Beginning

8 “Set the trumpet to your mouth! He shall come as an eagle against the House of the LORD, because they have transgressed My Covenant and trespassed against My Law.

² “Israel shall cry to Me, ‘My God, we know You!’

³ “Israel has cast off the thing that is good. The enemy shall pursue him.

⁴ “They have set up a king, but not by Me. They have made princes, and I did not know it. They have made themselves idols from their silver and their gold. Therefore, they shall be destroyed.

⁵ “Your calf, O Samaria, has cast you off. My anger is kindled against them. How long will they be without innocence!

⁶ “For it came from Israel. The workman made it. Therefore, it is not God. But the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

⁷ “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. It has no stalk. The bud shall bring forth no meal. If it is brought forth, the strangers shall devour it.

⁸ “Israel is devoured! They shall now be among the Gentiles, as a vessel in which there is no pleasure.

⁹ “For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey, alone by himself. Ephraim has hired lovers.

¹⁰ “Yet, although they have hired among the nations, I will now gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king and the princes.

¹¹ “Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin, his altars shall be for sin.

¹² “I have written the great things of My Law for them, but they were counted as a strange thing.

¹³ “They sacrifice flesh for the Sacrifices of My Offerings and eat it. The LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and visit their sins. They shall return to Egypt.

¹⁴ “For Israel has forgotten his maker and builds temples. And Judah has increased strong cities. But I will send a fire upon his cities. And it shall devour its palaces.”

9 Do not rejoice for joy, O Israel, as other people. For you have gone a whoring from your God. You have loved a reward upon every grain floor.

² The floor and the winepress shall not feed them. And the new wine shall fail in her.

³ They will not dwell in the LORD’s land. But Ephraim will return to Egypt. And they will eat unclean things in Assyria.

⁴ They shall not offer wine to the LORD. Nor shall their sacrifices be pleasant to Him. But they shall be as the bread of mourners. All who eat of it shall be polluted. For their bread for their souls shall not come into the House of the LORD.

⁵ What will you do, then, on the solemn day, and on the day of the Feast of the LORD?

⁶ For lo, they have gone from destruction. Egypt shall gather them up and Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess the pleasant places of their silver. Thorns shall be in their tabernacles.

⁷ The days of visitation have come. The days of recompense have come. Israel shall know it. The Prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, because of the multitude of your iniquity. Therefore the hatred is great.

⁸ The watchman of Ephraim is with my God. The Prophet is the snare of a bird catcher in all his ways, and hatred is in the House of his God.

⁹ They are deeply set. They are corrupt, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity. He will visit their sins.

¹⁰ “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the firstfruits of a fig tree in her first season. But they went to Baal Peor and separated themselves to that shame. And abominations were according to their lovers.

¹¹ “Ephraim, their glory, shall flee away like a bird, from the birth and from the womb and from the conception.

¹² “Though they bring up their children, I will deprive them of being men. Yea, woe to them when I depart from them!

¹³ “Ephraim, as I saw, is as a tree in Tyre, planted in a cottage. But Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.”

¹⁴ O LORD, give them—what will You give them? Give them a barren womb and dry breasts.

¹⁵ “All their wickedness is in Gilgal. For there I hated them for the wickedness of their inventions. I will cast them out of My House. I will love them no longer. All their princes are rebels.

¹⁶ “Ephraim is stricken! Their root is dried up! They can bring no fruit! Yea, though they bring forth, I will kill even the dearest of their body.”

¹⁷ My God will cast them away because they did not obey Him. And they shall wander among the nations.

10 Israel is an empty vine. It has brought forth fruit for itself. According to the multitude of its fruit, it has increased its altars. According to the goodness of its land, it has made fair images.

² Their heart is divided. They shall now be found faulty. He shall break down their altars. He shall destroy their images.

³ For now they shall say, “We have no king because we did not fear the LORD. And what would a king do for us?”

⁴ They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant. Thus, judgment grows as wormwood in the furrows of the field.

⁵ The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calf of Beth Aven. For its people shall mourn over it, as well as its Chemarims, who cried over it because of its glory and because it has departed.

⁶ It shall also be brought to Assyria, as a present for King Jareb. Ephraim shall receive shame and Israel shall be ashamed of its own counsel.

⁷ Of Samaria, its king is destroyed, as the foam upon the water.

⁸ Also, the high places of Aven shall be destroyed, the sin of Israel. The thorn and the thistle shall grow upon their altars. And they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,” and to the hills, “Fall upon us.”

⁹ “O Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah! There they stood. The battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not touch them.

¹⁰ “It is My desire that I should chastise them. And the people shall be gathered against them when they shall gather themselves in their two furrows.

¹¹ “And Ephraim is as a heifer that delights in threshing. But I will pass by her fair neck. I will make Ephraim ride. Judah shall plow and Jacob shall break his clods.”

¹² Sow for yourselves in righteousness. Reap after the measure of mercy. Break up your fallow ground. For it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and rains righteousness upon you.

¹³ You have plowed wickedness. You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your own ways and in the multitude of your strong men.

¹⁴ Therefore, a tumult shall arise among your people. And all your munitions shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth Arbel in the days of battle. The mother, with the children, was dashed in pieces.

¹⁵ So shall Bethel do to you, because of your malicious wickedness. The king of Israel shall be destroyed in a morning.

11 “When Israel was a child, then I loved him and called My son out of Egypt.

² “As they called them, they went from them. They sacrificed to Baal and burnt incense to images.

³ “I also led Ephraim, bearing them in My Arms. But they did not know that I healed them.

⁴ “I led them with cords of a man, with bands of love. And I was to them as one who takes off the yoke from their jaws. And I gently fed them.

⁵ “He shall no longer return into the land of Egypt. But Assyria shall be his king because they refused to convert.

⁶ “And the sword shall fall on his cities, and shall consume its bars and devour them, because of their own counsels.

⁷ “And My people are bent to rebellion against Me. Though they called them to the Most High, no one at all would exalt.

⁸ “How shall I give you up, Ephraim? Shall I deliver you, Israel? How shall I make you as Admah? Shall I set you as Zeboim? My Heart has turned within Me. My compassions are kindled.

⁹ “I will not execute the fierceness of My wrath. I will not return to destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, the Holy One in the midst of you. And I will not enter into the city.

¹⁰ “They shall walk after the LORD. He shall roar like a lion. When He shall roar, the children of the West shall fear.

¹¹ “They shall fear as a sparrow out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria. And I will place them in their houses,” says the LORD.

¹² “Ephraim surrounds Me with lies, and the House of Israel with deceit. But Judah still rules with God and is faithful with the saints.”

12 Ephraim is fed with the wind and follows after the East wind. He increases daily lies and destruction. And they make a covenant with Assyria. And oil is carried into Egypt.

² Also, the LORD has a dispute with Judah and will visit Jacob, according to His ways. According to His works, will He recompense him.

³ He took his brother by the heel in the womb; and by his strength he contended with God

⁴ and had power over the Angel and prevailed. He wept and prayed to Him. He found Him in Bethel. And He spoke with us there.

⁵ Yea, the LORD God of Hosts. The LORD is His own memorial.

⁶ Therefore, turn to your God! Keep mercy and judgment and continue to hope in your God.

⁷ Canaan! The balances of deceit are in his hand. He loves to oppress.

⁸ And Ephraim said, “Nevertheless, I am rich! I have found wealth for myself in all my labors! They shall find no iniquity in me that is wickedness.”

⁹ “Though I am the LORD your God, from the land of Egypt, yet will I make you dwell in the tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn Feast.

¹⁰ “I have also spoken by the Prophets. And I have multiplied visions and used similitudes by the ministry of the Prophets.”

¹¹ Is there iniquity in Gilead? Surely, they are worthless. They sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal. And their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field.

¹² And Jacob fled into the country of Aram. And Israel served for a wife. And for a wife he kept sheep.

¹³ And by a Prophet, the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt. And by a Prophet he was preserved.

¹⁴ Ephraim provoked Him with high places. Therefore, his blood shall be poured upon him. And his LORD shall reward him with his reproach.

13 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He exalted himself in Israel. But he has sinned in Baal and is dead.

² And now they sin more and more, and have made themselves molten images of their silver, idols according to their own understanding. They were all the work of the craftsmen. They say one to another while they sacrifice a man, “Let them kiss the calves.”

³ Therefore, they shall be as the morning cloud and as the morning dew that passes away, as the chaff that is driven with a whirlwind out of the floor and as the smoke that goes out of the chimney.

⁴ “Yet I am the LORD your God, from the land of Egypt. And you shall know no God but Me. For there is no Savior beside Me.

⁵ “I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

⁶ “As in their pastures, were they filled. They were filled and their hearts were exalted. Therefore, they have forgotten Me.

⁷ “And I will be to them as a lion, as a leopard on the way of Assyria.

⁸ “I will meet them as a bear that is robbed of her whelps. And I will tear open their chests. And there will I devour them like a lion. The wild beasts shall tear them.

⁹ “O Israel, one has destroyed you! But in Me is your help.

¹⁰ “I will be your King. Where is your king who would help you in all your cities, and your judges 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 hidden.

¹³ “The sorrows of a woman in labor shall come upon him. He is an unwise son, or else he would not stand still at the time of the breaking forth of the children.

¹⁴ “I will redeem them from the power of the grave. I will deliver them from death. O death, I will be your death! O grave, I will be your destruction! Sorrow shall be hidden from My Eyes.”

¹⁵ Though he grew up among his brethren, an East wind shall come. The wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness and dry up his vein. And his fountain shall be dried up. He shall plunder the treasure of all pleasant vessels.

14 Samaria shall be desolate. For she has rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword. Their infants shall be dashed in pieces. And their women with child shall be ripped open.

² O Israel, return to the LORD your God! For you have fallen by your iniquity!

³ Take words with you and turn to the LORD, and say to Him, “Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously. So will we render the calves of our lips.

⁴ “Assyria shall not save us. Nor will we ride upon horses. Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’ For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”

⁵ “I will heal their rebellion. I will love them freely. For My anger has turned away from him.

⁶ “I will be as the dew to Israel. He shall grow as the lily and fasten his roots as the trees of Lebanon.

⁷ “His branches shall spread. And his beauty shall be as the olive tree and his smell as Lebanon.

⁸ “Those who dwell under his shadow shall return. They shall revive as grain and flourish as the vine. Their scent shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

⁹ “Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’ I shall hear him and look upon him. I am like a green fir tree. Upon Me your fruit is found.

¹⁰ “Who is wise and shall understand these things, prudent and shall know them? For the ways of the LORD are righteous and the just shall walk in them. But the wicked shall fall therein.”