| 1 | "Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn, that he may heal us; he has stricken, and he will bind us up. |
| 2 | After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. |
| 3 | Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD; his going forth is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth." |
| 4 | What shall I do with you, O E'phraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. |
| 5 | Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. |
| 6 | For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings. |
| 7 | But at Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me. |
| 8 | Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood. |
| 9 | As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests are banded together; they murder on the way to Shechem, yea, they commit villainy. |
| 10 | In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; E'phraim's harlotry is there, Israel is defiled. |
| 11 | For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed. When I would restore the fortunes of my people, |
| 1 | when I would heal Israel, the corruption of E'phraim is revealed, and the wicked deeds of Sama'ria; for they deal falsely, the thief breaks in, and the bandits raid without. |
| 2 | But they do not consider that I remember all their evil works. Now their deeds encompass them, they are before my face. |
| 3 | By their wickedness they make the king glad, and the princes by their treachery. |
| 4 | They are all adulterers; they are like a heated oven, whose baker ceases to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened. |
| 5 | On the day of our king the princes became sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with mockers. |
| 6 | For like an oven their hearts burn with intrigue; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire. |
| 7 | All of them are hot as an oven, and they devour their rulers. All their kings have fallen; and none of them calls upon me. |
| 8 | E'phraim mixes himself with the peoples; E'phraim is a cake not turned. |
| 9 | Aliens devour his strength, and he knows it not; gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, and he knows it not. |
| 10 | The pride of Israel witnesses against him; yet they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him, for all this. |
| 11 | E'phraim is like a dove, silly and without sense, calling to Egypt, going to Assyria. |
| 12 | As they go, I will spread over them my net; I will bring them down like birds of the air; I will chastise them for their wicked deeds. |
| 13 | Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me! I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me. |
| 14 | They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves, they rebel against me. |
| 15 | Although I trained and strengthened their arms, yet they devise evil against me. |
| 16 | They turn to Ba'al; they are like a treacherous bow, their princes shall fall by the sword because of the insolence of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt. |
| 1 | Set the trumpet to your lips, for a vulture is over the house of the LORD, because they have broken my covenant, and transgressed my law. |
| 2 | To me they cry, My God, we Israel know thee. |
| 3 | Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him. |
| 4 | They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but without my knowledge. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction. |
| 5 | I have spurned your calf, O Sama'ria. My anger burns against them. How long will it be till they are pure |
| 6 | in Israel? A workman made it; it is not God. The calf of Sama'ria shall be broken to pieces. |
| 7 | For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads, it shall yield no meal; if it were to yield, aliens would devour it. |
| 8 | Israel is swallowed up; already they are among the nations as a useless vessel. |
| 9 | For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild ass wandering alone; E'phraim has hired lovers. |
| 10 | Though they hire allies among the nations, I will soon gather them up. And they shall cease for a little while from anointing king and princes. |
| 11 | Because E'phraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning. |
| 12 | Were I to write for him my laws by ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing. |
| 13 | They love sacrifice; they sacrifice flesh and eat it; but the LORD has no delight in them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt. |
| 14 | For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour his strongholds. |
| 1 | Rejoice not, O Israel! Exult not like the peoples; for you have played the harlot, forsaking your God. You have loved a harlot's hire upon all threshing floors. |
| 2 | Threshing floor and winevat shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail them. |
| 3 | They shall not remain in the land of the LORD; but E'phraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria. |
| 4 | They shall not pour libations of wine to the LORD; and they shall not please him with their sacrifices. Their bread shall be like mourners' bread; all who eat of it shall be defiled; for their bread shall be for their hunger only; it shall not come to the house of the LORD. |
| 5 | What will you do on the day of appointed festival, and on the day of the feast of the LORD? |
| 6 | For behold, they are going to Assyria; Egypt shall gather them, Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver; thorns shall be in their tents. |
| 7 | The days of punishment have come, the days of recompense have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is mad, because of your great iniquity and great hatred. |
| 8 | The prophet is the watchman of E'phraim, the people of my God, yet a fowler's snare is on all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God. |
| 9 | They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gib'e-ah: he will remember their iniquity, he will punish their sins. |
| 10 | Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree, in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they came to Ba'al-pe'or, and consecrated themselves to Ba'al, and became detestable like the thing they loved. |
| 11 | E'phraim's glory shall fly away like a bird -- no birth, no pregnancy, no conception! |
| 12 | Even if they bring up children, I will bereave them till none is left. Woe to them when I depart from them! |
| 13 | E'phraim's sons, as I have seen, are destined for a prey; E'phraim must lead forth his sons to slaughter. |
| 14 | Give them, O LORD -- what wilt thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. |
| 15 | Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels. |
| 16 | E'phraim is stricken, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit. Even though they bring forth, I will slay their beloved children. |
| 17 | My God will cast them off, because they have not hearkened to him; they shall be wanderers among the nations. |
