Old/New Testament

9 Don’t rejoice, Israel! Don’t shriek in ecstatic joy like the other nations!
    You’ve prostituted yourself and been unfaithful to your God.
You eagerly expect that you’ll get your prostitute’s pay at the threshing floors with a rich harvest.
² Neither the threshing floor nor the oil or winepresses will feed you;
    you won’t have any new wine this year.
³ You won’t remain in the Eternal’s land,
    and you can count on this:
Ephraim will go back to slavery in Egypt,
    but this unclean food he’ll eat in Assyria.

⁴ Separated from Jerusalem, they won’t be pouring out any libations of wine to the Eternal,
    and the sacrifices they make will not please Him.
Whatever they offer will be like mourner’s bread:
    whoever eats it will be impure.

Besides, they’ll need all the bread they’ve got just to stay alive;
    they won’t have anything worthy to bring to the Eternal’s temple.
⁵ What will you do on the appointed day
    when you’re supposed to celebrate a feast in honor of the Eternal One?

⁶ Even if they escape destruction, Egypt will be ready to gather them up,
    and Memphis will be set to bury them in the city’s massive cemeteries.
All their valuables will be choked out by weeds,
    and thornbushes will live in their tents.

⁷ The days of punishment have come!
    The time of retribution is here! Israel will know this!
But because you are so hostile and sinful, you say about me,
    “The prophet is a fool! The man of the Spirit is raving mad!”
⁸ The prophet stands watch over Ephraim along with God,^[a]
    but birds’ traps are set all along his paths;
Even in the temple of his God they show their hostility.
⁹ They’ve become deeply depraved, as in the days of Gibeah.
    God won’t overlook their wickedness; He’ll punish them for their sins.

¹⁰ Eternal One: When I discovered Israel, he was a rare find,
        like grapes in the wilderness, like early figs on a young fig tree.
    I met your ancestors;
        when they came to Baal-peor,
    They dedicated themselves through their worship to an object of shame,
        and they became as detestable as the thing they loved.

¹¹     Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird:
        no offspring, no gestation, no conception!
¹²     And even if they do have children,
        I’ll take every single one of them away.
        It will be sorrowful for them when I abandon them!
¹³     There was a time when I saw Ephraim like Tyre,
        a pleasant palm planted in a lovely meadow,
    But now Ephraim must bring out her children to be slaughtered.^[b]

¹⁴ Give them, Eternal One—what should I ask You to give them?
    Give them a miscarrying womb and dried-up breasts!

¹⁵ Eternal One: In Gilgal My hatred grew for them
        because of all their evil that was there.
    I will force them out of My temple because of the depths of their wickedness.
        I won’t love them anymore; all of their leaders have rebelled against Me!

¹⁶     Ephraim has been cut down; their root has dried up,
        and they won’t bear any fruit.
    And even if they do bear children,
        I’ll kill those precious ones they carried.

¹⁷ My God will reject them because they haven’t listened to Him.
    They’ll be drifters and fugitives among the nations.

10 Israel, once a vibrant vine that bore adequate fruit, is now barren.
    The more fruit he bore, the more altars he made;
    the more his fertile soil produced, the more he made the sacred pillars.
² But they aren’t loyal to God in their hearts, and now they’ll pay the penalty:
    the Eternal will break apart their altars and smash their sacred pillars.
³ Then they’ll say, “We don’t have our own king anymore
    because we didn’t fear the Eternal One.
But even if we still had a king, what could he do for us?”

⁴ They speak a lot of sensible words,
    but their oaths are insincere, and their covenant promises are empty.
This is why the king’s judgment sprouts up like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.
⁵ The people of Samaria are afraid of what will happen to the calf-idol of Beth-aven;
    the people will mourn for it, and its pagan priests will join in lament.
    They’ll wail when its glory departs.
⁶ The wretched idol will be taken to Assyria and given to the great king.
    Ephraim will be disgraced;
    Israel will be ashamed because of this king’s counsel.
⁷ Samaria and her king will be cut off,
    carried away like a twig on the swirling waters.
⁸ The wicked high places where Israel’s people sinned will be destroyed;
    thorns and thistles will cover their once-proud altars.
People will beg the mountains, “Surround us!”
    They’ll plead with the hills, “Cover us!”^[c]

⁹ Eternal One: From the days of Gibeah you, Israel, have sinned!^[d]
        And they’re still the same today. Nothing has changed.
        Will war overtake these people of wickedness in Gibeah?
¹⁰     At the time I choose, I’ll punish them:
        nations will gather against them
        because they have compounded their own guilt.
¹¹     Ephraim was a trained heifer who loved to tread on the threshing floor.
        Now I have lashed a yoke to her fair neck.
    Judah will plow, and Jacob will break up the hard, compacted soil.

¹² Plant a crop of righteousness for yourselves,
    harvest the fruit of unfailing love,
And break up your hard soil,
    because it’s time to seek the Eternal
    until He comes and waters your fields with justice.

¹³ You’ve plowed wickedness and reaped injustice;
    you’ve eaten the fruit of deception.
Because you’ve trusted in your own might,
    in the size and skill of your army,
¹⁴ So the nations will line up against you in battle
    and all of your fortifications will be destroyed,
Just as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel when he fought against it
    and dashed its mothers to pieces with their children!
¹⁵ The same thing will happen to you, O Bethel, because you’re so wicked.
    When that day breaks, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.

    11 Eternal One: When Israel was a child, I loved him;
        and out of Egypt I called My son.^[e]
2     But the more I called to Israel,
        the more they walked away from Me.^[f]
    They kept on sacrificing to other divine masters^[g]
        and burning incense to idols!

³     But I was the one who taught Ephraim to walk, holding him up by his arms,
        but his people didn’t know I was the One who took care of them.
⁴     I led them along with leather cords;
        with ropes of love I showed them the way.
    As I dealt with them, I lifted the yoke from their neck;
        I bent down to give them their food.
⁵     The people of Israel will return to bondage
        like they knew in the land of Egypt,
    And this time Assyria will be their king
        because they refuse to return to Me.
⁶     The sword will be turned loose in their cities.
        It will destroy their defenses and put an end to them because of their schemes.
⁷     My people are determined to turn away from Me.

⁸ Eternal One: But how can I give you up, Ephraim?
        How can I turn you over to your enemies, Israel?
    How can I give you away as I did Admah or treat you like Zeboiim?

    My heart is changed within Me,
        and all at once My compassion is stirred up.
⁹     I will not carry out My burning anger;
        I will not destroy Ephraim completely.
    For I am God, not a human being; I am the Holy One in your midst;
        I won’t unleash My anger for an attack.

¹⁰     They’ll turn back to Me.
        He’ll roar like a lion, and when He roars,
    His children will scurry in from the west.
¹¹     They’ll scatter like birds from Egypt
        or like doves from the land of Assyria,
    And I’ll restore them to their homes.

¹² Eternal One: Ephraim has surrounded Me with lies.
        The people of Israel surround Me with their weapons of deceit.
    But Judah continues to roam with God,
        even with the faithful Holy One.^[h]