This is what the Lord says: I’m going to lay stumbling blocks in front of these people. Parents and children will stumble over them. Neighbors and their friends will die.
Are they ashamed that they do disgusting things? No, they’re not ashamed. They don’t even know how to blush. So they will die with those who die. They will be brought down when I punish them,’ ” says the Lord.
The Lord himself has scattered them. He will no longer look favorably on them. They no longer respected the priests, nor did they honor their older leaders.”
The Lord told Hosea, “Name him Jezreel. In a little while I will punish Jehu’s family for the people they slaughtered at Jezreel. Then I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel.
Gomer became pregnant again and had a daughter. The Lord told Hosea, “Name her Lo Ruhamah [Unloved]. I will no longer love the nation of Israel. I will no longer forgive them.
That is why they will be like fog in the morning and like morning dew that disappears quickly. They will be like straw blown away from threshing floors. They will be like smoke rising from chimneys.
This is what the Lord says: As a shepherd rescues two legs or a piece of an ear out of a lion’s mouth, so the Israelites living in Samaria will be rescued, ⌞having only⌟ a corner of a bed or a piece of a couch.
“However, this is what the Lord says: Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will be killed with swords. Your land will be surveyed and divided up, and you will die in an unclean land. Israel cannot avoid being taken from its land into exile.”
Frightened by her torture, they will stand far away and say, ‘How horrible, how horrible it is for that important city, the powerful city Babylon! In one moment judgment has come to it!’
In one moment all this wealth has been destroyed!’ Every ship’s captain, everyone who traveled by ship, sailors, and everyone who made their living from the sea stood far away.
For this reason her plagues of death, misery, and starvation will come in a single day. She will be burned up in a fire, because the Lord God, who judges her, is powerful.