1 Israel was a spreading vine, rich in fruit. The more his fruit in creased, the more altars he built; the more his land prospered, the more he adorned his sacred stones.
2 Their heart is divided! They shall pay for it. Their altars will be thrown down and their sacred stones broken to pieces.
3 Now they say, “We have no king (because we have no fear of God) and what good would a king do us?”
4 Let them speak like this, take an oath and make covenants! Their sentence is growing like weeds in a plowed field.
5 The people of Samaria tremble for their idols of Bethel; they mourn for their calf as do the priests who were so proud of it.
6 The glorious idol has been taken far away, carried off to Assyria as a tribute to the great king. Ephraim will reap the shame of this; the people of Israel will be disgraced.
7 As for the king of Sama ria, he has been carried off like foam on water.
8 The idolatrous high places – the sin of Israel – will be destroyed. Thorn and thistle will creep over the altars. Then they will say to the mountains: “Cover us,” and to the hills: “Fall on us.”
9 Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned and rebelled, Israel. Will not the battle against the evildoers of Gibeah overtake you again?
10 I shall come and punish you, gathering the nations against you because of your double sin.
Admonition and call to conversion
11 Ephraim is a well-trained heifer fond of threshing; on her neck I shall place a yoke; Ephraim will be harnessed and plowed; the nation of Jacob will break the clods.
12 Plow new ground, sow for yourselves justice and reap the harvest of kindness. It is the time to go seeking Yahweh until he comes to rain salvation on you.
13 For your part you planted wickedness, reaped evil and ate the fruit of falsehood. When you rely on your own strength and your many warriors, confusion will overcome your people.
14 See, your fortresses are destroyed as when Shalman devastated Beth-arbel; all was crushed.
15 That is what will happen to you, people of Israel, because of your great evil. The storm will blow away the king of Israel.