4. What am I going to do with you, Ephraim? What am I going to do with you, Judah?Your loyalty is like the morning mist and like the early dew that vanishes.
5. This is why I have used the prophetsto cut them down; I have killed them with the words of My mouth.My judgment strikes like lightning.
6. For I desire loyalty and not sacrifice,the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
7. But they, like Adam, have violated the covenant; there they have betrayed Me.
8. Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with bloody footprints.
9. Like raiders who wait in ambush for someone, a band of priests murders on the road to Shechem. They commit atrocities.
10. I have seen something horrible in the house of Israel:Ephraim’s promiscuity is there; Israel is defiled.
11. A harvest is also appointed for you, Judah. When I return My people from captivity,