8 Set the trumpet to thy mouth. [He cometh] as an eagle against the house of Jehovah, because they have transgressed my covenant, and rebelled against my law.

² They shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee; [we], Israel.

³ Israel hath cast off good: the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴ They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not; of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

⁵ Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast [thee] off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will they be incapable of purity?

⁶ For from Israel is this also:—a workman made it, and it is no God: for the calf of Samaria shall be [broken in] pieces.

⁷ For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk; should it sprout, it would yield no meal; if so be it yield, strangers shall swallow it up.

⁸ Israel is swallowed up: now are they become among the nations as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.

⁹ For they are gone up [to] Assyria [as] a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

¹⁰ Although they hire among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall begin to be straitened under the burden of the king of princes.

¹¹ Because Ephraim hath multiplied altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.

¹² I have prescribed unto him the manifold things of my law: they are counted [as] a strange thing.

¹³ They sacrifice flesh [for] the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; Jehovah hath no delight in them. Now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.

¹⁴ 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.

9 Rejoice not, Israel, exultingly, as the peoples; for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved harlot's hire upon every corn-floor.

² The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail her.

³ They shall not dwell in Jehovah's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and in Assyria shall they eat that which is unclean.

⁴ They shall pour out no [offerings of] wine to Jehovah, neither shall their sacrifices be pleasing unto him: they shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be defiled: for their bread shall be for themselves; it shall not come into the house of Jehovah.

⁵ What will ye do in the day of assembly, and in the day of the feast of Jehovah?

⁶ For behold, they are gone away because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Moph shall bury them: their pleasant things of silver, nettles shall possess them; thorns shall be in their tents.

⁷ The days of visitation are come; the days of recompence are come: Israel shall know [it]: the prophet is a fool, the inspired man is mad, because of the greatness of thine iniquity, and the great enmity.

⁸ Is Ephraim a watchman with my God? [nay] the prophet is a fowler's snare on all his ways, enmity in the house of his God.

⁹ They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

¹⁰ I found Israel as grapes in the wilderness; as first-ripe fruit on the fig-tree, I saw your fathers at the beginning: they went to Baal-Peor, and separated themselves unto that shame, and became abominations like their lover.

¹¹ As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away as a bird,—no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!

¹² 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!

¹³ Ephraim, as I saw [him], was a Tyre planted in a beautiful place; but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the slayer.

¹⁴ Give them, Jehovah—what wilt thou give?—give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

¹⁵ All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them: because of the wickedness of their doings, I will drive them out of my house, I will love them no more: all their princes are rebellious.

¹⁶ Ephraim is smitten: their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit; yea, though they should bring forth, yet will I slay the beloved [fruit] of their womb.

¹⁷ My God hath rejected them, because they hearkened not unto him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

10 Israel is an unpruned vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the abundance of his fruit he hath multiplied altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly statues.

² Their heart is divided; now shall they be found guilty: he will break down their altars, he will destroy their statues.

³ For now they will say, We have no king, for we feared not Jehovah; and a king, what can he do for us?

⁴ They speak [mere] words, swearing falsely in making a covenant; therefore shall judgment spring up as hemlock in the furrows of the fields.

⁵ The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calf of Beth-aven; for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the idolatrous priests thereof shall tremble for it, for its glory, because it is departed from it.

⁶ Yea, it shall be carried unto Assyria [as] a present for king Jareb: Ephraim shall be seized with shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

⁷ As for Samaria her king is cut off as chips upon the face of the waters.

⁸ And the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up upon their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us! and to the hills, Fall on us!

⁹ From the days of Gibeah hast thou sinned, O Israel: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.

¹⁰ At my pleasure will I chastise them; and the peoples shall be assembled against them, when they are bound for their two iniquities.

¹¹ And Ephraim is a trained heifer, that loveth to tread out [the corn]; I have passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to draw; Judah shall plough, Jacob shall break his clods.

¹² Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek Jehovah, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

¹³ Ye have ploughed wickedness, reaped iniquity, eaten the fruit of lies; for thou didst confide in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

¹⁴ And a tumult shall arise among thy peoples, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces with the children.

¹⁵ So shall Bethel do unto you because of the wickedness of your wickedness: at day-break shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.

11 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

² As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto the Baals, and burned incense to graven images.

³ And I it was that taught Ephraim to walk,—He took them upon his arms,—but they knew not that I healed them.

⁴ I drew them with bands of a man, with cords of love; and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I gently caused them to eat.

⁵ He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king; for they refused to return [to me];

⁶ and the sword shall turn about in his cities, and shall consume his bars, and devour [them], because of their own counsels.

⁷ Yea, my people are bent upon backsliding from me: though they call them to the Most High, none at all exalteth [him].

⁸ How shall I give thee over, Ephraim? [how] shall I deliver thee up, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? [how] shall I set thee as Zeboim? My heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.

⁹ I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God, and not man,—the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not come in anger.

¹⁰ They shall walk after Jehovah; he shall roar like a lion; when he shall roar, then the children shall hasten from the west:

¹¹ they shall hasten as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria; and I will cause them to dwell in their houses, saith Jehovah.

¹² Ephraim encompasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah yet walketh with God, and with the holy things of truth.

12 Ephraim feedeth on wind, and pursueth after the east wind: all day long he multiplieth lies and desolation; and they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt.

² Jehovah hath also a controversy with Judah, and he will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.

³ He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and in his strength he wrestled with God.

⁴ Yea, he wrestled with the Angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us,

⁵ —even Jehovah, the God of hosts,—Jehovah is his memorial.

⁶ And thou, return unto thy God: keep loving-kindness and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.

⁷ [He is] a merchant, balances of deceit are in his hand; he loveth to oppress.

⁸ And Ephraim saith, Nevertheless I am become rich, I have found me out substance; in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.

⁹ But I [that am] Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt will again make thee to dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast.

¹⁰ And I have spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and by means of the prophets have I used similitudes.

¹¹ If Gilead is iniquity, surely they are but vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.

¹² And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept [sheep].

¹³ And by a prophet Jehovah brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.

¹⁴ Ephraim provoked [him] to anger most bitterly; and his Lord shall leave his blood upon him, and recompense unto him his reproach.

13 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he exalted himself in Israel: but he trespassed through Baal, and he died.

² And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, 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.

³ Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the lattice.

⁴ Yet I [am] Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou hast known no God but me; and there is no saviour besides me.

⁵ I knew thee in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

⁶ According to their pasture, they became full; they became full, and their heart was exalted: therefore have they forgotten me.

⁷ And I will be unto them as a lion; as a leopard I will lurk for them by the way;

⁸ I will meet them as a bear bereaved of her [whelps], and will rend the covering of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lioness: the beast of the field shall tear them.

⁹ It is thy destruction, O Israel, that [thou art] against me, against thy help.

¹⁰ Where then is thy king, that he may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?—

¹¹ I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.

¹² The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is laid by in store.

¹³ The pangs of a woman in travail shall come upon him: he is a son not wise; for at the time of the breaking forth of children, he was not there.

¹⁴ I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death: where, O death, are thy plagues? where, O Sheol, is thy destruction? Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

¹⁵ Though he be fruitful among [his] brethren, an east wind shall come, a wind of Jehovah [that] cometh up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels.

¹⁶ Samaria shall bear her guilt; 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.

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

² Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah; say unto him, Forgive all iniquity, and receive [us] graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips.

³ Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, [Thou art] our God; because in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

⁴ I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him.

⁵ I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

⁶ His shoots shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

⁷ They shall return and sit under his shadow; they shall revive [as] corn, and blossom as the vine: the renown thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

⁸ Ephraim [shall say], What have I to do any more with idols? (I answer [him], and I will observe him.) I am like a green fir-tree.—From me is thy fruit found.

⁹ Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? intelligent, and he shall know them? For the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein.