World English Bible · Under Assyria
Hosea 10
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Israel is a luxuriant that produces his fruit. According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his . As their land has prospered, they have adorned their sacred stones. Their is divided. Now they will be found guilty. He will demolish their . He will destroy their sacred stones. Surely now they will say, "We have no king; for we don't ; and the king, what can he do for us?" They make promises, swearing falsely in making . Therefore springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field. The inhabitants of will be in terror for the calves of Beth , for its people will mourn over it, along with its priests who rejoiced over it, for its , because it has departed from it. It also will be carried to for a present to a great king. will receive , and Israel will be of his own . and her king float away like a twig on the water. The also of , the of Israel, will be destroyed. The and the thistle will come up on their . They will tell the mountains, "Cover us!" and the hills, "Fall on us!" "Israel, you have from the days of . There they remained. The battle against the children of doesn't overtake them in . When it is my , I will them; and the nations will be gathered against them when they are bound to their two . is a trained heifer that loves to thresh, so I will put a on her beautiful neck. I will set a rider on . Judah will plow. will break his clods. Sow to yourselves in , reap according to kindness. Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek , until he comes and on you. You have plowed wickedness. You have reaped . You have eaten the fruit of lies, for you trusted in your way, in of your . Therefore a battle roar will arise among your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth Arbel in the day of battle. The mother was dashed in pieces with her children. So will do to you because of your great wickedness. At daybreak the king of Israel will be destroyed.
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Assyria, 745 BC to 612 BC ›
Assyria at full stretch, deporting whole populations as policy. The northern kingdom is destroyed in 722 BC and Judah survives as a tribute-paying vassal.
- Assyria
- The first empire to run mass deportation as ordinary administration: move the leadership somewhere else, settle strangers in their place, and the province stops being a nation. It worked. Samaria fell in 722 BC and the northern tribes did not come back. Assyria also advertised its cruelty deliberately, carving flayings and impalements on palace walls where envoys would see them, because terror is cheaper than garrisons.
- Judah
- Survives by paying. Hezekiah rebels, Sennacherib takes forty-six Judean towns and besieges Jerusalem in 701 BC, and the city holds. The Assyrian account boasts of shutting Hezekiah up like a bird in a cage and pointedly does not claim to have taken the city, which is one of the more interesting silences in ancient records.
- Egypt
- The splintered reed of a staff that Assyria's field commander mocks Judah for leaning on. It promises help and cannot deliver, and Isaiah spends decades saying so. Assyria eventually invades and sacks Thebes.
- Further afield
- Greece is in its archaic period, founding colonies from Spain to the Black Sea. Rome is under kings. Assyria's own libraries are collecting the literature of Mesopotamia, which is how Gilgamesh survived to be read again in the nineteenth century.