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Israel, don’t rejoice.
Don’t celebrate as other nations do.
You have been unfaithful to your God.
You have sold sex on every threshing floor.[a]
There won’t be enough grain to feed people.
There won’t be enough wine to go around.

The people of Ephraim won’t stay in the Lord’s land.
They will return to Egypt,
and they will eat unclean [b] food in Assyria.
They won’t pour wine offerings to the Lord,
and their sacrifices won’t please him.
Their sacrifices will be like the food that mourners eat.
All who eat this food will be unclean.
Their food will only satisfy their hunger.
It will not be brought ⌞as an offering⌟ to the Lord’s temple.

What will they do on the day of an appointed festival
or on the Lord’s festival days?
Even if they escape without being destroyed,
Egypt will capture them
and Memphis will bury them.
Weeds will grow over their silver treasures.
Thorns will grow over their tents.
The time for them to be punished will come.
The time for them to pay for their sins will come.
⌞When this happens,⌟ Israel will know it.
⌞They think that⌟ prophets are fools
and that spiritual people are crazy.
They have sinned a lot, and they are very hostile.
Prophets are God’s watchmen over Ephraim.
Yet, traps are set on every prophet’s path,
and people are hostile in the temple of their God.
People have deeply corrupted themselves as they once did at Gibeah.
God will remember their wickedness
and punish them because of their sins.

Israel Is Like Rotten Grapes or Rotten Figs

10 ⌞The Lord said,⌟ “When I found Israel,
it was like finding grapes in the desert.
When I saw your ancestors,
it was like seeing the first figs of the harvest.
But they went to Baal Peor and worshiped shameful idols.
They became as disgusting as the things they worshiped.

11 “Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird.
There will be no more pregnancies, births, or babies.
12 Even if they bring up children,
I will take those children away before they grow up.
Yes, how horrible it will be for them when I leave them.
13 I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place.
But the people of Ephraim will bring out their children
to be killed.”

14 Lord, give them what they deserve.
Make the women miscarry,
or else make them unable to nurse their babies.

15 “All Ephraim’s wickedness began in Gilgal; I hated the people there.
I will force them out of my temple because of their wickedness,
and I won’t love them anymore.
All their officials are rebellious.

16 “The people of Ephraim are like sick plants.
Their roots are dried up.
They have no fruit.
Even if they were to have children,
I would kill their dear children.”

17 My God will reject them
because they refused to listen to him.
They will wander among the nations.

Footnotes

  1. 9:1 A threshing floor is an outdoor area where grain is separated from its husks.
  2. 9:3 Unclean   ” refers to anything that Moses’ Teachings say is not presentable to God.

Punishment for Israel

Do not rejoice, Israel;
    do not be jubilant(A) like the other nations.
For you have been unfaithful(B) to your God;
    you love the wages of a prostitute(C)
    at every threshing floor.
Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people;
    the new wine(D) will fail them.
They will not remain(E) in the Lord’s land;
    Ephraim will return to Egypt(F)
    and eat unclean food in Assyria.(G)
They will not pour out wine offerings(H) to the Lord,
    nor will their sacrifices please(I) him.
Such sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners;(J)
    all who eat them will be unclean.(K)
This food will be for themselves;
    it will not come into the temple of the Lord.(L)

What will you do(M) on the day of your appointed festivals,(N)
    on the feast days of the Lord?
Even if they escape from destruction,
    Egypt will gather them,(O)
    and Memphis(P) will bury them.(Q)
Their treasures of silver(R) will be taken over by briers,
    and thorns(S) will overrun their tents.
The days of punishment(T) are coming,
    the days of reckoning(U) are at hand.
    Let Israel know this.
Because your sins(V) are so many
    and your hostility so great,
the prophet is considered a fool,(W)
    the inspired person a maniac.(X)
The prophet, along with my God,
    is the watchman over Ephraim,[a]
yet snares(Y) await him on all his paths,
    and hostility in the house of his God.(Z)
They have sunk deep into corruption,(AA)
    as in the days of Gibeah.(AB)
God will remember(AC) their wickedness
    and punish them for their sins.(AD)

10 “When I found Israel,
    it was like finding grapes in the desert;
when I saw your ancestors,
    it was like seeing the early fruit(AE) on the fig(AF) tree.
But when they came to Baal Peor,(AG)
    they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol(AH)
    and became as vile as the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim’s glory(AI) will fly away like a bird(AJ)
    no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.(AK)
12 Even if they rear children,
    I will bereave(AL) them of every one.
Woe(AM) to them
    when I turn away from them!(AN)
13 I have seen Ephraim,(AO) like Tyre,
    planted in a pleasant place.(AP)
But Ephraim will bring out
    their children to the slayer.”(AQ)

14 Give them, Lord
    what will you give them?
Give them wombs that miscarry
    and breasts that are dry.(AR)

15 “Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal,(AS)
    I hated them there.
Because of their sinful deeds,(AT)
    I will drive them out of my house.
I will no longer love them;(AU)
    all their leaders are rebellious.(AV)
16 Ephraim(AW) is blighted,
    their root is withered,
    they yield no fruit.(AX)
Even if they bear children,
    I will slay(AY) their cherished offspring.”

17 My God will reject(AZ) them
    because they have not obeyed(BA) him;
    they will be wanderers among the nations.(BB)

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 9:8 Or The prophet is the watchman over Ephraim, / the people of my God

Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor.

The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.

They shall not dwell in the Lord's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.

They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the Lord.

What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the Lord?

For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles.

The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.

The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.

They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.

11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.

12 Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!

13 Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.

14 Give them, O Lord: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

15 All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.

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

17 My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.