1“Come, let us return to the LORD.
         For He has torn us, but He will heal us;
         He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

2“He will revive us after two days;
         He will raise us up on the third day,
         That we may live before Him.

3“So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD.
         His going forth is as certain as the dawn;
         And He will come to us like the rain,
         Like the spring rain watering the earth.”

4What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
         What shall I do with you, O Judah?
         For your loyalty is like a morning cloud
         And like the dew which goes away early.

5Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets;
         I have slain them by the words of My mouth;
         And the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth.

6For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice,
         And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

7But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant;
         There they have dealt treacherously against Me.

8Gilead is a city of wrongdoers,
         Tracked with bloody footprints.

9And as raiders wait for a man,
         So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem;
         Surely they have committed crime.

10In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
         Ephraim’s harlotry is there, Israel has defiled itself.

11Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you,
         When I restore the fortunes of My people.

NASB ©1995