1
Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do, for you have acted promiscuously, leaving your God. You have loved the wages of a prostitute on every grain-threshing floor.
2
Threshing floor and wine vat will not sustain them, and the new wine will fail them.
3
They will not stay in the land of the LORD. Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.
4
They will not pour out their wine offerings to the LORD, and their sacrifices will not please Him. Their [food] will be like the bread of mourners; all who eat it become defiled. 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, on the day of the LORD's feast?
6
For even if they flee from devastation, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. Thistles will take possession of their precious silver; thorns will invade their tents.
7
The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have come. Let Israel recognize it! The prophet is a fool, and the inspired man is insane, because of the magnitude of your guilt and hostility.
8
Ephraim's watchman is with my God. The prophet [encounters] a fowler's snare on all his ways. Hostility is in the house of his God!
9
They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their guilt; He will punish their sins.
10
I discovered Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, consecrated themselves to Shame, and became detestable, like the thing they loved.
11
Ephraim's glory will fly away like a bird: no birth, no gestation, no conception.
12
Even if they raise children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!
13
I have seen Ephraim like Tyre, 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!
15
All their evil appears at Gilgal, for there I came to hate them. I will drive them from My house because of their evil, wicked actions. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious.
16
Ephraim is blighted; their roots are withered; they cannot bear fruit. Even if they bear children, I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs.
17
My God will reject them because they have not listened to Him; they will become wanderers among the nations.
