4 O 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. |
5 Therefore 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. |
6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. |
7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. |
8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood. |
9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness. |
10 I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled. |
11 Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people. |
