THE LORD’S FIRST LAMENT

4 What am I going to do with you, Ephraim?aw

What am I going to do with you, Judah?

Your love is like the morning mistax

and like the early dew that vanishes.

5 This is why I have used the prophets

to cut them down;F,ay

I have killed them with the words from my mouth.

My judgment strikes like lightning.G

6 For I desire faithful love and not sacrifice,

the knowledge of Godaz rather than burnt offerings.ba

7 But they, like Adam,A have violated the covenant;a

there they have betrayed me.b

8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,c

tracked with bloody footprints.d

9 Like raiders who wait in ambush for someone,e

a band of priests murders on the road to Shechem.f

They commit atrocities.g

10 I have seen something horribleh in the house of Israel:

Ephraim’s promiscuity is there;i Israel is defiled.