HoseaChapter 9

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¹Do not rejoice, Israel.
Do not shout for joy like the nations.
For you have left your God to act like a prostitute.
You have sold your love for pay
on every threshing floor. ²The threshing floor and the winepress will not feed them.
The new wine will fail them. ³They will not stay in the LORD's land.
Ephraim will go back to Egypt
and eat unclean food in Assyria. ⁴They will not pour out wine offerings to the LORD.
Their sacrifices will not please him.
To them, these will be like bread eaten by mourners.
All who eat it will be made unclean.
Their bread will be for themselves alone.
It will not come into the house of the LORD. ⁵What will you do on the appointed day,
on the day of the LORD's feast? ⁶Even if they escape being destroyed,
Egypt will gather them up,
and Memphis will bury them.
Thistles will take over their precious silver.
Thorns will fill their tents. ⁷The days of punishment have come.
The days of payback have arrived.
Let Israel know it!
The prophet is called a fool.
The man of the spirit is called crazy.
This is because your sin is so great,
and your hatred is so great. ⁸The prophet is Ephraim's watchman,
along with my God.
Yet a bird trap is set on all his paths.
There is hatred in the house of his God! ⁹They have sunk deep into evil,
as in the days of Gibeah.
God will remember their guilt.
He will punish their sins. ¹⁰When I found Israel,
it was like finding grapes in the desert.
When I saw your fathers,
it was like seeing the firstfruits of the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to Baal-peor
and gave themselves to Shame.
They became as disgusting as the thing they loved.a ¹¹Ephraim's glory will fly away like a bird.
There will be no birth,
no carrying a child,
and no becoming pregnant. ¹²Even if they raise children,
I will take each one away from them.
Yes, how terrible it will be for them
when I turn away from them! ¹³I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre,
planted in a meadow.
But Ephraim will bring out his children to be killed. ¹⁴Give them, LORD—
what will you give them?
Give them wombs that lose their babies
and breasts that are dry! ¹⁵All their evil shows up at Gilgal,
for there I hated them.
Because of their wicked deeds,
I will drive them out of my house.
I will not love them anymore.
All their leaders are rebels. ¹⁶Ephraim is struck down.
Their root is dried up.
They cannot bear fruit.
Even if they have children,
I will kill the dear children of their wombs. ¹⁷My God will reject them,
because they have not obeyed him.
They will be wanderers among the nations.