[:en]SCRIPTURE: HOSEA 9
“The days of punishment are coming, the days of reackoning are at hand. Let Israel know this. Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac” (Hosea 9:7)
“Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird – no brith, no pregnancy, no conception.” *Hosea p”11)
“Ephraim is blighted, their root is withered, they yield no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will slay their cherished offspring” (Hosea 9:16)
“My God will reject them because they have not obeyed him; they will be wanderers among the nations” (Hosea 9:17)
PUNISHMENT FOR ISRAEL:
Ephraim means “twice fruitful”. But because they had been unfaithful to God by worshiping idols, their fruitfulness had disappeared. God would judge them by not allowing them to bear children. They would return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria. Egypt would take their treasures and God would punish them for their sins. God gave them wombs that miscarry and breast that are dry. God rejected them for their sinful deeds of rebellion. Their disobedience made them wanderers among the nations.[:]