- "When I would have healed Israel, Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, And the wickedness of Samaria. For they have committed fraud; A thief comes in; A band of robbers takes spoil outside.
- They do not consider in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness; Now their own deeds have surrounded them; They are before My face.
- They make a king glad with their wickedness, And princes with their lies.
- " They are all adulterers. Like an oven heated by a baker— He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough, Until it is leavened.
- In the day of our king Princes have made him sick, inflamed with wine; He stretched out his hand with scoffers.
- They prepare their heart like an oven, While they lie in wait; Their baker[1] sleeps all night; In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
- They are all hot, like an oven, And have devoured their judges; All their kings have fallen. None among them calls upon Me.
- " Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake unturned.
- Aliens have devoured his strength, But he does not know it; Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, Yet he does not know it.
- And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, But they do not return to the LORD their God, Nor seek Him for all this.
- " Ephraim also is like a silly dove, without sense— They call to Egypt, They go to Assyria.
- Wherever they go, I will spread My net on them; I will bring them down like birds of the air; I will chastise them According to what their congregation has heard.
- " Woe to them, for they have fled from Me! Destruction to them, Because they have transgressed against Me! Though I redeemed them, Yet they have spoken lies against Me.
- They did not cry out to Me with their heart When they wailed upon their beds. " They assemble together for[2] grain and new wine, They rebel against Me;[3]
- Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms, Yet they devise evil against Me;
- They return, but not to the Most High;[4] They are like a treacherous bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword For the cursings of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.
Futile Reliance on the Nations
- Following Masoretic Text and Vulgate; Syriac and Targum read 'Their anger;' Septuagint reads 'Ephraim'.
- Following Masoretic Text and Targum; Vulgate reads 'thought upon; 'Septuagint reads 'slashed themselves for '(compare 1 Kings 18:28).
- Following Masoretic Text, Syriac, and Targum; Septuagint omits 'They rebel against Me; 'Vulgate reads 'They departed from Me.'
- Or 'upward'