Hosea 9:1–17
9 Do not rejoice, Israel;
do not be jubilantb like the other nations.
For you have been unfaithfulc to your God;
you love the wages of a prostituted
at every threshing floor.
2 Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people;
the new winee will fail them.
3 They will not remainf in the Lord’s land;
Ephraim will return to Egyptg
and eat unclean food in Assyria.h
4 They will not pour out wine offeringsi to the Lord,
nor will their sacrifices pleasej him.
Such sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners;k
all who eat them will be unclean.l
This food will be for themselves;
it will not come into the temple of the Lord.m
5 What will you don on the day of your appointed festivals,o
on the feast days of the Lord?
6 Even if they escape from destruction,
Egypt will gather them,p
Their treasures of silvers will be taken over by briers,
and thornst will overrun their tents.
7 The days of punishmentu are coming,
the days of reckoningv are at hand.
Let Israel know this.
Because your sinsw are so many
and your hostility so great,
the prophet is considered a fool,x
the inspired person a maniac.y
8 The prophet, along with my God,
is the watchman over Ephraim,a
yet snaresz await him on all his paths,
and hostility in the house of his God.a
9 They have sunk deep into corruption,b
as in the days of Gibeah.c
God will rememberd their wickedness
and punish them for their sins.e
it was like finding grapes in the desert;
when I saw your ancestors,
it was like seeing the early fruitf on the figg tree.
But when they came to Baal Peor,h
they consecrated themselves to that shameful idoli
and became as vile as the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim’s gloryj will fly away like a birdk—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.l
12 Even if they rear children,
I will bereavem them of every one.
Woen to them
when I turn away from them!o
13 I have seen Ephraim,p like Tyre,
planted in a pleasant place.q
But Ephraim will bring out
their children to the slayer.”r
what will you give them?
Give them wombs that miscarry
and breasts that are dry.s
15 “Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal,t
I hated them there.
Because of their sinful deeds,u
I will drive them out of my house.
I will no longer love them;v
all their leaders are rebellious.w
16 Ephraimx is blighted,
their root is withered,
they yield no fruit.y
Even if they bear children,
I will slayz their cherished offspring.”
17 My God will rejecta them
because they have not obeyedb him;
they will be wanderers among the nations.c