9:1 do not rejoice: This is probably a reference to the Festival of Shelters, when Israel celebrated the final harvest of the year. This festival was ordained by God (Deut 16:13-15), but the Israelites had turned it into a wild pagan festival, behaving as other nations did. • hiring yourselves out like prostitutes (literally you have loved a prostitute’s pay): The Israelites ignorantly believed that their grain and wine were payment for their worship of the Canaanite fertility god.

9:10 when I first found you: Hosea, like Ezekiel (Ezek 16), speaks of the Lord’s finding and adopting chaste, innocent Israel in the desert. But Israel soon deserted God for idols at Baal-peor (Num 25:1-4). Participation in idolatry had made the Israelites vile. This strong word can also be translated “detestable” (Deut 29:17) or “Abominable” (Jer 7:30). They inevitably resembled what they worshiped.