The Coming Exile
1Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do,9:1 Is 22:12–13; Hs 10:5
for you have acted promiscuously,9:1 Hs 4:12 leaving your God.
You love the wages of a prostitute
on every grain-threshing floor.9:1 Hs 7:14
and the new wine will fail them.
3They will not stay in the land of the Lord.
4They will not pour out
and their sacrifices will not please him.
Their food will be like the bread of mourners;
all who eat it become defiled.9:4 Nm 19:11–14; Dt 26:12–14; Jr 16:5–7
For their bread will be for their appetites alone;
it will not enter the house of the Lord.
6For even if they flee from devastation,
Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them.9:6 Is 19:13; Jr 2:16; 44:1; 46:14,19; Ezk 30:13,16
Thistles will take possession of their precious silver;
Let Israel recognize it!
The prophet is a fool,9:7 Lm 2:14
and the inspired man is insane,9:7 Is 44:25
because of the magnitude
of your iniquity and hostility.9:7 Ezk 14:9–10
8Ephraim’s watchman is with my God.
Yet the prophet encounters a bird trap
Hostility is in the house of his God!
He will remember their iniquity;
Ephraim Bereaved of Offspring
10I discovered Israel
like grapes in the wilderness.9:10 Mc 7:1
I saw your ancestors
like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season.9:10 Jr 24:2
But they went to Baal-peor,9:10 Nm 25:1–9
and became abhorrent,9:10 Ezk 20:8
like the thing they loved.
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.9:11 Hs 4:10
12Even if they raise children,
I will bereave them of each one.
Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!9:12 Hs 7:13
13I have seen Ephraim like Tyre,9:13 Ezk 27:3–4
planted in a meadow,
so Ephraim will bring out his children
to the executioner.
14Give them, Lord —
What should you give?
Give them a womb that miscarries
and breasts that are dry!9:14 Gn 49:25
for there I began to hate them.
I will drive them from my house
I will no longer love them;
all their leaders are rebellious.9:15 Hs 5:2
their roots are withered;
they cannot bear fruit.9:16 Hs 8:7
Even if they bear children,
I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs.9:16 Ezk 24:21
17My God will reject them
because they have not listened to him;9:17 Hs 4:10
they will become wanderers among the nations.9:17 Hs 7:13
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