Hosea 9

1REJOICE not, Israel; nor be elated like the tribes, because thou hast gone a-whoring from thy God. Thou didst love gifts on every corn floor;

2floor and press have disowned them, and the wine hath disappointed them.

3They did not dwell in the land of the Lord: Ephraim became an inhabitant of Egypt; therefore among the Assyrians they shall eat unclean things.

4They did not pour out wine to the Lord nor offer His sweet incense; their sacrifices shall be to them like the bread of affliction; all that eat thereof shall be polluted. Seeing their funeral loaves cannot come into the house of the Lord,

5what will you do on the day of a solemn assembly; and on a day of a festival of the Lord?

6For this cause, behold, they are going from the misery of Egypt; and Memphis shall receive them and Machmas shall bury them. As for their silver, destruction shall inherit it. Thorns shall be in their habitations.

7The days of the visitation are come; at hand are the days of thy recompence, and Israel shall be afflicted like the prophet who was struck with horror—the man who had been taken by winds [of madness]. By the multitude of thine iniquities thy madness was increased.

8(p) Ephraim was a watchman with God; [but that] prophet was a cunning snare in all his ways; they had made madness in a house of God;

9they were corrupt as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity; He will punish their sins.

10(J) I found Israel as a bunch of grapes in a wilderness; and I saw their fathers like an early watcher in a fig orchard. They went to Beelphegor and abandoned themselves to shame, and became as abominable as they had been beloved.

11Ephraim is flown like a bird; their glories from parentage, births, and conceptions are gone.

12For thou they bring up their children, they shall be bereaved of them from among men: for (and alas for them! My flesh is of them)

13Ephraim, as I have seen, have roused their children for a hunt—even Ephraim hath, that he may lead out his children to a fatal conflict. Give them—

15All their wickedness was occasioned by Galgal; * because I hated them there on account of the wickedness of their devices, I will drive them out of My house; I will no longer continue to love them. All their chiefs are become rebellious.

16Ephraim is in distress. His roots are withered. He shall no more produce fruit. For though they bring forth, I will slay the beloved fruit of the womb.