Hosea 9
About HoseaWritten by AI
Hosea is the first of the twelve shorter prophets, sometimes called the Minor Prophets because the books are short, not because they matter less. Hosea preached in the northern kingdom of Israel in the 700s BC, in its last decades before Assyria swept it away. Kings came and went quickly, and the people mixed the worship of the LORD with the worship of Baal.
The book's picture is a marriage. God tells Hosea to marry Gomer, who will be unfaithful, and Hosea's heartbreak becomes a living sermon about Israel turning from God. Readers have long asked whether this was a literal marriage or a story told to make the point; most take it as real, and either way the pain is real.
Watch how quickly the book swings between judgment and tenderness. God is wounded, not merely angry, and He keeps coming back. The last word is an invitation to return and a promise: “I will freely love them.”
Before you read Hosea 9Written by AI
Harvest festivals will stop being times of joy. Israel will lose the land and be scattered toward Egypt and Assyria. The chapter recalls how God first found Israel like grapes in the wilderness, then how they turned aside at Baal Peor. It is sad reading, and the prophet's own voice is full of sorrow.
Israel’s Punishment
Do not rejoice, O Israel,
with exultation like the nations,
for you have played the harlot against your God;
you have made love for hire on every threshing floor.
The threshing floor and winepress will not feed them,
and the new wine will fail them.
They will not remain
in the land of the LORD;
Ephraim will return to Egypt
and eat unclean food in Assyria.
They will not pour out wine offerings to the LORD,
and their sacrifices will not please Him,
but will be to them like the bread of mourners;
all who eat will be defiled.
For their bread will be for themselves;
it will not enter the house of the LORD.
What will you do on the appointed day,
on the day of the LORD’s feast?
For even if they flee destruction,
Egypt will gather them
and Memphis will bury them.
Their precious silver will be taken over by thistles,
and thorns will overrun their tents.
The days of punishment have come;
the days of retribution have arrived—
let Israel know it.
The prophet is called a fool,
and the inspired man insane,
because of the greatness
of your iniquity and hostility.
The prophet is Ephraim’s watchman,
along with my God,
yet the snare of the fowler lies on all his paths.
Hostility is in the house of his God!
They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah;
He will remember their guilt;
He will punish their sins.
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness.
I saw your fathers as the firstfruits
of the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to Baal-peor,
and consecrated themselves to Shame;
so they became as detestable
as the thing they loved.
Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird,
with no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.
Even if they raise their children,
I will bereave them of each one.
Yes, woe be to them
when I turn away from them!
I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre,
planted in a meadow.
But Ephraim will bring out
his children for slaughter.
Give them, O LORD—
what will You give?
Give them wombs that miscarry
and breasts that dry up!
All their evil appears at Gilgal,
for there I hated them.
I will drive them from My house
for the wickedness of their deeds.
I will no longer love them;
all their leaders are rebellious.
Ephraim is struck down;
their root is withered;
they cannot bear fruit.
Even if they bear children,
I will slay the darlings of their wombs.
My God will reject them
because they have not obeyed Him;
and they shall be wanderers
among the nations.