Hosea 9

Contemporary English Version

Israel Will Be Punished

9 Israel, don't celebrate
or make noisy shouts^[a]
    like other nations.
You have been unfaithful
    to your God.
Wherever grain is threshed,
    you behave like prostitutes
because you enjoy
    the money you receive.^[b]
²But you will run short
    of grain and wine,
³and you will have to leave
    the land of the Lord.
Some of you will go to Egypt;
others will go to Assyria
    and eat unclean food.

⁴You won't be able to offer
sacrifices of wine
    to the Lord.
None of your sacrifices
    will please him—
they will be unclean
    like food offered to the dead.
Your food will only be used
    to satisfy your hunger;
none of it will be brought
    to the Lord's temple.
⁵You will no longer be able
to celebrate the festival
    of the Lord.^[c]
⁶Even if you escape alive,
you will end up in Egypt
    and be buried in Memphis.^[d]
Your silver treasures
    will be lost among weeds;^[e]
thorns will sprout in your tents.

⁷^(A) Israel, the time has come.
You will get what you deserve,
    and you will know it.
“Prophets are fools,” you say.
“And God's messengers
    are crazy.”
Your terrible guilt
    has filled you with hatred.

⁸Israel, the Lord sent me
    to look after you.^[f]
But you trap his prophets
and flood his temple
    with your hatred.
⁹^(B) You are brutal and corrupt,
    as were the men of Gibeah.^[g]
But God remembers your sin,
    and you will be punished.

Sin's Terrible Results

¹⁰^(C) Israel, when I, the Lord,
    found you long ago
it was like finding
grapes in a barren desert
    or tender young figs.
Then you worshiped Baal Peor,
    that disgusting idol,
and you became as disgusting
    as the idol you loved.

¹¹And so, Israel, your glory
    will fly away like birds—
your women will no longer
    be able to give birth.
¹²Even if you do have children,
I will take them all
    and leave you to mourn.
I will turn away,
and you will sink down
    in deep trouble.
¹³Israel, when I first met you,
I thought of you as palm trees
    growing in fertile ground.^[h]
Now you lead your people out,
    only to be slaughtered.

Hosea's Advice

¹⁴Our Lord, do just one thing
for your people—
make their women unable
to have children
or to nurse their babies.

The Lord's Judgment on Israel

¹⁵Israel, I first began
to hate you because
    you did evil at Gilgal.^[i]
Now I will chase you
    out of my house.
No longer will I love you;
    your leaders betrayed me.
¹⁶Israel, you are a vine
with dried-up roots
    and fruitless branches.
Even if you had more children
and loved them dearly,
    I would slaughter them all.

Hosea Warns Israel

¹⁷Israel, you disobeyed my God.
Now he will force you to roam
from nation to nation.

Footnotes

9.1 or … shouts: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
9.1 Wherever … receive: Grain was threshed on hills or other places where the wind could blow away the husks. People also met at these places to worship Baal, the god they thought had given them the grain harvest.
9.5 festival of the Lord: Probably the Festival of Shelters.
9.6 Memphis: An Egyptian city with a famous cemetery.
9.6 Your silver … weeds: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
9.8 Israel … you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
9.9 the men of Gibeah: They raped and murdered a woman (see Judges 19).
9.13 Israel, when … ground: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
9.15 Gilgal: See 4.15.