| New King James Version | New Living Translation |
| 1“When I would have healed Israel, Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, And the wickedness of Samaria. For they have committed fraud; A thief comes in; A band of robbers takes spoil outside. | 1“I want to heal Israel, but its sins are too great. Samaria is filled with liars. Thieves are on the inside and bandits on the outside! |
| 2They do not consider in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness; Now their own deeds have surrounded them; They are before My face. | 2Its people don’t realize that I am watching them. Their sinful deeds are all around them, and I see them all. |
| 3They make a king glad with their wickedness, And princes with their lies. | 3“The people entertain the king with their wickedness, and the princes laugh at their lies. |
| 4“They are all adulterers. Like an oven heated by a baker— He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough, Until it is leavened. | 4They are all adulterers, always aflame with lust. They are like an oven that is kept hot while the baker is kneading the dough. |
| 5In the day of our king Princes have made him sick, inflamed with wine; He stretched out his hand with scoffers. | 5On royal holidays, the princes get drunk with wine, carousing with those who mock them. |
| 6They prepare their heart like an oven, While they lie in wait; Their baker sleeps all night; In the morning it burns like a flaming fire. | 6Their hearts are like an oven blazing with intrigue. Their plot smolders through the night, and in the morning it breaks out like a raging fire. |
| 7They are all hot, like an oven, And have devoured their judges; All their kings have fallen. None among them calls upon Me. | 7Burning like an oven, they consume their leaders. They kill their kings one after another, and no one cries to me for help. |
| 8“Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake unturned. | 8“The people of Israel mingle with godless foreigners, making themselves as worthless as a half-baked cake! |
| 9Aliens have devoured his strength, But he does not know it; Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, Yet he does not know it. | 9Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength, but they don’t even know it. Their hair is gray, but they don’t realize they’re old and weak. |
| 10And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, But they do not return to the LORD their God, Nor seek Him for all this. | 10Their arrogance testifies against them, yet they don’t return to the LORD their God or even try to find him. |
| 11“Ephraim also is like a silly dove, without sense— They call to Egypt, They go to Assyria. | 11“The people of Israel have become like silly, witless doves, first calling to Egypt, then flying to Assyria for help. |
| 12Wherever they go, I will spread My net on them; I will bring them down like birds of the air; I will chastise them According to what their congregation has heard. | 12But as they fly about, I will throw my net over them and bring them down like a bird from the sky. I will punish them for all the evil they do. |
| 13“Woe to them, for they have fled from Me! Destruction to them, Because they have transgressed against Me! Though I redeemed them, Yet they have spoken lies against Me. | 13“What sorrow awaits those who have deserted me! Let them die, for they have rebelled against me. I wanted to redeem them, but they have told lies about me. |
| 14They did not cry out to Me with their heart When they wailed upon their beds. “They assemble together for grain and new wine, They rebel against Me; | 14They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts. Instead, they sit on their couches and wail. They cut themselves, begging foreign gods for grain and new wine, and they turn away from me. |
| 15Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms, Yet they devise evil against Me; | 15I trained them and made them strong, yet now they plot evil against me. |
| 16They return, but not to the Most High; They are like a treacherous bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword For the cursings of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt. | 16They look everywhere except to the Most High. They are as useless as a crooked bow. Their leaders will be killed by their enemies because of their insolence toward me. Then the people of Egypt will laugh at them. |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
|
