The Coming Exile

9 Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do, o

for you have acted promiscuously, p leaving your God.

You have loved the wages of a prostitute

on every grain-threshing floor. q

2 Threshing floor and wine vat will not sustain them, r

and the new wine will fail them.

3 They will not stay in the land of the Lord.

Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt, s

and they will eat * unclean food t in Assyria. u

4 They will not pour out

their wine offerings to the Lord, v

and their sacrifices will not please Him.

Their food will be like the bread of mourners;

all who eat it become defiled. w

For their bread will be for their appetites alone;

it will not enter the house of the Lord.

5 What will you do on a festival day, x

on the day of the Lord’s feast? y

6 For even if they flee from devastation,

Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. z

Thistles will take possession of their precious silver;

thorns will invade their tents. a

7 The days of punishment have come; b

the days of retribution have come. c

Let Israel recognize it!

The prophet is a fool, d

and the inspired man is insane, e

because of the magnitude

of your * guilt and hostility. f

8 Ephraim’s watchman is with my God.

The prophet encounters a fowler’s snare

on all his ways. g

Hostility is in the house of his God!

9 They have deeply corrupted themselves h

as in the days of Gibeah. i

He will remember their guilt;

He will punish their sins. j

Ephraim Bereaved of Offspring

10 I discovered Israel

like grapes in the wilderness. k

I saw your fathers

like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season. l

But they went to Baal-peor, m

consecrated themselves to Shame, n o

and became detestable, p

like the thing they loved.

11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird: q

no birth, no gestation, no conception. r

12 Even if they raise children,

I will bereave them of each one.

Yes, woe to them when I depart from them! s

13 I have seen Ephraim like Tyre, t

planted in a meadow,

so Ephraim will bring out his children

to the executioner.

14 Give them, Lord—

What should You give?

Give them a womb that miscarries

and breasts that are dry! u

15 All their evil appears at Gilgal, v

for there I came to hate them.

I will drive them from My house

because of their evil, wicked actions. w

I will no longer love them;

all their leaders are rebellious. x

16 Ephraim y is struck down;

their roots are withered;

they cannot bear fruit. z

Even if they bear children,

I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs. a

17 My God will reject them

because they have not listened to Him; b

they will become wanderers among the nations. c