“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.
    After two days he will revive us;
        on the third day he will raise us up,
        that we may live before him.
    Let 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.”


    What 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.
    Therefore 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.
    For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
        the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.


    But like Adam they transgressed the covenant;
        there they dealt faithlessly with me.
    Gilead is a city of evildoers,
        tracked with blood.
    As robbers lie in wait for a man,
        so the priests band together;
    they murder on the way to Shechem;
        they commit villainy.
    In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
        Ephraim's whoredom is there; Israel is defiled.


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


        When I restore the fortunes of my people,

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001
by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.