| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1Rejoice not, O Israel! Exult not like the peoples; for you have played the whore, forsaking your God. You have loved a prostitute’s wages on all threshing floors. | 1O people of Israel, do not rejoice as other nations do. For you have been unfaithful to your God, hiring yourselves out like prostitutes, worshiping other gods on every threshing floor. |
| 2Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail them. | 2So now your harvests will be too small to feed you. There will be no grapes for making new wine. |
| 3They shall not remain in the land of the LORD, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria. | 3You may no longer stay here in the LORD’s land. Instead, you will return to Egypt, and in Assyria you will eat food that is ceremonially unclean. |
| 4They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the LORD, and their sacrifices shall not please him. It shall be like mourners’ bread to them; all who eat of it shall be defiled; for their bread shall be for their hunger only; it shall not come to the house of the LORD. | 4There you will make no offerings of wine to the LORD. None of your sacrifices there will please him. They will be unclean, like food touched by a person in mourning. All who present such sacrifices will be defiled. They may eat this food themselves, but they may not offer it to the LORD. |
| 5What will you do on the day of the appointed festival, and on the day of the feast of the LORD? | 5What then will you do on festival days? How will you observe the LORD’s festivals? |
| 6For behold, they are going away from destruction; but Egypt shall gather them; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver; thorns shall be in their tents. | 6Even if you escape destruction from Assyria, Egypt will conquer you, and Memphis will bury you. Nettles will take over your treasures of silver; thistles will invade your ruined homes. |
| 7The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool; the man of the spirit is mad, because of your great iniquity and great hatred. | 7The 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!” |
| 8The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God; yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God. | 8The prophet is a watchman over Israel for my God, yet traps are laid for him wherever he goes. He faces hostility even in the house of God. |
| 9They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins. | 9The things my people do are as depraved as what they did in Gibeah long ago. God will not forget. He will surely punish them for their sins. |
| 10Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved. | 10The LORD says, “O Israel, when I first found you, it was like finding fresh grapes in the desert. When I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season. But then they deserted me for Baal-peor, giving themselves to that shameful idol. Soon they became vile, as vile as the god they worshiped. |
| 11Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird— no birth, no pregnancy, no conception! | 11The glory of Israel will fly away like a bird, for your children will not be born or grow in the womb or even be conceived. |
| 12Even if they bring up children, I will bereave them till none is left. Woe to them when I depart from them! | 12Even if you do have children who grow up, I will take them from you. It will be a terrible day when I turn away and leave you alone. |
| 13Ephraim, as I have seen, was like a young palm planted in a meadow; but Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter. | 13I have watched Israel become as beautiful as Tyre. But now Israel will bring out her children for slaughter.” |
| 14Give them, O LORD— what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. | 14O LORD, what should I request for your people? I will ask for wombs that don’t give birth and breasts that give no milk. |
| 15Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels. | 15The LORD says, “All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their evil actions. I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels. |
| 16Ephraim is stricken; their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Even though they give birth, I will put their beloved children to death. | 16The people of Israel are struck down. Their roots are dried up, and they will bear no more fruit. And if they give birth, I will slaughter their beloved children.” |
| 17My God will reject them because they have not listened to him; they shall be wanderers among the nations. | 17My God will reject the people of Israel because they will not listen or obey. They will be wanderers, homeless among the nations. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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