Hosea 10

Retribution for Israel’s Sin

¹Israel was a luxuriant vine,

yielding fruit for himself.

The more his fruit increased,

the more he increased the altars.

The better his land produced,

the better he made the sacred pillars.

• HOS 10:1[DEMONIC]Israel builds more altars and sacred pillars as it grows rich

²Their hearts are devious;

now they must bear their guilt.

Yahweh will break down their altars

and demolish their sacred pillars.

³Surely now they will say,

“We have no king,

for we do not revere Yahweh.

What can a king do for us?”

⁴They speak mere words;

with false oaths they make covenants.

So judgment springs up

like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.

⁵The people of Samaria will fear

for the calf of Beth-aven.

Indeed, its people will mourn over it

with its idolatrous priests—

those who rejoiced in its glory—

for it has been taken from them into exile.

• HOS 10:5[DEMONIC]Samaria mourns as its calf idol is carried off to Assyria

⁶Yes, it will be carried to Assyria

as tribute to the great king.

Ephraim will be seized with shame;

Israel will be ashamed of its wooden idols.

⁷Samaria will be carried off with her king

like a twig on the surface of the water.

⁸The high places of Aven will be destroyed—

it is the sin of Israel;

thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars.

Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”

and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

• HOS 10:8[FORESHADOW]People would cry to the mountains, Cover us, and to the hills, Fall on us → LK 23:30; REV 6:16MEDIUM
• HOS 10:8[DEMONIC]The idol shrines of Aven will be destroyed and overgrown
• HOS 10:8[QUOTED]Quoted in the New Testament → LK 23:30
• HOS 10:8[ALLUDED TO]The New Testament refers to this → REV 6:16

⁹Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel,

and there you have remained.

Did not the battle in Gibeah

overtake the sons of iniquity?

¹⁰I will chasten them when I please;

nations will be gathered against them

to put them in bondage

for their double transgression.

¹¹Ephraim is a well-trained heifer that loves to thresh;

but I will place a yoke on her fair neck.

I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow,

and Jacob will break the hard ground.

¹²Sow for yourselves righteousness

and reap the fruit of loving devotion;

break up your unplowed ground.

For it is time to seek Yahweh

until He comes and sends righteousness

upon you like rain.

• HOS 10:12[HEART]Hard ground has to be broken before seed can grow. A hard heart has to be broken open before God's word can take root.
• HOS 10:12[NOTE]BREAK UP YOUR UNPLOWED GROUND. Hard ground must be broken before seed can grow. Jeremiah used the same words, Jeremiah 4:3.

¹³You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice;

you have eaten the fruit of lies.

Because you have trusted in your own way

and in the multitude of your mighty men,

¹⁴the roar of battle will rise against your people,

so that all your fortresses will be demolished

as Shalman devastated Beth-arbel

in the day of battle,

when mothers were dashed to pieces

along with their children.

• HOS 10:14[NOTE]SHALMAN. Maybe the Assyrian king Shalmaneser, or a Moabite king named Salamanu. No one knows which battle at Beth Arbel this was.

¹⁵Thus it will be done to you, O Bethel,

because of your great wickedness.

When the day dawns,

the king of Israel will be utterly cut off.