1when I heal Israel,
the iniquity of Ephraim and the crimes of Samaria
will be exposed.
For they practice fraud;
a thief breaks in;
a raiding party pillages outside.
2But they never consider that I remember all their evil.
Now their actions are all around them;
they are right in front of my face.
Israel’s Corruption
3They please the king with their evil,
the princes with their lies.
4All of them commit adultery;
they are like an oven heated by a baker
who stops stirring the fire
from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.
5On the day of our king,
the princes are sick with the heat of wine —
there is a conspiracy with traitors.
6For they — their hearts like an oven —
draw him into their oven.
Their anger smolders all night;
in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
7All of them are as hot as an oven,
and they consume their rulers.
All their kings fall;
not one of them calls on me.
8Ephraim has allowed himself to get mixed up with the nations.
Ephraim is unturned bread baked on a griddle.
9Foreigners consume his strength,
but he does not notice.
Even his hair is streaked with gray,
but he does not notice.
10Israel’s arrogance testifies against them,
yet they do not return to the Lord their God,
and for all this, they do not seek him.
11So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove;
they call to Egypt, and they go to Assyria.
12As they are going, I will spread my net over them;
I will bring them down like birds of the sky.
I will discipline them in accordance
with the news that reaches their assembly.
The Lord’s Second Lament
13Woe to them, for they fled from me;
destruction to them, for they rebelled against me!
Though I want to redeem them,
they speak lies against me.
14They do not cry to me from their hearts;
rather, they wail on their beds.
They slash themselves for grain and new wine;
they turn away from me.
15I trained and strengthened their arms,
but they plot evil against me.
16They turn, but not to what is above;
they are like a faulty bow.
Their leaders will fall by the sword
because of their insolent tongue.
They will be ridiculed for this in the land of Egypt.