Hosea 9

₁People of Israel, do not celebrate

and rejoice like other people,

because they were unfaithful to their God.

They have been like a prostitute against their God

on all the threshing-floors.

₂They will not get any wheat

or olive oil or wine.

₃They will not always live

in the land of the Lord.

The people of Ephraim will go back

to Egypt and they will

eat food in Assyria that is impure.

₄There they will not be able

to sacrifice wine to the Lord

and the Lord will not be pleased

with their offerings.

The food they will eat will make them impure.

It will be like the food that people eat

when they mourn someone who has died.

It will be food that is impure

that they may not bring

into the temple of the Lord.

₅You will not be able to come together

to celebrate the Feast of the Lord,

₆because your people who

are still_alive will go to Egypt.

Their graves will be in the city of Memphis.

The treasures they had

will be covered by weeds.

There will be thorns growing in their tents.

₇The Lord will punish you

and it will happen soon.

The Israelites will know this.

You think the prophet is a fool.

You think he is mad

when the Lord shows him what will happen.

He is like that because you have done

such a lot of sins and because

all of you are his enemies.

₈God has sent the prophet

and he must look after the people of Ephraim.

But they want to catch the prophet

like they catch a bird.

They want to attack him,

even in the temple of his God.

₉You are very bad people.

You are as bad as the people

of the town of Gibeah were long ago.

The Lord will remember what you have done

and He will punish you for your sins.

‘I was pleased with the Israelites long ago,

as pleased as someone is

when he finds grapes in the desert,

as pleased as people are when they get

the first figs on a young fig tree.

But your forefathers did wrong.

They worshipped_idols in Baal-Peor

and they became as bad as the idols.

₁₁Everything that the people of Ephraim

were proud of will disappear.

It will be like a dove that flies away

and never comes back.

The people of Ephraim

will not have children anymore.

₁₂And when they try to raise

their other children,

I will kill them. No one will stay alive.

They will all suffer

when I leave them and go away.

₁₃To Me, the people of Ephraim

were like young palm trees in good ground,

but now the people of Ephraim

have to bring their children

so that someone can kill them.’

‘Lord, what will You do

for the people of Israel?

This is what You must do.

Please stop them from having babies.’

‘The Israelites started to sin

in the town of Gilgal.

I started to hate them at that time

because they were doing wrong.

I will now chase them away,

out of my temple,

because I don't want to love them anymore.

Their officials do not want to listen to Me.

₁₆The people of Ephraim

have become like vines that are sick

and do not have any grapes.

Their roots are dry.

The people of Ephraim

will not have any more children,

and if they do have children,

I will cause them to die.’

‘My God says the people of Ephraim

are not his people anymore,

because they did not listen to Him.

That is why they now have to go

from one place to another place

in different lands of other nations.’