Hosea 9:16

‘Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up,

They will bear no fruit.

Yes, though they bring forth,

Yet will I slay the beloved fruit of their womb.’

Hosea closes the passage as he opened it. Ephraim will be smitten, their root will be dried up, and they will bear no fruit (no birth, none with child, no conception - Hosea 9:11). And even those that they do bring forth, the beloved children of their womb, will be slain by YHWH (compare Hosea 9:12), probably by the sword of the Assyrians.