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They have come, the days of punishment!
    they have come, the days of recompense!
Let Israel know it!
    “The prophet is a fool,(A)
    the man of the spirit is mad!”
Because your iniquity is great,
    great, too, is your hostility.
[a]The watchman of Ephraim, the people of my God, is the prophet;(B)
    yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,
    hostility in the house of his God.
They have sunk to the depths of corruption,
    as in the days of Gibeah;[b](C)
God will remember their iniquity
    and punish their sins.

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Footnotes

  1. 9:8 Prophets, like Hosea himself, are called to be sentinels for Israel, warning Israel of God’s coming wrath (see Ez 3:17; 33:7), but often meet rejection.
  2. 9:9 The days of Gibeah: the precise allusion is not clear. Perhaps it is a reference to the outrage committed at Gibeah in the days of the judges (Jgs 19–21), or to questions surrounding Saul’s kingship at Gibeah (1 Sm 10:26; 14:2; 22:6).

The days of punishment(A) are coming,
    the days of reckoning(B) are at hand.
    Let Israel know this.
Because your sins(C) are so many
    and your hostility so great,
the prophet is considered a fool,(D)
    the inspired person a maniac.(E)
The prophet, along with my God,
    is the watchman over Ephraim,[a]
yet snares(F) await him on all his paths,
    and hostility in the house of his God.(G)
They have sunk deep into corruption,(H)
    as in the days of Gibeah.(I)
God will remember(J) their wickedness
    and punish them for their sins.(K)

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 9:8 Or The prophet is the watchman over Ephraim, / the people of my God