1 Do not rejoice, Israel, with joy like the peoples, for you have acted as a harlot away from your God {Elohecha, Covenant Partner}; you have loved payment {etnan: harlot’s wage} upon all threshing floors of grain.
2 The threshing floor {goren: grain threshing area} and wine vat will not feed them, and the new wine {tirosh: fresh grape juice} will fail in her.
3 They will not dwell in the land of the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Landowner}, but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat unclean {tame: ritually defiled} food.
4 They shall not pour out wine to the LORD {YHWH, Divine Judge}, nor shall their sacrifices be pleasing to Him. Their sacrifices will be like mourners’ bread {onim: ritual impurity}—all who eat of it shall become unclean, for their bread is for their hunger {lə-nap̄šām: appetite} only; it shall not enter the house of the LORD.
5 What will you do for the day of the appointed festival {moed: appointed time}, and for the day of the feast of the LORD {YHWH, Worship Receiver}?
6 For behold, they have fled from devastation {shod: violent ruin}; Egypt will gather them, Memphis will bury them. The precious things of their silver {makhmad: prized treasures}—nettles will possess them; thorns will be in their tents.
7 The days of visitation {hapqudah: divine visitation} have come; the days of recompense {hasillum: judicial settlement} have come. Israel will know it. The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is mad because of the abundance of your iniquity and great hostility.
8 The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God {Elohai, Covenant Witness}; yet a fowler’s snare {pah: hidden trap} is on all his ways, and hostility is in the house of his God.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their iniquity {avonam: moral guilt} and punish their sins {hattootam: deliberate violations}.
10 Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first-ripe fruit on the fig tree at its beginning, I saw your fathers {avot: ancestral leaders}. But they came to Baal-peor {baal-peor: Moabite fertility god} and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and they became abominations like what they loved.
11 Ephraim’s glory {kevodam: public honor} will fly away {yitofef: swift departure} like a bird—from birth, from the womb, and from conception.
12 For even if they bring up their children {beneihem: their offspring}, I {YHWH, Righteous Judge} will bereave them until no one is left from mankind; for also, woe to them when I turn away from them.
13 Ephraim, as I saw, was like Tyre, planted {shetulah: well-established} in a pleasant place; but Ephraim will bring out his sons to the slayer {horeg: violent killer}.
14 Give to them, O LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}; what will You give? Give them a miscarrying {mashkil: child-loss} womb and breasts that are dried up.
15 All their evil is in Gilgal; for there I {YHWH, Righteous Judge} hated them because of the evil of their deeds. From My house I will drive them out; I will love {ahavatam: covenant devotion} them no more. All their princes are rebels.
16 Ephraim is struck; their root has dried up; they will not produce fruit {peri: produce}. Even though they give birth, I will put to death the beloved ones {machamadei: precious} of their womb.
17 My God {Elohai, Personal Judge} will reject them because they did not listen to Him. They will become wanderers {noddim: unsettled ones} among the nations.