Hosea Announces Punishment for Israel
1 People of Israel, stop celebrating your festivals like pagans. You have turned away from your God and have been unfaithful to him. All over the land you have sold yourselves like prostitutes to the god Baal and have loved the grain you thought he paid you with! 2 But soon you will not have enough grain and olive oil, and there will be no wine. 3 The people of Israel will not remain in the Lord's land, but will have to go back to Egypt and will have to eat forbidden food in Assyria. 4 In those foreign lands they will not be able to make wine offerings to the Lord or bring their sacrifices to him. Their food will defile everyone who eats it, like food eaten at funerals. It will be used only to satisfy their hunger; none of it will be taken as an offering to the Lord's Temple. 5 And when the time comes for the appointed festivals in honor of the Lord, what will they do then? 6 When the disaster comes and the people are scattered, the Egyptians will gather them up—gather them for burial there at Memphis! Their treasures of silver and the places where their homes once stood will be overgrown with weeds and thorn bushes.
7 The time for punishment has come, the time when people will get what they deserve. When that happens, Israel will know it! “This prophet,” you say, “is a fool. This inspired man is insane.” You people hate me so much because your sin is so great. 8 God has sent me as a prophet to warn his people Israel. Yet wherever I go, you try to trap me like a bird. Even in God's Temple the people are the prophet's enemies. 9 They are hopelessly evil in what they do, just as they were at Gibeah. God will remember their sin and punish them for it.
Israel's Sin and Its Consequences
10 The Lord says, “When I first found Israel, it was like finding grapes growing in the desert. When I first saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season. But when they came to Mount Peor, they began to worship Baal and soon became as disgusting as the gods they loved. 11 Israel's greatness will fly away like a bird, and there will be no more children born to them, no more women pregnant, no more children conceived. 12 But even if they did bring up children, I would take them away and not leave one alive. When I abandon these people, terrible things will happen to them.”
13 Lord, I can see their children being hunted down and killed. 14 What shall I ask you to do to these people? Make their women barren! Make them unable to nurse their babies!
The Lord's Judgment on Israel
15 The Lord says, “All their evildoing began in Gilgal. It was there that I began to hate them. And because of the evil they have done, I will drive them out of my land. I will not love them any more; all their leaders have rebelled against me. 16 The people of Israel are like a plant whose roots have dried up and which bears no fruit. They will have no children, but even if they did, I would kill the children so dear to them.”
The Prophet Speaks about Israel
17 The God I serve will reject his people, because they have not listened to him. They will become wanderers among the nations.
Hosea tu uvitha okugeelwa kwaIsrael
1 Shigwana shaIsrael, hulithii po iituthi yeni ya fa yaapagani. One mwa pilamene Kalunga keni noinamu mu inekela. Moshilongo ashihe omwi ilanditha po koshikalunga Baal ngaashi oohonda nomu hole iilya mbyoka tamu ti, okwe yi mu futile! 2 Ihe mbala ito ka kala niilya ya gwana nomagadhi nosho wo omaviinu. 3 Oshigwana shaIsrael itashi ka kala we mevi lyOmuwa, ihe otashi ka shuna kuEgipiti e tashi kala tashi li muAssur iikulya yi indikwa.
4 Momavi omakwiilongo itashi ka vula okuyambela Omuwa omayambo gomaviinu nenge oku mu etela oondjambo. Iikulya yasho otayi nyateke shaa ngoka te yi li ya fa iikulya tayi lilwa pomawendo. Otayi ka liwa ashike oku ya kutitha; itamu kuthwa nando osha, shi yambelwe motempeli yOmuwa. 5 Nuuna ethimbo tali ya lyokudhana iituthi yokusimaneka Omuwa, otaa ka ninga shike? 6 Uuna oshiponga tashi ya, naantu taa halakanithwa, Aayegipiti otaa ke ya gongela — taye ya gongelele efumviko puMemfis! Uuyamba wawo woshisiliveli nomahala mpoka omagumbo gawo ga li ga dhikilwa po, otaga ka kala ga sa omwiidhi nomano.
7 Ethimbo lyepangulo olya thikana, uuna aantu taa pewa shoka yi ilongela. Uuna tashi ningwa, Israel ote shi tseya. Otamu ti: “Omuhunganeki nguka omugoya. Omukwambepo nguka ota alukwa.” Ne aantu otamu tondo ndje unene, oshoka oondjo dheni odhindji unene. 8 Ngame omuhunganeki nda tumwa kuKalunga okulondodha oshigwana shaIsrael. Ihe aluhe shaa mpoka tandi yi, otamu tegele ndje omwigo ngaashi ondhila. Aantu oya ningi aatondi yomuhunganeki mevi lyaKalunga mwene. 9 Oyo aawinayi noonkondo miilonga yawo, naanaa ngaashi ya li puGibea. Kalunga ota dhimbulukwa oondjo dhawo e te dhi ya geelele.
Uulunde waIsrael niilanduliko
10 Omuwa ota ti: “Israel onde mu adhele a fa omandjembele ga kokela mombuga. Oohokulu oya li ya fa oonkwiyu dhoondhiye. Ihe sho ye ya kondundu Peor, oya tameke okulongela Baal, mbalambala oya ningi iikungitha ngaashi iikalunga mbyoka ye yi hole. 11 Esimano lyaIsrael otali ka tuka po lya fa ondhila, noitaa ka valelwa we aanona, kape na mukiintu ta ka ninga omusimba, kape na we mukiintu ta ka ya metegelelo. 12 Ihe nando naa vale aanona, otandi ke ya kutha po noite thigi po nando ogumwe e na omwenyo. Uuna tandi etha aantu mbano, otaa ka adhika kiihuna.”
13 Memoniko ondi wete oyana taa tidhwa notaa dhipagwa. 14 Omuwa, otandi ku indile shike, u shi ningile aantu mbaka? Ninga aakiintu yawo kaaya vale! Nomagundji gawo ga thipuka kage shi kuyamutha we uunona.
Epangulo lyOmuwa kuIsrael
15 Omuwa ota ti: “Iilonga yawo ayihe iiwinayi oya tameke muGilgal. Oko nkoka nda tameke oku ya tonda. Nomoluuwinayi mboka ye u ningi, otandi ke ya tidha mo mevi lyandje. Itandi ka kala we ndi ya hole; aawiliki yawo oya tsa ondumbo nangame. 16 Oshigwana shaIsrael osha fa oshimeno shi na omidhi dha kukuta noitashi imi we iiyimati. Itaa ka kala we ye na aanona, ihe nando ya kale nayo, otandi ka dhipaga po aanona yawo ye ya hole.”
Omuhunganeki ta popitha Israel
17 Kalunga nguka he longele, ote ke ekelahi aantu ye, oshoka inaye mu pulakena. Otaa ka kala aatembauki mokati kiigwana.
