Hosea 9
1 [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.
Do not rejoice, Israel, with joy like the other peoples. For you have been unfaithful, forsaking your God. You love to pay the wages a prostitute requires on all the threshing floors.
2 [But soon] there will not be enough grain [MTY, PRS] and wine [MTY, PRS] for you.
But the threshing floor and the winepress will not feed them; the new wine will fail them.
3 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.
They will not continue to live in Yahweh's land; instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt, and one day they will eat unclean food in Assyria.
4 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.
They will pour out no wine offerings to Yahweh, neither will they be pleasing to him. Their sacrifices will be to them like mourners' food: all who eat it will be defiled. For their food will be for themselves only; it will not come into the house of Yahweh.
5 At that time you will not [RHQ] be able to celebrate the feasts and sacred festivals.
What will you do on the day of an appointed festival, on the day of a festival for Yahweh?
6 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.
For, look, if they escape from destruction, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. As for their treasures of silver— sharp briers will possess them, and thorns will fill their tents.
7 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.
The days for punishment are coming; the days for retribution are coming. Let all Israel know these things. The prophet is a fool, and the inspired man is insane, because of your great iniquity and great hostility.
8 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.
The prophet is the watchman for my God over Ephraim. But a bird snare is on all of his paths, and hostility toward him is in the house of his God.
9 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.
They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah. God will call to mind their iniquity, and he will punish their sins.
10 [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.
Yahweh says, “When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the wilderness. Like the very first fruit of the season on the fig tree, I found your fathers. But they went to Baal Peor, and they devoted themselves to that shameful idol. They became as detestable as the idol they loved.
11 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.
As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird. There will be no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.
12 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!
Though they have brought up children, I will take them away so that none of them is left. Woe to them when I turn away from them!
13 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].”
I have seen Ephraim, just like Tyre, planted in a meadow, but Ephraim will bring out his children to someone who will slaughter them.”
14 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].
Give them, Yahweh—what will you give them? Give them a miscarrying womb and breasts that give no milk.
15 [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].
“Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal, that is where I began to hate them. Because of their sinful deeds, I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their officials are rebels.
16 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.
Ephraim is diseased, and their root is dried up; they bear no fruit. Even if they have children, I will put their beloved children to death.”
17 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].”
My God will reject them because they have not obeyed him. They will become wanderers among the nations.
