Old Testament · Prophets

Hosea chapter 9

Don’t celebrate, Israel — stop partying like the other nations. You’ve been to your God. You loved the on every where grain was harvested.The threshing floor and wine vat will not sustain them; the will betray her hopes.They will not stay in . will go back to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat food that is .They will not pour out to Yahweh; none of their sacrifices will satisfy him. Their bread will be like — 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 , on the day of Yahweh’s feast?Look — even if they escape the destruction, Egypt will gather them up, will bury them. Their precious silver treasures? will inherit those. Thorns will overrun their tents.The days of have arrived. The days of payback are here. Let Israel know this! The prophet is called a fool, the is called insane — because your is so deep and your hostility so intense.The prophet is a 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 . God will remember their corruption; he will make them pay for their .I found Israel like ; I saw your ancestors like the first fruit on a young fig tree. But then they came to and gave themselves to that , and they became as revolting as the thing they loved.Ephraim’s 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 waits for them when I turn away!Ephraim — I can see it now, planted in a meadow like . But Ephraim will lead their own children out to the slaughter.Give them — Yahweh, what will you give them? Give them and breasts that dry up.All their wickedness began at ; 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 .Ephraim is — 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 them because they have not listened to him, and they will become among the nations.