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The Prophets · Old Testament

Hosea 9

Hosea 9: no rejoicing, a return to Egypt and the fruit of the womb

General context

Israel is told not to rejoice "as other people," because "thou hast gone a whoring from thy God" and loved "a reward upon every cornfloor." The floor and winepress will not feed them. They will not dwell in "the Lord’s land"; "Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria." Wine offerings will stop, and their sacrifices will be "as the bread of mourners." A question follows: what will they do "in the day of the feast of the Lord?" They are gone because of destruction; "Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them," and nettles and thorns will take their pleasant places and tabernacles. "The days of visitation are come"; "the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad." The watchman of Ephraim "was with my God," but the prophet is "a snare of a fowler." They have corrupted themselves "as in the days of Gibeah." The speaker found Israel "like grapes in the wilderness" and their fathers as the first ripe figs, "but they went to Baal-peor." Ephraim's glory will fly away like a bird; though they bring up children, "yet will I bereave them." Ephraim, like Tyrus, is "planted in a pleasant place" but will "bring forth his children to the murderer." A voice prays, "Give them, O Lord: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts." All their wickedness is in Gilgal; "I will love them no more." Ephraim's root is dried up; the speaker will slay "the beloved fruit of their womb." The chapter ends: "My God will cast them away," and they will be "wanderers among the nations."

Cited passages: Hosea 9:1, Hosea 9:2, Hosea 9:3, Hosea 9:4, Hosea 9:5, Hosea 9:6, Hosea 9:7, Hosea 9:8, Hosea 9:9, Hosea 9:10, Hosea 9:11, Hosea 9:12, Hosea 9:13, Hosea 9:14, Hosea 9:15, Hosea 9:16, Hosea 9:17

Hosea 9 (KJV)

1Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor.

2The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.

3They shall not dwell in the Lord’s land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.

4They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the Lord.

5What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the Lord?

6For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles.

7The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.

8The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.

9They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

10I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.

11As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.

12Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!

13Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.

14Give them, O Lord: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

15All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.

16Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.

17My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

Two voices share the chapter. Most of it is the Lord's first person: "I found Israel," "will I bereave them," "I will drive them out of mine house." But three verses speak about God in the third person: "The watchman of Ephraim was with my God," "Give them, O Lord," and "My God will cast them away." The text does not label that second voice, and the prophet is not named anywhere in the chapter. Verse 7 says "the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad" and verse 8 calls the prophet "a snare of a fowler"; whether these are the speaker's verdict or the people's, and which prophet is meant, the printed lines do not settle. Egypt and Assyria are named together again, as in 7:11, with Egypt now a place of burial, "Memphis shall bury them." Gibeah and Baal-peor are named as past shame, "as in the days of Gibeah" and "they went to Baal-peor," but the chapter does not narrate what happened at either place. Tyrus appears only as a comparison for being "planted in a pleasant place." Gilgal, already named in 4:15, is called the site of "All their wickedness." The harm to children is stated without softening: children brought "to the murderer," a prayer for "a miscarrying womb," and the slaying of "the beloved fruit of their womb." No king, date or occasion is given.

Cited passages: Hosea 9:10, Hosea 9:12, Hosea 9:15, Hosea 9:8, Hosea 9:14, Hosea 9:17, Hosea 9:7, Hosea 7:11, Hosea 9:6, Hosea 9:9, Hosea 9:13, Hosea 4:15, Hosea 9:16

Literary context

The chapter opens by forbidding joy, "Rejoice not," and then withdraws the things joy was tied to: floor, winepress, new wine, wine offerings, and the feast day itself, "What will ye do in the solemn day?" Egypt, which chapter 2 remembered as the place Israel "came up out of," becomes the place that will "gather them up" and bury them. The middle holds a memory and its loss side by side: grapes in the wilderness and the "firstripe in the fig tree," then Baal-peor. From verse 11 the images turn to birth and its undoing, moving backward "from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception," then to a womb that miscarries and a root that "is dried up," so that the fruit of the vine and the fruit of the womb fail together. Two questions interrupt the speech, one asked of the people (verse 5) and one asked of the Lord (verse 14), and the second answers itself with a curse. "I will love them no more" in verse 15 stands against the command of 3:1 to "love a woman" and is answered only at 14:4, "I will love them freely." Chapter 10 picks up the vine at once: "Israel is an empty vine."

Cited passages: Hosea 9:1, Hosea 9:2, Hosea 9:5, Hosea 2:15, Hosea 9:6, Hosea 9:10, Hosea 9:11, Hosea 9:14, Hosea 9:16, Hosea 9:15, Hosea 3:1, Hosea 14:4, Hosea 10:1

Key moments

  1. Rejoice not (Hosea 9:1). Israel is told not to rejoice like other peoples because it has gone whoring from its God.
  2. Egypt and Assyria (Hosea 9:3). Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean things in Assyria instead of dwelling in the Lord's land.
  3. Days of visitation (Hosea 9:7). The days of visitation and recompence have come, and the prophet is called a fool.
  4. Grapes in the wilderness (Hosea 9:10). The Lord recalls finding Israel like grapes in the wilderness before they went to Baal-peor.
  5. A miscarrying womb (Hosea 9:14). A voice asks the Lord what to give and answers with a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
  6. Loved no more (Hosea 9:15). For the wickedness in Gilgal the Lord will drive them out of his house and love them no more.
  7. Wanderers among nations (Hosea 9:17). God will cast them away and they will wander among the nations.

For reflection

Verse 14 asks the Lord what to give and then answers with "a miscarrying womb and dry breasts." The text does not say whose prayer that is. How does a reader hear a prayer that asks for less rather than more?

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