The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Prophecy of Osee
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Chapter 8
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1
The trumpet to thy mouth! Eagle’s wings threatening the Lord’s domain! Conscious of faith forsworn, of my law defied,
2
to me Israel cries out, My God! cries out, We acknowledge thee!✻
As before, it is difficult to feel certain that the text has been preserved in its original state. Literally, the passage reads: ‘To thy palate the horn, like an eagle upon the house of the Lord, because they have overstepped my covenant and transgressed about my law, to me they shall cry out, My God, we recognize thee, Israel’.
3
Estranged, poor Israel, from the good that was his, and the enemy pressing hard upon him.
4
Kings a many, and with no warrant from me; princes a many, that were none of my choosing; idols a many, of their own gold and silver minted; here is cause enough for their undoing.
5
Cast calf, Samaria, is yonder calf of thine; for this burning affront, it shall be long ere thou canst find acquittal.
6
Israel gave birth to it, this calf of Samaria, that came of man’s fashioning, and god is none; it shall be beaten fine as filigree.
7
Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind; empty stook is empty bin, and here if grain is any, alien folk shall have the eating of it!
8
Poor Israel, already engulfed, the heathen all around making a despised tool of him!
9
Lone as wild ass in the desert, to Assyria he betakes himself; if mate he would, he must pay for his dalliance.
10
Well, hire they mercenaries where they will, they shall be cooped up in their own land none the less, and have respite from the exactions of king and nobles both.✻
Literally, ‘Even if they hire among the nations, now I will collect them, and they shall cease for a little from the burden of king of nobles’. Verses 7-10 are best explained if we suppose that Jeroboam II only won his victories against Syria at the price of calling in Assyrian aid; this meant burdening the people with taxation and, ultimately, forfeiting the national independence.
11
So many the altars Ephraim has, and they shall increase his guilt, none of them but shall increase his guilt;
12
so many the laws I gave him, and all alike went unrecognized.
13
Appointed sacrifice✻ they still offer, flesh of the sacrifice still eat, but the Lord will have none of it; no more their guilt shall go unrecorded, their sins unpunished; Egypt once again for them!
‘Appointed sacrifice’; this seems the most probable translation of a rare word in the Hebrew text, for which the Latin version only gives us a rough equivalent.
14
The God that made them forgotten, Israel builds shrine and Juda stronghold still; but the fire I am kindling shall fall upon Juda’s cities, shall devour them, citadel and all.
