Add parallel Print Page Options

Days of Desolation Are Coming

Do not rejoice, O Israel,
do not celebrate like the peoples—
for so you have gone whoring away from your God.
You have loved a prostitute’s pay,
    on every grain-threshing-floor.
Threshing-floor and wine-press will not sustain them,
and new wine will fail her.
They will not dwell in Adonai’s land.
Instead Ephraim will return to Egypt,
and eat unclean food in Assyria.
They will pour no wine-offerings to Adonai
    they would not be pleasing to Him.
Their sacrifices will be like
    the bread of mourners for them.
All that eat it will be defiled,
    for their bread is for their appetite,
    not coming into the House of Adonai.
What will you do for a moed
or for the day of Adonai’s feast?

Look, even if they escape the desolation,
Egypt will gather them up;
    Memphis will bury them.
And their precious silver treasures?
    Weeds will possess them.
Thorns will be in their tents.
The days of punishment have come;
the days of retribution have come.
Let Israel know! The prophet is a fool;
    the man of the spirit is mad!
For great is your iniquity
    and great the hostility.
Ephraim is a watchman with my God,
    a prophet.
A bird catcher’s trap is on all his paths.
Hostility is in the House of his God.
They have deeply corrupted themselves
    as in the days of Gibeah.
He will remember their iniquity,
He will punish their sin.

10 “Like grapes in the wilderness
    I found Israel.
Like early fruit on a fig tree in its first season
    I saw your fathers.
They came to Baal-peor
    and devoted themselves to shame.
So they became as detestable
    as the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim’s glory flies away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
12 For if they should raise their children,
I would make them childless to the last man.
Yes, woe to them
    when I depart from them!
13 Ephraim, as I have seen,
is like Tyre, planted in a meadow,
but Ephraim will bring his children out to the slayer.”

14 Give them, Adonai, what will You give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
    and dried up breasts.

15 “All their wickedness is at Gilgal,
for there I despised them.
Because of their wicked practices,
    I will drive them out of My House.
I will love them no more.
All their princes are rebellious.
16 Ephraim is blighted;
their root is withered;
they bear no fruit.
Even if they bring forth children,
    I will slay the cherished ones in their wombs.”
17 My God will cast them off,
since they did not listen to Him.
So they will become wanderers among the nations.

Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor.

The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.

They shall not dwell in the Lord's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.

They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the Lord.

What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the Lord?

For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles.

The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.

The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.

They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.

11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.

12 Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!

13 Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.

14 Give them, O Lord: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

15 All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.

16 Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.

17 My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.