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Surely now they will say: “We have no king,
    for we have not feared Adonai.
The king—what can he do for us?”
They spoke words—
empty oaths to make a covenant.
But judgment springs up as hemlock
    in the furrows of the field.
The inhabitants of Samaria will quarrel
    over the calves of Beth-aven.
Indeed its people will mourn over it,
    but its priests will tremble over it.
For its glory will surely depart from it.

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Then they will say, “We have no king
    because we did not revere the Lord.
But even if we had a king,
    what could he do for us?”
They make many promises,
    take false oaths(A)
    and make agreements;(B)
therefore lawsuits spring up
    like poisonous weeds(C) in a plowed field.
The people who live in Samaria fear
    for the calf-idol(D) of Beth Aven.[a](E)
Its people will mourn over it,
    and so will its idolatrous priests,(F)
those who had rejoiced over its splendor,
    because it is taken from them into exile.(G)

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 10:5 Beth Aven means house of wickedness (a derogatory name for Bethel, which means house of God).