New Living Translation NLT
Wycliffe WYC
1 O 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.
1
Israel, do not thou be glad, do not thou make full out joy as (other) peoples; for thou hast done fornication, (going away) from thy God. Thou lovedest meed on all the cornfloors of wheat. (Israel, do not thou be happy, do not thou rejoice like other peoples; for thou hast done adultery, or idolatry, going away from thy God. Thou hast received thy reward, or thy bounty, on all the threshing floors for corn.)
2 So now your harvests will be too small to feed you. There will be no grapes for making new wine.
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The cornfloor and presser shall not feed them, and wine shall lie (down) to them. (But soon the threshing floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the wine shall fail before them.)
3 You 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.
3
They shall not dwell in the land of the Lord. Ephraim turned again in to Egypt, and ate defouled thing among Assyrians. (They shall not live in the land of the Lord. Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and shall eat defiled things among the Assyrians.)
4 There 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 .
4
They shall not offer wine to the Lord, and they shall not please him. The sacrifices of them be as bread of mourners; all that shall eat it shall be defouled. For the bread of them is to the life of them; they shall not enter into the house of the Lord. (They shall not offer wine to the Lord, and they shall not please him. Their sacrifices be like the bread of mourners; all who shall eat it shall be defiled. For their bread shall only be for their life, or for their sustenance; they shall not enter into the House of the Lord with it.)
5 What then will you do on festival days? How will you observe the LORD ’s festivals?
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What shall ye do in the solemn day, in the day of the feast of the Lord? (What shall ye do on the solemn day, yea, on the feast day of the Lord?)
6 Even 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.
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For lo! they be gone out from destroying. Egypt shall gather them together, Memphis shall bury them. A nettle shall inherit the desirable silver of them, a clote shall be in the tabernacles of them (Nettles shall inherit their treasures of silver, thorns shall grow in their tents).
7 The 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!”
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Days of visitation be come, days of yielding be come. Know ye, that Israel is a fool, a mad prophet, a spiritual man, for the multitude of thy wickedness is also the multitude of madness. (Days of punishment have come, days of yielding vengeance have come, and Israel shall know it. And now the prophet shall be made a fool, and the spiritual man a madman, for the multitude of thy wickedness and thy hatred.)
8 The 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.
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The beholder of Ephraim with my God is a prophet; a snare of falling is made now on all the ways of him, strong vengeance is in the house of his God. (The watchman for Ephraim was sent from his God; but the prophet is made a snare of falling in all their ways, and strong vengeance is in the House of his God/but a snare of falling is made on all the ways of the prophet, and strong vengeance is in the House of his God.)
9 The 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.
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They sinned deeply, as in the days of Gibeah. The Lord shall have mind on the wickedness of them, and shall visit the sins of them. (They sinned deeply, like in the days of Gibeah. The Lord shall remember their wickedness, and shall punish them for their sins.)
10 The 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.
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I found Israel as grapes in desert, I saw the fathers of them as the first apples of a fig tree, in the top thereof; but they entered to Baalpeor, and were aliened [away] in[to] confusion, and they were made abominable as those things which they loved. (I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness, I saw their forefathers like the first fruits of a fig tree, high on the top of it; but they turned to Baalpeor, and went their way in confusion, and they were made as abominable as those things which they loved.)
11 The 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.
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Ephraim as a bird flew away; the glory of them is of child-bearing, and of the womb, and of conceiving. (The glory of Ephraim shall fly away like a bird; yea, away from child-bearing, and away from the womb, and even away from conceiving.)
12 Even 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.
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(So) That if they nurse their sons, I shall make them without children among men (And even if they do nourish their children, I shall soon make them to be without any children). But also woe to them, when I shall go away from them.
13 I have watched Israel become as beautiful as Tyre. But now Israel will bring out her children for slaughter.”
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I saw that Ephraim was as Tyre, founded in fairness; and Ephraim shall lead out his sons to the slayer. (I saw that Ephraim was like Tyre, founded in beauty; but Ephraim shall lead out their sons to the killer.)
14 O LORD, what should I request for your people? I will ask for wombs that don’t give birth and breasts that give no milk.
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Lord, give thou to them; what shalt thou give to them? give thou to them a womb without children, and dry teats. (Lord, give thou them; but what shalt thou give them? give thou them childless wombs, and dry breasts!)
15 The 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.
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All the wickednesses of them be in Gilgal, for there I had them hateful; for the malice of their findings. I shall cast them out of mine house; I shall not lay to, that I love them. All the princes of them go away (from me). (All their wickednesses be in Gilgal, and it was there that I began to hate them. For the malice of their deeds, I shall throw them out of my House; and no more shall I love them. All their leaders have rebelled against me.)
16 The 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.”
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Ephraim is smitten, the root of them is dried up; they shall not make fruit. That though they engender, I shall slay the most loved things of their womb. (Ephraim is struck down, their roots be dried up; they shall not make fruit. And if they do beget, or give birth, then I shall kill the most beloved things of their wombs.)
17 My God will reject the people of Israel because they will not listen or obey. They will be wanderers, homeless among the nations.
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My God shall cast them away, for they heard not him (My God shall cast them away, for they did not listen to him); and they shall be of unstable dwelling among (the) nations.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.