| New King James Version | NET Bible |
| 1Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples, For you have played the harlot against your God. You have made love for hire on every threshing floor. | 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. |
| 2The threshing floor and the winepress Shall not feed them, And the new wine shall fail in her. | 2Threshing floors and wine vats will not feed the people, and new wine only deceives them. |
| 3They shall not dwell in the LORD’s land, But Ephraim shall return to Egypt, And shall eat unclean things 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 offer wine offerings to the LORD, Nor shall their sacrifices be pleasing to Him. It shall be like bread of mourners to them; All who eat it shall be defiled. For their bread shall be for their own life; It shall not come into 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 in the appointed day, And in 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 indeed they are gone because of destruction. Egypt shall gather them up; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their valuables 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 knows! The prophet is a fool, The spiritual man is insane, Because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity. | 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 watchman of Ephraim is with my God; But the prophet is a fowler’s snare in all his ways— Enmity 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 are deeply corrupted, 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. |
| 10“I found Israel Like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers As the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal Peor, And separated themselves to that shame; They became an abomination 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. |
| 11As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird— No birth, no pregnancy, and 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! |
| 12Though they bring up their children, Yet I will bereave them to the last man. Yes, 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. |
| 13Just as I saw Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place, So Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer.” | 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! |
| 15“All their wickedness is in Gilgal, For there I hated them. Because of the evil of their deeds I will drive them from My house; I will love them no more. All their princes are rebellious. | 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. Yes, were they to bear children, I would kill the darlings of their womb.” | 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 cast them away, Because they did not obey Him; And 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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