Hosea 6:4-Hosea 7:2 - The Lord's First Lament

⁴ What will I do with you, Ephraim? What will I do with you, Judah? Your love [is] like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early in the morning. ⁵ Therefore, I have hewn [them] by [the] prophets; I have killed them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth like the light. ⁶ Because I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

⁷ But like Adam, they transgressed [the] covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me. ⁸ Gilead [is] a city of evil, a cunning [city] because of blood. ⁹ Like bandits lying in wait, [so is] a band of priests; they murder [on the] road to Shechem; indeed, they commit a monstrous crime. ¹⁰ In the house of Israel I have seen something horrible; Ephraim's unfaithfulness [is] there. Israel is defiled. ¹¹ For you also, Judah, a harvest is appointed, when I restore the fortunes of my people,

¹ when I would heal Israel, and the corruption of Ephraim is revealed, and the wicked deeds of Samaria; because they deal [in] falsehood, [the] thief breaks in, [and the] bandit raids the outside. ² {But they did not consider} that I remember all their wickedness. Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face.