The days of punishment have come;(A)
the days of retribution have come.(B)
Let Israel recognize it!
The prophet is a fool,(C)
and the inspired man is insane,(D)
because of the magnitude
of your guilt and hostility.(E)
Ephraim’s watchman is with my God.
The prophet encounters a fowler’s snare
on all his ways.(F)
Hostility is in the house of his God!

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The time of Israel’s punishment has come;
    the day of payment is here.
    Soon Israel will know this all too well.
Because of your great sin and hostility,
    you say, “The prophets are crazy
    and the inspired men are fools!”
The prophet is a watchman over Israel[a] for my God,
    yet traps are laid for him wherever he goes.
    He faces hostility even in the house of God.

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Footnotes

  1. 9:8 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 9:11, 13, 16.