Hosea 9:1

Fertility Cult Festivals Have Intoxicated Israel

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

for you are unfaithful ²  to your God.

You love to receive a prostitute's wages ³ 

on all the floors where you thresh your grain.

Hosea 9:3

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.

Hosea 9:11

The Fertility Worshipers Will Become Infertile

9:11 Ephraim will be like a bird;

what they value ⁴  will fly away.

They will not bear children –

they will not enjoy pregnancy –

they will not even conceive! ⁵ 

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

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

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

[9:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “their glory” (so NASB); TEV “Israel’s greateness.”

[9:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “no childbearing, no pregnancy, no conception.” The preposition מִן (min) prefixed to the three parallel nouns functions in a privative sense, indicating deprivation (BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7).