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v1
Do not rejoice, O Israel, do not exult like the nations! For you played the whore, departing from your God; you loved a harlot’s wage on all the threshing floors of grain.
v2
Threshing floor and wine vat will not feed them,
and new wine will fail her. ^[That is, Israel]
v3
They will not remain
in the land of Yahweh. But Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.
v4
They will not pour drink offerings of wine to Yahweh, and their sacrifices will not please him. They are like mourners’ bread for them; all those who eat it will be defiled. For their bread will be for their hunger; ^[Literally “for their soul”] it will not come to the house of Yahweh.
v5
What will you do on the day of the appointed time, and on the day of the festival of Yahweh?
v6
For look! If they flee from the destruction, Egypt will gather them; Memphis ^[Hebrew “Noph”] will bury them. Nettles will possess their precious things of silver; thorns will be in their tents.
v7
The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have come; Israel knows! The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is acting like a madman. Because of the greatness of your sin, your hostility is great.
v8
The prophet keeps watch over Ephraim for my God; the snare of a fowler is on all his ways, and hostility in the house of his God.
v9
They deeply corrupted themselves ^[Literally “They made deep, they corrupted themselves”] as in the days of Gibeah; he will remember their sin, he will punish their sins.
v10
Like the grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like early ripened fruit on the fig tree in the first season, ^[Or “in the beginning”] I saw your ancestors. ^[Or “fathers”] They themselves came to Baal Peor, and they consecrated themselves to shame. And they became detestable things, like the thing they love. ^[Literally “like loving things”]
v11
Ephraim’s glory is like a bird; it will fly away— no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.
v12
Even though they bring up their children, I will bereave them before maturity. ^[Or “until no one is left”] Woe to them indeed, when I depart from them!
v13
Ephraim, as I see it, is like a palm in a meadow; but Ephraim must bring out his children to the slayer.
v14
Give them, O Yahweh— what will you give them? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
v15
Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal, so I began to hate them there; because of the evil of their deeds I will drive them out from my house. I will love them no more; all their officials are rebels.
v16
Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up, they shall not bear fruit. Even if they give birth, I will kill the cherished offspring of their womb.
v17
My God will reject them because they did not listen to him, and they will be wanderers among the nations.