1 COME AND let us return to the Lord, for He has torn so that He may heal us; He has stricken so that He may bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us (quicken us, give us life); on the third day He will raise us up that we may live before Him. 3 Yes, let us know (recognize, be acquainted with, and understand) Him; let us be zealous to know the Lord [to appreciate, give heed to, and cherish Him]. His going forth is prepared and certain as the dawn, and He will come to us as the [heavy] rain, as the latter rain that waters the earth.
4 O Ephraim, what shall I do with you? [says the Lord] O Judah, what shall I do with you? For your [wavering] love and kindness are like the night mist or like the dew that goes early away. 5 Therefore have I hewn down and smitten them by means of the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; My judgments [pronounced upon them by you prophets] are like the light that goes forth. 6 For I desire and delight in dutiful steadfast love and goodness, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of and acquaintance with God more than burnt offerings.
7 But they, like [less-privileged] men and like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there have they dealt faithlessly and treacherously with Me. 8 Gilead is a city of evildoers; it is tracked with bloody [footprints]. 9 And as troops of robbers lie in wait for a man, so the company of priests murder on the road toward Shechem; yes, they commit villainy and outrages. 10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel! There harlotry and idolatry are found in Ephraim; Israel is defiled.
11 Also, O Judah, there is a harvest [of divine judgment] appointed for you; when I would return My people from their captivity [in which they are slaves to the misery brought on by their own sins],
1 WHEN I would heal Israel, then Ephraim's guilt is uncovered, and the wickedness of Samaria; how they practice falsehood, and the thief enters and the troop of bandits ravage and raid without. 2 But they do not consider and say to their minds and hearts that I [earnestly] remember all their wickedness. Now their own doings surround and entangle them; they are before My face. 3 They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. 4 They are all [idolatrous] adulterers; their passion smolders like heat of an oven when the baker ceases to stir the fire from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened. 5 On the [special] day of our king the princes made themselves and him sick with the heat of wine; [the king] stretched out his hand with scoffers and lawless men. 6 For they have made ready their heart, and their mind burns [with intrigue] like an oven while they lie in wait. Their anger smolders all night; in the morning it blazes forth as a flaming fire. 7 They are all hot as an oven and devour their judges; all their kings are fallen; there is none among them who calls to Me.
8 Ephraim mixes himself among the peoples [courting the favor of first one country, then another]; Ephraim is a cake not turned. 9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knows it not; yes, gray hairs are sprinkled here and there upon him, and he does not know it. 10 And the pride of Israel testifies against him and to his face. But they do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek nor inquire of nor require Him in spite of all this.
11 Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart or understanding; they call to Egypt; they go to Assyria. 12 As they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like birds of the heavens. I will chastise them according to the announcement [or prediction made] to their congregation [in the Scriptures]. 13 Woe to them, for they have wandered from Me! Destruction to them, because they have rebelled and trespassed against Me! Though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against Me.
14 They do not cry to Me from their heart, but they wail upon their beds; they gash and distress and assemble themselves [in mourning] for grain and new wine; they rebel against Me. 15 Although I have chastened them and trained and strengthened their arms, yet they think and devise evil against Me. 16 They turn back, shift, or change, but not upwards [to the Most High]. They are like a deceitful bow; their princes shall fall by the sword for the insolence and rage of their tongue. This shall be [cause for] their derision and scorning in the land of Egypt.