Hosea 9

The Lord Will Punish Israel

1 Rejoice not, O Israel!

Exult not like the peoples;

*ch. 1:2for you have played the whore, forsaking your God.

*ch. 2:5;Jer. 44:17You have loved a prostitute’s wages

on all threshing floors.

2 *[ch. 2:9]Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,

and *[ch. 2:9]the new wine shall fail them.

3 They shall not remain in *Jer. 2:7;16:18;See Lev. 25:23the land of the Lord,

but *See ch. 8:13Ephraim shall return to Egypt,

and *Ezek. 4:13;Dan. 1:8they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

4 *[ch. 3:4] They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,

*[ch. 8:13] and their sacrifices shall not please him.

It shall be like *Deut. 26:14;Ezek. 24:17mourners’ bread to them;

all who eat of it shall be defiled;

for their bread shall be for their hunger only;

*[Hag. 2:13]it shall not come to the house of the Lord.

5 *[Isa. 10:3]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 are going away from destruction;

but *See ch. 8:13Egypt shall gather them;

Memphis shall bury them.

Nettles shall possess *[ch. 10:8;Isa. 2:20] their precious things of silver;

*[ch. 10:8]thorns shall be in their tents.

7 *See Isa. 10:3The days of punishment have come;

the days of recompense have come;

Israel shall know it.

*Ezek. 13:3The prophet is a fool;

the man of the spirit is mad,

because of your great iniquity

and great hatred.

8 The prophet is *Ezek. 3:17the watchman of Ephraim with my God;

yet *Ps. 91:3;[ch. 5:1]a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,

and hatred in the house of his God.

9 *[ch. 5:2] They have deeply corrupted themselves

as *ch. 10:9;Judg. 19:22in the days of Gibeah:

*[ch. 5:2] he will remember their iniquity;

he will punish their sins.

10 Like grapes in the wilderness,

*[Ps. 80:8;Isa. 5:1] I found Israel.

Like the first fruit on the fig tree

in its first season,

I saw your fathers.

But *Num. 25:3;Ps. 106:28they came to Baal-peor

and *[ch. 4:14] consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,

and *[Rom. 1:28,29]became detestable like the thing they loved.

11 Ephraim’s *ch. 10:5;[ch. 4:7] glory shall fly away like a bird—

*[Isa. 26:18]no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!

12 *ch. 13:16Even if they bring up children,

I will bereave them till none is left.

*ch. 7:13Woe to them

when *ch. 5:6;1 Sam. 28:15,16;Ezek. 10:18I depart from them!

13 Ephraim, *[Ezek. 27:3] as I have seen, was like a young palm*9:13 Or like Tyre planted in a meadow;

but *[See ver. 12above]Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.*9:13 Hebrew to him who slaughters

14 Give them, O Lord—

what will you give?

Give them *[Luke 23:29]a miscarrying womb

and dry breasts.

15 Every evil of theirs is in *ch. 4:15;12:11Gilgal;

there I began to hate them.

Because of the wickedness of their deeds

I will drive them out of my house.

I will love them no more;

all *ch. 8:4their princes are *[ch. 5:2]rebels.

16 Ephraim is stricken;

*[ver. 11] their root is dried up;

they shall bear no fruit.

Even *[ver. 12, 13] though they give birth,

*[See ver. 12above]I will put their beloved children to death.

17 *[ch. 8:5] My God will reject them

because they have not listened to him;

*Deut. 28:64,65they shall be wanderers among the nations.