1 Don't rejoice, O Israel, or have joy, like other people do, Because you have acted like a prostitute against thy God, taking the payment to worship other gods on every threshing floor.
Israel is told not to celebrate the harvest because they were attributing their prosperity to false gods, not the true One.
The threshing floor was common place for pagan rituals, especially fertility rituals.
2 The threshingfloor and the winepress won't not feed them, and there won't be grapes to make new wine with.
3 They won't live in the I AM's land anymore, but Ephraim (the nation of Israel) will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean things in Assyria.
Israel will again be in captivity like when they were in Egypt, and they will go to Assyria and not be able to keep the dietary laws. Most likely they were keeping the dietary laws out of pride, though they were ignoring the more important parts of the Law; those parts concerning how to treat the poor, how to do business fairly, and how to treat their family. It is much easier and much more ego boosting to be legalistic than to love our neighbors.
4 They shall not be able to offer wine offerings to the I AM, neither will they please Him. Their sacrifices will be unclean, like bread touched by those in mourning. It will be eaten only to satisfy their hunger, not as offerings in the House of the I AM.
Because their hearts aren’t right, all their sacrifices are not accepted. God counts them all as polluted.
God is going to fix it so they can’t even be legalistic. They won’t have the option of keeping the dietary and sacrifice laws.
5 What will you do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the I AM?
6 Because they are gone because of destruction. Egypt will gather them up, Memphis will bury them. Stinging nettles will take over their silver mines and thorns will be in their tabernacles.
Memphis was the capital of Egypt.
Nettles have fine, very sharp stickers all over them; almost like fur except they’re sharp. Touching them almost feels like a bad burn (ask me how I know!). They grow in wild places and are actually a medicinal herb and very high in vitamins, though I don’t think God was concerned with medicine at this moment. He was promising that Israel would be so desolate that the annoying weeds would grow up in the middle of her major cities.
7 The days of punishment are come. The days of payment are here. Israel will know it. They say, "The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is crazy," because of the multitude of thine sins, and his great hatred.
Time’s up.
8 God has sent prophets to guard over you, Israel, but you set traps for them like a hunter, and even hate God in His own Temple.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, just like in the days of Gibeah. So He will remember their sins. He will punish their sins.
"The Time of Gibeah" refers to an incident where a woman was raped to death (Judges 19) and an entire tribe in Israel was nearly wiped out for punishment.
10 I found Israel to be like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first-ripe fruit in the fig tree the first time it produces. But they went to Baalpeor, and dedicated themselves to that shame, and their wickedness was like what they loved.
Finding grapes where they haven’t been cultivated or the first fruit off of a tree is a delightful thing. Fruit is very refreshing and pleasant to eat; God’s instant dessert. This is how pleased God was with Israel at first, but now she has gone to other gods.
11 As for Israel, their glory will fly away like a bird; no more births, no more pregnancies, no more babies.
As punishment, infertility will increase as will miscarriages. Low birth rates are a punishment from God. (And modern Western Culture has chosen to encourage low birth rates. This is not wise)
12 And even if they have children, I will take them away so they will mourn, so their won't be a man left. Yes, pain and anguish to them when I leave them!
Even those who manage to have children won’t see them to adulthood and marriage. The Assyrians will carry them away as slaves.
13 I made Israel as beautiful as Tyre, but Israel will bring out their children to the murderer.
14 Give them, O I AM! What will thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
Without modern formulas, a baby whose mother’s milk dried up was pretty much doomed. Even today, formula is a far lower, second choice to the natural food God made for babies.
Imagine the heartache; first you have trouble even getting pregnant. Then you miscarry. Then, after you actually manage to carry a baby long enough he survives the birth, he dies of starvation because your body won’t produce enough milk to feed him. If you do manage to successfully feed one, the Assyrians will come in and kill him or carry him off to a foreign land and you will never see him again.
Israel joined their neighbors in sacrificing babies to idols. So, God says, "If you don't value babies enough to keep them alive, I won't let you have any at all." God often gives us exactly what we want, much to our heartache, when we don't follow Him.
15 All their wickedness began in Gilgal. It's there I began to hate them. Because of the wicked things they do I will drive them out of My house, I will love them no more. All their leaders are rebels.
16 Israel is smitten, their root is dried up, they will have no children. Yes, even if they birth children, I will kill them
17 My God will throw them away, because they did not listen to Him, and they will wander among the nations.
The Assyrians had the practice of slaughtering all the leaders of a country and then removing the people from their homeland and settling them in a foreign country. This made them less likely to fight because they were no longer protecting their homes and their people would be too far away from each other to band together. Israel would be one of those nations scattered throughout the kingdom.