Hosea 9 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Don't celebrate, Israel — stop partying like the other nations. You've been unfaithful to your God. You loved the prostitute's fee on every threshing floor where grain was harvested.

The threshing floor and wine vat will not sustain them; the new wine will betray her hopes.

They will not stay in Yahweh's land. Ephraim will go back to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat food that is ritually contaminated.

They will not pour out wine offerings to Yahweh; none of their sacrifices will satisfy him. Their bread will be like mourners' bread — everyone who eats it becomes contaminated. Their food will only fill their stomachs; it will never enter Yahweh's house.

What will you do on the day of the appointed festival, on the day of Yahweh's feast?

Look — even if they escape the destruction, Egypt will gather them up, Memphis will bury them. Their precious silver treasures? Nettles will inherit those. Thorns will overrun their tents.

The days of reckoning have arrived. The days of payback are here. Let Israel know this! The prophet is called a fool, the inspired one is called insane — because your corruption is so deep and your hostility so intense.

The prophet is a watchman over Ephraim, standing with my God — yet traps are set on all his paths, and hostility waits inside God's own house.

They have sunk deep into depravity, just like the days of Gibeah. God will remember their corruption; he will make them pay for their failures.

I found Israel like grapes in the desert; I saw your ancestors like the first fruit on a young fig tree. But then they came to Baal-Peor and gave themselves to that shameful thing, and they became as revolting as the thing they loved.

Ephraim's glory will fly away like a bird — no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.

Even if they do raise children, I will strip every one away before they grow up. What devastation waits for them when I turn away!

Ephraim — I can see it now, planted in a meadow like Tyre. But Ephraim will lead their own children out to the slaughter.

Give them — Yahweh, what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts that dry up.

All their wickedness began at Gilgal; that is where I started to despise them. Because of the evil they've done, I will drive them out of my house. I will not love them anymore. All their leaders are rebels.

Ephraim is struck down — their root has dried up; they will bear no fruit. Even if they do give birth, I will kill the precious children of their wombs.

My God will reject them because they have not listened to him, and they will become wanderers among the nations.