Hosea 9:16

"Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay the beloved fruit of their womb."

As noted above, Hosea laid it all on the line in this chapter. The case with Israel was hopeless, and divine punishment was assigned to conclude matters with Ephraim. Sad? Yes, indeed; but it was also sad for the thirty-two nations of the Canaanites who were destroyed by the power of God to prepare the way for Israel; and it was fitting that when the Israelites adopted the gross sins of the very peoples whom God had removed to give them their opportunity, God should have punished them. It would have been unjust to withhold destruction from them. The thing to remember about this chapter is that every word of it carne to pass, and every bit of it within a very short while after Hosea wrote. These were not idle warnings delivered by the prophet.