Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust 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.

And I have caused Ephraim to go on foot, Taking them by their arms, And they have not known that I strengthened 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.

How do I give thee up, O Ephraim? Do I deliver thee up, O Israel? How do I make thee as Admah? Do I set thee as Zeboim? Turned in Me is My heart, kindled together have been My repentings.

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.

They tremble as a sparrow out of Egypt, And as a dove out of the land of Asshur, And I have caused them to dwell in their own houses, An affirmation of Jehovah.

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 said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.

I have been Yahweh your God
ever since the land of Egypt.
I will make you live in tents again,
as in the festival days.

I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.

Surely Gilead is iniquity, Only, vanity they have been, In Gilead bullocks they have sacrificed, Also their altars are as heaps, on the furrows of a field.

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, and 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 have been Yahweh your God
ever since the land of Egypt;
you know no God but Me,
and no Savior exists besides Me.

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

According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, 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.

It is your destruction, O Israel,
Because you are against Me, [and have rebelled] against your help.

I have given thee a king in mine 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 [in repentance] to the Lord your God,
For you have stumbled and fallen [visited by tragedy], because of your sin.

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 have heard him, and observed 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.