Bible Reading Plan

¹ Hear this, priests!^(a)
Pay attention, house of Israel!
Listen, royal house!
For the judgment applies to you
because you have been a snare at Mizpah^(b)
and a net spread out on Tabor.
² Rebels^(c) are deeply involved in slaughter;^(d)
I will be a punishment for all of them.^[a]
3 I know Ephraim,^(e)
and Israel is not hidden from Me.
For now, Ephraim,^(f)
you have acted promiscuously;
Israel is defiled.
⁴ Their actions do not allow them
to return to their God,^(g)
for a spirit of promiscuity is among them,^(h)
and they do not know the Lord .^(i)
5 Israel's arrogance testifies against them.^[b](j)
Both Israel and Ephraim stumble
because of their wickedness;^(k)
even Judah will stumble with them.^(l)
6 They go with their flocks and herds
to seek the Lord ^(m)
but do not find Him;⁽ⁿ⁾
He has withdrawn from them.^(o)
7 They betrayed the Lord ;^(p)
indeed, they gave birth to illegitimate children.^(q)
Now the New Moon^(r) will devour them
along with their fields.^(s)

⁸ Blow the horn in Gibeah,^(t)
the trumpet in Ramah;^(u)
raise the war cry in Beth-aven:^(v)
After you, Benjamin!^(w)
9 Ephraim will become a desolation^(x)
on the day of punishment;^(y)
I announce what is certain
among the tribes of Israel.^(z)
10 The princes of Judah are like those
who move boundary markers;^(aa)
I will pour out My fury^(ab) on them like water.^(ac)
11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,^(ad)
for he is determined to follow what is worthless.^[c]
12 So I am like rot to Ephraim^(ae)
and like decay to the house of Judah.
¹³ When Ephraim saw his sickness
and Judah his wound,
Ephraim went to Assyria^(af)
and sent a delegation to the great king.^[d](ag)
But he cannot cure you or heal your wound.^(ah)
14 For I am like a lion to Ephraim^(ai)
and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
Yes, I will tear them to pieces and depart.^(aj)
I will carry them off,
and no one can rescue them.^(ak)
15 I will depart and return to My place
until they recognize their guilt and seek My face;^(al)
they will search for Me in their distress.^(am)

¹ Come, let us return to the Lord .^(a)
For He has torn us,^(b)
and He will heal us;^(c)
He has wounded us,
and He will bind up our wounds.^(d)
2 He will revive us after two days,^(e)
and on the third day He will raise us up
so we can live in His presence.^(f)
3 Let us strive to know the Lord .^(g)
His appearance is as sure as the dawn.^(h)
He will come to us like the rain,⁽ⁱ⁾
like the spring showers that water the land.

⁴ What am I going to do with you, Ephraim?^(j)
What am I going to do with you, Judah?
Your loyalty is like the morning mist^(k)
and like the early dew that vanishes.
⁵ This is why I have used the prophets
to cut them down;^[a](l)
I have killed them with the words of My mouth.
My judgment strikes like lightning.^[b]
6 For I desire loyalty and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God^(m) rather than burnt offerings.⁽ⁿ⁾

⁷ But they, like Adam,^[c] have violated the covenant;^(o)
there they have betrayed Me.^(p)
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,^(q)
tracked with bloody footprints.^(r)
9 Like raiders who wait in ambush for someone,^(s)
a band of priests murders on the road to Shechem.^(t)
They commit atrocities.^(u)
10 I have seen something horrible^(v) in the house of Israel:
Ephraim's promiscuity is there;^(w) Israel is defiled.
¹¹ A harvest is also appointed for you, Judah.^(x)

When I^[d] return My people from captivity,^(y)

¹ when I heal Israel,^(a)
the sins of Ephraim^(b) and the crimes of Samaria^(c)
will be exposed.
For they practice fraud;^(d)
a thief breaks in;
a raiding party pillages outside.^(e)
2 But they never consider that I remember all their evil.^(f)
Now their sins are all around them;^(g)
they are right in front of My face.

³ They please the king with their evil,^(h)
the princes with their lies.^(i)
4 All of them commit adultery;^(j)
they are like an oven heated by a baker
who stops stirring the fire
from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.
⁵ On the day of our king,
the princes are sick with the heat of wine^(k)—
there is a conspiracy with traitors.^[a]
6 For they—their hearts like an oven—
draw him into their oven.
Their anger smolders all night;
in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
⁷ All of them are as hot as an oven,^(l)
and they consume their rulers.^(m)
All their kings fall;
not one of them calls on Me.^[b]

⁸ Ephraim has allowed himself to get mixed up with the nations.
Ephraim is unturned bread baked on a griddle.
⁹ Foreigners consume his strength,⁽ⁿ⁾
but he does not notice.^(o)
Even his hair is streaked with gray,
but he does not notice.
¹⁰ Israel's arrogance testifies against them,^[c](p)
yet they do not return to Yahweh their God,^(q)
and for all this, they do not seek Him.

¹¹ So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove;^(r)
they call to Egypt,^(s) and they go to Assyria.^(t)
12 As they are going, I will spread My net over them;^(u)
I will bring them down like birds of the sky.
I will discipline them in accordance
with the news that reaches^[d] their assembly.

¹³ Woe to them,^(v) for they fled from Me;^(w)
destruction to them, for they rebelled against Me!
Though I want to redeem them,^(x)
they speak lies against Me.
¹⁴ They do not cry to Me from their hearts;
rather, they wail on their beds.
They slash themselves^[e](y) for grain and new wine;^(z)
they turn away from Me.
¹⁵ I trained and strengthened their arms,^(aa)
but they plot evil against Me.^(ab)
16 They turn, but not to what is above;^[f]
they are like a faulty bow.^(ac)
Their leaders will fall by the sword
because of the cursing of their tongue.^(ad)
They will be ridiculed for this in the land of Egypt.^(ae)

¹ Put the horn to your mouth!^(a)
One like an eagle comes
against the house of the Lord ,^(b)
because they transgress My covenant^(c)
and rebel against My law.^(d)
2 Israel cries out to Me,^(e)
"My God, we know You!"
³ Israel has rejected what is good;^(f)
an enemy will pursue him.

⁴ They have installed kings,^(g)
but not through Me.
They have appointed leaders,
but without My approval.
They make their silver and gold^(h)
into idols for themselves
for their own destruction.^[a]
5 Your calf-idol^[b](i) is rejected, Samaria.^(j)
My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of innocence?^(k)
6 For this thing is from Israel—
a craftsman made it,^(l) and it is not God.
The calf of Samaria will be smashed to bits!

⁷ Indeed, they sow the wind^(m)
and reap the whirlwind.⁽ⁿ⁾
There is no standing grain;
what sprouts fails to yield flour.^(o)
Even if they did,
foreigners would swallow it up.
⁸ Israel is swallowed up!^(p)
Now they are among the nations
like discarded pottery.^(q)
9 For they have gone up to Assyria^(r)
like a wild donkey going off on its own.
Ephraim has paid for love.^(s)
10 Even though they hire lovers among the nations,
I will now round them up,
and they will begin to decrease in number^(t)
under the burden of the king and leaders.^(u)

¹¹ When Ephraim multiplied his altars for sin,^(v)
they became his altars for sinning.
¹² Though I were to write out for him
ten thousand points of My instruction,^(w)
they would be^[c] regarded as something strange.
¹³ Though they offer sacrificial gifts^[d](x)
and eat the flesh,^(y)
the Lord does not accept them.
Now He will remember their guilt^(z)
and punish their sins;^(aa)
they will return to Egypt.^(ab)
14 Israel has forgotten his Maker^(ac) and built palaces;^(ad)
Judah has also multiplied fortified cities.
I will send fire on their cities,^(ae)
and it will consume their citadels.

¹ Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do,^(a)
for you have acted promiscuously,^(b) leaving your God.
You have loved the wages of a prostitute
on every grain-threshing floor.^(c)
2 Threshing floor and wine vat will not sustain them,^(d)
and the new wine will fail them.
³ They will not stay in the land of the Lord .
Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt,^(e)
and they will eat unclean food^(f) in Assyria.^(g)

⁴ They will not pour out
their wine offerings to the Lord ,^(h)
and their sacrifices will not please Him.
Their food will be like the bread of mourners;
all who eat it become defiled.⁽ⁱ⁾
For their bread will be for their appetites alone;
it will not enter the house of the Lord .
⁵ What will you do on a festival day,^(j)
on the day of the Lord 's feast?^(k)
6 For even if they flee from devastation,
Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them.^(l)
Thistles will take possession of their precious silver;
thorns will invade their tents.^(m)

⁷ The days of punishment have come;⁽ⁿ⁾
the days of retribution have come.^(o)
Let Israel recognize it!
The prophet is a fool,^(p)
and the inspired man is insane,^(q)
because of the magnitude
of your guilt and hostility.^(r)
8 Ephraim's watchman is with my God.
The prophet encounters a fowler's snare
on all his ways.^(s)
Hostility is in the house of his God!
⁹ They have deeply corrupted themselves^(t)
as in the days of Gibeah.^(u)
He will remember their guilt;
He will punish their sins.^(v)

¹⁰ I discovered Israel
like grapes in the wilderness.^(w)
I saw your fathers
like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season.^(x)
But they went to Baal-peor,^(y)
consecrated themselves to Shame,^[a](z)
and became detestable,^(aa)
like the thing they loved.
¹¹ Ephraim's glory will fly away like a bird:^(ab)
no birth, no gestation, no conception.^(ac)
12 Even if they raise children,
I will bereave them of each one.
Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!^(ad)
13 I have seen Ephraim like Tyre,^(ae)
planted in a meadow,
so Ephraim will bring out his children
to the executioner.
¹⁴ Give them, Lord —
What should You give?
Give them a womb that miscarries
and breasts that are dry!^(af)

¹⁵ All their evil appears at Gilgal,^(ag)
for there I came to hate them.
I will drive them from My house
because of their evil, wicked actions.^(ah)
I will no longer love them;
all their leaders are rebellious.^(ai)
16 Ephraim^(aj) is struck down;
their roots are withered;
they cannot bear fruit.^(ak)
Even if they bear children,
I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs.^(al)
17 My God will reject them
because they have not listened to Him;^(am)
they will become wanderers among the nations.^(an)