| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Rejoice not, O Israel! Exult not like the peoples; for you have played the whore, forsaking your God. You have loved a prostitute’s wages on all threshing floors. | 1O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly like the nations, for you are unfaithful to your God. You love to receive a prostitute\'s wages on all the floors where you thresh your grain. |
| 2Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail them. | 2Threshing floors and wine vats will not feed the people, and new wine only deceives them. |
| 3They shall not remain in the land of the LORD, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria. | 3They will not remain in the LORD's land. Ephraim will return to Egypt; they will eat ritually unclean food in Assyria. |
| 4They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the LORD, and their sacrifices shall not please him. It shall be like mourners’ bread to them; all who eat of it shall be defiled; for their bread shall be for their hunger only; it shall not come to the house of the LORD. | 4They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the LORD; they will not please him with their sacrifices. Their sacrifices will be like bread eaten while in mourning; all those who eat them will make themselves ritually unclean. For their bread will be only to satisfy their appetite; it will not come into the temple of the LORD. |
| 5What will you do on the day of the appointed festival, and on the day of the feast of the LORD? | 5So what will you do on the festival day, on the festival days of the LORD? |
| 6For behold, they are going away from destruction; but Egypt shall gather them; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver; thorns shall be in their tents. | 6Look! Even if they flee from the destruction, Egypt will take hold of them, and Memphis will bury them. The weeds will inherit the silver they treasure--thorn bushes will occupy their homes. |
| 7The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool; the man of the spirit is mad, because of your great iniquity and great hatred. | 7The time of judgment is about to arrive! The time of retribution is imminent! Let Israel know! Israel Rejects Hosea's Prophetic Exhortations The prophet is considered a fool--the inspired man is viewed as a madman--because of the multitude of your sins and your intense animosity. |
| 8The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God; yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God. | 8The prophet is a watchman over Ephraim on behalf of God, yet traps are laid for him along all of his paths; animosity rages against him in the land of his God. |
| 9They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins. | 9They have sunk deep into corruption as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their wrongdoing. He will repay them for their sins. |
| 10Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved. | 10When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the wilderness. I viewed your ancestors like an early fig on a fig tree in its first season. Then they came to Baal-Peor and they dedicated themselves to shame--they became as detestable as what they loved. |
| 11Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird— no birth, no pregnancy, no conception! | 11Ephraim will be like a bird; what they value will fly away. They will not bear children--they will not enjoy pregnancy--they will not even conceive! |
| 12Even if they bring up children, I will bereave them till none is left. Woe to them when I depart from them! | 12Even if they raise their children, I will take away every last one of them. Woe to them! For I will turn away from them. |
| 13Ephraim, as I have seen, was like a young palm planted in a meadow; but Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter. | 13Just as lion cubs are born predators, so Ephraim will bear his sons for slaughter. |
| 14Give them, O LORD— what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. | 14Give them, O LORD--what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry, and breasts that cannot nurse! |
| 15Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels. | 15Because of all their evil in Gilgal, I hate them there. On account of their evil deeds, I will drive them out of my land. I will no longer love them; all their rulers are rebels. |
| 16Ephraim is stricken; their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Even though they give birth, I will put their beloved children to death. | 16Ephraim will be struck down--their root will be dried up; they will not yield any fruit. Even if they do bear children, I will kill their precious offspring. |
| 17My God will reject them because they have not listened to him; they shall be wanderers among the nations. | 17My God will reject them, for they have not obeyed him; so they will be fugitives among the nations. |
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