The days of visitation have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, And the man who is inspired to be insane, Because of the abundance of your sins, And because your hostility is great.
When God brought the people of Israel out of Egypt and led them through the wilderness, his desire was that they enter a new era of fruitfulness. But even before they reached the promised land, they had turned to Baalism and its immorality (10; see Numbers 25:1-5). Such unfaithfulness has characterized the people ever since. They practise sexual rites, hoping that their families will increase. God’s punishment, fittingly, will cause their families to decrease (11-14). Because of their Baal practices (as, for example, at Gilgal), they will be fruitless instead of fruitful. They will go into shameful captivity in a foreign land (15-17).