Hosea 9

1 Do not choose to rejoice, Israel; do not celebrate as the crowds do. For you have been committing fornication against your God; you have loved a prize upon every threshing floor of wheat.

Rejoice not, O Israel, for gladness, as other people; for thou art gone astray, unfaithful to thy God: thou hast loved the wages of sin upon every corn-filled threshing-floor.

2 The threshing floor and the oil press will not feed them, and the wine will deceive them.

The threshing-floor and the wine-press shall not feed them, and the new wine shall deceive them.

3 They will not dwell in the land of the Lord. Ephraim has been returned to Egypt, and he has eaten polluted things among the Assyrians.

They shall not dwell in the land of the Lord; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and in Assyria will they eat unclean things.

4 They will not offer a libation of wine to the Lord, and they will not please him. Their sacrifices will be like the bread of mourners. All those who eat it will be defiled. For their bread is of their soul; it will not enter into the house of the Lord.

They shall not pour out wine to the Lord, and [their offerings] shall not be pleasing unto him; their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for this their food can only be for themselves, it shall not come into the house of the Lord.

5 What will you do on the solemn day, on the day of the feast of the Lord?

What will ye do on the day of the appointed festival, and on the day of the feast of the Lord?

6 For, behold, they have been sent away by devastation. Egypt will gather them together; Memphis will bury them. Nettles will inherit their desired silver; the burr will be in their tabernacles.

For, lo, they are gone forth because of the desolation: Egypt will gather them up, Moph will bury them: the pleasant chambers for their silver, —these shall nettles take possession of; thorns shall [grow] in their tents.

7 The days of visitation have arrived; the days of retribution are here. Know this, Israel: that the prophet was foolish, the spiritual man was mad, because of the multitude of your iniquities and the great extent of your foolishness.

Come are the days of the visitation, come are the days of thy recompense; this shall Israel experience: a fool was the prophet, mad the inspired man, because of the greatness of thy iniquity, and the great hatefulness.

8 The watcher of Ephraim was with my God. The prophet has become a snare of ruin over all his ways; insanity is in the house of his God.

The watchman of Ephraim with my God, the prophet, was a snare of the fowler on all his ways, a hateful thing in the house of his god.

9 They have sinned profoundly, just as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity, and he will repay their sin.

They are deeply corrupt, as in the days of Gib'ah: he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

10 I discovered Israel like grapes in the desert. Like the first fruits of the fig tree, I saw their fathers on the end of its branches. But they went in to Baal-peor, and they have been estranged by intermingling, and they have become abominable, just like the things that they chose to love.

Like grapes in the wilderness had I found Israel; as the first ripe fruit on the fig-tree in the first of the season had I seen your fathers; but they too went to Ba'al-pe'or: and devoted themselves unto that shameful idol, and became abominations as those they loved.

11 Ephraim has chased away their glory like a bird: from birth, and from the womb, and from conception.

As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird: there is no more birth, and no pregnancy, and no conception.

12 And even if they should nurture their sons, I will make them without children among men. Yes, and woe to them, when I have withdrawn from them.

But though they were to bring up their children, yet would I bereave them, that there should be no man: yea, woe also to themselves, when I depart from them!

13 Ephraim, as I see it, was a Tyre, founded by beauty. And Ephraim will lead his sons to execution.

Ephraim, as I have seen him like Tyre, planted in a pleasant meadow, —yet this Ephraim shall lead forth to the murderer his children.

14 Give them, O Lord. What will you give them? Give them a womb without children, and dry breasts.

Give them, O Lord, what thou wilt give! give them a miscarrying womb and dried-up breasts.

15 All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for I held them there, in their hatred. Because of the malice of their inventions, I will expel them from my house. I will no longer say that I love them; all their leaders have retreated.

All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I [learnt to] hate them; for the wickedness of their doings will I drive them out of my house: I will love them no farther; all their princes are rebels.

16 Ephraim has been struck; their root has been dried out: by no means will they yield fruit. And even if they should conceive, I will execute the most beloved of their womb.

Smitten is Ephraim, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit; yea, though they should bring forth, yet would I slay the beloved fruit of their body.

17 My God will cast them aside because they have not listened to him; and they will be wanderers among the nations.

My God will reject them, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.