Hosea 9
Expanded Bible
Israel’s Punishment
9 Israel, do not rejoice;
don’t shout for joy as the other nations do.
You have been ·like a prostitute against [unfaithful to] your God.
You love the pay of prostitutes on every threshing floor.
2 But the threshing floor and the winepress will not feed the people,
and ·there won’t be enough new wine [or the new wine will deceive them].
3 The people will not stay in the Lord’s land.
·Israel [L Ephraim] will return ·to being captives as they were in [L to] Egypt,
and in Assyria they will eat ·food that they are not allowed to eat [L unclean food; C food forbidden by the law; Lev. 11].
4 The Israelites will not ·give [pour out] offerings of wine to the Lord;
and their sacrifices will not please him.
Their sacrifices will be like ·food that is eaten at a funeral [mourners bread; Deut. 26:14];
it is unclean, and everyone who eats it becomes unclean [C because touched by someone who has touched a dead body; Num. 19:22].
Their food will only satisfy their hunger;
·they cannot sacrifice it in [L it will not come into] the Temple.
5 What will you do then on the day of ·feasts [your appointed festivals]
and on the day of the Lord’s festival?
6 [L Look; T Behold] Even if the people ·are not destroyed [escape destruction],
Egypt will ·capture [or receive; L gather] them;
Memphis [C a city in Egypt famous for its tombs] will bury them.
·Weeds [Briers; Nettles] will grow over their silver treasures,
and thorns will ·drive them out of [possess; inherit] their tents.
7 The time of punishment has come,
the ·time to pay for sins [L days of recompense/vengeance].
Let Israel know this:
·You think the [L The] prophet is a fool,
and ·you say the [L the] ·spiritual person [Spirit-inspired person] is crazy.
·You [or This is because you] have sinned very much,
and your hatred is great.
8 ·Is Israel a watchman?
Are God’s people prophets? [or The prophet is a watchman over Ephraim on God’s behalf]
·Everywhere Israel goes, traps are set for him [or …yet traps/snares await him on all his paths].
·He is an enemy [or …and hatred even] in God’s house.
9 ·The people of Israel [L They] have gone deep into ·sin [depravity; corruption]
as ·the people of Gibeah did [L in the days of Gibeah; Judg. 19–20].
The Lord will remember ·the evil things they have done [their wickedness/iniquity],
and he will punish their sins.
10 “When I found Israel,
it was like finding grapes in the ·desert [wilderness].
Your ·ancestors [fathers; forefathers] were like
finding the first figs on the fig tree.
But when they came to Baal Peor,
they ·began worshiping an idol [L consecrated/dedicated themselves to a shameful thing; Num. 25:3–18],
and they became as ·hateful [detestable] as the thing they ·worshiped [L loved].
11 ·Israel’s [L Ephraim’s; 4:17] glory will fly away like a bird;
there will be no more pregnancy, no more births, no more conception.
12 But even if ·the Israelites [L they] bring up children,
I will take them all away.
·How terrible it will be for [L Woe to] them
when I ·go away [turn away; depart] from them!
13 I have seen Israel, like ·Tyre [or a young palm],
·given [L planted in] a pleasant place.
But ·the people of Israel [L Ephraim; 4:17] will soon bring out
their children to ·be killed [slaughter; or the slayer].”
14 Lord, ·give them what they should have [L give them].
What will you give them?
·Make their women unable to have children [L Give them wombs that miscarry];
give them ·dried-up breasts that cannot feed their babies [L dry breasts].
15 “The Israelites were very wicked in Gilgal [C a center of false worship in Israel; 4:15],
so I have hated them there.
Because of the sinful things they have done,
I will ·force them to leave [drive them out of] my land.
I will no longer love them;
their ·leaders [princes] ·have turned against me [are rebels/rebellious].
16 ·Israel [L Ephraim] is ·beaten down [struck down; or blighted];
its root is ·dying [withered; dried up], and it ·has [bears] no fruit.
If they have more children,
I will kill the ·children they love [L cherished offspring of their womb].”
17 My God will reject them,
because they have not obeyed him;
they will ·wander [be wanderers/fugitives] among the nations.
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.
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