⁷ The merchant uses dishonest scales^(L)
    and loves to defraud.
⁸ Ephraim boasts,^(M)
    “I am very rich; I have become wealthy.^(N)
With all my wealth they will not find in me
    any iniquity or sin.”

⁹ “I have been the Lord your God
    ever since you came out of Egypt;^(O)
I will make you live in tents^(P) again,
    as in the days of your appointed festivals.
¹⁰ I spoke to the prophets,
    gave them many visions
    and told parables^(Q) through them.”^(R)

¹¹ Is Gilead wicked?^(S)
    Its people are worthless!
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?^(T)
    Their altars will be like piles of stones
    on a plowed field.^(U)
12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram^[b];^(V)
    Israel served to get a wife,
    and to pay for her he tended sheep.^(W)
13 The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt,^(X)
    by a prophet he cared for him.^(Y)
14 But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;
    his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed^(Z)
    and will repay him for his contempt.^(AA)

⁴ “But I have been the Lord your God
    ever since you came out of Egypt.^(AN)
You shall acknowledge^(AO) no God but me,^(AP)
    no Savior^(AQ) except me.
⁵ I cared for you in the wilderness,^(AR)
    in the land of burning heat.
⁶ When I fed them, they were satisfied;
    when they were satisfied, they became proud;^(AS)
    then they forgot^(AT) me.^(AU)
7 So I will be like a lion^(AV) to them,
    like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
⁸ Like a bear robbed of her cubs,^(AW)
    I will attack them and rip them open;
like a lion^(AX) I will devour them—
    a wild animal will tear them apart.^(AY)

⁹ “You are destroyed, Israel,
    because you are against me,^(AZ) against your helper.^(BA)
10 Where is your king,^(BB) that he may save you?
    Where are your rulers in all your towns,
of whom you said,
    ‘Give me a king and princes’?^(BC)
11 So in my anger I gave you a king,^(BD)
    and in my wrath I took him away.^(BE)
12 The guilt of Ephraim is stored up,
    his sins are kept on record.^(BF)
13 Pains as of a woman in childbirth^(BG) come to him,
    but he is a child without wisdom;
when the time^(BH) arrives,
    he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb.^(BI)

¹⁴ “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;^(BJ)
    I will redeem them from death.^(BK)
Where, O death, are your plagues?
    Where, O grave, is your destruction?^(BL)

“I will have no compassion,
¹⁵     even though he thrives^(BM) among his brothers.
An east wind^(BN) from the Lord will come,
    blowing in from the desert;
his spring will fail
    and his well dry up.^(BO)
His storehouse will be plundered^(BP)
    of all its treasures.
¹⁶ The people of Samaria^(BQ) must bear their guilt,^(BR)
    because they have rebelled^(BS) against their God.
They will fall by the sword;^(BT)
    their little ones will be dashed^(BU) to the ground,
    their pregnant women^(BV) ripped open.”^[d]

⁴ “I will heal^(CH) their waywardness^(CI)
    and love them freely,^(CJ)
    for my anger has turned away^(CK) from them.
⁵ I will be like the dew^(CL) to Israel;
    he will blossom like a lily.^(CM)
Like a cedar of Lebanon^(CN)
    he will send down his roots;^(CO)
6     his young shoots will grow.
His splendor will be like an olive tree,^(CP)
    his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.^(CQ)
7 People will dwell again in his shade;^(CR)
    they will flourish like the grain,
they will blossom^(CS) like the vine—
    Israel’s fame will be like the wine^(CT) of Lebanon.^(CU)
8 Ephraim, what more have I^[g] to do with idols?^(CV)
    I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a flourishing juniper;^(CW)
    your fruitfulness comes from me.”

⁹ Who is wise?^(CX) Let them realize these things.
    Who is discerning? Let them understand.^(CY)
The ways of the Lord are right;^(CZ)
    the righteous walk^(DA) in them,
    but the rebellious stumble in them.