The revolters have gone deep into depravity,
But I [the Lord God] will chastise them all.

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled.

They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.

But the pride of Israel will be rewarded him in his face, yea both Israel and Ephraim shall fall for their wickedness, and Judah with them also.

They will go with their flocks and with their herds
To seek the Lord [diligently searching for Him], but they will not find Him;
He has withdrawn from them [refusing to hear the prayers of the unrepentant].

They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.

Blow the ram's horn in Gibeah! Sound the trumpet in Ramah! Sound the alarm in Beth Aven! Tremble in fear, O Benjamin!

Ephraim is for a desolation in a day of reproof, Among the tribes of Israel I have made known a sure thing.

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,
for he is determined to follow what is worthless.

When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah his wound,
Then Ephraim went to Assyria [instead of the Lord]
And sent to [Assyria’s] great King Jareb [for help].
But he cannot heal you
Nor will he cure you of your wound [received in judgment].

For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.

I will go away and return to My place [on high]
Until they acknowledge their offense and bear their guilt and seek My face;
In their distress they will earnestly seek Me, saying,

Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.

For this cause, have I hewn them in pieces by the prophets, I have slain them by the sayings of my mouth, - and, my justice, as a light goeth forth.

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.

When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without.

In their sin they make a king for themselves, and rulers in their deceit.

They are all adulterers; they are as an oven heated by the baker; he ceaseth to stir the fire , from the kneading of the dough, until it be leavened.

Even so goeth it this day with our kings and princes, for they begin to be wood drunken through wine: they use familiarity with such as deceive them.

For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.

As for Ephraim! with the peoples, hath he been mingling himself, - Ephraim, is a cake not turned.

And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.

Ephraim has been like a dove, easily deceived and lacking discernment. They called to Egypt for help; they turned to Assyria for protection.

When they go, my net will be stretched out over them; I will take them like the birds of heaven, I will give them punishment, I will take them away in the net for their sin.

Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.

And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.

They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

Sound the alarm! An eagle looms over the temple of the Lord! For they have broken their covenant with me, and have rebelled against my law.

They will send up to me a cry for help: We, Israel, have knowledge of you, O God of Israel.

They set up kings, but not from Me [therefore without My blessing];
They have appointed princes, but I did not know it.
With their silver and their gold they made idols for themselves,
That they might be cut off.

Thy calf, O Samaria, shall be taken away, for my wrathful indignation is gone forth against thee. How long will it be, before they can be cleansed?

For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.

For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.

Because Ephraim hath multiplied altars for sinning, altars have been unto him for sinning.

I wrote for him the ten thousand things of my law; but they are counted as a strange thing.

They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.

For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor.

The grain-floor and the place where the grapes are crushed will not give them food; there will be no new wine for them.

They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the LORD.

What will ye do, for the day of appointed meeting? and in the day of the festival of Yahweh?

For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles.

The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.

Ephraim was a watchman with my God: as for the prophet, a fowler's snare is in all his ways, and enmity in the house of his God.

They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity. He will punish them for their sins.

As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.

For even should they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that not a man remain: for woe also to them when I shall have departed from them!

As I have seen a beast whose young have been taken from her, so Ephraim will give birth to children only for them to be put to death.

All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.

My God will reject them, for they have not obeyed him; so they will be fugitives among the nations.

An empty vine is Israel, Fruit he maketh like to himself, According to the abundance of his fruit, He hath multiplied for the altars, According to the goodness of his land, They have made goodly standing-pillars.

Their heart is slipping; soon they will be punished for their guilt. The Lord will break their altars; he will completely destroy their fertility pillars.

For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?

The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.

It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water.

At my pleasure will I chastise them; and the peoples shall be assembled against them, when they are bound for their two iniquities.

And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies; for 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.

When I sent for them, then they went away from me; they made offerings to the Baals, burning perfumes to images.

I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid food for them.

He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king; for they refused to return to me;

I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.

They shall walk after Jehovah, who will roar like a lion; for he will roar, and the children shall come trembling from the west.

They will be roused like birds from Egypt
and like doves from the land of Assyria.
Then I will settle them in their homes.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

The Lord has a cause against Judah, and will give punishment to Jacob for his ways; he will give him the reward of his acts.

He struggled with [the] angel and prevailed; he pleaded for his mercy. He met him at Bethel, and there he spoke with him.

As for the Lord God Almighty, the Lord is the name by which he is remembered!

Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep kindness and justice, and wait for thy God continually.

As for Canaan, the scales of deceit are in his hands; he takes pleasure in twisted ways.

And Ephraim saith: 'Surely I have become rich, I have found wealth for myself, All my labours -- they find not against me iniquity that is sin.'

But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; I will give you tents for your living-places again as in the days of the holy meeting.

I have also spoken to [you through] the prophets,
And I gave [them] many visions [to make My will known],
And through the prophets I gave parables [to appeal to your sense of right and wrong].

And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.

Ephraim has caused bitter provocation, and his Lord will {hold him responsible for his crimes} and pay back to him his insults.

And now they sin more and more,
And make for themselves molten images,
Idols skillfully made from their silver [as it pleased them],
All of them the work of the craftsmen.
They say of these [very works of their hands], “Let those who sacrifice kiss and show respect to the calves [as if they were living gods]!”

For this they shall be as the cloud of the morning, and as the early dew going way; as the chaff will be driven from the threshing-floor on the wind, and as the smoke from the chimney.

Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.

I knew and regarded you and cared for you in the wilderness,
In the land of drought.

According to their pasture, and they will be satiated; they were satiated, and their heart will be lifted up: for this they forgat me.

And I will be unto them as a lion; as a leopard I will lurk for them by the way;

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

Where then is your king, that he may save you in all your cities? Where are your rulers for whom you asked, saying, "Give me a king and princes"?

The wickedness of Ephraim [which is not yet completely punished] is bound up [as in a bag];
His sin is stored up [for judgment and destruction].

The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children.

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.

For though he flourishes among the reeds (his fellow tribes),
An east wind (Assyria) will come,
The breath of the Lord rising from the desert;
And Ephraim’s spring will become dry
And his fountain will be dried up.
Assyria will plunder his treasury of every precious object.

Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

Take with you words, and come back to the Lord; say to him, Let there be forgiveness for all wrongdoing, so that we may take what is good, and give in payment the fruit of our lips.

Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

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.