Hosea 9
The Voice
9 Don’t rejoice, Israel! Don’t shriek in ecstatic joy like the other nations!
You’ve prostituted yourself and been unfaithful to your God.
You eagerly expect that you’ll get your prostitute’s pay at the threshing floors with a rich harvest.
2 Neither the threshing floor nor the oil or winepresses will feed you;
you won’t have any new wine this year.
3 You won’t remain in the Eternal’s land,
and you can count on this:
Ephraim will go back to slavery in Egypt,
but this unclean food he’ll eat in Assyria.
4 Separated from Jerusalem, they won’t be pouring out any libations of wine to the Eternal,
and the sacrifices they make will not please Him.
Whatever they offer will be like mourner’s bread:
whoever eats it will be impure.
Hebrew law prohibits any contact with the dead. In this case the bread is polluted by its proximity to death.
Besides, they’ll need all the bread they’ve got just to stay alive;
they won’t have anything worthy to bring to the Eternal’s temple.
5 What will you do on the appointed day
when you’re supposed to celebrate a feast in honor of the Eternal One?
In Israel’s final years before conquest, the political atmosphere is in turmoil. Kings Zechariah, Shallum, and Pekahiah have been assassinated in political coups, and ambitious men are making alliances with foreign enemies hoping to gain international support for their own factions and solidify their own powers. These attempts at ascension and stability with the help of international alliances voids the one thing that can bring peace to Israel—the people’s covenant with God.
Instead of relying on God, all of Israel’s leaders allow themselves to be consumed in the regional politics. In the early eighth century b.c., Egypt’s power is waning and Assyria is gaining momentum. Israel is the battleground between the empires, so Israel’s kings think they can leverage the nation’s geographical position and gain protection from one empire or the other by paying tributes. Instead, the cities are trampled in successive wars, and Israel’s borders continue to shrink until Samaria is finally overrun by the Assyrians in 722 b.c.
6 Even if they escape destruction, Egypt will be ready to gather them up,
and Memphis will be set to bury them in the city’s massive cemeteries.
All their valuables will be choked out by weeds,
and thornbushes will live in their tents.
7 The days of punishment have come!
The time of retribution is here! Israel will know this!
But because you are so hostile and sinful, you say about me,
“The prophet is a fool! The man of the Spirit is raving mad!”
8 The prophet stands watch over Ephraim along with God,[a]
but birds’ traps are set all along his paths;
Even in the temple of his God they show their hostility.
9 They’ve become deeply depraved, as in the days of Gibeah.
God won’t overlook their wickedness; He’ll punish them for their sins.
10 Eternal One: When I discovered Israel, he was a rare find,
like grapes in the wilderness, like early figs on a young fig tree.
I met your ancestors;
when they came to Baal-peor,
They dedicated themselves through their worship to an object of shame,
and they became as detestable as the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird:
no offspring, no gestation, no conception!
12 And even if they do have children,
I’ll take every single one of them away.
It will be sorrowful for them when I abandon them!
13 There was a time when I saw Ephraim like Tyre,
a pleasant palm planted in a lovely meadow,
But now Ephraim must bring out her children to be slaughtered.[b]
14 Give them, Eternal One—what should I ask You to give them?
Give them a miscarrying womb and dried-up breasts!
15 Eternal One: In Gilgal My hatred grew for them
because of all their evil that was there.
I will force them out of My temple because of the depths of their wickedness.
I won’t love them anymore; all of their leaders have rebelled against Me!
16 Ephraim has been cut down; their root has dried up,
and they won’t bear any fruit.
And even if they do bear children,
I’ll kill those precious ones they carried.
17 My God will reject them because they haven’t listened to Him.
They’ll be drifters and fugitives among the nations.
Hoseya 9
Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero
Chilango cha Israeli
9 Iwe Israeli, usakondwere;
monga imachitira mitundu ina.
Pakuti wakhala wosakhulupirika kwa Mulungu wako;
umakonda malipiro a chiwerewere
pa malo aliwonse opunthira tirigu.
2 Malo opunthira tirigu ndi malo opsinyira mphesa sadzadyetsa anthu;
adzasowa vinyo watsopano.
3 Sadzakhalanso mʼdziko la Yehova.
Efereimu adzabwerera ku Igupto
ndipo mudzadya chakudya chodetsedwa ku Asiriya.
4 Iwo sadzaperekanso chopereka cha chakumwa kwa Yehova,
kapena nsembe zawo kuti akondweretse Yehovayo.
Nsembe zotere zidzakhala kwa iwo ngati chakudya cha anamfedwa;
onse akudya chakudya chimenechi adzakhala odetsedwa.
Chakudya ichi chidzakhala chodya okha,
sichidzalowa mʼnyumba ya Yehova.
5 Kodi mudzachita chiyani pa tsiku la maphwando anu oyikika;
pa masiku a zikondwerero za Yehova?
6 Ngakhale iwo atathawa chiwonongeko,
Igupto adzawasonkhanitsa,
ndipo Mefisi adzawayika mʼmanda.
Khwisa adzamera pa ziwiya zawo zasiliva,
ndipo minga idzamera mʼmatenti awo.
7 Masiku achilango akubwera,
masiku obwezera ali pafupi.
Israeli adziwe zimenezi.
Chifukwa machimo anu ndi ochuluka kwambiri
ndipo udani wanu pa Mulungu ndi waukulu kwambiri.
Mneneri amamuyesa chitsiru,
munthu wanzeru za kwa Mulungu ngati wamisala.
8 Mneneri pamodzi ndi Mulungu wanga
ndiwo alonda a Efereimu,
koma mneneri amutchera misampha mʼnjira zake zonse,
ndipo udani ukumudikira mʼnyumba ya Mulungu wake.
9 Iwo azama mu zachinyengo
monga masiku a Gibeya.
Mulungu adzakumbukira zolakwa zawo
ndipo adzawalanga chifukwa cha machimo awo.
10 “Pamene ndinamupeza Israeli
zinali ngati kupeza mphesa mʼchipululu.
Nditaona makolo anu,
zinali ngati ndikuona nkhuyu zoyambirira kupsa.
Koma atafika ku Baala Peori,
anadzipereka ku fano lija lochititsa manyazi
ndipo anakhala onyansa ngati chinthu chimene anachikondacho.
11 Ulemerero wa Efereimu udzawuluka ngati mbalame.
Sipadzakhalanso kubereka ana, kuyembekezera kapena kutenga pathupi.
12 Ngakhale atalera ana
ndidzachititsa kuti mwana aliyense amwalire.
Tsoka kwa anthuwo
pamene Ine ndidzawafulatira!
13 Ndaona Efereimu ngati Turo,
atadzalidwa pa nthaka ya chonde.
Koma Efereimu adzatsogolera
ana ake kuti akaphedwe.”
14 Inu Yehova, muwapatse.
Kodi mudzawapatsa chiyani?
Apatseni mimba yomangopita padera
ndi mawere owuma.
15 “Chifukwa cha zoyipa zawo zonse ku Giligala,
Ine ndinawada kumeneko.
Chifukwa cha machitidwe awo auchimo,
ndidzawapirikitsa mʼnyumba yanga.
Sindidzawakondanso;
atsogoleri awo onse ndi owukira.
16 Efereimu wathedwa,
mizu yake yauma
sakubalanso zipatso.
Ngakhale atabereka ana,
Ine ndidzapha ana awo okondedwawo.”
17 Mulungu wanga adzawakana
chifukwa sanamumvere Iye;
adzakhala oyendayenda pakati pa anthu a mitundu ina.
Hosea 9
New Living Translation
Hosea Announces Israel’s Punishment
9 O people of Israel,
do not rejoice as other nations do.
For you have been unfaithful to your God,
hiring yourselves out like prostitutes,
worshiping other gods on every threshing floor.
2 So now your harvests will be too small to feed you.
There will be no grapes for making new wine.
3 You may no longer stay here in the Lord’s land.
Instead, you will return to Egypt,
and in Assyria you will eat food
that is ceremonially unclean.
4 There you will make no offerings of wine to the Lord.
None of your sacrifices there will please him.
They will be unclean, like food touched by a person in mourning.
All who present such sacrifices will be defiled.
They may eat this food themselves,
but they may not offer it to the Lord.
5 What then will you do on festival days?
How will you observe the Lord’s festivals?
6 Even if you escape destruction from Assyria,
Egypt will conquer you, and Memphis[a] will bury you.
Nettles will take over your treasures of silver;
thistles will invade your ruined homes.
7 The time of Israel’s punishment has come;
the day of payment is here.
Soon Israel will know this all too well.
Because of your great sin and hostility,
you say, “The prophets are crazy
and the inspired men are fools!”
8 The prophet is a watchman over Israel[b] for my God,
yet traps are laid for him wherever he goes.
He faces hostility even in the house of God.
9 The things my people do are as depraved
as what they did in Gibeah long ago.
God will not forget.
He will surely punish them for their sins.
10 The Lord says, “O Israel, when I first found you,
it was like finding fresh grapes in the desert.
When I saw your ancestors,
it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season.
But then they deserted me for Baal-peor,
giving themselves to that shameful idol.
Soon they became vile,
as vile as the god they worshiped.
11 The glory of Israel will fly away like a bird,
for your children will not be born
or grow in the womb
or even be conceived.
12 Even if you do have children who grow up,
I will take them from you.
It will be a terrible day when I turn away
and leave you alone.
13 I have watched Israel become as beautiful as Tyre.
But now Israel will bring out her children for slaughter.”
14 O Lord, what should I request for your people?
I will ask for wombs that don’t give birth
and breasts that give no milk.
15 The Lord says, “All their wickedness began at Gilgal;
there I began to hate them.
I will drive them from my land
because of their evil actions.
I will love them no more
because all their leaders are rebels.
16 The people of Israel are struck down.
Their roots are dried up,
and they will bear no more fruit.
And if they give birth,
I will slaughter their beloved children.”
17 My God will reject the people of Israel
because they will not listen or obey.
They will be wanderers,
homeless among the nations.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
The Word of God in Contemporary Chichewa Copyright © 2002, 2016 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide. Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Mwini © 2002, 2016 ndi Biblica, Inc.® Kugwiritsa ntchito mwachilolezo. Umwini ndi otetezedwa pa dziko lonse.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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