Hosea 9
Good News Translation
Hosea Announces Punishment for Israel
9 People of Israel, stop celebrating your festivals like pagans. You have turned away from your God and have been unfaithful to him. All over the land you have sold yourselves like prostitutes to the god Baal and have loved the grain you thought he paid you with! 2 But soon you will not have enough grain and olive oil, and there will be no wine. 3 The people of Israel will not remain in the Lord's land, but will have to go back to Egypt and will have to eat forbidden food[a] in Assyria. 4 In those foreign lands they will not be able to make wine offerings to the Lord or bring their sacrifices to him. Their food will defile everyone who eats it, like food eaten at funerals. It will be used only to satisfy their hunger; none of it will be taken as an offering to the Lord's Temple. 5 And when the time comes for the appointed festivals in honor of the Lord, what will they do then? 6 When the disaster comes and the people are scattered, the Egyptians will gather them up—gather them for burial there at Memphis! Their treasures of silver and the places where their homes once stood will be overgrown with weeds and thorn bushes.
7 (A)The time for punishment has come, the time when people will get what they deserve. When that happens, Israel will know it! “This prophet,” you say, “is a fool. This inspired man is insane.” You people hate me so much because your sin is so great. 8 God has sent me as a prophet to warn his people Israel. Yet wherever I go, you try to trap me like a bird. Even in God's Temple the people are the prophet's enemies. 9 (B)They are hopelessly evil in what they do, just as they were at Gibeah.[b] God will remember their sin and punish them for it.
Israel's Sin and Its Consequences
10 (C)The Lord says, “When I first found Israel, it was like finding grapes growing in the desert. When I first saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season. But when they came to Mount Peor, they began to worship Baal and soon became as disgusting as the gods they loved. 11 Israel's greatness will fly away like a bird, and there will be no more children born to them, no more women pregnant, no more children conceived. 12 But even if they did bring up children, I would take them away and not leave one alive. When I abandon these people, terrible things will happen to them.”
13 Lord, I can see their children being hunted down[c] and killed. 14 What shall I ask you to do to these people? Make their women barren! Make them unable to nurse their babies!
The Lord's Judgment on Israel
15 The Lord says, “All their evildoing began in Gilgal. It was there that I began to hate them. And because of the evil they have done, I will drive them out of my land. I will not love them any more; all their leaders have rebelled against me. 16 The people of Israel are like a plant whose roots have dried up and which bears no fruit. They will have no children, but even if they did, I would kill the children so dear to them.”
The Prophet Speaks about Israel
17 The God I serve will reject his people, because they have not listened to him. They will become wanderers among the nations.
Footnotes
- Hosea 9:3 The Law of Moses prohibited the eating of certain foods as being ritually unclean (see Lv 11).
- Hosea 9:9 At this city some Israelites of the tribe of Benjamin raped a Levite's concubine; this caused a civil war that almost wiped out the Benjaminites (see Jg 19–21).
- Hosea 9:13 Probable text being hunted down; Hebrew unclear.
Hosea 9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Punishment for Israel’s Sin
9 Do not rejoice, O Israel!
Do not exult[a] as other nations do,
for you have prostituted yourself, departing from your God.
You have loved a prostitute’s pay
on all threshing floors.(A)
2 Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,
and the new wine shall fail them.(B)
3 They shall not remain in the land of the Lord,
but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
and in Assyria they shall eat unclean food.(C)
4 They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,
and their sacrifices shall not please him.
Such sacrifices 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.(D)
5 What will you do on the day of appointed festival
and on the day of the festival of the Lord?(E)
6 For even if they escape destruction,
Egypt shall gather them;
Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;[b]
thorns shall be in their tents.(F)
7 The days of punishment have come;
the days of recompense have come.
Israel will cry out,[c]
“The prophet is a fool;
the man of the spirit is mad!”
Because of your great iniquity,
your hostility is great.(G)
8 The prophet is a sentinel for my God over Ephraim,
yet a hunter’s snare is on all his ways
and hostility in the house of his God.(H)
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah;
he will remember their iniquity;
he will punish their sins.(I)
10 Like grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree,
in its first season,
I saw your ancestors.
But they came to Baal-peor
and consecrated themselves to a thing of shame
and became detestable like the thing they loved.(J)
11 Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!(K)
12 Even if they bring up children,
I will bereave them until no one is left.
Woe to them indeed
when I depart from them!(L)
13 Once I saw Ephraim as a young palm planted in a lovely meadow,[d]
but now Ephraim must lead out his children for slaughter.(M)
14 Give them, O Lord—
what will you give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
and dry breasts.
15 Every evil 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.(N)
Hosea 9
Complete Jewish Bible
9 Don’t rejoice, Isra’el!
Don’t enjoy yourselves as other peoples do;
for you have gone whoring away from your God,
you love being hired as a whore on every grain-floor.
2 Threshing-floor and winepress won’t feed them,
and new wine will disappoint her.
3 They won’t remain in the land of Adonai;
instead, Efrayim will return to Egypt,
and they will eat unclean food in Ashur.
4 They will not pour out wine offerings to Adonai;
they will not be pleasing to him.
Their sacrifices will be for them like mourners’ food —
everyone eating it will be polluted.
For their food will be merely to satisfy their appetite;
it will not come into the house of Adonai.
5 What will you do at a designated time,
on a day which is a festival for Adonai?
6 For suppose they escape the destruction —
Egypt will round them up,
Memphis will bury them.
And their precious treasures of silver?
Nettles will possess them,
thorns will be in their tents.
7 The days of punishment have come,
the days of retribution are here,
and Isra’el knows it.
[Yet they cry,] “The prophet is a fool,
the man of the spirit has gone crazy!”
Because your iniquity is so great,
the hostility [against you] is great.
8 The watchman of Efrayim is with my God,
but a prophet has a fowler’s snare set on all his paths
and hostility even in the house of his God.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves,
as in the days of Giv‘ah.
He will remember their guilt,
and he will punish their sins.
10 “When I found Isra’el, it was like finding
grapes in the desert;
when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing
a fig tree’s first figs in its first season.
But as soon as they came to Ba‘al-P‘or,
they dedicated themselves to something shameful;
they became as loathsome
as the thing they loved.
11 The glory of Efrayim will fly away like a bird —
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.
12 Even if they raise their children,
I will destroy them till none is left —
and woe to them when I leave them, too!”
13 Efrayim, as I see it, is like Tzor,
planted in a pleasant place;
but Efrayim will bring out his children
to the slaughterer.
14 Adonai, give them — what will you give?
Give them wombs that miscarry and dried-up breasts!
15 “All their wickedness was already there in Gilgal;
that’s where I came to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will expel them from my house,
I will love them no more;
all their leaders are rebels.
16 Efrayim has been struck down,
their root has been dried up,
they will bear no fruit.
Even if they do give birth,
I will kill their cherished offspring.”
17 My God will cast them aside,
because they wouldn’t listen to him,
and they will become wanderers
among the Goyim.
Hosea 9
The Message
Starved for God
9 1-6 Don’t waste your life in wild orgies, Israel.
Don’t party away your life with the heathen.
You walk away from your God at the drop of a hat
and like a whore sell yourself promiscuously
at every sex-and-religion party on the street.
All that party food won’t fill you up.
You’ll end up hungrier than ever.
At this rate you’ll not last long in God’s land:
Some of you are going to end up bankrupt in Egypt.
Some of you will be disillusioned in Assyria.
As refugees in Egypt and Assyria,
you won’t have much chance to worship God—
Sentenced to rations of bread and water,
and your souls polluted by the spirit-dirty air.
You’ll be starved for God,
exiled from God’s own country.
Will you be homesick for the old Holy Days?
Will you miss festival worship of God?
Be warned! When you escape from the frying pan of disaster,
you’ll fall into the fire of Egypt.
Egypt will give you a fine funeral!
What use will all your god-inspired silver be then
as you eke out a living in a field of weeds?
* * *
7-9 Time’s up. Doom’s at the doorstep.
It’s payday!
Did Israel bluster, “The prophet is crazy!
The ‘man of the Spirit’ is nuts!”?
Think again. Because of your great guilt,
you’re in big trouble.
The prophet is looking out for Ephraim,
working under God’s orders.
But everyone is trying to trip him up.
He’s hated right in God’s house, of all places.
The people are going from bad to worse,
rivaling that ancient and unspeakable crime at Gibeah.
God’s keeping track of their guilt.
He’ll make them pay for their sins.
They Took to Sin Like a Pig to Filth
10-13 “Long ago when I came upon Israel,
it was like finding grapes out in the desert.
When I found your ancestors, it was like finding
a fig tree bearing fruit for the first time.
But when they arrived at Baal-peor, that pagan shrine,
they took to sin like a pig to filth,
wallowing in the mud with their newfound friends.
Ephraim is fickle and scattered, like a flock of blackbirds,
their beauty dissipated in confusion and clamor,
Frenetic and noisy, frigid and barren,
and nothing to show for it—neither conception nor childbirth.
Even if they did give birth, I’d declare them
unfit parents and take away their children!
Yes indeed—a black day for them
when I turn my back and walk off!
I see Ephraim letting his children run wild.
He might just as well take them and kill them outright!”
14 Give it to them, God! But what?
Give them a dried-up womb and shriveled breasts.
15-16 “All their evil came out into the open
at the pagan shrine at Gilgal. Oh, how I hated them there!
Because of their evil practices,
I’ll kick them off my land.
I’m wasting no more love on them.
Their leaders are a bunch of rebellious adolescents.
Ephraim is hit hard—
roots withered, no more fruit.
Even if by some miracle they had children,
the dear babies wouldn’t live—I’d make sure of that!”
17 My God has washed his hands of them.
They wouldn’t listen.
They’re doomed to be wanderers,
vagabonds among the godless nations.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson