3. They won’t remain in the land of the Lord;but Ephraim will return to Egypt,and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.
4. They won’t pour wine as an offering to the Lord;their sacrifices won’t please him.Such sacrifices will be like food for those who touch the dead;all who eat of it will be unclean;their bread will be for their hunger alone;it will not come to the Lord’s house.
5. What will you do on the day of appointed festival,on the day of the Lord’s festival?
6. Even if they escape destruction,Egypt will gather them,Memphis will bury them.Briars will possess their precious things of silver;thorns will be in their tents.
7. The days of punishment have come;the days of judgment have arrived;Israel cries,"The prophet is a fool,the spiritual man is mad!"Because of your great wickedness,your rejection of me is great.
8. The prophet is God’s watchmanlooking over Ephraim,yet a hunter’s trap is set, covering all his ways,and rejection is in his God’s house.
9. They have corrupted themselves terriblyas in the days of Gibeah;he will remember their wickedness;he will punish their sins.
10. Like grapes in the wilderness,I found Israel.In its first season,like the first fruit on the fig tree,I saw your ancestors.But they came to Baal-peor,and worshipped a thing of shame;they became detestable like the thing they loved.
11. Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird—no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
12. Though they bring up children,I will make them childlessuntil no one is left.Doom to them indeed when I leave them!
13. When I looked toward Tyre, Ephraim was planted in alovely meadow;but now Ephraim must lead out his children for slaughter.