הושע י

Israel is a ravaged vine
And its fruit is like it.
When his fruit was plentiful,
He made altars aplenty;
When his land was bountiful,
Cult pillars abounded.

Now that his boughs are broken up,
He feels his guilt;
He himself pulls apart his altars,
Smashes his pillars.

Truly, now they say,
“We have no king;
For, since we do not fear GOD,
What can a king do to us?”

So they conclude agreements and make covenants
With false oaths,
And justice degenerates into poison weeds,
Breaking out on the furrows of the fields.

The inhabitants of Samaria fear
For the calf of Beth-aven;
Indeed, its people and priestlings,
Whose joy it once was,
Mourn over it for the glory
That is departed from it.

It too shall be brought to Assyria
As tribute to a patron king;
Ephraim shall be chagrined,
Israel shall be dismayed
Because of his plans.

Samaria’s monarchy is vanishing
Like foam upon water,

Ruined shall be the shrines of [Beth-]aven,
That sin of Israel.
Thorns and thistles
Shall grow on their altars.
They shall call to the mountains, “Bury us!”
To the hills, “Fall on us!”

You have sinned more, O Israel,
Than in the days of Gibeah.
There they stand [as] at Gibeah!
Shall they not be overtaken
By a war upon scoundrels

As peoples gather against them?
When I chose [them], I broke them in,
Harnessing them for two furrows.

Ephraim became a trained heifer,
But preferred to thresh;
I placed a yoke
Upon her sleek neck.
I will make Ephraim do advance plowing; in the sense of the Arabic krb.
Judah shall do [main] plowing!
Jacob shall do final plowing!

“Sow righteousness for yourselves;
Reap the fruits of goodness;
Break for yourselves betimes fresh ground
Of seeking GOD,
So that you may obtain a teacher of righteousness.”

You have plowed wickedness,
You have reaped iniquity—
[And] you shall eat the fruits of treachery—
Because you relied on your way,
On your host of warriors.

But the din of war shall arise in your own people,
And all your fortresses shall be ravaged
As Beth-arbel was ravaged by Shalman
On a day of battle,
When mothers and babes were dashed to death together.

This is what Bethel has done to you
For your horrible wickedness:
At dawn shall Israel’s monarchy
Utterly perish.