Hosea 9:1 - Prayer Tents

Hosea Announces Punishment for Israel

9People of Israel, stop celebrating your festivals like pagans. You have turned away from your God and have been unfaithful to him. All over the land you have sold yourselves like prostitutes to the god Baal and have loved the grain you thought he paid you with!H8055H3478H1524H5971H2181H430H157H868H1637H1715

2But soon you will not have enough grain and olive oil, and there will be no wine.H1637H3342H7462H8492H3584

3The people of Israel will not remain in the LORD's land, but will have to go back to Egypt and will have to eat forbidden food in Assyria.H3427H3068H776H669H7725H4714H398H2931H804

4In those foreign lands they will not be able to make wine offerings to the LORD or bring their sacrifices to him. Their food will defile everyone who eats it, like food eaten at funerals. It will be used only to satisfy their hunger; none of it will be taken as an offering to the LORD's Temple.H5258H3196H3068H6149H2077H3899H205H398H2930H3899H5315H935H1004H3068

5And when the time comes for the appointed festivals in honor of the LORD, what will they do then?H6213H4150H3117H3117H2282H3068

6When the disaster comes and the people are scattered, the Egyptians will gather them up - gather them for burial there at Memphis! Their treasures of silver and the places where their homes once stood will be overgrown with weeds and thorn bushes.H1980H7701H4714H6908H4644H6912H4261H3701H7057H3423H2336H168

7The time for punishment has come, the time when people will get what they deserve. When that happens, Israel will know it! "This prophet," you say, "is a fool. This inspired man is insane." You people hate me so much because your sin is so great.H3117H6486H935H3117H7966H935H3478H3045H5030H191H7307H376H7696H7230H5771H7227H4895

8God has sent me as a prophet to warn his people Israel. Yet wherever I go, you try to trap me like a bird. Even in God's Temple the people are the prophet's enemies.H6822H669H430H5030H6341H3352H1870H4895H1004H430

9They are hopelessly evil in what they do, just as they were at Gibeah. God will remember their sin and punish them for it.H6009H7843H3117H1390H2142H5771H6485H2403

Israel’s Sin and Its Consequences

10The LORD says, "When I first found Israel, it was like finding grapes growing in the desert. When I first saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season. But when they came to Mount Peor, they began to worship Baal and soon became as disgusting as the gods they loved.H4672H3478H6025H4057H7200H1H1063H8384H7225H935H1187H5144H1322H8251H157

11Israel's greatness will fly away like a bird, and there will be no more children born to them, no more women pregnant, no more children conceived.H669H3519H5774H5775H3205H990H2032

12But even if they did bring up children, I would take them away and not leave one alive. When I abandon these people, terrible things will happen to them."H1431H1121H7921H120H188H5493

13LORD, I can see their children being hunted down and killed.H669H7200H6865H8362H5116H669H3318H1121H2026

14What shall I ask you to do to these people? Make their women barren! Make them unable to nurse their babies!H5414H3068H5414H5414H7921H7358H6784H7699

The Lord’s Judgment on Israel

15The LORD says, "All their evildoing began in Gilgal. It was there that I began to hate them. And because of the evil they have done, I will drive them out of my land. I will not love them any more; all their leaders have rebelled against me.H7451H1537H8130H7455H4611H1644H1004H160H3254H8269H5637

16The people of Israel are like a plant whose roots have dried up and which bears no fruit. They will have no children, but even if they did, I would kill the children so dear to them."H669H5221H8328H3001H6213H6529H3205H4191H4261H990

The Prophet Speaks about Israel

17The God I serve will reject his people, because they have not listened to him. They will become wanderers among the nations.H430H3988H8085H5074H1471