Hosea 9

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 pleaseⁱ 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 festal 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

anyone who is inspired a maniac.^x

The prophet, along with my God,

is the watchman over Ephraim,

yet snares^y await him on all his paths,

and hostility in the house of his God.^z

They have sunk deep into corruption,^a

as in the days of Gibeah.^b

God will remember^c their wickedness

and punish them for their sins.^d

“When I found Israel,

it was like finding grapes in the desert;

when I saw your ancestors,

it was like seeing the early fruit^e on the fig^f tree.

But when they came to Baal Peor,^g

they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol^h

and became as vile as the thing they loved.

Ephraim’s gloryⁱ will fly away like a bird^j—

no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.^k

Even if they rear children,

I will bereave^l them of every one.

Woe^m to them

when I turn away from them!ⁿ

I have seen Ephraim,^o like Tyre,

planted in a pleasant place.^p

But Ephraim will bring out

their children to the slayer.”^q

Give them, Lord—

what will you give them?

Give them wombs that miscarry

and breasts that are dry.^r

“Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal,^s

I hated them there.

Because of their sinful deeds,^t

I will drive them out of my house.

I will no longer love them;^u

all their leaders are rebellious.^v

Ephraim^w is blighted,

their root is withered,

they yield no fruit.^x

Even if they bear children,

I will slay^y their cherished offspring.”

My God will reject^z them

because they have not obeyed^a him;

they will be wanderers among the nations.^b