Ephraim is joined [fast] to idols, [so] let him alone [to take the consequences].

Their drinking carousal over, they go habitually to play the harlot; [Ephraim’s] rulers [continue to] love shame more than her glory [which is the Lord, Israel’s God].

The resistless wind [of God’s wrath] has bound up [Israel] in its wings or skirts, and [in captivity] they and their altars shall be put to shame because of their sacrifices [to calves, to sun, moon, and stars, and to heathen gods].

Hear this, O you priests! And listen, O house of Israel! And give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment pronounced pertains to you and is meant for you, because you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor [military strongholds on either side of the Jordan River].

The revolters are deeply sunk in corruption and slaughter, but I [the Lord God] am a rebuke and a chastisement for them all.

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from Me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot and have worshiped idols; Israel is defiled.

Their doings will not permit them to return to their God, for the spirit of harlotry is within them and they know not the Lord [they do not recognize, appreciate, give heed to, or cherish the Lord].

But the pride and self-reliance of Israel testifies before his [own] face. Therefore shall [all] Israel, and [especially] Ephraim [the northern ten tribes], totter and fall in their iniquity and guilt, and Judah shall stumble and fall with them.

They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord [inquiring for and requiring Him], but they will not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them.

They have dealt faithlessly and treacherously with the Lord [their espoused Husband], for they have borne alien children. Now shall a [single] New Moon (one month) devour them with their fields.

Blow the horn in Gibeah and the trumpet in Ramah [both lofty hills on Benjamin’s northern border]. Sound the alarm at Beth-aven: [the enemy is] behind you and after you, O Benjamin [be on your guard]!

Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of rebuke and punishment. Among the tribes of Israel I declare what shall surely be.

The princes of Judah are like those who remove the landmark [the barrier between right and wrong]; I will pour out My wrath upon them like water.

Ephraim is oppressed; he is broken and crushed by [divine] judgment, because he was content to walk after idols (images) and man’s [evil] command (vanities and filth).

Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim and like dry rot to the house of Judah [in My judgment against them].

When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to [Assyria’s] great King Jareb [for help]. Yet he cannot heal you nor will he cure you of your wound [received in divine judgment].

For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will rend and go on [rending]; I will carry off and there will be no one to deliver.

I will return to My place [on high] until they acknowledge their offense and feel their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction and distress they will seek, inquire for, and require Me earnestly, saying,

Come and let us return to the Lord, for He has torn so that He may heal us; He has stricken so that He may bind us up.

After two days He will revive us (quicken us, give us life); on the third day He will raise us up that we may live before Him.

Yes, let us know (recognize, be acquainted with, and understand) Him; let us be zealous to know the Lord [to appreciate, give heed to, and cherish Him]. His going forth is prepared and certain as the dawn, and He will come to us as the [heavy] rain, as the latter rain that waters the earth.

O Ephraim, what shall I do with you? [says the Lord] O Judah, what shall I do with you? For your [wavering] love and kindness are like the night mist or like the dew that goes early away.

Therefore have I hewn down and smitten them by means of the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; My judgments [pronounced upon them by you prophets] are like the light that goes forth.

For I desire and delight in dutiful steadfast love and goodness, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of and acquaintance with God more than burnt offerings.

But they, like [less-privileged] men and like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there have they dealt faithlessly and treacherously with Me.