And in that day I will let the bow of Israel be broken in the valley of Jezreel.

Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

Otherwise, I will strip her naked
and expose her as she was on the day of her birth.
I will make her like a desert
and like a parched land,
and I will let her die of thirst.

For their mother, hath been unchaste, and she that conceived them, hath caused shame, - for she said, Let me go after my lovers! who used to give my bread, and my water, my wool, and my flax, mine oil, and my drink.

“She will [passionately] pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them;
And she will seek them, but will not find them.
Then she will say, ‘Let me go and return to my first husband,
For it was better for me then than now!’

Soon I will expose her lewd nakedness in front of her lovers, and no one will be able to rescue her from me!

Therefore, I am going to persuade her,
lead her to the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.

I will make a covenant for them on that day, with the animals of the field, with the birds of the heaven, and [with] the creeping things of the ground; [the] bow, [the] sword, and [the] war I will abolish from the land, and I will let them lie down in safety.

Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.

Even while they were increasing in number they were sinning against me; I will let their glory be changed into shame.

My people consult their [lifeless] wooden idol, and their [diviner’s] wand gives them oracles.
For a spirit of prostitution has led them astray [morally and spiritually],
And they have played the prostitute, withdrawing themselves from their God.

Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth.

Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.

Their drink is sour: they have been guilty of lewd deeds continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.

Their works will not let them come back to their God, for a false spirit is in them and they have no knowledge of the Lord.

Let the horn be sounded in Gibeah and in Ramah; give a loud cry in Beth-aven, They are after you, O Benjamin.

In that time of the plague shall Ephraim be laid waste, therefore did I faithfully warn the tribes of Israel.

The rulers of Judah are like those who take away a landmark; I will let loose my wrath on them like flowing water.

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.

And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth.

Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.

When I undertake to make Israel whole, then the ungraciousness of Ephraim and the wickedness of Samaria cometh to light: then go they about with lies. At home, they be thieves: and without they fall to robbing.

And they have not made prayer to me in their hearts, but they make loud cries on their beds; they are cutting themselves for food and wine, they are turned against me.

Let Samaria throw out his calf idol! My anger burns against them! How long will it be until they are capable of purity?

The days of punishment have come;
the days of retribution have come.
Let Israel recognize it!
The prophet is a fool,
and the inspired man is insane,
because of the magnitude
of your guilt and hostility.

The prophet is a watchman over Ephraim on behalf of God, yet traps are laid for him along all of his paths; animosity rages against him in the land of his God.

The rod has come on Ephraim, their root is dry, let them have no fruit; even though they give birth, I will put to death the dearest fruit of their bodies.

Ephraim was a well-trained heifer who loved to thresh grain; I myself put a fine yokeon her neck. I will harness Ephraim. Let Judah plow! Let Jacob break up the unplowed ground for himself!

Put in the seed of righteousness, get in your grain in mercy, let your unploughed earth be turned up: for it is time to make search for the Lord, till he comes and sends righteousness on you like rain.

there shall grow a sedition among thy people. All thy strong cities shall be laid waste, even as Shalman was destroyed with his familiars, through him that was avenged of Arbel in the day of battle: where the mother perished with her children.

Yet it was I who led Ephraim, I took them by the arm; but they did not acknowledge that I had healed them.

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 meat unto them.

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.

They will go after the Lord; his cry will be like that of a lion; his cry will be loud, and the children will come from the west, shaking with fear;

They will tremble like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria; and I will let them return to their homes-- a declaration of Yahweh.

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.

The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is laid up in store.

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.

Let whoever is wise understand these things,
and whoever is insightful recognize them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
and the righteous walk in them,
but the rebellious stumble in them.