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¹Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, house of Israel! Listen, you of the house of the king! For the judgment applies to you, Because you have been a trap at Mizpah, And a net spread out on Tabor.

²And the rebels have gone deep in depravity, But I will discipline all of them.

³I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me; Because now, Ephraim, you have been unfaithful, Israel has defiled itself.

⁴Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of infidelity is within them, And they do not know the LORD.

⁵Moreover, the pride of Israel testifies against him, And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their wrongdoing; Judah also has stumbled with them.

⁶They will go with their flocks and herds To seek the LORD, but they will not find Him; He has withdrawn from them.

⁷They have dealt treacherously with the LORD, For they have given birth to illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their land.

⁸Blow the horn in Gibeah, And the trumpet in Ramah. Sound an alarm at Beth-aven: “Behind you, Benjamin!”

⁹Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke; Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is trustworthy.

¹⁰The leaders of Judah have become like those who displace a boundary marker; On them I will pour out My anger like water.

¹¹Ephraim is oppressed, broken by judgment, Because he was determined to follow man’s command.

¹²Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim, And like rottenness to the house of Judah.

¹³When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah his sore, Ephraim then went to Assyria And sent word to King Jareb. But he is unable to heal you, Or to cure you of your sore.

¹⁴For I will be like a lion to Ephraim And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, yes I, will tear to pieces and go away, I will carry away, and there will be no one to rescue.

¹⁵I will go away and return to My place Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their distress they will search for Me.

¹“Come, let’s return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

²He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him.

³So let’s learn, let’s press on to know the LORD. His appearance is as sure as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, As the spring rain waters the earth.”

⁴What shall I do with you, Ephraim? What shall I do with you, Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud, And like the dew which goes away early.

⁵Therefore I have cut them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; And the judgments on you are like the light that shines.

⁶For I desire loyalty rather than sacrifice, And the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

⁷But like Adam they have violated the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously with Me.

⁸Gilead is a city of wrongdoers, Tracked with bloody footprints.

⁹And as a band of robbers lie in wait for a person, So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem; Certainly they have committed an act of infamy.

¹⁰In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim’s infidelity is there, Israel has defiled itself.

¹¹Also, Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, When I restore the fortunes of My people.

¹When I would heal Israel, The wrongdoing of Ephraim is uncovered, And the evil deeds of Samaria, For they practice deception; The thief enters, A band of robbers attack outside,

²And they do not consider in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness. Now their deeds surround them; They are before My face.

³With their wickedness they make the king happy, And the officials with their lies.

⁴They are all adulterers, Like an oven heated by the baker, Who stops stoking the fire From the time the dough is kneaded until it is leavened.

⁵On the day of our king, the officials became sick with the heat of wine; He stretched out his hand with scoffers,

⁶For their hearts are like an oven As they approach their plotting; Their anger smolders all night, In the morning it burns like flaming fire.

⁷All of them are hot like an oven, And they consume their rulers; All their kings have fallen. None of them calls on Me.

⁸Ephraim is himself thrown about with the nations; Ephraim has become a round loaf not turned over.

⁹Strangers devour his strength, Yet he does not know it; Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him, Yet he does not know it.

¹⁰Though the pride of Israel testifies against him, Yet they have not returned to the LORD their God, Nor have they sought Him, despite all this.

¹¹So Ephraim has become like a gullible dove, without sense; They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

¹²When they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like the birds of the sky. I will discipline them in accordance with the proclamation to their assembly.

¹³Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me! Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me! I would redeem them, but they have spoken lies against Me.

¹⁴And they do not cry to Me from their heart When they wail on their beds; For the sake of grain and new wine they assemble themselves, They turn against Me.

¹⁵Although I trained and strengthened their arms, Yet they devise evil against Me.

¹⁶They turn, but not upward, They are like a loose bow; Their officials will fall by the sword Because of the insolence of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.

¹Put the trumpet to your lips! Like an eagle the enemy comes against the house of the LORD, Because they have violated My covenant And rebelled against My Law.

²They cry out to Me, “My God, we of Israel know You!”

³Israel has rejected the good; The enemy will pursue him.

⁴They have set up kings, but not by Me; They have appointed officials, but I did not know it. With their silver and gold they have made idols for themselves, So that they will be eliminated.

⁵He has rejected your calf, Samaria, saying, “My anger burns against them!” How long will they be incapable of innocence?

⁶For from Israel comes even this! A craftsman made it, so it is not God; Assuredly, the calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces.

⁷For they sow wind And they harvest a storm. The standing grain has no kernels; It yields no grain. If it were to yield, strangers would swallow it.

⁸Israel has been swallowed up; They are now among the nations Like a vessel in which no one delights.

⁹For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a wild donkey all alone; Ephraim has paid fees for lovers.

¹⁰Even though they pay for allies among the nations, I will gather them up now; And they will begin to diminish Because of the burden of the king of officials.

¹¹Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin, They have become altars of sinning for him.

¹²Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My Law, They are regarded as a strange thing.

¹³As for My sacrificial gifts, They sacrifice the flesh and eat it, But the LORD has taken no delight in them. Now He will remember their guilt, And punish them for their sins; They will return to Egypt.

¹⁴For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; And Judah has multiplied fortified cities, But I will send a fire on its cities, and it will consume its palatial buildings.

¹Do not rejoice, Israel, with jubilation like the nations! For you have been unfaithful, abandoning your God. You have loved the earnings of unfaithfulness on every threshing floor.

²Threshing floor and wine press will not feed them, And the new wine will fail them.

³They will not remain in the LORD’S land, But Ephraim will return to Egypt, And in Assyria they will eat unclean food.

⁴They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the LORD, Nor will their sacrifices please Him. Their bread will be to them like mourners’ bread; All who eat it will be defiled, Because their bread will be for themselves alone; It will not enter the house of the LORD.

⁵What will you do on the day of the appointed festival And on the day of the feast of the LORD?

⁶For behold, they will be gone because of destruction; Egypt will gather them together, Memphis will bury them. Weeds will take possession of their treasures of silver; Thorns will be in their tents.

⁷The days of punishment have come, The days of retribution have come; Let Israel know this! The prophet is a fool, The inspired person is insane, Because of the grossness of your wrongdoing, And because your hostility is so great.

⁸Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet; Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways, And there is only hostility in the house of his God.

⁹They are deeply depraved As in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their guilt, He will punish their sins.

¹⁰I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season. But they came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame, And they became as detestable as that which they loved.

¹¹As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird— No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!

¹²Though they bring up their children, Yet I will bereave them of their children until not a person is left. Yes, woe to them indeed when I depart from them!

¹³Ephraim, as I have seen, Is planted in a pasture like Tyre; But Ephraim is going to bring out his children for slaughter.

¹⁴Give to them, LORD—what will You give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dried-up breasts.

¹⁵All their evil is at Gilgal; Indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house! I will no longer love them; All their leaders are rebels.

¹⁶Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up, They will produce no fruit. Even though they give birth to children, I will put to death the precious ones of their womb.

¹⁷My God will reject them Because they have not listened to Him; And they will be wanderers among the nations.