*O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly like the nations, for you are unfaithful to your God. You love to receive a prostitute’s wages on all the floors where you thresh your grain.*Threshing floors and wine vats will not feed the people, and new wine only deceives them.
Assyrian Exile Will Reverse the Egyptian Exodus
*They will not remain in the Lord’s land. Ephraim will return to Egypt; they will eat ritually unclean food in Assyria.*They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord; they will not please him with their sacrifices. Their sacrifices will be like bread eaten while in mourning; all those who eat them will make themselves ritually unclean. For their bread will be only to satisfy their appetite; it will not come into the temple of the Lord.*So what will you do on the festival day, on the festival days of the Lord?
No Escape for the Israelites This Time!
*Look! Even if they flee from the destruction, Egypt will take hold of them, and Memphis will bury them. The weeds will inherit the silver they treasure – thorn bushes will occupy their homes.
Israel Rejects Hosea’s Prophetic Exhortations
*The time of judgment is about to arrive! The time of retribution is imminent! Let Israel know! *The prophet is considered a fool – the inspired man is viewed as a madman – because of the multitude of your sins and your intense animosity.*The prophet is a watchman over Ephraim on behalf of God, yet traps are laid for him along all of his paths; animosity rages against him in the land of his God.
The Best of Times, the Worst of Times
*They have sunk deep into corruption as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their wrongdoing. He will repay them for their sins.*When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the wilderness. I viewed your ancestors like an early fig on a fig tree in its first season. Then they came to Baal-Peor and they dedicated themselves to shame – they became as detestable as what they loved.
The Fertility Worshipers Will Become Infertile
*Ephraim will be like a bird; what they value will fly away. They will not bear children – they will not enjoy pregnancy – they will not even conceive! *Even if they raise their children, I will take away every last one of them. Woe to them! For I will turn away from them.*Just as lion cubs are born predators, so Ephraim will bear his sons for slaughter.*Give them, O Lord – what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry, and breasts that cannot nurse! *Because of all their evil in Gilgal, I hate them there. On account of their evil deeds, I will drive them out of my land. I will no longer love them; all their rulers are rebels.*Ephraim will be struck down – their root will be dried up; they will not yield any fruit. Even if they do bear children, I will kill their precious offspring.*My God will reject them, for they have not obeyed him; so they will be fugitives among the nations.
