Hosea 9

Do Not Rejoice, Israel

1Do not rejoice, Israel,
with exultation like the peoples,
for you have prostituted yourself
away from your God.
You have loved a prostitute’s wages
on every threshing floor. 2Threshing floor and winepress
will not feed them,
and new wine will fail her. 3They will not remain
in the land of the LORD.
Ephraim will return to Egypt,
and in Assyria
they will eat unclean food.

No Offerings in the LORD’s House

4They will not pour out wine offerings
to the LORD,
and their sacrifices will not please him.
Their bread will be like the bread of mourning;
all who eat it will become unclean.
For their bread will be for their own hunger;
it will not come
into the house of the LORD. 5What will you do
on the day of appointed festival,
on the day of the feast of the LORD? 6For look, they go away from destruction.
Egypt will gather them;
Memphis will bury them.
Nettles will possess
their precious things of silver;
thorns will be in their tents.

The Days of Visitation Have Come

7The days of visitation have come;
the days of repayment have come.
Israel will know it.
The prophet is a fool;
the man of the spirit is mad—
because of the greatness of your guilt
and the greatness of hostility. 8Ephraim’s watchman
is with my God;
the prophet finds
a fowler’s snare on all his ways,
and hostility
in the house of his God. 9They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah.
He will remember their guilt;
he will attend to their sins.

Like Grapes in the Wilderness

10Like 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 Shame,
and they became detestable
like the thing they loved. 11Ephraim’s glory
will fly away like a bird—
no birth,
no pregnancy,
no conception. 12Even if they raise their children,
I will bereave them
until no one remains.
Indeed, woe to them
when I turn away from them! 13Ephraim, as I saw him,
was like Tyre planted in a meadow,
but Ephraim must bring out
his children to the killer. 14Give them, O LORD—
what will you give?
Give them a womb that miscarries
and breasts that are dry.

All Their Evil Is at Gilgal

15“All their evil is at Gilgal;
there I came to hate them.
Because of the evil of their deeds
I will drive them from my house.
I will love them no more;
all their officials are rebels. 16Ephraim is struck;
their root is dried up;
they will bear no fruit.
Even if they give birth,
I will put to death
the precious fruit of their womb.” 17My God will reject them
because they did not listen to him,
and they will become wanderers
among the nations.