Hosea Chapter 9

Hosea Announces Israel’s Punishment

¹ Israel, don’t celebrate like other nations;

      you’ve carried on prostitution by leaving your God.

You’ve loved prostitutes’ earnings on every threshing floor.

² Threshing floor and winepress won’t feed you;

      you won’t have any new wine.

³ You won’t remain in the LORD’s land;

      you’ll return to Egypt

      and eat unclean food in Assyria.

⁴ You won’t be pouring out

      liquid offerings of wine to the LORD there;

      your sacrifices won’t please him.

Your bread will be unclean like mourners’ bread;

      everybody that eats it will be defiled

            because it will only be for your hunger;

            you can’t bring it to the LORD’s Temple.

⁵ What will you do on stated festival days,                

      the LORD’s festival days?                                     

⁶ Even if you escape being destroyed by Assyria,

      Egypt will round you up,

            and Memphis will bury you.

      Weeds will take over your silver troves;

            thorns will invade your tents.                                    

Hos 9:1-6

⁷ The time for punishment has come;

      the time for retribution is here.

Let Israel know that!

      Because of how gross your sin is,

            how great your hostility is, you say,

      “Prophets are fools;

      inspired men are crazy.”

⁸ Prophets are watchmen for my God over Ephraim;

      but bird catchers’ snares lie on all their paths;

            there’s hatred for them in the temple of their God.

⁹ The people have made themselves as depraved

      as they were at Gibeah long ago.

He’ll remember their iniquity

      and punish their sins.                                                       

Hos 9:7-9

¹⁰ The LORD says,

      “At first, finding Israel was like finding grapes in the desert;

      I saw their ancestors like the first fruit on a fig tree’s first season.

But they came to Baal-peor

      and devoted themselves to their shameful idol;

      they became as detestable as the idol they loved.

¹¹ Ephraim’s glory will soon fly off like a bird

      because there’ll be no conception, no pregnancy, no birth!

¹² Even if they do raise children,

      I’ll take them away till there aren’t any left.

      Misfortune awaits them when I leave them!

¹³ Ephraim is planted in a pleasant meadow like Tyre,

      but he’ll bring out his children for slaughter.”

¹⁴ Give them, LORD —what will I say to give them?

      Give them miscarrying wombs and dry breasts!                         

Hos 9:10-14

¹⁵ The LORD says, “Their sins began in Gilgal;

      I started to despise them there!

Because of their sinful deeds,

      I’ll drive them out of my house!

      I won’t love them anymore;

      their officials are rebels.

¹⁶ The people of Ephraim are stricken,

      their root has dried up,

      they won’t bear any more children.

If they do,

      I’ll kill their precious ones at birth.”

¹⁷ My God will expel them

      because they’ve ignored him.

So they’ll wander without progeny among the nations.        

Hos 9:15-17