| King James Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. | 1“Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces; now he will heal us. He has injured us; now he will bandage our wounds. |
| 2After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. | 2In just a short time he will restore us, so that we may live in his presence. |
| 3Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. | 3Oh, that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.” |
| 4O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. | 4“O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?” asks the LORD. “For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight. |
| 5Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. | 5I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces— to slaughter you with my words, with judgments as inescapable as light. |
| 6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. | 6I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings. |
| 7But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. | 7But like Adam, you broke my covenant and betrayed my trust. |
| 8Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood. | 8“Gilead is a city of sinners, tracked with footprints of blood. |
| 9And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness. | 9Priests form bands of robbers, waiting in ambush for their victims. They murder travelers along the road to Shechem and practice every kind of sin. |
| 10I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled. | 10Yes, I have seen something horrible in Ephraim and Israel: My people are defiled by prostituting themselves with other gods! |
| 11Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people. | 11“O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you, though I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people. |
| King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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