Study Desk

Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do,^(a) for you have acted promiscuously,^(b) leaving your God. You have loved the wages of a prostitute on every grain-threshing floor.^(c)

Threshing floor and wine vat will not sustain them,^(d) and the new wine will fail them.

They will not stay in the land of the Lord . Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt,^(e) and they will eat unclean food^(f) in Assyria.^(g)

They will not pour out their wine offerings to the Lord ,^(h) and their sacrifices will not please Him. Their food will be like the bread of mourners; all who eat it become defiled.⁽ⁱ⁾ For their bread will be for their appetites alone; it will not enter the house of the Lord .

What will you do on a festival day,^(j) on the day of the Lord 's feast?^(k)

For even if they flee from devastation, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them.^(l) Thistles will take possession of their precious silver; thorns will invade their tents.^(m)

The days of punishment have come;⁽ⁿ⁾ the days of retribution have come.^(o) Let Israel recognize it! The prophet is a fool,^(p) and the inspired man is insane,^(q) because of the magnitude of your guilt and hostility.^(r)

Ephraim's watchman is with my God. The prophet encounters a fowler's snare on all his ways.^(s) Hostility is in the house of his God!

They have deeply corrupted themselves^(t) as in the days of Gibeah.^(u) He will remember their guilt; He will punish their sins.^(v)

I discovered Israel like grapes in the wilderness.^(w) I saw your fathers like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season.^(x) But they went to Baal-peor,^(y) consecrated themselves to Shame,^[a](z) and became detestable,^(aa) like the thing they loved.

Ephraim's glory will fly away like a bird:^(ab) no birth, no gestation, no conception.^(ac)

Even if they raise children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!^(ad)

I have seen Ephraim like Tyre,^(ae) planted in a meadow, so Ephraim will bring out his children to the executioner.

Give them, Lord — What should You give? Give them a womb that miscarries and breasts that are dry!^(af)

All their evil appears at Gilgal,^(ag) for there I came to hate them. I will drive them from My house because of their evil, wicked actions.^(ah) I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious.^(ai)

Ephraim^(aj) is struck down; their roots are withered; they cannot bear fruit.^(ak) Even if they bear children, I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs.^(al)