9
Ephraim Punished
1 Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation as do the [pagan] peoples,
For you have played the prostitute, turning away from your God.
You have loved prostitutes’ earnings on every threshing floor [attributing the harvest to the Baals instead of to God].
2 The threshing floor and the wine press will no longer feed them,
And the new wine will fail them [because they failed to honor the God who provides].
3 They will not remain in the land of the Loʀᴅ,
But Ephraim will return to [another] Egypt [in bondage]
And they will eat [ceremonially] unclean food in Assyria. [2 Kin 25:26; Ezek 4:13]
4 They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Loʀᴅ;
Their sacrifices will not please Him.
Their bread will be like mourners’ bread [eaten at funerals];
All who eat it will be [ceremonially] unclean,
For their bread will be for themselves;
It will not enter the house of the Loʀᴅ [to be consecrated].
5 What will you do on the day of the appointed festival
And on the day of the feast of the Loʀᴅ [when you are in exile]?
6 For behold, they will go away because of devastation and destruction;
Egypt will gather them up, Memphis will bury them.
Weeds will take over their treasures of silver;
Thorns will grow in their tents.
7 The days of punishment have come;
The days of retribution are at hand;
Let Israel know this!
The prophet is [considered] a fool;
The man [of God] who is inspired is [treated as if] demented,
Because of the abundance of your wickedness and guilt,
And because your deep antagonism [toward God and the prophets] is so great. [Luke 21:22]
8 Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a [true] prophet [to warn the nation];
But the snare of a bird catcher was laid in all his paths.
And there is only deep hostility in the house of his God (the land of Israel).
9 They have deeply corrupted (perverted) themselves
As in the days of Gibeah.
The Loʀᴅ will remember their wickedness and guilt;
He will punish their sins. [Judg 20]
10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness [an unexpected and refreshing delight];
I saw your fathers (ancestors) as the first ripe fruit on the fig tree in its first season,
But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to shamefulness [the worship of Baal],
And [because of their spiritual and physical adultery] they became as detestable and loathsome as the thing they loved.
11 As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird;
No birth, no pregnancy, and [because of their impurity] no conception.
12 Even though they bring up their children,
Yet I will bereave them until not one is left.
Indeed, woe (judgment is coming) to them when I look away and withdraw [My blessing] from them!
13 Ephraim, as I have seen,
Is planted in a pleasant [and prosperous] meadow like Tyre;
But Ephraim will bring out his children to the executioner [for slaughter].
14 Give them [the punishment they deserve], O Loʀᴅ! What will You give?
Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
15 All their wickedness [says the Loʀᴅ] is focused in Gilgal;
Indeed, I came to hate them there!
Because of the wickedness of their [idolatrous] practices
I will drive them out of My house (the land of Israel)!
I will love them no longer;
All their princes are rebels. [Hos 4:15; 12:11]
16 Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up,
They will bear no fruit.
Even though they give birth,
I will slay the precious children of their womb.
17 My God will reject them and cast them away
Because they did not listen to Him;
And they will be wanderers (fugitives) among the nations.