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."

"Lo, they flee away from destruction ..." This enigmatical passage seems to have a double application. If they shall attempt to flee into Egypt to escape the Assyrians, they shall meet death there just the same; and, then there is the implication for the whole nation of the northern kingdom going into Assyria: Egypt (a figure for slavery) shall gather them up; Memphis (a figure for the graveyard) shall bury them. Memphis was the scene of the largest cemetery in Egypt.

"Their pleasant things ... their tents ..." These are references to their dwellings and to their treasures. "The growth of thorns and thistles presupposes the utter desolation of the abodes of men."[16] This was what happened: the country was so desolated and depopulated that the wild beasts took over the whole land, leading to an effort on the part of the Assyrian king to reclaim it. See 2 Kings 17:24-26.

Regarding the hint of some of the Israelites going into Egypt which is surely suggested in this verse, in all probability that occurred in the northern kingdom with the approach of the Assyrians, as it most certainly did in the later punishment of the southern kingdom, an event recorded in 2 Kings 25:26. Judah's fate is also visible here.