Charles Ellicott Commentary Hosea 9:6

"For, lo, they are gone away from destruction; [yet] Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them; their pleasant things of silver, nettles shall possess them; thorns shall be in their tents." — Hosea 9:6 (ASV)

Translate: Behold, if they have gone from the desolation (that is, Palestine laid waste by the invader), Egypt shall gather them, Memphis shall bury them. This Memphis was the vast city and necropolis of Ptah, where Apis and Ibis, kings and men, lay by thousands mummified, the religious shrine of Egyptian faith in the underworld, from which Israel had been emancipated at the Exodus. There is a longing for their silver (that is, they shall long for the silver left behind, concealed in their desolate land); the thistle shall possess them, the thorn shall be in their tents.

Hosea prophesies an exile to Egypt after the anticipated invasion. It cannot be doubted that many exiles took refuge in Egypt in 721 B.C. after the great overthrow of the northern kingdom (as in the case of Judah in the days of Jeremiah). (Compare Hosea 8:13 and Hosea 9:3; see also Hosea 11:5.)