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.
9:2 Threshing floors and wine vats will not feed the people, 4
and new wine only deceives them. 5
9:3 They will not remain in the Lord’s land.
Ephraim will return to Egypt;
they will eat ritually unclean food in Assyria.
9:4 They 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.
9:16 Ephraim will be struck down 6 –
their root will be dried up;
they will not yield any fruit.
Even if they do bear children,
I will kill their precious offspring.
1 tn Heb “do not rejoice unto jubilation”; KJV “Rejoice not…for joy”; NASB “Do not rejoice…with exultation.”
2 tn Heb “you have committed adultery”; NRSV “you have played the whore.”
3 tn Heb “you love the wages of the prostitute” (NIV similar); NAB “loving a harlot’s hire.”
4 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “her” (so KJV, ASV). This is taken as a collective singular (so also most modern English versions).
6 tn Or perhaps, following the plant metaphor, “will be blighted” (NIV similar).