Osee 9

1 Rejoice not, O Israel, neither make merry, as [other] nations: for you have gone a-whoring from your God; you have loved gifts upon every threshing floor.

[You people of] Israel, do not shout joyfully [during your festivals] like [people of other] nations do! [I say that] because you have (not been faithful to/abandoned) me, your God. At every place where the people thresh grain you have [presented gifts to your idols like men] pay money to prostitutes.

2 The threshing floor and wine-press knew them not, and the wine disappointed them.

[But soon] there will not be enough grain [MTY, PRS] and wine [MTY, PRS] for you.

3 They lived not in the Lord's land: Ephraim lived in Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things among the Assyrians.

And you people will not remain in the land that I, Yahweh, [gave to your ancestors]. You will be [captured and] taken to [Assyria], [where you will become slaves like your ancestors were] in Egypt; and in Assyria you will be forced to eat food that Yahweh has forbidden you to eat.

4 They have not offered wine to the Lord, neither have their sacrifices been sweet to him, [but] as the bread of mourning to them; all that eat them shall be defiled; for their bread for their soul shall not enter into the house of the Lord.

You Israelis will not [be able to] give wine offerings to him, or bring sacrifices to him. None of your other sacrifices will please him; they will be unacceptable to him, like [SIM] food that is touched by people at funerals, and everyone who eats that food will become unacceptable to him. They will be permitted to eat that food themselves, but they will not [be permitted to] bring it into the temple.

5 What will you do in the day of the general assembly, and in the day of the feast of the Lord?

At that time you will not [RHQ] be able to celebrate the feasts and sacred festivals.

6 Therefore, behold, they go forth from the trouble of Egypt, and Memphis shall receive them, and Machmas shall bury them: [as for] their silver, destruction shall inherit it; thorns [shall be] in their tents.

And even if you escape and are not killed [by the Assyrians], you will be captured by [the army of] Egypt, and you will [die and] be buried in Memphis, [the capital of Egypt]. Briers will [grow up and] cover your treasures of silver, and thorns will grow in your [ruined] tents/houses.

7 The days of vengeance are come, the days of your recompense are come; and Israel shall be afflicted as the prophet that is mad, as a man deranged: by reason of the multitude of your iniquities your madness has abounded.

It is now the time for Yahweh to punish you, to pay you back for all the sins that you have committed. You people will [soon] know that. You have [committed] very many sins, and you very much hate Yahweh. You consider that the prophets are foolish, and you think that those who proclaim messages from him are crazy.

8 The watchman of Ephraim [was] with God: the prophet is a crooked snare in all his ways: they have established madness in the house of God.

My God appointed [me and the other] prophets to be [like] [MET] watchmen [to warn] you people of Israel, but everywhere that we go, [it is as though] people set traps for us and people are hostile [to us, even] in the temple of our God.

9 They have corrupted themselves according to the days of the hill: he will remember their iniquities, he will take vengeance on their sins.

The sins that the Israeli people have committed are as awful as [what the men of] Gibeah did long ago; [so] God will not forget the wicked things that they have done; he will punish the Israelis for [all] those sins.

10 I found Israel as grapes in the wilderness, and I saw their fathers as an early watchman in a fig tree: they went in to Beel-phegor, and were shamefully estranged, and the abominable became as the beloved.

[Yahweh says], “When I first started [to do things to help] Israel, it seemed to me as though [SIM] I had found grapes in the desert. Your ancestors were [delightful], like [SIM] the first figs that grow on fig trees [each year]. But when they came to Peor [Mountain], they worshiped that disgusting idol Baal, and they became as disgusting as the idol that they loved.

11 Ephraim has flown away as a bird; their glories from the birth, and the travail, and the conception.

The things that cause Israel to be great will disappear like [SIM] a bird that flies away; [most of their women will] not become pregnant [DOU] or give birth to children.

12 For even if they should rear their children, yet shall they be utterly bereaved: therefore also there is woe to them, [though] my flesh is of them.

Even if their children are born and start to grow up, I will cause all of them to die [while they are still young]. Terrible things will happen to them when I abandon them!

13 Ephraim, [even] as I saw, gave their children for a prey; yes, Ephraim [was ready] to bring out his children to slaughter.

I have seen Israel become beautiful and prosperous like Tyre [city] was [before it was destroyed], but now the people of Israel will [be forced to] take their children to be slaughtered [by their enemies].”

14 Give them, O Lord: what will you give them? a miscarrying womb, and dry breasts.

Yahweh, [I do not know] [RHQ] what I should ask for my people. So I ask that you do this one thing: Cause the women who are pregnant to have miscarriages and unable [to nurse their babies].

15 All their wickedness is in Galgal: for there I hated them: because of the wickedness of their practices, I will cast them out of my house, I will not love them any more: all their princes are disobedient.

[Yahweh says], “Because of all the wicked things that my people did at Gilgal, that is where I started to hate them. [And now], because of [all] the sinful things that they have done, I will expel them from my country. I will not love them any longer; all their leaders rebel [against me].

16 Ephraim is sick, he is dried up at his roots, he shall in no wise any more bear fruit: therefore even if they should beget [children], I will kill the desired [fruit] of their womb.

Israel is like [MET] a grapevine that is dried up; [like a vine] [MET] whose roots are withered and that produces no fruit. Even if the [women of Israel] give birth to [more] children, I will cause those children, whom they love, to die.

17 God shall reject them, because they have not listened to him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

The people of Israel have not obeyed me, their God, so I will reject them. [As a result], they will wander among the [other] nations, [searching for a place to live].”