Hosea

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  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14

Ephraim Punished

9 
Do not rejoice, Israel, [a]with jubilation like the [b]nations!

For you have been unfaithful, [c]abandoning your God.

You have loved the earnings of unfaithfulness on [d]every threshing floor.

2 Threshing floor and wine press will not feed them,

And the new wine will fail [e]them.

3 They will not remain in the Lord’s land,

But Ephraim will return to Egypt,

And in Assyria they will eat unclean food.

4 They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord,

Nor will [f]their sacrifices please Him.

Their bread will be to them like [g]mourners’ bread;

All who eat it will be defiled,

Because their bread will be for [h]themselves alone;

It will not enter the house of the Lord.

5 What will you do on the day of the appointed festival

And on the day of the feast of the Lord?

6 For behold, they will be gone because of destruction;

Egypt will gather them together, Memphis will bury them.

Weeds will take possession of their treasures of silver;

Thorns will be in their tents.

7 The days of punishment have come,

The days of retribution have come;

[i]Let Israel know this!

The prophet is a fool,

The [j]inspired person is insane,

Because of the grossness of your wrongdoing,

And because your [k]hostility is so great.

8 Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet;

Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways,

And there is only [l]hostility in the house of his God.

9 They are deeply depraved

As in the days of Gibeah;

He will remember their guilt,

He will punish their sins.

10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness;

I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season.

But they came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to [m]shame,

And they became as detestable as that which they loved.

11 As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird—

No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!

12 Though they bring up their children,

Yet I will bereave them of their children [n]until not a person is left.

Yes, woe to them indeed when I depart from them!

13 Ephraim, as I have seen,

Is planted in a pasture like Tyre;

But Ephraim is going to bring out his children for slaughter.

14 Give to them, Lord—what will You give?

Give them a miscarrying womb and dried-up breasts.

15 All their evil is at Gilgal;

Indeed, I came to hate them there!

Because of the wickedness of their deeds

I will drive them out of My house!

I will no longer love them;

All their leaders are rebels.

16 Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up,

They will produce no fruit.

Even though they give birth to children,

I will put to death the precious ones of their womb.

17 My God will reject them

Because they have not listened to Him;

And they will be wanderers among the nations.

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 9:1 Lit to
  2. Hosea 9:1 Lit peoples
  3. Hosea 9:1 Lit away from your God
  4. Hosea 9:1 Lit all threshing floors of grain
  5. Hosea 9:2 Lit her
  6. Hosea 9:4 Or they offer to Him their
  7. Hosea 9:4 Lit bread of mourning
  8. Hosea 9:4 Lit their soul
  9. Hosea 9:7 Or Israel will know this
  10. Hosea 9:7 Lit man of the spirit
  11. Hosea 9:7 Or persecution
  12. Hosea 9:8 Or persecution
  13. Hosea 9:10 I.e., Baal
  14. Hosea 9:12 Lit without a person