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¹Israel is a luxuriant vine; He produces fruit for himself. The more his fruit, The more altars he made; The richer his land, The better he made the memorial stones.

²Their heart is deceitful; Now they must suffer for their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars And destroy their memorial stones.

³Certainly now they will say, “We have no king, For we do not revere the LORD. As for the king, what can he do for us?”

⁴They speak mere words, With worthless oaths they make covenants; And judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

⁵The inhabitants of Samaria will fear For the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn for it, And its idolatrous priests will cry out over it, Over its glory, since it has left it.

⁶The thing itself will be brought to Assyria As a gift of tribute to King Jareb; Ephraim will be seized with shame, And Israel will be ashamed of its own plan.

⁷Samaria will be destroyed with her king, Like a twig on the surface of the water.

⁸Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed; Thorns and thistles will grow on their altars; Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

⁹Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, Israel; There they stand! Will the battle against the sons of injustice not overtake them in Gibeah?

¹⁰When it is My desire, I will discipline them; And the peoples will be gathered against them When they are bound for their double guilt.

¹¹Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh, And I passed over her lovely neck; I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, Jacob will harrow for himself.

¹²Sow for yourselves, with a view to righteousness; Harvest in accordance with kindness. Break up your uncultivated ground, For it is time to seek the LORD Until He comes and rains righteousness on you.

¹³You have plowed wickedness, you have harvested injustice, You have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your way, in your many warriors,

¹⁴An uproar will arise among your people, And all your fortresses will be destroyed, As Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle, When mothers were slaughtered with their children.

¹⁵So it will be done to you at Bethel because of your great wickedness. At dawn the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.

¹When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.

²The more they called them, The more they went away from them; They kept sacrificing to the Baals And burning incense to idols.

³Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in My arms; But they did not know that I healed them.

⁴I pulled them along with cords of a man, with ropes of love, And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; And I bent down and fed them.

⁵They will not return to the land of Egypt; But Assyria—he will be their king Because they refused to return to Me.

⁶And the sword will whirl against their cities, And will destroy their oracle priests And consume them, because of their counsels.

⁷So My people are determined to turn from Me. Though they call them to the One on high, None at all exalts Him.

⁸How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I surrender you, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned over within Me, All My compassions are kindled.

⁹I will not carry out My fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, And I will not come in wrath.

¹⁰They will walk after the LORD, He will roar like a lion; Indeed He will roar, And His sons will come trembling from the west.

¹¹They will come trembling like birds from Egypt, And like doves from the land of Assyria; And I will settle them in their houses, declares the LORD.

¹²Ephraim surrounds Me with lies And the house of Israel with deceit; Judah is still unruly against God, Even against the Holy One who is faithful.

¹Ephraim feeds on wind, And pursues the east wind continually; He multiplies lies and violence. Moreover, he makes a covenant with Assyria, And oil is brought to Egypt.

²The LORD also has a case against Judah, And will punish Jacob according to his ways; He will repay him according to his deeds.

³In the womb he took his brother by the heel, And in his mature strength he contended with God.

⁴Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed; He wept and implored His favor. He found Him at Bethel, And there He spoke with us,

⁵And the LORD, the God of armies, The LORD is His name.

⁶So as for you, return to your God, Maintain kindness and justice, And wait for your God continually.

⁷A merchant, in whose hands are fraudulent balances, Loves to exploit.

⁸And Ephraim said, “I have certainly become rich, I have found wealth for myself; In all my labors they will find in me No wrongdoing, which would be sin.”

⁹But I have been the LORD your God since the land of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, As in the days of the appointed festival.

¹⁰I have also spoken to the prophets, And I provided many visions, And through the prophets I spoke in parables.

¹¹Is there injustice in Gilead? Certainly they are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls, Yes, their altars are like stone heaps Beside the furrows of a field.

¹²Now Jacob fled to the land of Aram, And Israel worked for a wife, And for a wife he kept sheep.

¹³But by a prophet the LORD brought Israel up from Egypt, And by a prophet he was protected.

¹⁴Ephraim has provoked God to bitter anger; So his Lord will leave his guilt for bloodshed on him And bring his disgrace back to him.

¹When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He exalted himself in Israel, But through Baal he incurred guilt and died.

²And now they sin more and more, And make for themselves cast metal images, Idols skillfully made from their silver, All of them the work of craftsmen. They say of them, “Let the people who sacrifice kiss the calves!”

³Therefore they will be like the morning cloud And like dew which soon disappears, Like chaff which is blown away from the threshing floor, And like smoke from a chimney.

⁴Yet I have been the LORD your God Since the land of Egypt; And you were not to know any god except Me, For there is no savior besides Me.

⁵I cared for you in the wilderness, In the land of drought.

⁶As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, And as they became satisfied, their heart became proud; Therefore they forgot Me.

⁷So I will be like a lion to them; Like a leopard I will lie in wait by the wayside.

⁸I will confront them like a bear deprived of her cubs, And I will tear open their chests; I will also devour them there like a lioness, As a wild animal would tear them to pieces.

⁹It is to your own destruction, Israel, That you are against Me, against your help.

¹⁰Where then is your king, That he might save you in all your cities; And your judges, to whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”?

¹¹I gave you a king in My anger, And took him away in My wrath.

¹²The guilt of Ephraim is wrapped up; His sin is stored up.

¹³The pains of childbirth come on him; He is not a wise son, For it is not the time that he should delay at the opening of the womb.

¹⁴Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? Death, where are your thorns? Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion will be hidden from My sight.

¹⁵Though he flourishes among the reeds, An east wind will come, The wind of the LORD coming up from the wilderness; And his fountain will become dry And his spring will dry up; It will plunder his treasury of every precious article.

¹⁶Samaria will pay the penalty for her guilt, Because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword, Their children will be slaughtered, And their pregnant women will be ripped open.

¹Return, Israel, to the LORD your God, For you have stumbled because of your wrongdoing.

²Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, “Take away all guilt And receive us graciously, So that we may present the fruit of our lips.

³Assyria will not save us, We will not ride on horses; Nor will we say again, ‘Our god’ To the work of our hands; For in You the orphan finds mercy.”

⁴I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, Because My anger has turned away from them.

⁵I will be like the dew to Israel; He will blossom like the lily, And he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶His shoots will sprout, His majesty will be like the olive tree, And his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.

⁷Those who live in his shadow Will again raise grain, And they will blossom like the vine. His fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like a luxuriant juniper; From Me comes your fruit.

⁹Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, And the righteous will walk in them, But wrongdoers will stumble in them.