3. They will not remain in the land of Yahweh. But Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.
4. They will not pour drink offerings of wine to Yahweh, and their sacrifices will not please him. They are like mourners’ bread for them; all those who eat it will be defiled. For their bread will be for their hunger; it will not come to the house of Yahweh.
5. What will you do on the day of the appointed time, and on the day of the festival of Yahweh?
6. For look! If they flee from the destruction, Egypt will gather them; Memphis will bury them. Nettles will possess their precious things of silver; thorns will be in their tents.
7. The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have come; Israel knows! The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is acting like a madman. Because of the greatness of your sin, your hostility is great.
8. The prophet keeps watch over Ephraim for my God; the snare of a fowler is on all his ways, and hostility in the house of his God.
9. They deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah; he will remember their sin, he will punish their sins.
10. Like the grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like early ripened fruit on the fig tree in the first season, I saw your ancestors. They themselves came to Baal Peor, and they consecrated themselves to shame. And they became detestable things, like the thing they love.
11. Ephraim’s glory is like a bird; it will fly away— no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.
12. Even though they bring up their children, I will bereave them before maturity. Woe to them indeed, when I depart from them!
13. Ephraim, as I see it, is like a palm in a meadow; but Ephraim must bring out his children to the slayer.