16 And she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, And shalt call me no more 2 Baali. 17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, And they shall no more be remembered by their name. 18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, And will make them to lie down safely. Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, And in lovingkindness, and in mercies. 20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness : And thou shalt know the Lord. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, And they shall hear the earth; 22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; And they shall hear Jezreel. And I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; And they shall say, Thou art my God. 3. THEN said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, 2 who look to other gods, and love fagons 3 of wine. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an 4 half homer of barley: 3 and I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for 4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without ban image, and without an ephod, 5 and without teraphim: afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days. HEAR the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel : Because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. 2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, And stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, And blood toucheth blood. And every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, Yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. 4 Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another : For thy people are as they that strive with the priest. 5 Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, And the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, And I will 7 destroy thy mother. Because thou hast rejected knowledge, 15 I will also forget thy children. 7 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: Therefore will I change their glory into shame, 8 They eat up the sin of my people, And they set their heart on their iniquity. 9 And there shall be, like people, like priest : And I will punish them for their ways, And 3 reward them their doings. 10 For they shall eat, and not have enough: They shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: Because they have left off to take heed to the LORD. And their staff declareth unto them: And they have gone a whoring from under their God. 13 They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, And burn incense upon the hills, And your spouses shall commit adultery. 14 * I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, Nor your spouses when they commit adultery : Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, Nor swear, The Lord liveth. Now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place. They have committed whoredom continually: haine do love, Give ye. 19 The wind hath bound her up in her wings, And they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices. 5 HEAR ye this, O priests; And hearken, ye house of Israel; nt is toward you, And a net spread upon Tabor. er, And Israel is not hid from me: And Israel is defiled. 4 1011 They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: For the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, And they have not known the Lord. Therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; 1 Heb. lift up their soul to their iniquity. 4. Or, Shall I not, &c. 8 Or, And, &c. 11 6 They shall go with their focks and with their herds to seek the Lord; But they shall not find him; He hath withdrawn himself from them. 7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: For they have begotten strange children : Now shall a month devour them with their portions. 8 BLOW ye the cornet in Gibeah, And the trumpet in Ramah : Cry aloud at Beth-aven, after thee, O Benjamin. 9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke : Among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be. 10 The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound : Therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, Because he willingly walked after the commandment. 12 Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, And to the house of Judah as ' rottenness. 13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah saw his wound, Nor cure you of your wound. And as a young lion to the house of Judah : I will take away, and none shall rescue him. 15 I will go and return to my place, 3 Till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: In their affliction they will seek me early. Come, and let us return unto the LORD: For he hath tornand he will heal us: He hath smitten and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us : In the third day he will raise us up, And we shall live in his sight. His going forth is prepared as the morning ; O EPHRAIM, what shall I do unto thee? And as the early dew it goeth away. I have slain them by the words of my mouth : 5 And thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. 6 For 'I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant: There have they dealt treacherously against me. 8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, And is 7 polluted with blood. 9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, So the company of priests murder in the way 8 by consent: For they coinmit 9 lewdness. 10 I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel : 1 Or, a vorm. 5 Or, that thy judgments might be, fc. 2 Or, to the king of Jareb : or, to the king 6 Or, like Adam. that should plead. 7 Or, cunning for blood. 3 Heb. Till they be guilty. 8 Heb. with one shoulder, or, to Shochem. 4 Or, mercy, or, kindness. 9 Or, enormity. There is the whoredom of Ephraim, Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, When I would have healed Israel, And the troop of robbers 2 spoileth without, 2 And they 3 consider not in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness: They are before my face. And the princes with their lies. 4 They are all adulterers, As an oven heated by the baker, Until it be leavened. The princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; He stretched out his hand with scorners. Whiles they lie in wait: In the morning it burneth as a flaming fire. 7 They are all hot as an oven, And have devoured their judges; There is none among them that calleth unto me. Ephraim is a cake not turned. 9 Strangers have devoured his strength-and he knoweth it not; Yea, gray hairs are 8 here and there upon him-yet he knoweth not. 10 And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: And they do not return to the LORD their God, Nor seek him for all this. 11 Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart : They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria, 12 When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard. 13 Woe unto them ! for they have fled from me: 9 Destruction unto them I because they have transgressed against me: Though I have redeemed them-yet they have spoken lies against me. 4 And they have not cried unto me with their heart, When they howled upon their beds: They assemble themselves for corn and wine, And they rebel against me. 15 Though I 10 have bound and strengthened their arms, Yet do they imagine mischief against me. 16 They return-bul not to the Most High: They are like a deceitful bow: SET the trumpet to 11 thy mouth. Because they have transgressed my covenant, And trespassed against iny law. 2 Israel shall cry unto ine, My God, we know thee. 3 Israel hath cast off the thing that is good : The enemy shall pursue him. They have made princes—and I knew it not : Thy calf,'O Samaria, hath cast thee off; How long will it be ere they attain to innocency? 6 For from Israel was it also : The workman made it; therefore it is not God : But the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. 7 For they have sown the wind-and they shall reap the whirlwind : It hath no stalk : the bud shall yield no meal: If so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up. 8 Israel is swallowed up: Now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure. 9 For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired 2 lovers. 10 Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, And they shall S sorrow 4 a little for the burden of the king of princes. 11 Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, Altars shall be unto him to sin. 12 I have written to him the great things of my law, But they were counted as a strange thing. But the LORD accepteth them not; They shall return to Egypt. And Judah hath multiplied fenced cities : And it shall devour the palaces thereof. For thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, Thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor. 2 The floor and the 7 winepress shall not feed them, And the new wine shall fail in her. 3 They shall not dwell in the Lord's land; But Ephraim shall return to Egypt, And they shall eat unclean things in Assyria. Neither shall they be pleasing unto him: What will ye do in the solemn day, Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them : Thorns shall be in their tabernacles. The days of recompence are come; 1 Or, standing corn. 5 Or, In the sacrifices of mine offerings they, c. Qq3 8 Heb. spoil. the nettle shall, &c. |