Lest I strip her naked. And have set her up as in the day of her birth, And have made her as a wilderness, And have set her as a dry land, And have put her to death with thirst.

For as a refractory heifer hath Israel turned aside, Now doth Jehovah feed them as a lamb in a large place.

And I am as a moth to Ephraim, And as a rotten thing to the house of Judah.

For I am as a lion to Ephraim, And as a young lion to the house of Judah, I -- I tear and go, I bear away, and there is no deliverer.

And we know -- we pursue to know Jehovah, As the dawn prepared is His going forth, And He cometh in as a shower to us, As gathered rain -- sprinkling earth.'

What do I do to thee, O Ephraim? What do I do to thee, O Judah? Your goodness is as a cloud of the morning, And as dew rising early -- going.

Gilead is a city of workers of iniquity, Slippery from blood.

Also, O Judah, appointed is a harvest to thee, In My turning back to the captivity of My people!

For they have drawn near, As an oven is their heart, In their lying in wait all the night sleep doth their baker, Morning! he is burning as a flaming fire.

All of them are warm as an oven, And they have devoured their judges, All their kings have fallen, There is none calling unto Me among them.

And Ephraim is as a simple dove without heart, Egypt they called on -- to Asshur they have gone.

They turn back -- not to the Most High, They have been as a deceitful bow, Fall by sword do their princes, From the insolence of their tongue, This is their derision in the land of Egypt!

Unto thy mouth -- a trumpet, As an eagle against the house of Jehovah, Because they transgressed My covenant, And against My law they have rebelled.

Israel hath been swallowed up, Now they have been among nations, As a vessel in which is no delight.

I write for him numerous things of My law, As a strange thing they have been reckoned.

Ephraim is as a fowl, Fly away doth their honour, without birth, And without womb, and without conception.

They have spoken words, To swear falsehood in making a covenant, And flourished as a poisonous herb hath judgment, on the furrows of a field.

Cut off is Samaria! Its king is as a chip on the face of the waters.

And Ephraim is a trained heifer -- loving to thresh, And I -- I have passed over on the goodness of its neck, I cause one to ride Ephraim, Plough doth Judah, harrow for him doth Jacob.

Thus hath Beth-El done to you, Because of the evil of your wickedness, In the dawn cut off utterly is a king of Israel!

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

With cords of man I do draw them, With thick cords of love, And I am to them as a raiser up of a yoke on their jaws, And I incline unto him -- I feed him.

After Jehovah they go -- as a lion He roareth, When He doth roar, then tremble do the sons from the west.

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.

Yea, he is a prince unto the Messenger, And he overcometh by weeping, And he maketh supplication to Him, At Bethel He doth find him, And there He doth speak with us,

Therefore they are as a cloud of the morning, And as dew, rising early, going away, As chaff tossed about out of a floor, And as smoke out of a window.

And I am to them as a lion, As a leopard by the way I look out.

I do meet them as a bereaved bear, And I rend the enclosure of their heart.

And I consume them there as a lioness, A beast of the field doth rend them.

Pangs of a travailing woman come to him, He is a son not wise, For he remaineth not the time for the breaking forth of sons.

I am as dew to Israel, he flourisheth as a lily, And he striketh forth his roots as Lebanon.

Go on do his sucklings, And his beauty is as an olive, And he hath fragrance as Lebanon.

Return do the dwellers under his shadow, They revive as corn, and flourish as a vine, His memorial is as wine of Lebanon.

O Ephraim, what to Me any more with idols? I -- I afflicted, and I cause him to sing: 'I am as a green fir-tree,' From Me is thy fruit found.