¹ Hear this, ye priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ear, O house of the king: for this judgment is for you; for ye have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

² And they have plunged themselves in the corruption of apostasy, but I will be a chastiser of them all.

³ I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me; for now, Ephraim, thou hast committed whoredom; Israel is defiled.

⁴ Their doings do not allow them to return unto their God; for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they know not Jehovah.

⁵ And Israel's pride doth testify to his face; and Israel and Ephraim shall fall by their iniquity: Judah also shall fall with them.

⁶ They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Jehovah; but they shall not find [him]: he hath withdrawn himself from them.

⁷ They have dealt treacherously against Jehovah; for they have begotten strange children: now shall the new moon devour them, with their allotted possessions.

⁸ Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah; cry aloud [at] Beth-aven: behind thee, O Benjamin!

⁹ Ephraim shall be a desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which is sure.

¹⁰ The princes of Judah are become like them that remove the landmark: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.

¹¹ Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because in selfwill he walked after the commandment [of man].

¹² And I will be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.

¹³ When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his sore, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb; but he was unable to heal you, nor hath he removed your sore.

¹⁴ For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah. I, I will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there shall be none to deliver.

¹⁵ I will go away, I will return to my place, till they acknowledge their trespass, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.

¹ My soul is weary of my life: I will give free course to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

² I will say unto +God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou strivest with me.

³ Doth it please thee to oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thy hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

⁴ Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?

⁵ Are thy days as the days of a mortal? are thy years as a man's days,

⁶ That thou searchest after mine iniquity, and inquirest into my sin;

⁷ Since thou knowest that I am not wicked, and that there is none that delivereth out of thy hand?

⁸ Thy hands have bound me together and made me as one, round about; yet dost thou swallow me up!

⁹ Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as clay, and wilt bring me into dust again.

¹⁰ Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

¹¹ Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews;

¹² Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy care hath preserved my spirit;

¹³ And these things didst thou hide in thy heart; I know that this was with thee.

¹⁴ If I sinned, thou wouldest mark me, and thou wouldest not acquit me of mine iniquity.

¹⁵ If I were wicked, woe unto me! and righteous, I will not lift up my head, being [so] full of shame, and beholding mine affliction; --

¹⁶ And it increaseth: thou huntest me as a fierce lion; and ever again thou shewest thy marvellous power upon me.

¹⁷ Thou renewest thy witnesses before me and increasest thy displeasure against me; successions [of evil] and a time of toil are with me.

¹⁸ And wherefore didst thou bring me forth out of the womb? I had expired, and no eye had seen me.

¹⁹ I should be as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

²⁰ Are not my days few? cease then and let me alone, that I may revive a little,

²¹ Before I go, and never to return, -- to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

²² A land of gloom, as darkness itself; of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as thick darkness.