Ephraim Punished
aDo not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation as do the pagan peoples,For you have bplayed 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.Is 22:12, 13; Hos 10:5Hos 4:122 The threshing floor and the wine press will ano longer feed them,And the new wine will fail them because they failed to honor the God who provides.Hos 2:93 They will not remain in athe land of the LORD,But Ephraim will return to another bEgypt in bondageAnd they will eat ceremonially cunclean food in dAssyria. 2+@Kin 25:26; Ezek 4:13Lev 25:23; Jer 2:7Hos 7:16; 8:13Hos 7:11Ezek 4:134 They will not pour out drink offerings of awine to the LORD;bTheir sacrifices will not please Him.Their bread will be like mourners’ bread eaten at funerals;All who eat it will be ceremonially cunclean,For their bread will be for themselves;It will not enter the house of the LORD to be consecrated.Ex 29:40Jer 6:20; Hos 8:13Hag 2:13, 145 aWhat will you do on the day of the appointed festivalAnd on the day of the bfeast of the LORD when you are in exile?Is 10:3; Jer 5:31Hos 2:11; Joel 1:136 For behold, they will go away because of devastation and destruction;Egypt will gather them up, aMemphis will bury them.Weeds will take over their treasures of silver;bThorns will grow in their tents.Is 19:13; Jer 2:16; 44:1; 46:14, 19; Ezek 30:13, 16Is 5:6; 7:23; Hos 10:8
7 The days of apunishment have come;The days of bretribution are at hand;Let Israel know this!The prophet is considered a cfool;The man of God who is inspired is treated as if ddemented,Because of the abundance of your ewickedness and guilt,And because your deep antagonism toward God and the prophets is so great. Luke 21:22Is 10:3; Jer 10:15; Mic 7:4; Luke 21:22Is 34:8; Jer 16:18; 25:14Lam 2:14; Ezek 13:3, 10Is 44:25Ezek 14:9, 108 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 .9 They have adeeply corrupted themselvesAs in the days of bGibeah.The LORD will cremember their wickedness and guilt;He will punish their sins. Judg 20Is 31:6Judg 19:12, 16-30; Hos 10:9Hos 7:2; 8:13
10 I found Israel like agrapes in the wilderness an unexpected and refreshing delight;I saw your fathers as the bfirst ripe fruit on the fig tree in its first season,But they came to cBaal-peor and consecrated themselves to dshamefulness the worship of Baal,And because of their spiritual and physical adultery they became as edetestable and loathsome as the thing they loved.Mic 7:1Jer 24:2Num 25:1-5; Ps 106:28, 29Jer 11:13; Hos 4:18Ps 115:8; Ezek 20:811 As for Ephraim, their aglory will fly away like a bird;No birth, no pregnancy, and because of their impurity no conception.Hos 4:7; 10:512 Even though they bring up their children,Yet I will bereave them until not one is left.aIndeed, woe to them when I look away and withdraw My blessing from them!Deut 31:17; Hos 7:1313 Ephraim, as I have seen,Is planted in a pleasant and prosperous meadow like aTyre;But Ephraim will bring out his children to the executioner for slaughter.Ezek 26:1-2114 Give them the punishment they deserve, O LORD! What will You give?Give them a amiscarrying womb and dry breasts.Hos 9:11
15 All their wickedness says the LORD is focused in aGilgal;Indeed, I came to hate them there!Because of the bwickedness of their idolatrous practicesI will drive them out of My house !I will love them no longer;All their princes are crebels. Hos 4:15; 12:11Hos 4:15; 12:11Hos 4:9; 7:2; 12:2Is 1:23; Hos 5:216 aEphraim is stricken, their root is dried up,They will bear bno fruit.Even though they give birth,I will slay the cprecious children of their womb.Hos 5:11Hos 8:7Ezek 24:2117 My God will reject them and cast them awayBecause they did anot listen to Him;And they will be bwanderers among the nations.Hos 4:10Hos 7:13