9:1 Do not rejoice, O Israel; do not be jubilant like the other nations. For you have been unfaithful to your God; you love the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor.
9:2 Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people; the new wine will fail them.
9:3 They will not remain in the LORD’S land; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.
9:4 They will not pour out wine offerings to the LORD, nor will their sacrifices please him. Such sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat them will be unclean. This food will be for themselves; it will not come into the temple of the LORD.
9:5 What will you do on the day of your appointed feasts, on the festival days of the LORD?
9:6 Even if they escape from destruction, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. Their treasures of silver will be taken over by briers, and thorns will overrun their tents.
9:7 The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand. Let Israel know this. Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac.
9:8 The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God.
9:9 They have sunk deep into corruption, as in the days of Gibeah. God will remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.
9:10 “When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your fathers, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree. But when they came to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved.
9:11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird–no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.
9:12 Even if they rear children, I will bereave them of every one. Woe to them when I turn away from them!
9:13 I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place. But Ephraim will bring out their children to the slayer.”
9:14 Give them, O LORD–what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts that are dry.
9:15 “Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal, I hated them there. Because of their sinful deeds, I will drive them out of my house. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious.
9:16 Ephraim is blighted, their root is withered, they yield no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will slay their cherished offspring.”
9:17 My God will reject them because they have not obeyed him; they will be wanderers among the nations.
9:1 Do not rejoice, O Israel, / To exult like the nations. / For you have gone as a harlot away from your God; / You have loved payment / Upon every grain floor.
9:2 The threshing floor and the winepress will not feed them, / And the new wine will fail her.
9:3 They will not dwell in the land of Jehovah; / But Ephraim will return to Egypt, / And in Assyria they will eat what is unclean.
9:4 They will not pour out offerings of wine to Jehovah, / Neither will their sacrifices be pleasing to Him; / They will be to them as the bread of mourning; / All who eat them will be unclean, / For their bread will be for themselves; / It will not come into the house of Jehovah.
9:5 What will you do / In the day of assembly / And in the day of the feast of Jehovah?
9:6 For they will go because of destruction; / Egypt will gather them; / Moph will bury them. / As for their desirable things of silver, nettles will dispossess them; / Thistles will be in their tents.
9:7 The days of the visitation have come; / The days of the recompense have come; / Israel will know it. / The prophet is a fool, / The inspired man is mad, / Because of the greatness of your iniquity / And because of the greatness of the enmity.
9:8 Ephraim was a watchman / With my God. / As for the prophet, a fowler’s trap / Is in all his ways; / Enmity is in the house of his God.
9:9 They have deeply corrupted themselves / As in the days of Gibeah; / He will remember their iniquity; / He will punish their sins.
9:10 I found Israel / Like grapes in the wilderness; / I saw your fathers / As the first ripe fruit on the fig tree at its beginning. / They went to Baal-peor / And sanctified themselves unto the shameful thing, / And they became detestable, like the thing that they loved.
9:11 As for Ephraim, their glory / Will fly away like a bird ? / No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!
9:12 For even if they bring up their children, / I will bereave them, so that not a man is left. / Indeed woe also to them / When I turn away from them.
9:13 Ephraim, as I have seen him, / Is planted like Tyre in a meadow; / But Ephraim will bring forth / His children to the slayer.
9:14 Give them, O Jehovah ? / What will You give them? / Give them a miscarrying womb / And dry breasts.
9:15 All their evil is in Gilgal, / For there I hated them. / Because of the evil of their doings / I will drive them from My house, / I will love them no more; / All their princes are rebels.
9:16 Ephraim is stricken; / Their root is dried up; / They will not bear fruit. / Indeed though they bring forth, / I will kill the beloved fruit of their womb.
9:17 My God has rejected them, / For they did not listen to Him. / And they will be wanderers among the nations.