Hosea 9

1 Israel, don't rejoice! Don't celebrate like other nations! For you have practiced prostitution; you have loved a prostitute's wages on every threshing floor of grain.

Have no joy, O Israel, and do not be glad like the nations; for you have been untrue to your God; your desire has been for the loose woman's reward on every grain-floor.

2 Your threshing floors and winepresses will not feed you; the land will fail to produce your new wine.

The grain-floor and the place where the grapes are crushed will not give them food; there will be no new wine for them.

3 You will not stay in the Lord's land, instead Ephraim will return to Egypt, and will eat unclean food in Assyria.

They will have no resting-place in the Lord's land, but Ephraim will go back to Egypt, and they will take unclean food in Assyria.

4 You won't pour out any drink offerings to the Lord. None of your sacrifices will please him. Your sacrifices will be like food eaten by a person in mourning—all who eat will be unclean. You will eat this food yourselves, but it will not enter the house of the Lord.

They will give no wine offering to the Lord, they will not make offerings ready for him; their bread will be like the bread of those in sorrow; all who take it will be unclean, because their bread will be only for their desire, it will not come into the house of the Lord.

5 What are you going to do on the days of your appointed religious feasts, on the days of the festivals of the Lord?

What will you do on the day of worship, and on the day of the feast of the Lord?

6 Look, they have left because of the destruction: Egypt with gather them, and Memphis will bury them. They gain a “valued possession” for their silver. Weeds will possess them, and thorns will grow over their tents.

For see, they are going away into Assyria; Egypt will get them together, Memphis will be their last resting-place; their fair silver vessels will be covered over with field plants, and thorns will come up in their tents.

7 The time of punishment has come; the day of retribution has arrived. Let Israel know! You say the prophet is a fool, the man of the Spirit is mad, because your sin and hostility is so great.

The days of punishment, the days of reward are come; Israel will be put to shame; the prophet is foolish, the man who has the spirit is off his head, because of your great sin.

8 The watchman over Ephraim is with my God, and a prophet is a birdcatcher's snare on all his ways. Hatred is in the house of his God

There is great hate against the watchman of Ephraim, the people of my God; as for the prophet, there is a net in all his ways, and hate in the house of his God.

9 for they have corrupted themselves so deeply, as in the time of Gibeah. He will remember their sin; he will punish their wickedness.

They have gone deep in evil as in the days of Gibeah; he will keep in mind their wrongdoing, he will give them punishment for their sins.

10 When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert. When I saw your forefathers it was like seeing early fruit on the fig tree. But when they came to Baal Peor, they gave themselves over to that shameful idol, becoming as filthy as the filthy thing they loved.

I made discovery of Israel as of grapes in the waste land; I saw your fathers as the first-fruits of the fig-tree in her early fruit time; but they came to Baal-peor, and made themselves holy to the thing of shame, and became disgusting like that to which they gave their love.

11 Ephraim! Like a bird that flies away so shall your glory—no births, no pregnancies, no conceptions.

As for Ephraim, their glory will go in flight like a bird: there will be no birth and no one with child and no giving of life.

12 Even if they bring up children, I will make sure they do not survive. What a disaster for you when I turn away from you!

Even though their children have come to growth I will take them away, so that not a man will be there; for their evil-doing will be complete and they will be put to shame because of it.

13 Ephraim! Just as I saw Tyre planted in a meadow, so too Ephraim will lead out his children to the murderer.

As I have seen a beast whose young have been taken from her, so Ephraim will give birth to children only for them to be put to death.

14 Give them—well, Lord, what should you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry and dry breasts.

O Lord, what will you give them? Give them bodies which may not give birth and breasts without milk.

15 All of their evil began at Gilgal, and that's where I began to hate them. I will drive them out of my house because of their wickedness. I will love them no longer; all their leaders are rebels.

All their evil-doing is in Gilgal; there I had hate for them; because of their evil-doing I will send them out of my house; they will no longer be dear to me; all their rulers are uncontrolled.

16 Ephraim, you are blighted, dried up from the roots. You shall bear no fruit. Even if you have children, I will slaughter your beloved offspring.

The rod has come on Ephraim, their root is dry, let them have no fruit; even though they give birth, I will put to death the dearest fruit of their bodies.

17 My God will reject you because you have not listened to him, and you will become homeless wanderers among the nations.

My God will give them up because they did not give ear to him; they will be wandering among the nations.