Eliteeko laIsrael nehandu laKalunga
1 Israel, ino hafa nokunyakukwa, ngaashi oiwana imwe, osheshi moluhaelo loye wa efa Kalunga koye. Ove wa kala u hole ondjabi yoluhaelo moipale aishe yoilya. 2 Oshipale noshikolelo itashi va kutifa, nomaviinyu tae va bebelekele. 3 Itava ka kala vali medu lOmwene, ndelenee Efraim e nokushuna kuEgipiti, nomuAsiria ve nokulya ei yoshidila. 4 Itava ka yambela Omwene omaviinyu oikunwayambo, nomatomenoyambo avo itae mu wapalele, a ninga kuvo omungome woluhodi. Aveshe ava tave u li, otava kwata oshidila, osheshi omungome wavo tau kutifa ondjala yavo, ndele itau uya motembeli yOmwene. 5 Otamu ka ninga shike mefimbo loshivilo nomefiku loshivilo shOmwene? 6 Osheshi tala, ove nokuya onhapo ehanauno: Egipiti tashi va ongele, Memfis otashi va pake. Eeshosholo otadi ka kala odo emona lavo loshisiliveli, omano otaa ka mena momatwali avo. 7 Omafiku etalelepo a fika, omafiku ehandukilo e uya. Israel ote ke shi shiiva! Omuxunganeki ta ka ninga elai. Omunhu wopamhepo ta i eenghwengu omolwounene woulunde woye nomolwounene wehandu.
8 Efraim ta holamene omuxunganeki, meendjila daye adishe omu nomwiyo noutondwe motembeli yaKalunga kaye. 9 Ova duka mokunyona ngaashi pomafiku aGibea. Oye ta ka dimbulukwa oulunde wavo, ta ka handukila omatimba avo.
10 “Onda hanga Israel ngaashi eeviinyu mofuka, nonda hanga ooxekulu yavo ngaashi eedive domukwiyu pehovelo lao. Ndelenee ove uya kuBaal-Peor, ndele ve liyapulila kalunga kohoni, ndele va ninga oitondifa ngaashi omuholike oo wavo. 11 Efraim, oshinge shaye otashi tuka po ngaashi odila. Kape na vali okudala noufimba nokupewa oufimba. 12 Heeno, nande nava kulife ovana vavo, ohandi ke ve va kufa po, paha kale nande ovanhu. Heeno, woo voovene, ngeenge handi va efa.”
13 Efraim, ngeenge handi shi tale lwokuTirus, osha twikwa moulifilo muwa. Ndelenee Efraim e nokutwala ovana vaye komudipai. 14 Va pa, Omwene! U va pe shike hano? Va pa oshidalelo shongadji nomavele a fipatela.
15 Owii wavo aushe u li muGilgal, osheshi oko tuu oko nda hovela oku va tonda: “Omolwoilonga yavo ii handi ke va taataa mongulu yange, kandi va hole vali, ovanenenhu vavo aveshe ovalundakani. 16 Efraim a kewa, nomidi daye da kukuta; itadi ima vali. Ndele ngeenge tava dala, ohandi ka dipaa po ovaholike vavo, ve va dala.”
17 Kalunga kange ote ke va ekelashi, osheshi inave mu uda. Otava ka ninga ovaendaendi mokati koiwana.
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.
