Ephraim’s Iniquity
When I awould heal Israel,
The iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered,
And the evil deeds of Samaria,
For they deal bfalsely;
The thief enters in,
cBandits raid outside,
2 And they do not consider in their hearts
That I aremember all their wickedness.
Now their bdeeds are all around them;
They are before My face.
3 aWith their wickedness they make the bking glad,
And the princes with their clies.
4 They are aall adulterers,
Like an oven heated by the baker
Who ceases to stir up the fire
From the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.
5 On the day of our king, the princes abecame sick with the heat of wine;
He stretched out his hand with bscoffers,
6 For their hearts are like an aoven
As they approach their plotting;
Their anger smolders all night,
In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
7 All of them are hot like an oven,
And they consume their arulers;
All their kings have fallen.
bNone of them calls on Me.
8 Ephraim amixes himself with the nations;
Ephraim has become a cake not turned.
9 aStrangers devour his strength,
Yet he bdoes not know it;
Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him,
Yet he does not know it.
10 Though the apride of Israel testifies against him,
Yet bthey have not returned to the Lord their God,
Nor have they sought Him, for all this.
11 So aEphraim has become like a silly dove, bwithout sense;
They call to cEgypt, they go to dAssyria.
12 When they go, I will aspread My net over them;
I will bring them down like the birds of the sky.
I will bchastise them in accordance with the proclamation to their assembly.
13 aWoe to them, for they have bstrayed from Me!
Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me!
I cwould redeem them, but they speak lies against Me.
14 And athey do not cry to Me from their heart
When they wail on their beds;
For the sake of grain and new wine they bassemble themselves,
They cturn away from Me.
15 Although I trained and strengthened their arms,
Yet they adevise evil against Me.
16 They turn, but not upward,
They are like a adeceitful bow;
Their princes will fall by the sword
Because of the binsolence of their tongue.
This will be their cderision in the land of Egypt.
Israel Reaps the Whirlwind
aPut the trumpet to your lips!
bLike an eagle the enemy comes cagainst the house of the Lord,
Because they have dtransgressed My covenant
And rebelled against My elaw.
2 aThey cry out to Me,
“My God, bwe of Israel know You!”
3 Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
4 aThey have set up kings, but not by Me;
They have appointed princes, but I did not know it.
With their bsilver and gold they have made idols for themselves,
That they might be cut off.
5 He has rejected your acalf, O Samaria, saying,
“My anger burns against them!”
How long will they be incapable of binnocence?
6 For from Israel is even this!
A acraftsman made it, so it is not God;
Surely the calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces.
7 For athey sow the wind
And they reap the bwhirlwind.
The standing grain has no heads;
It yields cno grain.
Should it yield, strangers would swallow it up.
8 Israel is aswallowed up;
They are now among the nations
Like a bvessel in which no one delights.
9 For they have gone up to aAssyria,
Like ba wild donkey all alone;
Ephraim has chired lovers.
10 Even though they hire allies among the nations,
Now I will agather them up;
And they will begin bto diminish
Because of the burden of the cking of princes.
11 Since Ephraim has amultiplied altars for sin,
They have become altars of sinning for him.
12 Though aI wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My blaw,
They are regarded as a strange thing.
13 As for My asacrificial gifts,
They bsacrifice the flesh and eat it,
But the Lord has taken no delight in them.
Now He will cremember their iniquity,
And dpunish them for their sins;
They will return to eEgypt.
14 For Israel has aforgotten his Maker and bbuilt palaces;
And Judah has multiplied fortified cities,
But I will send a cfire on its cities that it may consume its palatial dwellings.
Ephraim Punished
aDo not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations!
For you have bplayed the harlot, forsaking your God.
You have loved harlots’ earnings on every threshing floor.
2 Threshing floor and wine press will anot feed them,
And the new wine will fail them.
3 They will not remain in athe Lord’s land,
But Ephraim will return to bEgypt,
And in cAssyria they will eat dunclean food.
4 They will not pour out drink offerings of awine to the Lord,
bTheir sacrifices will not please Him.
Their bread will be like mourners’ bread;
All who eat of it will be cdefiled,
For their bread will be for themselves alone;
It will not enter the house of the Lord.
5 aWhat will you do on the day of the appointed festival
And on the day of the bfeast of the Lord?
6 For behold, they will go because of destruction;
Egypt will gather them up, aMemphis will bury them.
Weeds will take over their treasures of silver;
bThorns will be in their tents.
7 The days of apunishment have come,
The days of bretribution have come;
Let Israel know this!
The prophet is a cfool,
The inspired man is ddemented,
Because of the grossness of your einiquity,
And because your hostility is so great.
8 Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet;
Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways,
And there is only hostility in the house of his God.
9 They have gone adeep in depravity
As in the days of bGibeah;
He will cremember their iniquity,
He will punish their sins.
10 I found Israel like agrapes in the wilderness;
I saw your forefathers as the bearliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season.
But they came to cBaal‑peor and devoted themselves to dshame,
And they became as edetestable as that which they loved.
11 As for Ephraim, their aglory will fly away like a bird—
No birth, no pregnancy and no conception!
12 Though they bring up their children,
Yet I will bereave them until not a man is left.
Yes, awoe to them indeed when I depart from them!
13 Ephraim, as I have seen,
Is planted in a pleasant meadow like aTyre;
But Ephraim will bring out his children for slaughter.
14 Give them, O Lord—what will You give?
Give them a amiscarrying womb and dry breasts.
15 All their evil is at aGilgal;
Indeed, I came to hate them there!
Because of the bwickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of My house!
I will love them no more;
All their princes are crebels.
16 aEphraim is stricken, their root is dried up,
They will bear bno fruit.
Even though they bear children,
I will slay the cprecious ones of their womb.
17 My God will cast them away
Because they have anot listened to Him;
And they will be bwanderers among the nations.
Retribution for Israel’s Sin
Israel is a luxuriant avine;
He produces fruit for himself.
The more his fruit,
The more altars he bmade;
The richer his land,
The better he made the sacred cpillars.
2 Their heart is afaithless;
Now they must bear their bguilt.
The Lord will cbreak down their altars
And destroy their sacred pillars.
3 Surely now they will say, “We have ano king,
For we do not revere the Lord.
As for the king, what can he do for us?”
4 They speak mere words,
With aworthless oaths they make covenants;
And bjudgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria will fear
For the acalf of bBeth‑aven.
Indeed, its people will mourn for it,
And its cidolatrous priests will cry out over it,
Over its dglory, since it has departed from it.
6 The thing itself will be carried to aAssyria
As tribute to bKing Jareb;
Ephraim will be cseized with shame
And Israel will be ashamed of its down counsel.
7 Samaria will be acut off with her king
Like a stick on the surface of the water.
8 Also the ahigh places of Aven, the bsin of Israel, will be destroyed;
cThorn and thistle will grow on their altars;
Then they will dsay to the mountains,
“Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”
9 From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel;
There they stand!
Will not the battle against the sons of iniquity overtake them in Gibeah?
10 When it is My adesire, I will bchastise them;
And cthe peoples will be gathered against them
When they are bound for their double guilt.
11 Ephraim is a trained aheifer that loves to thresh,
But I will bcome over her fair neck with a yoke;
I will harness Ephraim,
Judah will plow, Jacob will harrow for himself.
12 aSow with a view to righteousness,
Reap in accordance with kindness;
bBreak up your fallow ground,
For it is time to cseek the Lord
Until He dcomes to erain righteousness on you.
13 You have aplowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice,
You have eaten the fruit of blies.
Because you have trusted in your way, in your cnumerous warriors,
14 Therefore a tumult will arise among your people,
And all your afortresses will be destroyed,
As Shalman destroyed Beth‑arbel on the day of battle,
When bmothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
15 Thus it will be done to you at Bethel because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel will be completely cut off.