1 saying, “Come let us return to the Lord , for he has torn us but he will heal us, he has injured us but he will bandage our wounds,
2 he will revive in a couple of days, on the third day he will raise us up again, to live in his presence.
3 Let us know, let us eagerly seek to know the Lord . His coming is as sure as the sunrise. He will come to us like the winter rain, as the spring rain that waters the earth.”
4 What can I make of you, Ephraim! What can I make of you, Judah! Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew which early goes away.
5 That is why I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth. My judgment is like the light that goes forth,
6 for it is love that I delight in and not sacrifice, and knowledge of God and not burnt offerings.
7 But they, after the manner of men, have transgressed the covenant, there they have played me false.
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with bloody footprints,
9 and as bandits lie in wait for a man, so a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem. How terrible is the evil they do!
10 In Bethel I have seen a horrible thing. There Ephraim plays the prostitute, Israel is defiled.
11 Judah for you also a harvest is set. When I would restore the fortunes of my people,