Passage

Hosea 9.3

Book: Hosea · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, like the peoples; for thou hast played the harlot, departing from thy God; thou hast loved hire upon every grain-floor. 2. The threshing-floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail her.

3. They shall not dwell in Jehovah's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

They shall not pour out wine-offerings to Jehovah, 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 shall be for their appetite; it shall not come into the house of Jehovah. 5. What will ye do in the day of solemn assembly, and in the day of the feast of Jehovah? (Hosea 9:1-5, ASV)

WEB

Don’t rejoice, Israel, to jubilation like the nations; for you were unfaithful to your God. You love the wages of a prostitute at every grain threshing floor. 2. The threshing floor and the wine press won’t feed them, and the new wine will fail her.

3. They won’t dwell in Yahweh’s land; but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.

They won’t pour out wine offerings to Yahweh, neither will they be pleasing to him. Their sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat of it will be polluted; for their bread will be for their appetite. It will not come into Yahweh’s house. 5. What will you do in the day of solemn assembly, and in the day of the feast of Yahweh? (Hosea 9:1-5, WEB)

KJV

Rejoice 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. ^{upon: or, in, etc} 2. The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her. ^{winepress: or, winefat}

3. They shall not dwell in the LORD'S land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.

They 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. 5. What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the LORD? (Hosea 9:1-5, KJV)

YLT

'Rejoice not, O Israel, be not joyful like the peoples, For thou hast gone a-whoring from thy God, Thou hast loved a gift near all floors of corn. 2. Floor and wine-press do not delight them, And new wine doth fail in her,

3. They do not abide in the land of Jehovah, And turned back hath Ephraim [to] Egypt, And in Asshur an unclean thing they eat.

They pour not out wine to Jehovah, Nor are they sweet to Him, Their sacrifices [are] as bread of mourners to them, All eating it are unclean: For their bread [is] for themselves, It doth not come into the house of Jehovah. 5. What do ye at the day appointed? And at the day of Jehovah's festival? (Hosea 9:1-5, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: YHWH speaking through Hosea son of Beeri (1:1). Most scholars trace the oracles to Hosea himself, while many hold that the book received its final shape later in Judah, where it was preserved after Samaria fell
Audience: the northern kingdom of Israel, often called Ephraim after its leading tribe
Location: the northern kingdom
Time period: c. 750-722 BC, from the last years of Jeroboam II through the dynastic chaos that followed to the eve of Samaria's fall to Assyria (1:1; 2 Kings 15-17)
Literary context: the warning against Israel's harvest festival (9:1-6), which the people celebrated "like the peoples" with joy at the threshing floors credited to Baal.

Theological reading

"They shall not dwell in Jehovah's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria." (Hosea 9:3, ASV)

Jehovah's land. The land belongs to YHWH (Leviticus 25:23), and Israel lives in it as his tenant. Unfaithful tenants lose their place.

Back to Egypt. "Ephraim shall return to Egypt" reverses the exodus. Egypt here stands for bondage, as in 8:13 and 11:5, and the parallel line names the actual destination: "they shall eat unclean food in Assyria". The northern kingdom fell to Assyria in 722 BC and its people were deported (2 Kings 17:6).

Unclean food. Outside the land, food could not be presented to YHWH or eaten in a state of ritual purity (9:4; compare Amos 7:17; Ezekiel 4:13). Exile means losing not only home but the whole order of worship that had sanctified daily life. The people who confused Baal's gifts with YHWH's will lose both the gifts and the worship.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

H7725 - shuv, shuv, Strong's H7725
H3068 - YHWH, YHWH, Strong's H3068

Quoted in

Concepts:

Biblical Prophecy

Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.