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¹ whenever I would heal Israel, the sins of Ephraim are exposed and the crimes of Samaria revealed. They practice deceit, thieves break into houses, bandits rob in the streets;

² but they do not realize that I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulf them; they are always before me.

³ “They delight the king with their wickedness, the princes with their lies.

⁴ They are all adulterers, burning like an oven whose fire the baker need not stir from the kneading of the dough till it rises.

⁵ On the day of the festival of our king the princes become inflamed with wine, and he joins hands with the mockers.

⁶ Their hearts are like an oven; they approach him with intrigue. Their passion smolders all night; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

⁷ All of them are hot as an oven; they devour their rulers. All their kings fall, and none of them calls on me.

⁸ “Ephraim mixes with the nations; Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over.

⁹ Foreigners sap his strength, but he does not realize it. His hair is sprinkled with gray, but he does not notice.

¹⁰ Israel’s arrogance testifies against him, but despite all this he does not return to the LORD his God or search for him.

¹¹ “Ephraim is like a dove, easily deceived and senseless— now calling to Egypt, now turning to Assyria.

¹² When they go, I will throw my net over them; I will pull them down like the birds in the sky. When I hear them flocking together, I will catch them.

¹³ Woe to them, because they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, because they have rebelled against me! I long to redeem them but they speak about me falsely.

¹⁴ They do not cry out to me from their hearts but wail on their beds. They slash themselves, Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts They gather together appealing to their gods for grain and new wine, but they turn away from me.

¹⁵ I trained them and strengthened their arms, but they plot evil against me. ¹⁶ They do not turn to the Most High; they are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because of their insolent words. For this they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt.