1
"When I would have healed Israel, Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, And the wickedness of Samaria. For they have committed fraud; A thief comes in; A band of robbers takes spoil outside.
2
They do not consider in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness; Now their own deeds have surrounded them; They are before My face.
3
They make a king glad with their wickedness, And princes with their lies.
4
"They are all adulterers. Like an oven heated by a baker-- He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough, Until it is leavened.
5
In the day of our king Princes have made him sick, inflamed with wine; He stretched out his hand with scoffers.
6
They prepare their heart like an oven, While they lie in wait; Their baker sleeps all night; In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
7
They are all hot, like an oven, And have devoured their judges; All their kings have fallen. None among them calls upon Me.
8
"Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake unturned.
9
Aliens have devoured his strength, But he does not know it; Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, Yet he does not know it.