLT “When the day of judgment dawns.”

[10:15]  ¹³ tn The root דָמָה (damah, “to be cut off, cease to exist, be destroyed”; BDB 198 s.v. דָמָה; HALOT 225 s.v. דמה) is repeated in the Hebrew text. The form נִדְמֹה (nidmoh, Niphal infinitive absolute) appears in the first colon, and the form נִדְמָה (nidmah, Niphal perfect 3rd person masculine singular) appears in the second colon. This striking repetition creates a dramatic wordplay which, for stylistic reasons, cannot be reproduced in English translations: “The moment the dawn ceases to exist (i.e., at the break of dawn), the king of Israel will cease to exist.”