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        So they’ll say,
            “We have no king because we didn’t fear Yahweh.
        Even if we had a king, he couldn’t do anything for us.”
They say many things. They lie when they take oaths,
    and they make promises they don’t intend to keep.
        That’s why lawsuits spring up
            like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.

Those who live in Samaria fear the calf-shaped idol at Beth Aven.
    The people will mourn over it.
    The priests will cry loudly
        because its glory will be taken away into captivity.

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Then they will say, “We have no king
    because we did not revere the Lord.
But even if we had a king,
    what could he do for us?”
They make many promises,
    take false oaths(A)
    and make agreements;(B)
therefore lawsuits spring up
    like poisonous weeds(C) in a plowed field.
The people who live in Samaria fear
    for the calf-idol(D) of Beth Aven.[a](E)
Its people will mourn over it,
    and so will its idolatrous priests,(F)
those who had rejoiced over its splendor,
    because it is taken from them into exile.(G)

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 10:5 Beth Aven means house of wickedness (a derogatory name for Bethel, which means house of God).