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“Hear this, cohanim!
Pay attention, house of Isra’el!
Listen, house of the king!
For judgment is coming to you.
You have become a snare for Mitzpah
and a net spread on Tavor.
The rebels have deepened their slaughter,
and I am rejected by all of them.

“I know Efrayim;
Isra’el is not hidden from me;
for now, Efrayim, you are a whore;
Isra’el is defiled.”

Their deeds will not allow them
to return to their God,
for the spirit of whoring is in them,
and they don’t know Adonai.
Isra’el’s arrogance will testify in his face;
Isra’el and Efrayim will stumble in their crimes;
Y’hudah too will stumble with them.
With their flocks and herds
they will go in search of Adonai.
But they won’t find him;
he has withdrawn from them.
They have betrayed Adonai,
by fathering foreign children.
Now within the month the invaders
will devour their lands.

“Blow the shofar in Giv‘ah,
a trumpet at Ramah;
sound an alarm at Beit-Aven:
‘Behind you, Binyamin!’
Efrayim will be laid waste
when the day for punishment comes;
I am announcing to the tribes of Isra’el
what will surely happen.
10 The leaders of Y’hudah are like men
who move boundary stones;
I will pour my fury out
upon them like water.
11 Efrayim is oppressed, crushed by the judgment,
because he deliberately sought out futility.
12 Therefore I am like a moth to Efrayim
and like rottenness to the house of Y’hudah.
13 When Efrayim saw his sickness
and Y’hudah his wound,
Efrayim went to Ashur
and sent envoys to a warring king;
but he can’t heal you
or cure your wound.
14 For to Efrayim I will be like a lion,
and like a young lion to the house of Y’hudah —
I will tear them up and go away;
I will carry them off, and no one will rescue.
15 I will go and return to my place,
till they admit their guilt and search for me,
seeking me eagerly in their distress.”

Come, let us return to Adonai;
for he has torn, and he will heal us;
he has struck, and he will bind our wounds.
After two days, he will revive us;
on the third day, he will raise us up;
and we will live in his presence.
Let us know, let us strive to know Adonai.
That he will come is as certain as morning;
he will come to us like the rain,
like the spring rains that water the earth.
“Efrayim, what should I do to you?
Y’hudah, what should I do to you?
For your ‘faithful love’ is like a morning cloud,
like dew that disappears quickly.
This is why I have cut them to pieces by the prophets,
slaughtered them with the words from my mouth —
the judgment on you shines out like light.
For what I desire is mercy, not sacrifices,
knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

“But they, just like men, have broken the covenant,
they have been faithless in dealing with me.
Gil‘ad is a city of criminals,
covered with bloody footprints;
just as bands of robbers wait to ambush someone,
so does a gang of cohanim.
They commit murder on the road to Sh’khem!
Their conduct is an outrage!
10 In the house of Isra’el
I have seen a horrible thing;
whoring is found there in Efrayim,
Isra’el is defiled.
11 For you, too, Y’hudah,
a harvest will come!

“When I restore the fortunes of my people,

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