The Lord Will Punish Israel

9 Rejoice not, O Israel!

Exult not like the peoples;

efor you have played the whore, forsaking your God.

fYou have loved a prostitute’s wages

on all threshing floors.

2  gThreshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,

and gthe new wine shall fail them.

3  They shall not remain in hthe land of the Lord,

but iEphraim shall return to Egypt,

and jthey shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

4  kThey shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,

land their sacrifices shall not please him.

It shall be like mmourners’ bread to them;

all who eat of it shall be defiled;

for their bread shall be for their hunger only;

nit shall not come to the house of the Lord.

5  oWhat will you do on the day of the appointed festival,

and on the day of the feast of the Lord?

6  For behold, they are going away from destruction;

but pEgypt shall gather them;

Memphis shall bury them.

Nettles shall possess qtheir precious things of silver;

rthorns shall be in their tents.

7  sThe days of punishment have come;

the days of recompense have come;

Israel shall know it.

tThe prophet is a fool;

the man of the spirit is mad,

because of your great iniquity

and great hatred.

8  The prophet is uthe watchman of Ephraim with my God;

yet va fowler’s snare is on all his ways,

and hatred in the house of his God.

9  wThey have deeply corrupted themselves

as xin the days of Gibeah:

whe will remember their iniquity;

he will punish their sins.

10  Like grapes in the wilderness,

yI found Israel.

Like the first fruit on the fig tree

in its first season,

I saw your fathers.

But zthey came to Baal-peor

and aconsecrated themselves to the thing of shame,

and bbecame detestable like the thing they loved.

11  Ephraim’s cglory shall fly away like a bird—

dno birth, no pregnancy, no conception!

12  eEven if they bring up children,

I will bereave them till none is left.

fWoe to them

when gI depart from them!

13  Ephraim, has I have seen, was like a young palm1 planted in a meadow;

but eEphraim must lead his children out to slaughter.2

14  Give them, O Lord—

what will you give?

Give them ia miscarrying womb

and dry breasts.

15  Every evil of theirs is in jGilgal;

there I began to hate them.

Because of the wickedness of their deeds

I will drive them out of my house.

I will love them no more;

all ktheir princes are lrebels.

16  Ephraim is stricken;

mtheir root is dried up;

they shall bear no fruit.

Even nthough they give birth,

eI will put their beloved children to death.

17  oMy God will reject them

because they have not listened to him;

pthey shall be wanderers among the nations.