Impenitence of Israel and Judah

4 “O Ephraim, what shall I do to you?

O Judah, what shall I do to you?

For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud,

And like the early dew it goes away.

5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,

I have slain them by ithe words of My mouth;

And 2your judgments are like light that goes forth.

6 For I desire jmercy 3and knot sacrifice,

And the lknowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

7 “But like 4men they transgressed the covenant;

There they dealt treacherously with Me.

8 mGilead is a city of evildoers

And 5defiled with blood.

9 As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man,

So the company of npriests omurder on the way to Shechem;

Surely they commit plewdness.

10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:

There is the 6harlotry of Ephraim;

Israel is defiled.

11 Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you,

When I return the captives of My people.

7 “When I would have healed Israel,

Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered,

And the wickedness of Samaria.

For athey have committed fraud;

A thief comes in;

A band of robbers 1takes spoil outside.

2 They 2do not consider in their hearts

That bI remember all their wickedness;

Now their own deeds have surrounded them;

They are before My face.

3 They make a cking glad with their wickedness,

And princes dwith their lies.

4 “They eare all adulterers.

Like an oven heated by a baker—

He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough,

Until it is leavened.

5 In the day of our king

Princes have made him sick, 3inflamed with fwine;

He stretched out his hand with scoffers.

6 They prepare their heart like an oven,

While they lie in wait;

4Their baker sleeps all night;

In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.

7 They are all hot, like an oven,

And have devoured their judges;

All their kings have fallen.

gNone among them calls upon Me.

8 “Ephraim hhas mixed himself among the peoples;

Ephraim is a cake unturned.

9 iAliens have devoured his strength,

But he does not know it;

Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him,

Yet he does not know it.

10 And the jpride of Israel testifies to his face,

But kthey do not return to the Lord their God,

Nor seek Him for all this.

Futile Reliance on the Nations

11 “Ephraim lalso is like a silly dove, without 5sense—

mThey call to Egypt,

They go to nAssyria.

12 Wherever they go, I will ospread My net on them;

I will bring them down like birds of the air;

I will chastise them

pAccording to what their congregation has heard.

13 “Woe to them, for they have fled from Me!

Destruction to them,

Because they have transgressed against Me!

Though qI redeemed them,

Yet they have spoken lies against Me.

14 rThey did not cry out to Me with their heart

When they wailed upon their beds.

“They 6assemble together for grain and new swine,

7They rebel against Me;

15 Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms,

Yet they devise evil against Me;

16 They return, but not 8to the Most High;

tThey are like a treacherous bow.

Their princes shall fall by the sword

For the ucursings of their tongue.

This shall be their derision vin the land of Egypt.