⁵ “O Samaria, I reject this calf—
    this idol you have made.
My fury burns against you.
    How long will you be incapable of innocence?
⁶ This calf you worship, O Israel,
    was crafted by your own hands!
It is not God!
    Therefore, it must be smashed to bits.

⁷ “They have planted the wind
    and will harvest the whirlwind.
The stalks of grain wither
    and produce nothing to eat.
And even if there is any grain,
    foreigners will eat it.
⁸ The people of Israel have been swallowed up;
    they lie among the nations like an old discarded pot.
⁹ Like a wild donkey looking for a mate,
    they have gone up to Assyria.
The people of Israel^[a] have sold themselves—
    sold themselves to many lovers.
¹⁰ But though they have sold themselves to many allies,
    I will now gather them together for judgment.
Then they will writhe
    under the burden of the great king.

¹¹ “Israel has built many altars to take away sin,
    but these very altars became places for sinning!
¹² Even though I gave them all my laws,
    they act as if those laws don’t apply to them.
¹³ The people love to offer sacrifices to me,
    feasting on the meat,
    but I do not accept their sacrifices.
I will hold my people accountable for their sins,
    and I will punish them.
    They will return to Egypt.
¹⁴ Israel has forgotten its Maker and built great palaces,
    and Judah has fortified its cities.
Therefore, I will send down fire on their cities
    and will burn up their fortresses.”

⁷ The time of Israel’s punishment has come;
    the day of payment is here.
    Soon Israel will know this all too well.
Because of your great sin and hostility,
    you say, “The prophets are crazy
    and the inspired men are fools!”
⁸ The prophet is a watchman over Israel^[c] for my God,
    yet traps are laid for him wherever he goes.
    He faces hostility even in the house of God.
⁹ The things my people do are as depraved
    as what they did in Gibeah long ago.
God will not forget.
    He will surely punish them for their sins.

¹⁰ The Lord says, “O Israel, when I first found you,
    it was like finding fresh grapes in the desert.
When I saw your ancestors,
    it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season.
But then they deserted me for Baal-peor,
    giving themselves to that shameful idol.
Soon they became vile,
    as vile as the god they worshiped.
¹¹ The glory of Israel will fly away like a bird,
    for your children will not be born
or grow in the womb
    or even be conceived.
¹² Even if you do have children who grow up,
    I will take them from you.
It will be a terrible day when I turn away
    and leave you alone.
¹³ I have watched Israel become as beautiful as Tyre.
    But now Israel will bring out her children for slaughter.”

¹⁴ O Lord, what should I request for your people?
    I will ask for wombs that don’t give birth
    and breasts that give no milk.

¹⁵ The Lord says, “All their wickedness began at Gilgal;
    there I began to hate them.
I will drive them from my land
    because of their evil actions.
I will love them no more
    because all their leaders are rebels.
¹⁶ The people of Israel are struck down.
    Their roots are dried up,
    and they will bear no more fruit.
And if they give birth,
    I will slaughter their beloved children.”

¹⁷ My God will reject the people of Israel
    because they will not listen or obey.
They will be wanderers,
    homeless among the nations.

⁵ The people of Samaria tremble in fear
    for their calf idol at Beth-aven,^[d]
    and they mourn for it.
Though its priests rejoice over it,
    its glory will be stripped away.^[e]
6 This idol will be carted away to Assyria,
    a gift to the great king there.
Ephraim will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed,
    because its people have trusted in this idol.
⁷ Samaria and its king will be cut off;
    they will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave.
⁸ And the pagan shrines of Aven,^[f] the place of Israel’s sin, will crumble.
    Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars.
They will beg the mountains, “Bury us!”
    and plead with the hills, “Fall on us!”

⁹ The Lord says, “O Israel, ever since Gibeah,
    there has been only sin and more sin!
You have made no progress whatsoever.
    Was it not right that the wicked men of Gibeah were attacked?
¹⁰ Now whenever it fits my plan,
    I will attack you, too.
I will call out the armies of the nations
    to punish you for your multiplied sins.

¹¹ “Israel^[g] is like a trained heifer treading out the grain—
    an easy job she loves.
    But I will put a heavy yoke on her tender neck.
I will force Judah to pull the plow
    and Israel^[h] to break up the hard ground.
¹² I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness,
    and you will harvest a crop of love.
Plow up the hard ground of your hearts,
    for now is the time to seek the Lord,
that he may come
    and shower righteousness upon you.’

¹³ “But you have cultivated wickedness
    and harvested a thriving crop of sins.
You have eaten the fruit of lies—
    trusting in your military might,
believing that great armies
    could make your nation safe.
¹⁴ Now the terrors of war
    will rise among your people.
All your fortifications will fall,
    just as when Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel.
Even mothers and children
    were dashed to death there.
¹⁵ You will share that fate, Bethel,
    because of your great wickedness.
When the day of judgment dawns,
    the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.

⁵ “But since my people refuse to return to me,
    they will return to Egypt
    and will be forced to serve Assyria.
⁶ War will swirl through their cities;
    their enemies will crash through their gates.
They will destroy them,
    trapping them in their own evil plans.
⁷ For my people are determined to desert me.
They call me the Most High,
    but they don’t truly honor me.

⁸ “Oh, how can I give you up, Israel?
    How can I let you go?
How can I destroy you like Admah
    or demolish you like Zeboiim?
My heart is torn within me,
    and my compassion overflows.
⁹ No, I will not unleash my fierce anger.
    I will not completely destroy Israel,
for I am God and not a mere mortal.
    I am the Holy One living among you,
    and I will not come to destroy.
¹⁰ For someday the people will follow me.
    I, the Lord, will roar like a lion.
And when I roar,
    my people will return trembling from the west.
¹¹ Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt.
    Trembling like doves, they will return from Assyria.
And I will bring them home again,”
    says the Lord.

² Now the Lord is bringing charges against Judah.
    He is about to punish Jacob^[o] for all his deceitful ways,
    and pay him back for all he has done.
³ Even in the womb,
    Jacob struggled with his brother;
when he became a man,
    he even fought with God.
⁴ Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won.
    He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him.
There at Bethel he met God face to face,
    and God spoke to him^[p]—
⁵ the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,
    the Lord is his name!
⁶ So now, come back to your God.
    Act with love and justice,
    and always depend on him.

⁷ But no, the people are like crafty merchants
    selling from dishonest scales—
    they love to cheat.
⁸ Israel boasts, “I am rich!
    I’ve made a fortune all by myself!
No one has caught me cheating!
    My record is spotless!”

⁹ “But I am the Lord your God,
    who rescued you from slavery in Egypt.
And I will make you live in tents again,
    as you do each year at the Festival of Shelters.^[q]
10 I sent my prophets to warn you
    with many visions and parables.”

¹¹ But the people of Gilead are worthless
    because of their idol worship.
And in Gilgal, too, they sacrifice bulls;
    their altars are lined up like the heaps of stone
    along the edges of a plowed field.
¹² Jacob fled to the land of Aram,
    and there he^[r] earned a wife by tending sheep.
¹³ Then by a prophet
    the Lord brought Jacob’s descendants^[s] out of Egypt;
and by that prophet
    they were protected.
¹⁴ But the people of Israel
    have bitterly provoked the Lord,
so their Lord will now sentence them to death
    in payment for their sins.

⁴ “I have been the Lord your God
    ever since I brought you out of Egypt.
You must acknowledge no God but me,
    for there is no other savior.
⁵ I took care of you in the wilderness,
    in that dry and thirsty land.
⁶ But when you had eaten and were satisfied,
    you became proud and forgot me.
⁷ So now I will attack you like a lion,
    like a leopard that lurks along the road.
⁸ Like a bear whose cubs have been taken away,
    I will tear out your heart.
I will devour you like a hungry lioness
    and mangle you like a wild animal.

⁹ “You are about to be destroyed, O Israel—
    yes, by me, your only helper.
¹⁰ Now where is^[t] your king?
    Let him save you!
Where are all the leaders of the land,
    the king and the officials you demanded of me?
¹¹ In my anger I gave you kings,
    and in my fury I took them away.

¹² “Ephraim’s guilt has been collected,
    and his sin has been stored up for punishment.
¹³ Pain has come to the people
    like the pain of childbirth,
but they are like a child
    who resists being born.
The moment of birth has arrived,
    but they stay in the womb!

¹⁴ “Should I ransom them from the grave^[u]?
    Should I redeem them from death?
O death, bring on your terrors!
    O grave, bring on your plagues!^[v]
    For I will not take pity on them.
¹⁵ Ephraim was the most fruitful of all his brothers,
    but the east wind—a blast from the Lord—
    will arise in the desert.
All their flowing springs will run dry,
    and all their wells will disappear.
Every precious thing they own
    will be plundered and carried away.
^16 [w]The people of Samaria
    must bear the consequences of their guilt
    because they rebelled against their God.
They will be killed by an invading army,
    their little ones dashed to death against the ground,
    their pregnant women ripped open by swords.”

⁴ The Lord says,
“Then I will heal you of your faithlessness;
    my love will know no bounds,
    for my anger will be gone forever.
⁵ I will be to Israel
    like a refreshing dew from heaven.
Israel will blossom like the lily;
    it will send roots deep into the soil
    like the cedars in Lebanon.
⁶ Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees,
    as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon.
⁷ My people will again live under my shade.
    They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines.
    They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon.

⁸ “O Israel,^[z] stay away from idols!
    I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you.
I am like a tree that is always green;
    all your fruit comes from me.”

⁹ Let those who are wise understand these things.
    Let those with discernment listen carefully.
The paths of the Lord are true and right,
    and righteous people live by walking in them.
    But in those paths sinners stumble and fall.