[1] When I would heal Israel, Then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered, And the evil deeds of Samaria, For they work falsehood; The thief enters in; Raiders ransack outside, [2] And they do not say to their hearts That I remember all their evil. Now their deeds are all around them; They are before My face. [3] With their evil they make the king glad, And the princes with their deceptions. [4] They are all adulterers, Like an oven heated by the baker Who ceases to stir up the fire From the kneading of the dough until it is leavened. [5] On the day of our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine; He stretched out his hand with scoffers, [6] For their hearts are like an oven As they draw near in their plotting; Their anger smolders all night; In the morning it burns like a flaming fire. [7] All of them are hot like an oven, And they devour their judges; All their kings have fallen. None of them calls on Me. [8] Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples; Ephraim has become a cake not turned. [9] Strangers devour his power, Yet he does not know it; Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him, Yet he does not know it. [10] So the pride of Israel answers against him, Yet they have not returned to Yahweh their God, Nor have they sought Him, for all this. [11] So Ephraim has become like a silly dove, without a heart of wisdom; They call to Egypt; they go to Assyria. [12] When they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like the birds of the sky. I will chastise them in accordance with the report to their congregation. [13] Woe to them, for they have fled from Me! Destruction is theirs, for they have transgressed against Me! And I would redeem them, but they speak lies against Me. [14] And they do not cry out to Me in their heart When they wail on their beds; For the sake of grain and new wine they gather together as sojourners; They depart from Me. [15] Although I disciplined and strengthened their arms, Yet they devise evil against Me. [16] They turn, but not upward; They are like a deceitful bow; Their princes will fall by the sword Because of the indignation of their tongue. This will be their scoffing in the land of Egypt.
