Ephraim was a well-trained heifer who loved to thresh grain; I myself put a fine yoke ¹ on her neck. I will harness Ephraim. Let Judah plow! ²  Let Jacob break up ³  the unplowed ground for himself!

Therefore they will disappear like ¹  the morning mist, ²  like early morning dew that evaporates, ³  like chaff that is blown away ⁴  from a threshing floor, like smoke that disappears through an open window.

When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the wilderness. I viewed your ancestors ¹  like an early fig on a fig tree in its first season. Then they came to Baal-Peor and they dedicated themselves to shame – they became as detestable as what they loved.

Foreigners are consuming what his strenuous labor produced, ¹  but he does not recognize it! His head is filled with gray hair, but he does not realize it!

They will not remain in the Lord’s land. Ephraim will return to Egypt; they will eat ritually unclean food in Assyria.

When I please, ¹  I will discipline them; ²  I will gather nations together to attack them, ³  to bind them in chains ⁴  for their two sins. ⁵ 

But Ephraim bitterly ¹  provoked him to anger; so he will hold him accountable for the blood he has shed, ²  his Lord ³  will repay him for the contempt he has shown. ⁴ 

Then you will call ¹  your ²  brother, “My People” (Ammi)! You will call your sister, “Pity” (Ruhamah)!

then the ground will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil; and they will respond to ‘God Plants’ (Jezreel)! ¹ 

The more the priests increased in numbers, the more they rebelled against me. They have turned ¹  their glorious calling into a shameful disgrace!

I will deal with the people and priests together: ¹  I will punish them both for their ways, and I will repay them for their deeds.

In the womb he attacked his brother; in his manly vigor he struggled ¹  with God.

Otherwise, I will strip her naked, and expose her like she was when she was born. I will turn her land into a wilderness and make her country a parched land, so that I might kill ¹  her with thirst.

Israel has forgotten his Maker and built royal palaces, and Judah has built many fortified cities. But I will send fire on their cities; it will consume their royal citadels.

O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly ¹  like the nations, for you are unfaithful ²  to your God. You love to receive a prostitute's wages ³  on all the floors where you thresh your grain.

(14:1) ¹  Samaria will be held guilty, ²  because she rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword, their infants will be dashed to the ground – their ³  pregnant women will be ripped open.

But Israel has rejected what is morally good; so an enemy will pursue him.

“At that time,” ¹  declares the Lord, “you will call, ²  ‘My husband’; ³  you will never again call me, ⁴  ‘My master.’ ⁵ 

Their heart is slipping; soon they will be punished for their guilt. The Lord ¹  will break their altars; he will completely destroy their fertility pillars.

Plead earnestly ¹  with your ²  mother (for ³  she is not my wife, and I am not her husband), so that ⁴  she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle, ⁵  and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior. ⁶