Beginning

¹ Put the trumpet to your lips!
    An eagle is circling over the sanctuary of the Lord.
The people have broken my covenant
    and been unfaithful to my law.
² Israel cries out to me,
    “We acknowledge you to be our God.”
³ However, Israel has rejected what is good;
    the enemy will pursue them.
^4 [a]They anointed kings, but not by my authority;
    they appointed princes, but without my knowledge.
With their silver and gold they made idols for themselves,
    idols for their own destruction.
⁵ I reject your calf-idol, O Samaria!
    My anger burns against them.
How long will it be
    before they regain their innocence?
⁶ The calf was made in Israel;
    it is no god at all,
    for it was fashioned by a craftsman.
The calf of Samaria
    will be broken to pieces.
⁷ When Israel sows the wind,
    it will reap the whirlwind.
When the standing grain has no heads,
    it will yield no flour.
And if it were to yield flour,
    foreigners would devour it.
⁸ Israel is swallowed up;
    now they are among the nations
    like something of no value.
⁹ For they have gone up to Assyria
    like a wild ass wandering on its own;
    Ephraim has bargained for lovers.
¹⁰ Because they have bargained with the nations,
    I will now gather them up.
They will soon begin to suffer
    under the weight of kings and princes.
¹¹ Although Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings,
    those altars became occasions for sin.
¹² I provided Ephraim with many written laws,
    but they regarded such laws as irrelevant.
¹³ Although they offer sacrifices to me
    and eat the meat,
    the Lord does not accept them.
On the contrary, he will remember their iniquity
    and punish their sins;
    they will be forced to return to Egypt.
¹⁴ Israel has forgotten his Maker
    and built palaces;
Judah also has fortified many cities.
    However, I will send fire upon his cities
    that will devour their citadels.

¹ Do not rejoice, O Israel!
    Do not exult like the other nations!
For you have been unfaithful to your God;
    you have loved the wages of a prostitute
    upon every threshing floor.^[b]
2 Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed them,
    and the new wine will fail them.
³ They will not remain in the land of the Lord;
    Ephraim will return to Egypt^[c]
    and eat unclean food in Assyria.
⁴ No longer will they pour libations of wine to the Lord,
    nor will their sacrifices please him.
To them such sacrifice will be like mourners’ bread
    that defiles all who eat of it.
Whatever food they have will be for them alone;
    it cannot enter the house of the Lord.
⁵ What will you do on the solemn feasts,
    on the festival day of the Lord?^[d]
6 Even if the people escape destruction,
    Egypt will gather them
    and Memphis^[e] will bury them.
Weeds will swallow up their treasures of silver,
    and thorns will overrun their tents.

⁷ The days of punishment have come;
    the days of retribution are here.
Israel cries out,
    “The prophet is a fool,
    the inspired man is a maniac.”
Because your iniquity is great,
    all the greater is your hostility.
⁸ The prophet has been appointed by God
    to serve as a watchman over Ephraim.
Yet snares await him on all his paths
    and he incurs hostility in the house of his God.
⁹ They have immersed themselves in corruption
    as in the days of Gibeah.^[f]
God will remember their iniquity
    and punish their sins.

¹⁰ It was like finding grapes in the desert
    when I found Israel.
When I saw your fathers,
    it was like seeing the early frost on a fig tree.
However, when they came to Baal-peor,
    they consecrated themselves to a shameful idol,
    and they became as loathsome as the thing they loved.
¹¹ Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird—
    no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.
¹² Even if they were to bear children,
    I will take away from them every single one.
Woe to them
    when I turn away from them!
¹³ Ephraim once seemed to me like Tyre,
    planted in a beautiful meadow.
But now Ephraim will be required
    to lead out his children for slaughter.
¹⁴ Give them, O Lord—
    what will you give?
Give them wombs that miscarry^[h]
    and dried-up breasts.
¹⁵ All of their wickedness had its root in Gilgal;^[i]
    it was there that I came to hate them.
Because of their evil deeds,
    I will drive them out of my house.
I will no longer love them;
    all of their rulers are rebels.
¹⁶ Ephraim is stricken;
    their root is withered,
    and they yield no fruit.
Even if they bring forth children,
    I will slay the cherished offspring of their womb.
¹⁷ My God will cast them off
    because they have not listened to him;
    they will become wanderers among the nations.

¹ Israel is a luxuriant vine
    bringing forth a great bounty of fruit.
The more his fruit increased,
    the more altars he built.
The more prosperous his land became,
    the richer he made the sacred pillars.
² Their heart is false;
    now they must pay the penalty for the guilt.
God himself will destroy their altars
    and demolish their sacred pillars.
³ Then they will say,
    “We have no king
    because we did not serve the Lord.
But even if we had a king,
    what could he do for us?”
⁴ They make many empty promises,
    swear false oaths and draw up treaties.
Thus litigation spreads like poisonous weeds
    in the furrows of the fields.
⁵ The inhabitants of Samaria tremble
    for the calf of Beth-aven.
The people mourn for it,
    and its idolatrous priests mourn over it,
    over its glory that has departed from it.
⁶ It will be carried to Assyria
    as an offering to the great king.
Ephraim will be disgraced,
    and Israel will be shamed by his schemes.
⁷ The king of Samaria will float away
    like a flimsy twig drifting on the water.
⁸ The high places of Aven will be destroyed,
    the shrines where Israel sinned.
Thorns and thistles shall flourish
    and cover their altars.
Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
    and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
⁹ Since the days of Gibeah,
    you have sinned, O Israel,
    and there you have remained.
Did not war overtake
    the evildoers in Gibeah?
¹⁰ I have come to confront the rebels
    and to chastise them.
Nations shall mass against them
    to punish them for their two crimes.
¹¹ Ephraim was a trained heifer
    that loved to thresh grain.
I myself laid a yoke
    upon her fair neck.
However, I will harness Ephraim;
    Judah will be forced to plow,
    and Jacob will harrow the land.
¹² Sow righteousness for yourselves,
    and reap a harvest of steadfast love.
Break up your fallow ground;
    it is time to seek the Lord
    so that he may come and rain down righteousness upon you.
¹³ However, you have plowed wickedness
    and reaped depravity;
    you have eaten the fruit of falsehood.
Because you have trusted in your chariots
    and in your multitude of warriors,
¹⁴ the tumult of war will engulf your people,
    and all your fortresses will be destroyed,
as Salman^[j] devastated Beth-arbel on the day of battle
    when mothers were dashed to pieces with their children.
¹⁵ Thus shall it be done to you, O Bethel,
    because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel
    will be utterly destroyed.

¹ When Israel was a child, I loved him,
    and out of Egypt I called my son.^[k]
2 But the more I called them,
    the further they went from me.
They offered sacrifice to the Baals
    and burning incense to idols.
³ Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
    I who took them up in my arms.
However, they did not know
    that I was the one caring for them.
⁴ I led them with cords of human kindness,
    with bonds of love.
I lifted them to my cheek as I would an infant,
    and I bent down to feed them.
⁵ They shall return to the land of Egypt,
    and Assyria will be their king
    because they refused to return to me.
⁶ The sword shall be brandished in their cities;
    it will destroy the bars of their gates
    and devour them because of their evil schemes.
⁷ My people are determined to ignore me;
    if they are summoned to approach me,
    not one of them makes any attempt to do so.
⁸ How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
    How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I treat you like Admah?^[l]
    How can I make you like Zeboiim?
My heart is overwhelmed within me;
    tender compassion is enkindled in my heart.
⁹ I will not give rein to my fierce anger;
    I will not destroy Ephraim again.
For I am God and not a mortal.
    I am the Holy One in your midst;
    I will not come to you in wrath.
^10 [m]They will follow the Lord
    who roars like a lion.
And when he roars,
    his children will come trembling from the west.
¹¹ They will come trembling like sparrows from Egypt,
    like doves from Assyria.
I will resettle them in their homes,
    says the Lord.

¹ Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,
    and the house of Israel with deceit.
But Judah still remains aligned with God
    and is faithful to the Holy One.
² Ephraim chases the wind,
    ever pursuing the east wind throughout the day.
Numerous are his lies and treachery;
    he makes a treaty with Assyria
    while sending oil to Egypt.
³ The Lord has a charge to bring against Judah;
    he will punish Jacob as his conduct deserves;
    he will requite him according to his deeds.
⁴ While still in the womb he supplanted his brother,
    and as a man he struggled with God.
⁵ He contended with the angel and prevailed;
    he wept and entreated his favor.
He met God at Bethel
    and spoke with him there.
⁶ The Lord, the God of hosts,
    the Lord is his name.
⁷ Turn back with God’s help;
    remain loyal and act justly,
    and always put your trust in him.
⁸ Merchants use dishonest scales,
    for they love to defraud.
⁹ Ephraim says,
    “I have become very rich;
    I have made a fortune.”
But all his wealth will avail him nothing
    because of the guilt incurred by his sin.
¹⁰ I am the Lord, your God
    who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
I will make you live in tents yet again
    as in the days of the appointed festival.
¹¹ I spoke to the prophets,
    to whom I granted many visions
    and through whom I will speak in parables.
¹² Gilead is a hotbed of iniquity;
    the people there are worthless.
In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;
    their altars are like piles of stones
    on a plowed field.
¹³ Jacob fled to the country of Aram;
    Israel did service to obtain a wife,
    paying for her by tending sheep.
¹⁴ By a prophet^[n] the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,
    and by a prophet they were protected.
¹⁵ Ephraim gave bitter provocation to the Lord;
    therefore he will suffer for the blood he has shed,
    and the Lord will punish him for his insults.

¹ When Ephraim spoke, the people trembled;
    he was exalted in Israel,
    but he incurred guilt by worshiping Baal, and died.
² And now the people continue to sin even more
    by casting images for themselves,
idols of silver fashioned after their own concept,
    all of them the work of artisans.
They say, “Offer sacrifices to these,”
    and people kiss the calf-idols.
³ Therefore, they will be like the morning mist
    or like the dew that quickly fades away,
like chaff that a storm drives from the threshing floor,
    or like smoke escaping through a window.

⁴ I am the Lord, your God,
    who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
You know no God but me,
    nor any savior other than me.
⁵ I cared for you in the desert,
    in the land of burning heat.
⁶ When I fed them, they were satisfied;
    when they were satisfied, they became proud of heart
    and quickly forgot me.
⁷ So now I will be like a lion to them;
    like a leopard I will lurk beside the road.
⁸ Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them
    and rip their hearts from their breasts.
Like a lion I will devour them;
    like a wild beast I will tear them apart.
⁹ You are destroyed, O Israel;
    who is there to help you?
¹⁰ Where now is your king
    that he may save you?
Where in all your cities are your rulers,
    about whom you said,
    “Give me a king and rulers”?
¹¹ I gave you a king in my anger,
    and in my wrath I took him away.^[o]

¹² The guilt of Ephraim is stored up;
    his sins are kept on record.
¹³ He experiences the pangs of childbirth,
    but he is a child lacking in wisdom.
When his time for birth arrives,
    he does not leave the womb.
¹⁴ Shall I deliver them from the power of the netherworld?^[p]
    Shall I redeem them from death?
O death, where are your plagues?
    O netherworld, where is your sting?
    Compassion will be banished from my sight.
¹⁵ Although Ephraim may be more fruitful than his brothers,
    an east wind^[q] from the Lord will come,
    rising from the desert,
causing his springs to be arid
    and his fountain to dry up.
His treasury will be plundered
    of every precious thing.

¹ Samaria will be severely punished
    because she has rebelled against her God.
Her people will fall by the sword;
    her little ones will be dashed to pieces,
    and her pregnant women will be ripped open.^[r]

² Return, O Israel, to the Lord, your God;
    your iniquity has been the cause of your downfall.
³ Prepare in advance what you want to say,
    and return to the Lord.
Say to him, “Take away all guilt
    and give us what is good,
so that we may present as offerings
    the bullocks from our stalls.
⁴ Assyria will not save us,
    nor shall we mount horses of war.
We shall never again say ‘Our god’
    to the work of our hands,
    for in you the fatherless find compassion.”
⁵ I will forgive them for their apostasy,
    and I will love them freely,
    for my wrath is turned away from them.
⁶ I will be like the dew to Israel;
    they will blossom like a lily;
    they will strike root like the cedars of Lebanon.
⁷ They will put out fresh shoots;
    their splendor shall be like that of the olive tree
    and their fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
⁸ They shall again dwell in my shade
    and once again flourish like grain.
They shall blossom like the vine,
    and their fame will be like that of the wine of Lebanon.
⁹ What further dealings does Ephraim have with idols?
    I hear you and look out for your welfare.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
    your prosperity derives from me.

¹⁰ Let those who are wise understand these words,
    and let the prudent acknowledge them.
For straight are the ways of the Lord;
    the upright walk in them,
    but sinners stumble.^[t]