1. When I would restore My people's fortunes, When I would heal Israel, The guilt of Ephraim reveals itself And the wickedness of Samaria. For they have acted treacherously, With thieves breaking in And bands raiding outside.
2. And they do not consider That I remembered all their wickedness. Why, their misdeeds have been all around them, They have been ever before Me.
3. In malice they make a king merry, And officials in treachery.
4. They commit adultery, all of them, Like an oven fired by a baker, Who desists from stoking only From the kneading of the dough to its leavening.
5. The day they made our king sick [And] officials with the poison of wine, He gave his hand to traitors.
6. For they approach their ambush With their hearts like an oven: Through the night Their baker has slept; In the morning, it flares up Like a blazing fire.
7. They all get heated like an oven And devour their rulers -- None of them calls to Me. All their kings have fallen [by their hand].
8. Ephraim is among the peoples; He is rotting away. Ephraim is like a cake -- Incapable of turning.
9. Strangers have consumed his strength, But he has taken no notice; Also, mold is scattered over him, But he has taken no notice.
10. Though Israel's pride has been humbled Before his very eyes, They have not turned back To their God the LORD; They have not sought Him In spite of everything.
11. Instead, Ephraim has acted Like a silly dove with no mind: They have appealed to Egypt! They have gone to Assyria!
12. When they go, I will spread My net over them, I will bring them down Like birds of the sky; I will chastise them When I hear their bargaining.
13. Woe to them For straying from Me; Destruction to them For rebelling against Me! For I was their Redeemer; Yet they have plotted treason against Me.
14. But they did not cry out to Me sincerely As they lay wailing. They debauch over new grain and new wine, They are faithless to Me.
15. I braced, I strengthened their arms, And they plot evil against Me!
16. They come back; They have been of no use, Like a slack bow. Their officers shall fall by the sword, Because of the stammering of their tongues. Such shall be [the results of] their jabbering In the land of Egypt.
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