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,