Ye have ploughed wickedness, reaped iniquity, eaten the fruit of lies; for thou didst confide in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

Because Israel is a youth, and I love him, Out of Egypt I have called for My Son.

They have called to them rightly, They have gone from before them, To lords they do sacrifice, And to graven images they make perfume.

I learned Ephraim to go, and bare them in mine arms, but they regarded not me that would have helped them.

He turneth not back unto the land of Egypt, And Asshur -- he is his king, For they have refused to return.

Therefore shall the sword begin in their cities, the store that they have laid up shall be destroyed and eaten up: and that because of their own imaginations.

What great things have I given thee, O Ephraim? How faithfully have I defended thee, O Israel? Have I dealt with thee as with Adam? Or have I entreated thee like Zeboim? No, my heart is otherwise minded. Yea, my mercy is to fervent:

therefore have I not turned me to destroy Ephraim in my wrathful displeasure. For I am God, and no man: I am even that holy one in the midst of thee, though I came not within the city.

that they may be scattered away from Egypt, as men scare birds: and frayed away, as doves used to be, from the Assyrians' land: and that because I would have them tarry at home, sayeth the LORD.

They have compassed me about - with denial, Ephraim, with deceit, the house of Israel, - but, Judah, hath, again and again, run riot with GOD, though, with the holy places, entrusted.

A merchant, in whose hand are false and fraudulent balances;
He loves to oppress and exploit.

And Ephraim saith, Nevertheless I am become rich, I have found me out substance; in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.

But, I, Yahweh, have been thy God, from the land of Egypt, - I will yet make thee dwell in tents, as in the days of appointed meeting.

And I have spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and by means of the prophets have I used similitudes.

But at Gilead is the abomination, they are fallen to vanity. At Gilgal they have slain oxen: and as many heaps of stones as they had in their land furrows, so many altars have they made.

I have been bitterly moved to wrath by Ephraim; so that his blood will be on him, and the Lord will make his shame come back on him.

And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: that thou shouldest know no God but me only, and that thou shouldest have no Saviour but only me.

I -- I have known thee in a wilderness, In a land of droughts.

According to their pasture, they became full; they became full, and their heart was exalted: therefore have they forgotten me.

So I will be like a lion to them;
Like a leopard I will watch and lie in wait [ready to attack] by the road [to Assyria].

I will come face to face with them like a bear whose young ones have been taken from her, and their inmost hearts will be broken; there the dogs will make a meal of them; they will be wounded by the beasts of the field.

O Israel, you have destroyed yourself; but in me is your help.

I have given thee a king in my anger, and have taken him away in my wrath.

Therefore shall sorrows come upon him, as upon a woman that travaileth. An indiscreet son is he: for he considereth not, that he should not have been able to have endured in the time of his birth,

I will give the price to make them free from the power of the underworld, I will be their saviour from death: O death! where are your pains? O underworld! where is your destruction? my eyes will have no pity.

O Israel, return to LORD thy God, for thou have fallen by thine iniquity.

Assyria cannot save us; we will not ride warhorses. We will never again say, 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made. For only you will show compassion to Orphan Israel!"

I will heal their apostasy;
I will freely love them,
for My anger will have turned from him.

They will come back and have rest in his shade; their life will be made new like the grain, and they will put out flowers like the vine; his name will be like the wine of Lebanon.

Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? (I answer him, and I will observe him.) I am like a green fir-tree. From me is thy fruit found.

He who is wise will see these things; he who has good sense will have knowledge of them. For the ways of the Lord are straight, and the upright will go in them, but sinners will be falling in them.