Therefore, this is what I will do:
I will block her way with thorns;
I will enclose her with a wall,
so that she cannot find her paths.

Ephraim will become a desolation
on the day of punishment;
I announce what is certain
among the tribes of Israel.

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,
for he is determined to follow what is worthless.

What am I going to do with you, Ephraim?
What am I going to do with you, Judah?
Your loyalty is like the morning mist
and like the early dew that vanishes.

They turn, but not to what is above;
they are like a faulty bow.
Their leaders will fall by the sword
because of the cursing of their tongue.
They will be ridiculed for this in the land of Egypt.

Israel has rejected what is good;
an enemy will pursue him.

Indeed, they sow the wind
and reap the whirlwind.
There is no standing grain;
what sprouts fails to yield flour.
Even if they did,
foreigners would swallow it up.

What will you do on a festival day,
on the day of the Lord’s feast?

Give them, Lord—
What should You give?
Give them a womb that miscarries
and breasts that are dry!

In fact, they are now saying,
“We have no king!
For we do not fear the Lord.
What can a king do for us?”

Take words of repentance with you
and return to the Lord.
Say to Him: “Forgive all our sin
and accept what is good,
so that we may repay You
with praise from our lips.