Chapter 9

9:1Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do,
for you have acted promiscuously, leaving your God.
You have loved the wages of a prostitute
on every grain-threshing floor.
2Threshing floor and wine vat will not sustain them,
and the new wine will fail them.
3They will not stay in the land of the Lord.
Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt,
and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.
4They will not pour out
their wine offerings to the Lord,
and their sacrifices will not please Him.
Their food will be like the bread of mourners;
all who eat it become defiled.
For their bread will be for their appetites alone;
it will not enter the house of the Lord.
5What will you do on a festival day,
on the day of the Lord's feast?
6For even if they flee from devastation,
Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them.
Thistles will take possession of their precious silver;
thorns will invade their tents.
7The days of punishment have come;
the days of retribution have come.
Let Israel recognize it!
The prophet is a fool,
and the inspired man is insane,
because of the magnitude
of your guilt and hostility.
8Ephraim's watchman is with my God.
The prophet encounters a fowler's snare
on all his ways.
Hostility is in the house of his God!
9They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah.
He will remember their guilt;
He will punish their sins.
10I discovered Israel
like grapes in the wilderness.
I saw your fathers
like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to Baal-peor,
consecrated themselves to Shame,
and became detestable,
like the thing they loved.
11Ephraim's glory will fly away like a bird:
no birth, no gestation, no conception.
12Even if they raise children,
I will bereave them of each one.
Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!
13I have seen Ephraim like Tyre,
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!
15All their evil appears at Gilgal,
for there I came to hate them.
I will drive them from My house
because of their evil, wicked actions.
I will no longer love them;
all their leaders are rebellious.
16Ephraim is struck down;
their roots are withered;
they cannot bear fruit.
Even if they bear children,
I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs.
17My God will reject them
because they have not listened to Him;
they will become wanderers among the nations.

Chapter 10

10:1Israel is a lush vine;
it yields fruit for itself.
The more his fruit increased,
the more he increased the altars.
The better his land produced,
the better they made the sacred pillars.
2Their hearts are devious;
now they must bear their guilt.
The Lord will break down their altars
and demolish their sacred pillars.
3In fact, they are now saying,
"We have no king!
For we do not fear the Lord.
What can a king do for us?"
4They speak mere words,
taking false oaths while making covenants.
So lawsuits break out
like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.
5The residents of Samaria will have anxiety
over the calf of Beth-aven.
Indeed, its idolatrous priests rejoiced over it;
the people will mourn over it,
over its glory.
It will certainly depart from them.
6The calf itself will be taken to Assyria
as an offering to the great king.
Ephraim will experience shame;
Israel will be ashamed of its counsel.
7Samaria's king will disappear
like foam on the surface of the water.
8The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
will be destroyed;
thorns and thistles will grow over their altars.
They will say to the mountains, "Cover us!"
and to the hills, "Fall on us!"
9Israel, you have sinned
since the days of Gibeah;
they have taken their stand there.
Will not war against the unjust
overtake them in Gibeah?
10I will discipline them at My discretion;
nations will be gathered against them
to put them in bondage
for their two crimes.
11Ephraim is a well-trained calf
that loves to thresh,
but I will place a yoke on her fine neck.
I will harness Ephraim;
Judah will plow;
Jacob will do the final plowing.
12Sow righteousness for yourselves
and reap faithful love;
break up your unplowed ground.
It is time to seek the Lord
until He comes and sends righteousness
on you like the rain.
13You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice;
you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your own way
and in your large number of soldiers,
14the roar of battle will rise against your people,
and all your fortifications will be demolished
in a day of war,
like Shalman's destruction of Beth-arbel.
Mothers will be dashed to pieces
along with their children.
15So it will be done to you, Bethel,
because of your extreme evil.
At dawn the king of Israel will be totally destroyed.