Ephraim is stricken; their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Yea, though they bear, yet I will slay the beloved ones of their womb.

My God shall cast them away because they did not listen to Him. And they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Israel is a luxuriant vine; he brings out fruit to himself. According to the multitude of his fruit, he has increased the altars. They have made beautiful images according to the goodness of his land.

Their heart is divided; now they shall be guilty. He shall break down their altars, and He shall spoil their images.

For now they shall say, We have no king because we did not fear Jehovah; what then should a king do to us?

They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant. So judgment springs up like hemlock in the furrows of the field.

Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us, and to the hills, Fall on us.

O Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah. There they stood; the battle against the sons of iniquity did not overtake them in Gibeah.

When I desire, I shall bind them; and the peoples shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves to their two perversities.

As they called them, so they went from them. They sacrifice to the Baals, and burn incense to graven images.

I also taught Ephraim to go; He took them on His arm. But they did not know that I healed them.

He shall not return to the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.

And My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they called them to the Most High, none at all would exalt Him.

They shall walk after Jehovah; He shall roar like a lion. When He shall roar, then the sons shall tremble from the west.

They shall tremble like a bird out of Egypt, and like a dove out of the land of Assyria. And I will place them in their houses, says Jehovah.

Ephraim feeds on wind and follows after the east wind. He daily multiplies lies and cruelty. And they make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.

And Ephraim said, Yet I have become rich, I have found much wealth for myself. In all my labors they shall find in me no iniquity that is sin.

Is there iniquity in Gilead? Surely they are vanity; they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal. Yes, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.

And now they sin more and more, and have made themselves a molten image 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 who sacrifice kiss the calves.

Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud and as the early dew that passes away, as the chaff storm-driven out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

According to their pasture, so were they filled. They were filled and their heart was lifted up. Therefore they have forgotten Me.

Samaria shall become a waste, for she has rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword. Their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women shall be ripped up.

They who dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive like the grain, and grow like the vine. Their scent shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are troubled because they have no pasture. Yes, the flocks of sheep are destroyed.

As the appearance of horses is its appearance; and as war horses, so they run.

They shall leap like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle order.

They shall run like mighty ones. They shall climb the wall like men of war, and they shall march each one on his way, and they shall not break their ranks.

And each one shall not press his brother; they each go in his paths. And if they fall behind their weapons, they shall not be cut off.

They shall rush on the city; they shall run on the wall; they shall climb up on the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Have pity on Your people, O Jehovah, and give not Your inheritance to shame, for a proverb among those of the nations. Why should they say among the people, Where is their God?

I will also gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will fight with them there for My people and for My inheritance Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and divided My land.

And they have cast lots for My people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, so that they might drink.

And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off; for Jehovah has spoken it.

Egypt shall be a ruin, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, from violence done to the sons of Judah, whose innocent blood they poured out in their land.

So says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Damascus, yea for four, I will not turn away from it; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron.

So says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Gaza, yea for four, I will not turn away from it; because they deported as exiles to deliver up a complete population to Edom.

So says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Tyre, yea for four, I will not turn away from it. Because they delivered up as exiles a complete population to Edom, and did not remember the brotherly covenant.

So says Jehovah: For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, yea for four, I will not turn away from it. Because they have ripped up the pregnant women of Gilead, to make their own border larger.

So says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, yea for four, I will not turn away from it; because they have despised the Laws of Jehovah, and have not kept His commandments. And their lies after which their fathers walked led them astray.

So says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, yea for four, I will not turn away from it; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals;

And they will stretch beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

Can two walk together unless they are agreed?

For they do not know to do right, says Jehovah, those who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.

So two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied; yet you have not returned to Me, says Jehovah.

They hate him who rebukes in the gate, and they despise him who speaks uprightly.

For I know your many transgressions and your many sins. They afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate.

So Jehovah, the God of Hosts, the Master, says this: Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the tiller to mourning, and those who are skillful in mourning to wailing.

Pass to Calneh, and see; and from there go to Hamath the great. Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms, or their border greater than your border?

who chant with the mouth of the harp; they invent instruments of music for themselves, like David;

who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best of oils; nor do they grieve for the breaking of Joseph!

So now they shall go into exile with the first of the exiles. And the feast of those who stretch themselves shall cease.

And it shall be if ten men remain in one house, then they shall die.

But behold, I will raise a nation up against you, O house of Israel, says the Lord, the God of Hosts. And they shall oppress you from the entrance to Hamath to the torrent of the Arabah.

And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of Jehovah, and shall not find it.

They who swear by the sin of Samaria and say, As your god lives, O Dan; and, As the way of Beer-sheba lives; even they shall fall and never rise up again.

If they dig into hell, there My hand shall take them. And if they go up to the heavens, I will bring them down from there.

And if they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there. And if they are hidden from My sight in the bottom of the sea, I will command the serpent there, and he shall bite them.

And if they go into captivity before their enemies, I will command the sword there, and it shall kill them; and I will set My eyes on them for evil, and not for good.

so that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the nations on whom My name is called, says Jehovah who is doing this.

And I will turn back the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build the cities which are desolate, and they shall live in them. And they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine. They shall also make gardens and eat their fruit.

And I will plant them on their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, says Jehovah your God.

If thieves came to you, if destroyers by night (how you have been cut off!), would they not have stolen until they had enough? If the grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings?

All the men of your covenant have dismissed you to the border; the men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and have overcome you. They are setting your bread as a snare under you; there is no understanding in them.

For as you have drunk upon My holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink forever. Yes, they shall drink, and they shall swallow, and they shall be as though they had not been.

And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame. And the house of Esau shall be for stubble. And they shall kindle in them and burn them up. And no survivor shall be to the house of Esau; for Jehovah has spoken it.

And those of the south shall possess the mountain of Esau and the low country of the Philistines. And they shall possess the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria; and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

Then the seamen were afraid, and each man cried to his god. And they threw out the ship's articles in the ship, into the sea in order to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship; and he lay there, and was fast asleep.

And they said, each one to his fellow, Come and let us cast lots, so that we may know who has caused this evil to occur to us. And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

Then they said to him, Please tell us, for what reason this evil has come on us. What is your business? And where do you come from? Where is your country? And of what people are you?

Then the men were afraid with a great fear. And they said to him, What is this you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from before the face of Jehovah, because he had told them.

Then they said to him, What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us? For the sea was going on and being stormy.

But the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not, for the sea was going on and being stormy against them.

And they cried to Jehovah and said, We beg You, O Jehovah, we beg You, let us not perish for this man's life, and do not lay on us innocent blood. For You, O Jehovah, have done as it pleased You.

And they lifted Jonah up and threw him out into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging.

They who take heed to lying vanities forsake their kindness;

And the people of Nineveh believed God. And they called a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. And God was compassionate over the evil that He had said to do to them, and He did not do it.

All this is for the transgression of Jacob, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem?

And all her graven images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her gifts shall be burned with the fire, and I will destroy all its idols. For she gathered it from the reward of a harlot, and they shall return to the reward of a harlot.

Make yourself bald, and cut off your hair for the sons of your delight; make your baldness large like the eagle; for they go into exile from you.

Woe to those who plot wickedness and prepare evil on their beds! When the morning is light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.

And they covet and seize fields; and houses, and take them away. And they oppress a man and his household, even a man and his inheritance.

Do not drop words as they drop! They shall not drop words about these; they shall not draw back reproaches.

I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like the sheep of Bozrah, like the flock in the midst of their fold. They shall be in commotion because of men.

The breaker has come up before them; they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and have gone out of it. And their king shall pass before them, and Jehovah at the head of them.

who also eat the flesh of My people, and strip their skin off them. And they break their bones and chop them in pieces, like that in the pot, like those in the middle of the kettle.

Then they shall cry to Jehovah, but He will not answer them. He will even hide His face from them at that time, as they have done evil in their doings.

So says Jehovah concerning the prophets who make My people err, who bite with their teeth and cry, Peace! And whoever does not give for their mouth, they even sanctify a war against him.

And the seers shall be ashamed, and the diviners ashamed; yea, they shall all cover their mustache, for there is no answer from God.

They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

Her heads judge for a bribe, and her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for silver, yet they will lean on Jehovah and say, Is not Jehovah among us? No evil can come on us!

And He shall judge between many peoples, and will decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, And they shall not still learn war.

But they shall sit each one under his vine and under his fig tree; and there shall be no trembling; for the mouth of Jehovah of Hosts has spoken,

But they do not know the plans of Jehovah, nor do they understand His counsel. For He has gathered them like the sheaf to the floor.

Now gather yourself in troops, daughter of a troop; one sets a siege against us; they shall strike the Judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

And He shall stand and feed in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah His God. And they shall sit, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth.

And they shall mar the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod at her own entrances. And He shall deliver us from Assyria when he comes into our land, and when he treads within our border.

And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury on the nations, such as they have not heard.

The pious has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men. For they all lie in wait for blood; each one hunts his brother with a net.

Both hands are on evil, to do it well. The ruler asks for a bribe, and the judge also; and the great man speaks the evil desire of his soul. So they weave it together.