Hosea 9:12-14

Contemporary English Version

¹² Even if you do have children,
I will take them all
    and leave you to mourn.
I will turn away,
and you will sink down
    in deep trouble.
¹³ Israel, when I first met you,
I thought of you as palm trees
    growing in fertile ground.^[a]
Now you lead your people out,
    only to be slaughtered.

¹⁴ Our Lord, do just one thing
    for your people—
make their women unable
to have children
    or to nurse their babies.