| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 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! | 1When I heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim will be exposed, as well as the crimes of Samaria. For they practice deceit and thieves break in; bandits raid in the streets. |
| 2Its people don’t realize that I am watching them. Their sinful deeds are all around them, and I see them all. | 2But they fail to consider in their hearts that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds are all around them; they are before My face. |
| 3“The people entertain the king with their wickedness, and the princes laugh at their lies. | 3They delight the king with their evil, and the princes with their lies. |
| 4They are all adulterers, always aflame with lust. They are like an oven that is kept hot while the baker is kneading the dough. | 4They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by a baker who needs not stoke the fire from the kneading to the rising of the dough. |
| 5On royal holidays, the princes get drunk with wine, carousing with those who mock them. | 5The princes are inflamed with wine on the day of our king; so he joins hands with those who mock him. |
| 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. | 6For they prepare their heart like an oven while they lie in wait; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire. |
| 7Burning like an oven, they consume their leaders. They kill their kings one after another, and no one cries to me for help. | 7All of them are hot as an oven, and they devour their rulers. All their kings fall; not one of them calls upon Me. |
| 8“The people of Israel mingle with godless foreigners, making themselves as worthless as a half-baked cake! | 8Ephraim mixes with the nations; Ephraim is an unturned cake. |
| 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. | 9Foreigners consume his strength, but he does not notice. Even his hair is streaked with gray, but he does not know. |
| 10Their arrogance testifies against them, yet they don’t return to the LORD their God or even try to find him. | 10Israel’s arrogance testifies against them, yet they do not return to the LORD their God; despite all this, they do not seek Him. |
| 11“The people of Israel have become like silly, witless doves, first calling to Egypt, then flying to Assyria for help. | 11So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove—calling out to Egypt, then turning to Assyria. |
| 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. | 12As they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like birds of the air. I will chastise them when I hear them flocking together. |
| 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. | 13Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against Me! Though I would redeem them, they speak lies 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. | 14They do not cry out to Me from their hearts when they wail upon their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me. |
| 15I trained them and made them strong, yet now they plot evil against me. | 15Although I trained and strengthened their arms, they plot evil against Me. |
| 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. | 16They turn, but not to the Most High; they are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword for the cursing of their tongue; for this they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt. |
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