<t /><p class="poetry">What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim?p> <p class="poetry">What am I going to do with you, O Judah?p> <p class="poetry">For<n id="1" /> your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">it disappears as quickly as dawn&#8217;s dew!<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">They sow the wind,p> <p class="poetry">and so they will reap the whirlwind!p> <p class="poetry">The stalk does not have any standing grain;p> <p class="poetry">it will not produce any flour.p> <p class="poetry">Even if it were to yield grain,p> <p class="poetry">foreigners would swallow it all up.p>

<p class="poetry">So what will you do on the festival day,p> <p class="poetry">on the festival days of the <sc>Lordsc>?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>

<t /><p class="poetry">Yet<n id="1" /> until now<n id="2" /> she has refused to acknowledge<n id="3" /> that I<n id="4" /> was the onep> <p class="poetry">who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;p> <p class="poetry">and that it was I who<n id="5" /> lavished on her the silver and gold &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">which they<n id="6" /> used in worshiping Baal!<n id="7" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">They enthroned kings without my consent!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They appointed princes without my approval!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They made idols out of their silver and gold,p> <p class="poetry">but they will be destroyed!<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">That idol was made by a workman &#8211; it is not God!p> <p class="poetry">The calf idol of Samaria will be broken to bits.p>

<p class="poetry">Israel has forgotten his Maker and built royal palaces,p> <p class="poetry">and Judah has built many fortified cities.p> <p class="poetry">But I will send fire on their cities;p> <p class="poetry">it will consume their royal citadels.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Very soon they will say, &#8220;We have no kingp> <p class="poetry">since we did not fear the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">But what can a king do for us anyway?&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">So will it happen to you, O Bethel,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">because of your great wickedness!p> <p class="poetry">When that day dawns,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the king of Israel will be destroyed.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">I cannot carry out<n id="1" /> my fierce anger!p> <p class="poetry">I cannot totally destroy Ephraim!p> <p class="poetry">Because I am God, and not man &#8211; the Holy One among you &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">I will not come in wrath!p>

<p class="poetry">Even now they persist in sin!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They make metal images for themselves,p> <p class="poetry">idols that they skillfully fashion<n id="2" /> from their own silver;p> <p class="poetry">all of them are nothing but the work of craftsmen!p> <p class="poetry">There is a saying about them:<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Those who sacrifice<n id="4" /> to the calf idol are calf kissers!&#8221;<n id="5" />p>