1
Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for he hath torn and 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.
3
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord; his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
4
O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.
5
Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth; 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 polluted with blood.
9
And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent; for they commit lewdness.
10
I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: There is the whoredom of Ephraim; Israel is defiled.
11
Also, O Judah, he hath set a harvest for thee when I returned the captivity of my people.