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A Call to Repentance

6‘Come, let us return to the Lord;
   for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
   he has struck down, and he will bind us up.
² After two days he will revive us;
   on the third day he will raise us up,
   that we may live before him.
³ Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord;
   his appearing is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like the showers,
   like the spring rains that water the earth.’

Impenitence of Israel and Judah

⁴ What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
   What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
   like the dew that goes away early.
⁵ Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
   I have killed them by the words of my mouth,
   and my^* judgement goes forth as the light.
⁶ For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
   the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings.

⁷ But at^* Adam they transgressed the covenant;
   there they dealt faithlessly with me.
⁸ Gilead is a city of evildoers,
   tracked with blood.
⁹ As robbers lie in wait^* for someone,
   so the priests are banded together;^*
they murder on the road to Shechem,
   they commit a monstrous crime.
¹⁰ In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
   Ephraim’s whoredom is there, Israel is defiled.

¹¹ For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed.

When I would restore the fortunes of my people,