(_Though thou play the harlot, Israel, let not Judah bring guilt on herself. And come not to Gilgal, and go not up to Beth-Aven, and take not your oath_ at the Well-of-the-Oath, Beer-Sheba,[503] _By the life of Jehovah!_ This obvious parenthesis may be either by Hosea or a later writer; the latter is more probable.[504])
_Yea, like a wild heifer Israel has gone wild. How now can Jehovah feed them like a lamb in a broad meadow?_ To treat this clause interrogatively is the only way to get sense out of it.[505] _Wedded to idols is Ephraim: leave him alone._ The participle means _mated_ or _leagued_. The corresponding noun is used of a wife as the _mate_ of her husband[506] and of an idolater as the _mate_ of his idols.[507] The expression is doubly appropriate here, since Hosea used marriage as the figure of the relation of a deity to his worshippers. _Leave him alone_--he must go from bad to worse. _Their drunkenness over, they take to harlotry: her rulers have fallen in love with shame, or they love shame more than their pride._[508] But in spite of all their servile worship the Assyrian tempest shall sweep them away in its trail. _A wind hath wrapt them up in her skirts; and they shall be put to shame by their sacrifices._
This brings the passage to such a climax as Amos loved to crown his periods. And the opening of the next chapter offers a new exordium.