| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1O 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. | 1O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly like the nations, for you are unfaithful to your God. You love to receive a prostitute\'s wages on all the floors where you thresh your grain. |
| 2So now your harvests will be too small to feed you. There will be no grapes for making new wine. | 2Threshing floors and wine vats will not feed the people, and new wine only deceives them. |
| 3You 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. | 3They will not remain in the LORD's land. Ephraim will return to Egypt; they will eat ritually unclean food in Assyria. |
| 4There 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. | 4They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the LORD; they will not please him with their sacrifices. Their sacrifices will be like bread eaten while in mourning; all those who eat them will make themselves ritually unclean. For their bread will be only to satisfy their appetite; it will not come into the temple of the LORD. |
| 5What then will you do on festival days? How will you observe the LORD’s festivals? | 5So what will you do on the festival day, on the festival days of the LORD? |
| 6Even if you escape destruction from Assyria, Egypt will conquer you, and Memphis will bury you. Nettles will take over your treasures of silver; thistles will invade your ruined homes. | 6Look! Even if they flee from the destruction, Egypt will take hold of them, and Memphis will bury them. The weeds will inherit the silver they treasure--thorn bushes will occupy their homes. |
| 7The 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!” | 7The time of judgment is about to arrive! The time of retribution is imminent! Let Israel know! Israel Rejects Hosea's Prophetic Exhortations The prophet is considered a fool--the inspired man is viewed as a madman--because of the multitude of your sins and your intense animosity. |
| 8The prophet is a watchman over Israel for my God, yet traps are laid for him wherever he goes. He faces hostility even in the house of God. | 8The prophet is a watchman over Ephraim on behalf of God, yet traps are laid for him along all of his paths; animosity rages against him in the land of his God. |
| 9The 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. | 9They have sunk deep into corruption as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their wrongdoing. He will repay them for their sins. |
| 10The 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. | 10When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the wilderness. I viewed your ancestors like an early fig on a fig tree in its first season. Then they came to Baal-Peor and they dedicated themselves to shame--they became as detestable as what they loved. |
| 11The 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. | 11Ephraim will be like a bird; what they value will fly away. They will not bear children--they will not enjoy pregnancy--they will not even conceive! |
| 12Even 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. | 12Even if they raise their children, I will take away every last one of them. Woe to them! For I will turn away from them. |
| 13I have watched Israel become as beautiful as Tyre. But now Israel will bring out her children for slaughter.” | 13Just as lion cubs are born predators, so Ephraim will bear his sons for slaughter. |
| 14O LORD, what should I request for your people? I will ask for wombs that don’t give birth and breasts that give no milk. | 14Give them, O LORD--what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry, and breasts that cannot nurse! |
| 15The 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. | 15Because of all their evil in Gilgal, I hate them there. On account of their evil deeds, I will drive them out of my land. I will no longer love them; all their rulers are rebels. |
| 16The 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.” | 16Ephraim will be struck down--their root will be dried up; they will not yield any fruit. Even if they do bear children, I will kill their precious offspring. |
| 17My God will reject the people of Israel because they will not listen or obey. They will be wanderers, homeless among the nations. | 17My God will reject them, for they have not obeyed him; so they will be fugitives among the nations. |
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