Hosea 9:1-11

1 Israel, do not thou be glad, do not thou make full out joy as (other) peoples; for thou hast done fornication, (going away) from thy God. Thou lovedest meed on all the cornfloors of wheat. (Israel, do not thou be happy, do not thou rejoice like other peoples; for thou hast done adultery, or idolatry, going away from thy God. Thou hast received thy reward, or thy bounty, on all the threshing floors for corn.)

2 The cornfloor and presser shall not feed them, and wine shall lie (down) to them. (But soon the threshing floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the wine shall fail before them.)

3 They shall not dwell in the land of the Lord. Ephraim turned again in to Egypt, and ate defouled thing among Assyrians. (They shall not live in the land of the Lord. Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and shall eat defiled things among the Assyrians.)

4 They shall not offer wine to the Lord, and they shall not please him. The sacrifices of them be as bread of mourners; all that shall eat it shall be defouled. For the bread of them is to the life of them; they shall not enter into the house of the Lord. (They shall not offer wine to the Lord, and they shall not please him. Their sacrifices be like the bread of mourners; all who shall eat it shall be defiled. For their bread shall only be for their life, or for their sustenance; they shall not enter into the House of the Lord with it.)

5 What shall ye do in the solemn day, in the day of the feast of the Lord? (What shall ye do on the solemn day, yea, on the feast day of the Lord?)

6 For lo! they be gone out from destroying. Egypt shall gather them together, Memphis shall bury them. A nettle shall inherit the desirable silver of them, a clote shall be in the tabernacles of them (Nettles shall inherit their treasures of silver, thorns shall grow in their tents).

7 Days of visitation be come, days of yielding be come. Know ye, that Israel is a fool, a mad prophet, a spiritual man, for the multitude of thy wickedness is also the multitude of madness. (Days of punishment have come, days of yielding vengeance have come, and Israel shall know it. And now the prophet shall be made a fool, and the spiritual man a madman, for the multitude of thy wickedness and thy hatred.)

8 The beholder of Ephraim with my God is a prophet; a snare of falling is made now on all the ways of him, strong vengeance is in the house of his God. (The watchman for Ephraim was sent from his God; but the prophet is made a snare of falling in all their ways, and strong vengeance is in the House of his God/but a snare of falling is made on all the ways of the prophet, and strong vengeance is in the House of his God.)

9 They sinned deeply, as in the days of Gibeah. The Lord shall have mind on the wickedness of them, and shall visit the sins of them. (They sinned deeply, like in the days of Gibeah. The Lord shall remember their wickedness, and shall punish them for their sins.)

10 I found Israel as grapes in desert, I saw the fathers of them as the first apples of a fig tree, in the top thereof; but they entered to Baalpeor, and were aliened [away] in[to] confusion, and they were made abominable as those things which they loved. (I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness, I saw their forefathers like the first fruits of a fig tree, high on the top of it; but they turned to Baalpeor, and went their way in confusion, and they were made as abominable as those things which they loved.)

11 Ephraim as a bird flew away; the glory of them is of child-bearing, and of the womb, and of conceiving. (The glory of Ephraim shall fly away like a bird; yea, away from child-bearing, and away from the womb, and even away from conceiving.)

Hosea 9:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 9

This chapter is an address to Israel or the ten tribes, and contains either a new sermon, or is a very considerable part of the former upon the same subject, the sins and punishment of that people. It begins with an instruction to them, not to rejoice in their prosperity, as others did; since it would soon be at an end, because of their idolatry, which was everywhere committed, and for which they expected a reward of temporal good things, Ho 9:1; but, on the contrary, they are threatened with famine, with want both of corn and wine, Ho 9:2; and with an ejection out of their land into foreign countries; where they should be obliged to eat things unclean by their law, Ho 9:3; and where their sacrifices and solemnities should be no more attended to, Ho 9:4,5; yea, where their carcasses should fall and be buried, while their own country and houses lay waste and desolate, Ho 9:6; for, whatsoever their foolish and mad prophets said to the contrary, who pretended to be with God, and know his will, and were a snare to them that gave heed unto them, and brought hatred on them, the time of their punishment would certainly come, Ho 9:7,8; and their iniquities would be remembered and visited; seeing their corruptions were deep, like those that appeared in Gibeah, in the days of old, Ho 9:9; they acting the same ungrateful part their fathers had done, of whom they were a degenerate offspring, Ho 9:10; wherefore for these, and other offences mentioned, they are threatened with being bereaved of their children, and drove out of their land, to wander among the nations, Ho 9:11-17.