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9:1  People of Israel, do not shout with joy, as the people of other nations do at their festivals. You have not been faithful to me, your God. Like a prostitute, you sell yourselves to foreign gods that you worship on the threshing floors.
9:2  But the threshing floors will not provide enough grain to feed the people. The winepresses will not give them enough new wine.
9:3  The Israelites will not remain in the Lord's land. They will have to return to Egypt. In Assyria, they will have to eat food that is unclean.
9:4  They will not pour out wine as an offering to the Lord. Their sacrifices will not please him. Instead, their offerings will be like food that people eat at a funeral. Anyone who eats it becomes unclean. They may eat the food to feed themselves, but they cannot offer it to the Lord in his temple.
9:5  So what will you do on your festival days? You will no longer be able to worship the Lord properly.
9:6  Listen! Perhaps some Israelites will escape when Assyria's army attacks. But then Egypt's army will take hold of them. They will die in Memphis and people will bury them there. Weeds will grow all over their valuable silver things. Thorn bushes will grow in their homes.
9:7  The time for Israel's punishment has arrived! The Lord must now pay them back for their sins. The Israelites will soon know about it! You do many sins and you hate the Lord. Because of that, you say that his prophets are fools. You think that his messengers are crazy.
9:8  God has sent his prophet to warn the people of Ephraim. But wherever he goes, people try to stop him. They speak angry words against him, even in the temple of his God.
9:9  The Israelites do very wicked things, like the terrible sins that they did at Gibeah. God will not forget the wicked things that they have done. He will surely punish them for their sins.
9:10  The Lord says, ‘When I first found Israel, they gave me pleasure. It was as if I had found grapes in the wilderness. Your ancestors made me happy, like the first fruit on a young fig tree. But then they came to the god, Baal-Peor. They began to worship that disgusting idol. They became as disgusting as the idol that they loved so much.
9:11  The great things that Israel enjoys will soon disappear. They will be like birds that fly away! The women of Israel will no longer give birth to children. They will not even become pregnant.
9:12  But even if they do have children, I will cause them all to die so that none are still alive. It will be a terrible time for the Israelites, because I will turn away from them.
9:13  At one time, I saw that Ephraim's land was a beautiful place, like Tyre. But now Ephraim's people must bring out their children for an enemy to kill them.’
9:14  Lord, what should I ask you to give to these people? Make it impossible for their women to give birth! Stop the milk from their breasts to feed their babies!
9:15  The Lord says, ‘They started to do evil things at Gilgal. It was there that I began to hate them. Because they do evil things, I will chase them out of my land. I will not love them any more. Their leaders have all turned against me.
9:16  Ephraim's people are very sick. They are like a plant that has dry roots and it gives no fruit. Even if they give birth to children that they love very much, I will kill those children.’
9:17  My God will not accept them as his people, because they have not obeyed him. They will have no home of their own. They will have to live among different nations.