Hosea 9
Common English Bible
Arrival of divine judgment
9 Don’t rejoice, Israel!
Don’t celebrate as other nations do;
for as whores you have gone away from your God.
You have loved a prostitute’s pay
on all threshing floors of grain.
2 Threshing floor and wine vat won’t feed them;
the new wine will fail them.
3 They won’t remain in the land of the Lord;
but Ephraim will return to Egypt,
and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.
4 They won’t pour wine as an offering to the Lord;
their sacrifices won’t please him.
Such sacrifices will be like food for those who touch the dead;
all who eat of it will be unclean;
their bread will be for their hunger alone;
it will not come to the Lord’s house.
5 What will you do on the day of appointed festival,
on the day of the Lord’s festival?
6 Even if they escape destruction,
Egypt will gather them,
Memphis will bury them.
Briars will possess their precious things of silver;[a]
thorns will be in their tents.
7 The days of punishment have come;
the days of judgment have arrived;
Israel cries,
“The prophet is a fool,
the spiritual man is mad!”
Because of your great wickedness,
your rejection of me is great.
Tragic consequences
8 The prophet is God’s watchman
looking over Ephraim,
yet a hunter’s trap is set, covering all his ways,
and rejection is in his God’s house.
9 They have corrupted themselves terribly
as in the days of Gibeah;
he will remember their wickedness;
he will punish their sins.
10 Like grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel.
In its first season,
like the first fruit on the fig tree,
I saw your ancestors.
But they came to Baal-peor,
and worshipped a thing of shame;
they became detestable like the thing they loved.[b]
11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
12 Though they bring up children,
I will make them childless
until no one is left.
Doom to them indeed when I leave them!
13 When I looked toward Tyre,
Ephraim was planted in a lovely meadow;
but now Ephraim must lead out his children for slaughter.
14 Give them, Lord—
what will you give them?
Give them a womb that miscarries
and breasts that are dried up.
15 Every wickedness of theirs began at Gilgal;
there I came to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
all their officials are rebels.
16 Ephraim is sick,
their root is dried up,
they will bear no fruit.
Even though they give birth,
I will put to death their much-loved little ones.
17 Because they haven’t listened to him,
my God will reject them;
they will wander among the nations.
Footnotes
- Hosea 9:6 Or the proud glory pertaining to their silver; Heb uncertain
- Hosea 9:10 Heb uncertain
Hosea 9
King James Version
9 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.
2 The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.
3 They shall not dwell in the Lord's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
4 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.
5 What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the Lord?
6 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.
7 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.
8 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.
9 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.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible