Hosea 9:1-9

1Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation as do the [pagan] peoples, For you have played the prostitute, turning away from your God. You have loved prostitutes’ earnings on every threshing floor [attributing the harvest to the Baals instead of to God].

2The threshing floor and the wine press will no longer feed them, And the new wine will fail them [because they failed to honor the God who provides].

3They will not remain in the land of the Lord, But Ephraim will return to [another] Egypt [in bondage] And they will eat [ceremonially] unclean food in Assyria.

4They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord; Their sacrifices will not please Him. Their bread will be like mourners’ bread [eaten at funerals]; All who eat it will be [ceremonially] unclean, For their bread will be for themselves; It will not enter the house of the Lord [to be consecrated].

5What will you do on the day of the appointed festival And on the day of the feast of the Lord [when you are in exile]?

6For behold, they will go away because of devastation and destruction; Egypt will gather them up, Memphis will bury them. Weeds will take over their treasures of silver; Thorns will grow in their tents.

7The days of punishment have come; The days of retribution are at hand; Let Israel know this! The prophet is [considered] a fool; The man [of God] who is inspired is [treated as if] demented, Because of the abundance of your wickedness and guilt, And because your deep antagonism [toward God and the prophets] is so great.

8Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a [true] prophet [to warn the nation]; But the snare of a bird catcher was laid in all his paths. And there is only deep hostility in the house of his God (the land of Israel).

9They have deeply corrupted (perverted) themselves As in the days of Gibeah. The Lord will remember their wickedness and guilt; He will punish their sins.