⁷ A merchant, in whose hands are false balances,
    he loves to oppress.
⁸ Ephraim has said, “Ah, but I am rich;
    I have found wealth for myself;
in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin.”
⁹ I am the Lord your God
    from the land of Egypt;
I will again make you dwell in tents,
    as in the days of the appointed feast.

¹⁰ I spoke to the prophets;
    it was I who multiplied visions,
    and through the prophets gave parables.
¹¹ If there is iniquity in Gilead,
    they shall surely come to nothing:
in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;
    their altars also are like stone heaps
    on the furrows of the field.
¹² Jacob fled to the land of Aram;
    there Israel served for a wife,
    and for a wife he guarded sheep.
¹³ By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt,
    and by a prophet he was guarded.
¹⁴ Ephraim has given bitter provocation;
    so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him
    and will repay him for his disgraceful deeds.

⁴ But I am the Lord your God
    from the land of Egypt;
you know no God but me,
    and besides me there is no savior.
⁵ It was I who knew you in the wilderness,
    in the land of drought;
⁶ but when they had grazed,^[b] they became full,
    they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;
    therefore they forgot me.
⁷ So I am to them like a lion;
    like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
⁸ I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs;
    I will tear open their breast,
and there I will devour them like a lion,
    as a wild beast would rip them open.

⁹ He destroys^[c] you, O Israel,
    for you are against me, against your helper.
¹⁰ Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?
    Where are all your rulers—
those of whom you said,
    “Give me a king and princes”?
¹¹ I gave you a king in my anger,
    and I took him away in my wrath.

¹² The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
    his sin is kept in store.
¹³ The pangs of childbirth come for him,
    but he is an unwise son,
for at the right time he does not present himself
    at the opening of the womb.

¹⁴ I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol;
    I shall redeem them from Death.^[d]
O Death, where are your plagues?
    O Sheol, where is your sting?
    Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

¹⁵ Though he may flourish among his brothers,
    the east wind, the wind of the Lord, shall come,
    rising from the wilderness,
and his fountain shall dry up;
    his spring shall be parched;
it shall strip his treasury
    of every precious thing.
^16 [e] Samaria shall bear her guilt,
    because she has rebelled against her God;
they shall fall by the sword;
    their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,
    and their pregnant women ripped open.

⁴ I will heal their apostasy;
    I will love them freely,
    for my anger has turned from them.
⁵ I will be like the dew to Israel;
    he shall blossom like the lily;
    he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
⁶ his shoots shall spread out;
    his beauty shall be like the olive,
    and his fragrance like Lebanon.
⁷ They shall return and dwell beneath my^[g] shadow;
    they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
    their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸ O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
    It is I who answer and look after you.^[h]
I am like an evergreen cypress;
    from me comes your fruit.

⁹ Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
    whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the Lord are right,
    and the upright walk in them,
    but transgressors stumble in them.