Africa Study Bible Sampler - Flipbook - Page 62
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The people of Israel have been
swallowed up;
they lie among the nations like an old
discarded pot.
9 Like a wild donkey looking for a mate,
they have gone up to Assyria.
The people of Israel* have sold
themselves—
sold themselves to many lovers.
10 But though they have sold themselves to
many allies,
I will now gather them together for
judgement.
Then they will writhe
under the burden of the great king.
8
“Israel has built many altars to take away
sin,
but these very altars became places
for sinning!
12 Even though I gave them all my laws,
they act as if those laws don’t apply
to them.
13 The people love to offer sacrifices to me,
feasting on the meat,
but I do not accept their sacrifices.
I will hold my people accountable for
their sins,
and I will punish them.
They will return to Egypt.
14 Israel has forgotten its Maker and built
great palaces,
and Judah has fortified its cities.
Therefore, I will send down fire on their
cities
and will burn up their fortresses.”
11
Hosea Announces Israel’s Punishment
1 O people of Israel,
do not rejoice as other nations do.
For you have been unfaithful to your
God,
hiring yourselves out like prostitutes,
worshipping other gods on every
threshing floor.
2 So now your harvests will be too small to
feed you.
9
8:8
Jer 51:34
8:9
Jer 2:24
Ezek 16:33
8:10
Ezek 16:37
Hos 10:10
8:13
Hos 7:2
1 Cor 4:5
8:14
Jer 17:27
Hos 2:13; 4:6;
13:6
9:1
Isa 22:12-13
9:2
Hos 2:9
9:3
Ezek 4:13
9:4
Exod 29:40
Hag 2:14
9:5
Hos 2:11
Joel 1:13
9:6
Isa 5:6; 7:23
Hos 10:8
9:7
Isa 10:3
Jer 10:15;
29:26
Lam 2:14
Ezek 7:2-7;
13:3, 10
9:9
Isa 31:6
Hos 7:2; 8:13
H O S E A 9 : 9
There will be no grapes for making
new wine.
3 You may no longer stay here in the
Lord’s land.
Instead, you will return to Egypt,
and in Assyria you will eat food
that is ceremonially unclean.
4 There you will make no offerings of wine
to the Lord.
None of your sacrifices there will
please him.
They will be unclean, like food touched
by a person in mourning.
All who present such sacrifices will be
defiled.
They may eat this food themselves,
but they may not offer it to the Lord.
5 What then will you do on festival days?
How will you observe the Lord’s
festivals?
6 Even if you escape destruction from
Assyria,
Egypt will conquer you, and
Memphis* will bury you.
Nettles will take over your treasures of
silver;
thistles will invade your ruined
homes.
The time of Israel’s punishment has
come;
the day of payment is here.
Soon Israel will know this all too well.
Because of your great sin and hostility,
you say, “The prophets are crazy
and the inspired men are fools!”
8 The prophet is a watchman over Israel*
for my God,
yet traps are laid for him wherever he
goes.
He faces hostility even in the house
of God.
9 The things my people do are as
depraved
as what they did in Gibeah long ago.
God will not forget.
7
8:9 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 8:11. 9:6 Memphis was the capital of northern Egypt.
9:8 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 9:11, 13, 16.
Applica ti on
Sin Does Not Satisfy! • Hosea 9
From Genesis to Revelation, God’s Word reveals his goodness The Lord said he would reject them because they did not listen
to us. “The Lord is slow to anger and filled with unfailing or obey him (Hosea 9:17).
love” (Numbers 14:18). “The faithful love of the Lord never
There are many ways in which God punishes believers who
ends. His mercies never cease” (Lamentations 3:23). God’s fall into patterns of sin. Sometimes he makes our work very
Word also clearly states that God does not tolerate evil. He will unproductive, and the things we indulge in no longer please
ultimately judge all wrongdoing, and he corrects his people us (Hosea 9:2). Other times, he removes us from our comfort
when they sin. During Hosea’s time, God used the nation of zones and puts us in very uncomfortable and undesirable
Assyria to correct the children of Israel’s rebellious attitude situations or rejects our sacrifices to him (Hosea 9:3-4).
(Hosea 9:1-9). Israel deserted God and gave themselves to
One way or another, putting our sinful desires over obeying
idols (Hosea 9:10). Because of this spiritual prostitution, God God will bring disaster to us. Learn from the nation of Israel
promised they would be driven from their land (Hosea 9:15). and remember that if you choose to sin, you choose to suffer.