Hosea 9:1-3

Context

Fertility Cult Festivals Have Intoxicated Israel

9:1 O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly¹ like the nations,

for you are unfaithful² to your God.

You love to receive a prostitute's wages³

on all the floors where you thresh your grain.

9:2 Threshing floors and wine vats will not feed the people,⁴

and new wine only deceives them.⁵

Assyrian Exile Will Reverse the Egyptian Exodus

9:3 They will not remain in the Lord’s land.

Ephraim will return to Egypt;

they will eat ritually unclean food in Assyria.

[9:1] ¹tn Heb “do not rejoice unto jubilation”; KJV “Rejoice not…for joy”; NASB “Do not rejoice…with exultation.”

[9:1] ²tn Heb “you have committed adultery”; NRSV “you have played the whore.”

[9:1] ³tn Heb “you love the wages of the prostitute” (NIV similar); NAB “loving a harlot’s hire.”

[9:2] ⁴tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:2] ⁵tn Heb “her” (so KJV, ASV). This is taken as a collective singular (so also most modern English versions).