Israel and Judah Are Unrepentant

¹“Come, let us return to the Lord;

for he has torn us, that he may heal us;

he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.

²After two days he will revive us;

on the third day he will raise us up,

that we may live before him.

³Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;

his going out is sure as the dawn;

he will come to us as the showers,

as the spring rains that water the earth.”

⁴What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?

What shall I do with you, O Judah?

Your love is like a morning cloud,

like the dew that goes early away.

⁵Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;

I have slain them by the words of my mouth,

and my judgment goes forth as the light.

⁶For I desire steadfast love1 and not sacrifice,

the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

⁷But like Adam they transgressed the covenant;

there they dealt faithlessly with me.

⁸Gilead is a city of evildoers,

tracked with blood.

⁹As robbers lie in wait for a man,

so the priests band together;

they murder on the way to Shechem;

they commit villainy.

¹⁰In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;

Ephraim's whoredom is there; Israel is defiled.

¹¹For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed,

when I restore the fortunes of my people.