| New Living Translation | Holman Christian Standard 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 sins of Ephraim and the crimes of Samaria will be exposed. For they practice fraud; a thief breaks in; a raiding party pillages outside. |
| 2Its people don’t realize that I am watching them. Their sinful deeds are all around them, and I see them all. | 2But they never consider that I remember all their evil. Now their sins are all around them; they are right in front of My face. |
| 3“The people entertain the king with their wickedness, and the princes laugh at their lies. | 3They please the king with their evil, 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. | 4All of them commit adultery; they are like an oven heated by a baker who stops stirring the fire from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened. |
| 5On royal holidays, the princes get drunk with wine, carousing with those who mock them. | 5On the day of our king, the princes are sick with the heat of wine-- there is a conspiracy with traitors. |
| 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--their hearts like an oven-- draw him into their oven. Their anger smolders all night; 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 as hot as an oven, and they consume their rulers. All their kings fall; not one of them calls on Me. |
| 8“The people of Israel mingle with godless foreigners, making themselves as worthless as a half-baked cake! | 8Ephraim has allowed himself to get mixed up with the nations. Ephraim is unturned bread baked on a griddle. |
| 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 notice. |
| 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 Yahweh their God, and for 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; they call to Egypt, and they go 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 are going, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like birds of the sky. I will discipline them in accordance with the news that reaches their assembly. |
| 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 fled from Me; destruction to them, for they rebelled against Me! Though I want to 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 to Me from their hearts; rather, they wail on their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine; they turn away from Me. |
| 15I trained them and made them strong, yet now they plot evil against me. | 15I trained and strengthened their arms, but 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 what is above; they are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because of the cursing of their tongue. They will be ridiculed for this in the land of Egypt. |
| 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. | Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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