10  Israel is a luxuriant vine

that yields its fruit.

^cThe more his fruit increased,

the more ^daltars he built;

as his country improved,

he improved his pillars.

2  Their heart is false;

now they must bear their guilt.

The Lord¹ will break down their altars

and destroy their pillars.

3  For now they will say:

“We have no king,

for we do not fear the Lord;

and a king—what could he do for us?”

4  They utter mere words;

with empty^{2 e}oaths they make covenants;

so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds

in the furrows of the field.

5  The inhabitants of Samaria tremble

for the calf³ of ^fBeth-aven.

Its people mourn for it, and so do its ^gidolatrous priests—

those who rejoiced over it and over its glory—

for it has departed⁴ from them.

6  The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria

as tribute to the ^hgreat king.⁵

Ephraim shall be put to shame,

and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.⁶

7  ⁱSamaria’s king shall perish

like a twig on the face of the waters.

8  The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,

shall be destroyed.

Thorn and thistle shall grow up

on their altars,

and ^jthey shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”

and to the hills, “Fall on us.”

9  From the days of ^kGibeah, you have sinned, O Israel;

there they have continued.

Shall not the war against the unjust⁷ overtake them in Gibeah?

10  When I please, I will discipline them,

and nations shall be gathered against them

when they are bound up for their double iniquity.

11  Ephraim was a trained calf

that loved to thresh,

and I spared her fair neck;

but I will put Ephraim to the yoke;

Judah must plow;

Jacob must harrow for himself.

12  Sow for yourselves righteousness;

reap steadfast love;

^lbreak up your fallow ground,

for it is the time to seek the Lord,

that he may ^mcome and rain ⁿrighteousness upon you.

13  ^oYou have plowed iniquity;

you have reaped injustice;

you have eaten the fruit of lies.

Because you have trusted in your own way

and in the multitude of your warriors,

14  therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people,

and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,

as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle;

mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.

15  Thus it shall be done to you, O ^pBethel,

because of your great evil.

At dawn the king of Israel

shall be utterly cut off.

11  When Israel was a child, I loved him,

and ^qout of Egypt I called ^rmy son.

2  The more they were called,

the more they went away;

they kept sacrificing to the Baals

and ^sburning offerings to idols.

3  ^tYet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;

I took them up by their arms,

but they did not know that ^uI healed them.

4  I led them with cords of kindness,¹

with the bands of love,

and I became to them as one who eases the ^vyoke on their jaws,

and I bent down to them and ^wfed them.

5  They shall not² return to the land of Egypt,

but Assyria shall be their king,

because they have refused to return to me.

6  The sword shall rage against their cities,

consume the bars of their gates,

and devour them because of their own counsels.

7  My people are bent on ^xturning away from me,

and though they call out to the Most High,

he shall not raise them up at all.

8  How can I give you up, O Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, O Israel?

^yHow can I make you like Admah?

How can I treat you like Zeboiim?

My heart recoils within me;

my compassion grows warm and tender.

9  I will not execute my burning anger;

I will not again destroy Ephraim;

for ^zI am God and not a man,

the Holy One in your midst,

and I will not come in wrath.³

10  They shall go after the Lord;

^ahe will roar like a lion;

when he roars,

^bhis children shall come trembling from the west;

11  they shall come trembling like birds ^cfrom Egypt,

and like doves from the land of Assyria,

and I will return them to their homes, declares the Lord.

12  ⁴ Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,

and the house of Israel with deceit,

but Judah still walks with God

and is faithful to the Holy One.

12  Ephraim feeds on the wind

and pursues the east wind all day long;

they multiply falsehood and violence;

^dthey make a covenant with Assyria,

and oil is carried to Egypt.

2  ^eThe Lord has an indictment against Judah

and will punish Jacob according to his ways;

he will repay him according to his deeds.

3  ^fIn the womb he took his brother by the heel,

and ^gin his manhood he strove with God.

4  He strove with the angel and prevailed;

he wept and sought his favor.

He met God¹ at ^hBethel,

and there God spoke with us—

5  the Lord, the God of hosts,

ⁱthe Lord is his memorial name:

6  “So you, by the help of your God, ^jreturn,

^khold fast to love and justice,

and ^lwait continually for your God.”

7  A merchant, in whose hands are ^mfalse balances,

he loves to oppress.

8  Ephraim has said, “Ah, but ⁿI 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,

^oas 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 ^pGilead,

they shall surely come to nothing:

in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;

their ^qaltars also are like stone heaps

on the furrows of the field.

12  ^rJacob fled to the land of Aram;

^sthere Israel served for a wife,

and for a wife he guarded sheep.

13  By a ^tprophet 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.

13  When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;

he was exalted in Israel,

but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.

2  And now they sin more and more,

and make for themselves metal images,

idols skillfully made of their silver,

all of them the work of craftsmen.

It is said of them,

“Those who offer human sacrifice ^ukiss ^vcalves!”

3  Therefore they shall be ^wlike the morning mist

or like the dew that goes early away,

like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor

or like smoke from a window.

4  But ^xI am the Lord your God

from the land of Egypt;

you know no God but me,

and ^ybesides me there is no savior.

5  It was I who knew you in the ^zwilderness,

in the land of drought;

6  but when they had grazed,¹ they became full,

they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;

therefore they ^aforgot 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 destroys² you, O Israel,

for you are against me, against ^byour helper.

10  Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?

Where are all your rulers—

those of whom you said,

^c“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 ^dransom them from the power of Sheol;

^eI shall redeem them from Death.³

^fO 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 ^gwind, 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  ⁴ Samaria shall ^hbear her guilt,

because she has rebelled against her God;

they shall fall by the sword;

their little ones shall be ⁱdashed in pieces,

and their pregnant women ^jripped open.

14  Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

for you have ^kstumbled because of your iniquity.

2  Take with you words

and return to the Lord;

say to him,

“Take away all iniquity;

accept what is good,

and we will pay with bulls

the vows¹ of our lips.

3  ^lAssyria shall not save us;

^mwe will not ride on horses;

and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’

to the work of our hands.

ⁿIn you the orphan finds mercy.”

4  ^oI will ^pheal their apostasy;

I will love them freely,

for my anger has turned from them.

5  I will be like the dew to Israel;

^qhe 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^{2 r}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.³

I am like an evergreen cypress;

from me comes your fruit.

9  ^sWhoever 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.