Hos 9 | HCSB | STEP | Israel , do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do, for you have acted promiscuously , leaving your God . You have loved the wages of a prostitute on every grain-threshing floor .

‏ Hosea 9

The Coming Exile

1 Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do, ^a
for you have acted promiscuously, ^b leaving your God.
You have loved the wages of a prostitute
on every grain-threshing floor. ^c
2 Threshing floor and wine vat will not sustain them, ^d
and the new wine will fail them.
3 They will not stay in the land of the Lord.
Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt, ^e
and they will eat ^{▼▼unclean: When something is clean, it is holy or acceptable to God. When it is unclean, it is unholy (such as an unclean spirit). The term can be used in a ritual sense to apply to moral standards for living.}unclean food ^g in Assyria. ^h

4 They will not pour out
their wine offerings to the Lord, ⁱ
and their sacrifices will not please Him.
Their food will be like the bread of mourners;
all who eat it become defiled. ^j
For their bread will be for their appetites alone;
it will not enter the house of the Lord.
5 What will you do on a festival day, ^k
on the day of the Lord’s feast? ^l
6 For even if they flee from devastation,
Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. ^m
Thistles will take possession of their precious silver;
thorns will invade their tents. ⁿ

7 The days of punishment have come; ^o
the days of retribution have come. ^p
Let Israel recognize it!
The prophet is a fool, ^q
and the inspired man is insane, ^r
because of the magnitude
of your ^{▼▼guilt/guilty: The liability to be punished for a fault, a sin, an act, or an omission unless there is forgiveness or atonement; the term normally concerns an objective fact, not a subjective feeling.}guilt and hostility. ^t
8 Ephraim’s watchman is with my God.
The prophet encounters a fowler’s snare
on all his ways. ^u
Hostility is in the house of his God!
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves ^v
as in the days of Gibeah. ^w
He will remember their guilt;
He will punish their sins. ^x

Ephraim Bereaved of Offspring

10 I discovered Israel
like grapes in the wilderness. ^y
I saw your fathers
like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season. ^z
But they went to Baal-peor, ^aa
consecrated themselves to Shame, ^{▼▼= Baal
,} ^ac
and became detestable, ^ad
like the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird: ^ae
no birth, no gestation, no conception. ^af
12 Even if they raise children,
I will bereave them of each one.
Yes, woe to them when I depart from them! ^ag
13 I have seen Ephraim like Tyre, ^ah
planted in a meadow,
so Ephraim will bring out his children
to the executioner.
14 Give them, Lord –
What should You give?
Give them a womb that miscarries
and breasts that are dry! ^ai

15 All their evil appears at Gilgal, ^aj
for there I came to hate them.
I will drive them from My house
because of their evil, wicked actions. ^ak
I will no longer love them;
all their leaders are rebellious. ^al
16 Ephraim ^am is struck down;
their roots are withered;
they cannot bear fruit. ^an
Even if they bear children,
I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs. ^ao
17 My God will reject them
because they have not listened to Him; ^ap
they will become wanderers among the nations. ^aq