10:1 Israel is a luxuriant vine whose fruit matches its growth. The more abundant his fruit, the more altars he built; The more productive his land, the more sacred pillars he set up.
10:2 Their heart is false! Now they will pay for their guilt: God will break down their altars and destroy their sacred pillars.
10:3 For now they will say, “We have no king! Since we do not fear the Lord, the king—what could he do for us?”
10:4 They make promises, swear false oaths, and make covenants, While lawsuits sprout like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field!
10:5 The inhabitants of Samaria are afraid for the calf of Beth-aven; Its people mourn for it and its idolatrous priests wail over it, —over its glory which has departed from it.
10:6 It too will be carried to Assyria, as an offering to the great king. Ephraim will be put to shame, Israel will be shamed by his schemes.
10:7 Samaria and her king will disappear, like a twig upon the waters.
10:8 The high places of Aven will be destroyed, the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will cry out to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall upon us!”
10:9 Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, Israel. There they took their stand; will war not reach them in Gibeah? Against a perverse people
10:10 I came and I chastised them; Peoples will be gathered against them when I bind them to their two crimes.
10:11 Ephraim was a trained heifer, that loved to thresh; I myself laid a yoke upon her beautiful neck; I will make Ephraim break ground, Judah must plow, Jacob must harrow for himself:
10:12 “Sow for yourselves justice, reap the reward of loyalty; Break up for yourselves a new field, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he comes and rains justice upon you.”
10:13 But you have plowed wickedness, reaped perversity, and eaten the fruit of falsehood. Because you have trusted in your own power, and in your many warriors,
10:14 The clamor of war shall break out among your people and all your fortresses shall be ravaged As Salman ravaged Beth-arbel on the day of war, smashing mothers along with their children.
10:15 So it will be done to you, Bethel, because of your utter wickedness: At dawn the king of Israel will utterly disappear.
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