<p class="poetry">Israel has rebelled<n id="1" /> like a stubborn heifer!p> <p class="poetry">Soon<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> will put them out to pasturep> <p class="poetry">like a lamb in a broad field!<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">So<n id="1" /> I will pounce on them like a lion;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">like a leopard I will lurk by the path.p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet,p> <p class="poetry">and due to a prophet<n id="1" /> Israel<n id="2" /> was preserved alive.<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">When Israel was a young man, I loved him like a son,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and I summoned my son<n id="2" /> out of Egypt.p>

<p class="poetry">I will attack them like a bear robbed of her cubs &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">I will rip open their chests.p> <p class="poetry">I will devour them there like a lion &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">like a wild animal would tear them apart.p>

<p class="poetry">Gilead is a city full of evildoers;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">its streets are stained with bloody footprints!<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">I will be like a moth to Ephraim,p> <p class="poetry">like wood rot<n id="1" /> to the house of Judah.p>

<p class="poetry">I will be like the dew to Israel;p> <p class="poetry">he will blossom like a lily,p> <p class="poetry">he will send down his roots like a cedar of<n id="1" /> Lebanon.p>

<p class="poetry">Otherwise, I will strip her naked,p> <p class="poetry">and expose her like she was when she was born.p> <p class="poetry">I will turn her land into a wildernessp> <p class="poetry">and make her country a parched land,p> <p class="poetry">so that I might kill<n id="1" /> her with thirst.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Hear this, you priests!p> <p class="poetry">Pay attention, you Israelites!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Listen closely,<n id="2" /> O king!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For judgment is about to overtake you!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">For you were like a trap<n id="5" /> to Mizpah,<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">like a net<n id="7" /> spread out to catch Tabor.<n id="8" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">I will be like a lion to Ephraim,p> <p class="poetry">like a young lion to the house of Judah.p> <p class="poetry">I myself will tear them to pieces,p> <p class="poetry">then I will carry them off, and no one will be able to rescue them!p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Jacob fled to the country of Aram,p> <p class="poetry">then Israel worked<n id="1" /> to acquire a wife;p> <p class="poetry">he tended sheep to pay for her.p>

So Hosea married<n id="1" /> Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. Then she conceived and gave birth to a son for him.

<t /><p class="poetry">They have gone up to Assyria,p> <p class="poetry">like a wild donkey that wanders off.p> <p class="poetry">Ephraim has hired prostitutes as lovers.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">He will restore<n id="1" /> us in a very short time;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">he will heal us in a little while,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">so that we may live in his presence.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Ephraim was a well-trained heifer who loved to thresh grain;p> <p class="poetry">I myself put a fine yoke<n id="1" />on her neck.p> <p class="poetry">I will harness Ephraim.p> <p class="poetry">Let Judah plow!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Let Jacob break up<n id="3" /> the unplowed ground for himself!p>

<p class="poetry">The company of priests is like a gang of robbers,p> <p class="poetry">lying in ambush to pounce on a victim.p> <p class="poetry">They commit murder on the road to Shechem;p> <p class="poetry">they have done heinous crimes!p>

<p class="poetry">I have seen a disgusting thing in the temple of Israel:p> <p class="poetry">there Ephraim practices temple prostitutionp> <p class="poetry">and Judah defiles itself.p>

<p class="poetry">Israel will be swallowed up among the nations;p> <p class="poetry">they will be like a worthless piece of pottery.p>

<p class="poetry">I granted<n id="1" /> you a king in my anger,p> <p class="poetry">and I will take him away in my wrath!p>