Hosea 9

Revised Standard Version

⁴ They shall not pour libations of wine to the Lord;
    and they shall not please him with their sacrifices.
Their bread^[b] shall be like mourners’ bread;
    all who eat of it shall be defiled;
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
    it shall not come to the house of the Lord.

⁵ What will you do on the day of appointed festival,
    and on the day of the feast of the Lord?
⁶ For behold, they are going to Assyria;^[c]
    Egypt shall gather them,
    Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;
    thorns shall be in their tents.

⁷ The days of punishment have come,
    the days of recompense have come;
    Israel shall know it.
The prophet is a fool,
    the man of the spirit is mad,
because of your great iniquity
    and great hatred.
⁸ The prophet is the watchman of E′phraim,
    the people of my God,
yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,
    and hatred in the house of his God.
⁹ They have deeply corrupted themselves
    as in the days of Gib′e-ah:
he will remember their iniquity,
    he will punish their sins.

¹⁰ Like grapes in the wilderness,
    I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree,
    in its first season,
    I saw your fathers.
But they came to Ba′al-pe′or,
    and consecrated themselves to Ba′al,^[d]
    and became detestable like the thing they loved.
¹¹ E′phraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—
    no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
¹² Even if they bring up children,
    I will bereave them till none is left.
Woe to them
    when I depart from them!
¹³ E′phraim’s sons, as I have seen, are destined for a prey;^[e]
    E′phraim must lead forth his sons to slaughter.
¹⁴ Give them, O Lord—
    what wilt thou give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
    and dry breasts.

¹⁵ Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal;
    there I began 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 princes are rebels.

¹⁶ E′phraim is stricken,
    their root is dried up,
    they shall bear no fruit.
Even though they bring forth,
    I will slay their beloved children.
¹⁷ My God will cast them off,
    because they have not hearkened to him;
    they shall be wanderers among the nations.