Hosea 9:1-8 ▼

1 Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation as do the [pagan] peoples, For you have played the prostitute, turning away from your God. You have loved prostitutes’ earnings on every threshing floor [attributing the harvest to the Baals instead of to God].

2 The threshing floor and the wine press will no longer feed them, And the new wine will fail them [because they failed to honor the God who provides].

3 They will not remain in the land of the LORD, But Ephraim will return to [another] Egypt [in bondage] And they will eat [ceremonially] unclean food in Assyria.

4 They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the LORD; Their sacrifices will not please Him. Their bread will be like mourners’ bread [eaten at funerals]; All who eat it will be [ceremonially] unclean, For their bread will be for themselves; It will not enter the house of the LORD [to be consecrated].

5 What will you do on the day of the appointed festival And on the day of the feast of the LORD [when you are in exile]?

6 For behold, they will go away because of devastation and destruction; Egypt will gather them up, Memphis will bury them. Weeds will take over their treasures of silver; Thorns will grow in their tents.

7 The days of punishment have come; The days of retribution are at hand; Let Israel know this! The prophet is [considered] a fool; The man [of God] who is inspired is [treated as if] demented, Because of the abundance of your wickedness and guilt, And because your deep antagonism [toward God and the prophets] is so great.

8 Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a [true] prophet [to warn the nation]; But the snare of a bird catcher was laid in all his paths. And there is only deep hostility in the house of his God (the land of Israel).