Israel is a luxuriant vine, that putteth forth his fruit: according to the abundance of his fruit he hath multiplied his altars; according to the { Or, prosperity}goodness of their land they have made goodly { Or, obelisks}pillars.
{Or, He hath divided their heart}Their heart is {Or, smooth}divided; now shall they be found guilty: he will smite their altars, he will destroy their {Or, obelisks}pillars.
Surely now shall they say, We have no king; for we fear not Jehovah; and the king, what can he do for us?
They speak vain words, {Or, they swear falsely, they make covenants}swearing falsely in making covenants: therefore judgment {Or, shall spring up}springeth up as {Hebrew: rosh. See Deuteronomy 29:18}hemlock in the furrows of the field.
The inhabitants of Samaria shall be in terror for the calves of Beth-aven; for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and {Hebrew: Chemarim. See 2 Kings 23:5.}the priests thereof that rejoiced over it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
It also, shall be carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
{Or, Samaria is cut off with her king}As for Samaria, her king is cut off, as {Or, twigs}foam upon the water.
The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
O Israel, thou hast sinned {Or, more than in the days}from the days of Gibeah: {Or, there have they continued}there they stood; {Or, shall not the battle…Gibeah?}the battle against the children of iniquity doth not overtake them in Gibeah.
When it is my desire, I will chastise them; and the peoples shall be gathered against them, when they are {Or, yoked}bound {Or, for}to their two transgressions.
And Ephraim is a heifer that is taught, that loveth to tread out the grain; but I have passed over upon her fair neck: I will set a rider on Ephraim; Judah shall plow, Jacob shall break his clods.
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek Jehovah, till he come and {Or, teach you rightousness}rain righteousness upon you.
Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of {Or, faithlessness}lies; for thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.
Therefore shall a tumult arise {Or, against}among thy {Hebrew: peoples.}people, and all thy fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces with her children.
{Or, So shall it be done unto you at Beth-el}So shall Beth-el do unto you because of your great wickedness: at daybreak shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off.
Querverweise zu Hosea 10,9 Hos 10,9
They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.
And the men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.
And the children of Israel arose, and went up to Beth-el, and asked counsel of God; and they said, Who shall go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin? And Jehovah said, Judah shall go up first.
And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah.
And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel set the battle in array against them at Gibeah.
And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites on that day twenty and two thousand men.
And the people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves, and set the battle again in array in the place where they set themselves in array the first day.
And the children of Israel went up and wept before Jehovah until even; and they asked of Jehovah, saying, Shall I again draw nigh to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And Jehovah said, Go up against him.
And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day.
And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.
Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto Beth-el, and wept, and sat there before Jehovah, and fasted that day until even; and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before Jehovah.
And the children of Israel asked of Jehovah (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,
and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And Jehovah said, Go up; for to-morrow I will deliver him into thy hand.
And Israel set liers-in-wait against Gibeah round about.
And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times.
And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite and kill of the people, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to Beth-el, and the other to Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them away from the city unto the highways.
And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and set themselves in array at Baal-tamar: and the liers-in-wait of Israel brake forth out of their place, even out of {Or, the meadow of Geba (or, Gibeah See verse 10)}Maareh-geba.
And there came over against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore; but they knew not that evil was {Hebrew: touching.}close upon them.
And Jehovah smote Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty and five thousand and a hundred men: all these drew the sword.
So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten; for the men of Israel gave place to Benjamin, because they trusted unto the liers-in-wait whom they had set against Gibeah.
And the liers-in-wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah; and the liers-in-wait drew themselves along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword.
Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers-in-wait was, that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city.
{Or, And the men…battle. (now Benjamin…heaven) and the men &c.}And the men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons; for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle.
But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them; and, behold, the whole of the city went up in smoke to heaven.
And the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed; for they saw that evil was come upon them.
Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle followed hard after them; and {Or, them that came…they destroyed}they that came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst thereof.
They inclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and {Or, overtook them}trod them down {Or, at Menuhan}at their resting-place, as far as over against Gibeah toward the sunrising.
And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valor.
And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men, and followed hard after them unto Gidom, and smote of them two thousand men.
So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valor.
But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon, and abode in the rock of Rimmon four months.
And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, both {Or, as otherwise read, the inhabited city See Deuteronomy 2:34.}the entire city, and the cattle, and all that they found: moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.
And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain base fellows, beset the house round about, beating at the door; and they spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thy house, that we may know him.
And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into my house, do not this folly.
Behold, here is my daughter a virgin, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not any such folly.
But the men would not hearken to him: so the man laid hold on his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.
Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light.
And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way; and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands upon the threshold.
And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going; but none answered: then he took her up upon the ass; and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place.
And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, {Hebrew: according to her bones.}limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel.
And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider it, take counsel, and speak.
And Jehovah smelled the sweet savor; and Jehovah said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's {Or, sake; for the}sake, for that the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done.
And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about me by night; me they thought to have slain, and my concubine they forced, and she is dead.
I have cut off nations; their {Or, corner towers}battlements are desolate; I have made their streets waste, so that none passeth by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant.
Now therefore deliver up the men, the base fellows, that are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But {Another reading is, the children of Benjamin.}Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel.
I said, Only fear thou me; receive {Or, instruction}correction; so her dwelling shall not be cut off, {Or, however I have punished her}according to all that I have appointed concerning her: but they rose early and corrupted all their doings.
And the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.
Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets.
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.