Hosea 10

¹Israel is an unpruned vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the abundance of his fruit he hath multiplied altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly statues.

²Their heart is divided; now shall they be found guilty: he will break down their altars, he will destroy their statues.

³For now they will say, We have no king, for we feared not Jehovah; and a king, what can he do for us?

⁴They speak [mere] words, swearing falsely in making a covenant; therefore shall judgment spring up as hemlock in the furrows of the fields.

⁵The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calf of Beth-aven; for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the idolatrous priests thereof shall tremble for it, for its glory, because it is departed from it.

⁶Yea, it shall be carried unto Assyria [as] a present for king Jareb: Ephraim shall be seized with shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

⁷As for Samaria her king is cut off as chips upon the face of the waters.

⁸And the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up upon their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us! and to the hills, Fall on us!

⁹From the days of Gibeah hast thou sinned, O Israel: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.

¹⁰At my pleasure will I chastise them; and the peoples shall be assembled against them, when they are bound for their two iniquities.

¹¹And Ephraim is a trained heifer, that loveth to tread out [the corn]; I have passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to draw; Judah shall plough, Jacob shall break his clods.