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⁸The Lord sent a word against Jacob, and it fell on Israel; ⁹and all the people knew it— Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria— but in pride and arrogance of heart they said: ¹⁰“The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.” ¹¹So the Lord raised adversaries against them, and stirred up their enemies, ¹²the Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west, and they devoured Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger has not turned away; his hand is stretched out still. ¹³The people did not turn to him who struck them, or seek the Lord of hosts. ¹⁴So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day— ¹⁵elders and dignitaries are the head, and prophets who teach lies are the tail; ¹⁶for those who led this people led them astray, and those who were led by them were left in confusion. ¹⁷That is why the Lord did not have pity on their young people, or compassion on their orphans and widows; for everyone was godless and an evildoer, and every mouth spoke folly. For all this his anger has not turned away, his hand is stretched out still. ¹⁸For wickedness burned like a fire, consuming briers and thorns; it kindled the thickets of the forest, and they swirled upward in a column of smoke. ¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land was burned, and the people became like fuel for the fire; no one spared another. ²⁰They gorged on the right, but still were hungry, and they devoured on the left, but were not satisfied; they devoured the flesh of their own kindred; ²¹Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, and together they were against Judah. For all this his anger has not turned away; his hand is stretched out still.