HOSEA 9 [†] Rejoice not, O Israel!

Exult not like the peoples;

 e for you have played the whore, forsaking your God.

 f You have loved a prostitute’s wages

on all threshing floors.

2  g Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,

and  g the new wine shall fail them.

3[†] They shall not remain in  h the land of the LORD,

but  i Ephraim shall return to Egypt,

and  j they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

4[†]  k They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the LORD,

 l and their sacrifices shall not please him.

It shall be like  m mourners’ bread to them;

all who eat of it shall be defiled;

for their bread shall be for their hunger only;

 n it shall not come to the house of the LORD.

5  o 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  p Egypt shall gather them;

Memphis shall bury them.

Nettles shall possess  q their precious things of silver;

 r thorns shall be in their tents.

7[†]  s The days of punishment have come;

the days of recompense have come;

Israel shall know it.

 t The prophet is a fool;

the man of the spirit is mad,

because of your great iniquity

and great hatred.

8 The prophet is  u the watchman of Ephraim with my God;

yet  v a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,

and hatred in the house of his God.

9[†]  w They have deeply corrupted themselves

as  x in the days of Gibeah:

 w he will remember their iniquity;

he will punish their sins.

10[^][†] Like grapes in the wilderness,

 y I found Israel.

Like the first fruit on the fig tree

in its first season,

I saw your fathers.

But  z they came to Baal-peor

and  a consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,

and  b became detestable like the thing they loved.

11[†] Ephraim’s  c glory shall fly away like a bird—

 d no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!

12  e Even if they bring up children,

I will bereave them till none is left.

 f Woe to them

when  g I depart from them!

13 Ephraim,  h as I have seen, was like a young palm [1] planted in a meadow;

but  e Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter. [2]

14[†] Give them, O LORD—

what will you give?

Give them  i a miscarrying womb

and dry breasts.

15 Every evil of theirs is in  j Gilgal;

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  k their princes are  l rebels.

16[†] Ephraim is stricken;

 m their root is dried up;

they shall bear no fruit.

Even  n though they give birth,

 e I will put their beloved children to death.

17  o My God will reject them

because they have not listened to him;

 p they shall be wanderers among the nations.