1Should I desire to heal Israel, then would the iniquity of Ephraim and the wickedness of Samaria be laid open; for they commit falsehood; and the thief entereth [secretly], and the troop of robbers is spread abroad without.
2And they never think in their own heart that I remember all their wickedness: though now their own doings are all round about them; before my face are they present.
3With their wickedness they make the king glad, and with their lies the princes.
4They are all adulterers, as an oven well heated by the baker: [when] he that stirreth [the fire] resteth awhile from kneading the dough, until it be leavened.
5On the day of our king's [entering on his rule] the princes are made sick with the fumes of wine: [the king] joineth his hand with scorners.
6For they make ready their heart for their tricky deeds, like the oven, the baker whereof sleepeth all the night, while in the morning it gloweth as a flaming fire.
7They are all hot as an oven, they devour their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.
8Ephraim mixeth himself indeed among the nations: Ephraim is a cake not turned.
9Strangers devour his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are sprinkled about on his [head], yet he knoweth not.
10And humbled was the pride of Israel before his own face; but they did not return to the Lord their God, and sought him not, notwithstanding all this.
11And Ephraim is become like a silly dove without understanding: Egypt did they call hither, to Assyria did they go.
12As they go, so will I spread out my net over them; as the fowls of the heaven will I bring them down: I will chastise them, as it hath been announced to their congregation.
13Woe unto them! for they have fled from me; destruction shall come unto them, because they have transgressed against me: though I desired to redeem them, they yet spoke lies against me.
14And they cried not unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: for corn and new wine they assemble themselves, and they rebel against me.
15And I desired to instruct and to strengthen their arms; yet would they devise evil against me.
16They never return upward: they are like a deceitful bow: by the sword shall their princes fall because of the rage of their tongue; this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.