5 `Hear this, O priests, and attend, O house of Israel, And, O house of the king, give ear, For the judgment [is] for you, For, a snare ye have been on Mizpah, And a net spread out on Tabor.

² And to slaughter sinners have gone deep, And I [am] a fetter to them all.

³ I have known Ephraim, And Israel hath not been hid from me, For now thou hast gone a-whoring, Ephraim, Defiled is Israel.

⁴ They give not up their habitual doings, To turn back unto their God, For a spirit of whoredoms [is] in their midst, And Jehovah they have not known.

⁵ And humbled hath been the excellency of Israel to his face, And Israel and Ephraim stumble by their iniquity, Stumbled also hath Judah with them.

⁶ With their flock and with their herd, They go to seek Jehovah, and do not find, He hath withdrawn from them.

⁷ Against Jehovah they dealt treacherously, For strange sons they have begotten, Now consume them doth a month [with] their portions.

⁸ Blow ye a cornet in Gibeah, a trumpet in Ramah, Shout, O Beth-Aven, after thee, O Benjamin.

⁹ Ephraim is for a desolation in a day of reproof, Among the tribes of Israel I have made known a sure thing.

¹⁰ Princes of Judah have been as those removing a border, On them I do pour out as water My wrath.

¹¹ Oppressed is Ephraim, broken in judgment, When he pleased he went after the command.

¹² And I [am] as a moth to Ephraim, And as a rotten thing to the house of Judah.

¹³ And see doth Ephraim his sickness, and Judah his wound, And Ephraim goeth unto Asshur, And sendeth unto a warlike king, And he is not able to give healing to you, Nor doth he remove from you a scar.

¹⁴ 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.

¹⁵ I go -- I turn back unto My place, Till that they are desolate, and have sought My face. In their distress they do seek Me speedily!'

6 `Come, and we turn back unto Jehovah, For He hath torn, and He doth heal us, He doth smite, and He bindeth us up.

² He doth revive us after two days, In the third day He doth raise us up, And we live before Him.

³ 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.'

⁴ 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.

⁵ Therefore I have hewed by prophets, I have slain them by sayings of My mouth, And My judgments to the light goeth forth.

⁶ For kindness I desired, and not sacrifice, And a knowledge of God above burnt-offerings.

⁷ And they, as Adam, transgressed a covenant, There they dealt treacherously against me.

⁸ Gilead [is] a city of workers of iniquity, Slippery from blood.

⁹ And as bands do wait for a man, A company of priests do murder -- the way to Shechem, For wickedness they have done.

¹⁰ In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing, There [is] the whoredom of Ephraim -- defiled is Israel.

¹¹ Also, O Judah, appointed is a harvest to thee, In My turning back [to] the captivity of My people!

7 `When I give healing to Israel, Then revealed is the iniquity of Ephraim, And the wickedness of Samaria, For they have wrought falsehood, And a thief doth come in, Stript off hath a troop in the street,

² And they do not say to their heart, [That] all their evil I have remembered, Now compassed them have their doings, Over-against My face they have been.

³ With their wickedness they make glad a king, And with their lies -- princes.

⁴ All of them [are] adulterers, Like a burning oven of a baker, He ceaseth from stirring up after kneading the dough, till its leavening.

⁵ A day of our king! Princes have polluted themselves [with] the poison of wine, He hath drawn out his hand with scorners.

⁶ 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.

⁷ 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.

⁸ Ephraim! among peoples he mixeth himself, Ephraim hath been a cake unturned.

⁹ Devoured have strangers his power, And he hath not known, Also old age hath sprinkled [itself] on him, And he hath not known.

¹⁰ And humbled hath been the excellency of Israel to his face, And they have not turned back unto Jehovah their God, Nor have they sought Him for all this.

¹¹ And Ephraim is as a simple dove without heart, Egypt they called on -- [to] Asshur they have gone.

¹² When they go I spread over them My net, As the fowl of the heavens I bring them down, I chastise them as their company hath heard.

¹³ Wo to them, for they wandered from Me, Destruction to them, for they transgressed against Me, And I -- I ransom them, and they have spoken lies against Me,

¹⁴ And have not cried unto Me with their heart, but howl on their beds, For corn and new wine they assemble themselves, They turn aside against Me.

¹⁵ And I instructed -- I strengthened their arms, And concerning Me they think evil!

¹⁶ 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!

8 `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.

² To Me they cry, `My God, we -- Israel -- have known Thee.'

³ Cast off good hath Israel, an enemy pursueth him.

⁴ They have made kings, and not by Me, They have made princes, and I have not known, Their silver and their gold they have made to them idols, So that they are cut off.

⁵ Cast off hath thy calf, O Samaria, Burned hath Mine anger against them, Till when are they not capable of purity?

⁶ For even it [is] of Israel; an artificer made it, And it [is] not God, For the calf of Samaria is fragments!

⁷ For wind they sow, and a hurricane they reap, Stalk it hath none -- a shoot not yielding grain, If so be it yield -- strangers do swallow it up.

⁸ Israel hath been swallowed up, Now they have been among nations, As a vessel in which is no delight.

⁹ For they -- they have gone up [to] Asshur, A wild ass alone by himself [is] Ephraim, They have hired lovers!

¹⁰ Also though they hire among nations, Now I gather them, and they are pained a little, From the burden of a king of princes.

¹¹ Because Ephraim did multiply altars to sin, They have been to him altars to sin.

¹² I write for him numerous things of My law, As a strange thing they have been reckoned.

¹³ The sacrifices of Mine offerings! They sacrifice flesh, and they eat, Jehovah hath not accepted them, Now doth He remember their iniquity, And inspect their sin, They -- [to] Egypt they turn back.

¹⁴ And forget doth Israel his Maker, and buildeth temples, And Judah hath multiplied cities of defence, And I have sent a fire into his cities, And it hath consumed their palaces!