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¹ Israel is a luxuriant vine; he bears fruit for himself. According to the plenty of his fruit he has increased the altars. They have made beautiful images according to the goodness of his land.² Their heart is divided. Now they shall be guilty. He will break down their altars; He will spoil their pillars.³ For now they shall say, We have no king, because we did not fear Jehovah. What then should a king do for us?⁴ They have spoken words, swearing vanity to cut a covenant. So judgment springs up like hemlock in the furrows of the field.⁵ The people of Samaria shall dread because of the calves of Beth-aven. For its people shall mourn over it; also its priests who rejoiced on it for its glory, because it has departed from it.⁶ It shall also be carried to Assyria, a present to King Jareb. Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.⁷ Samaria is cut off; her king is as a bough on the face of the water.⁸ Also, the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars. And they shall say to the mountains, Cover us! and to the hills, Fall on us!

⁹ O Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah. There they stood. The battle against the sons of iniquity did not overtake them in Gibeah.¹⁰ When I desire, I shall bind them; and the peoples shall be gathered against them, when they bind themselves to their two perversities.¹¹ And Ephraim is a trained heifer, loving to tread out. But I passed over on the goodness of her neck; I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow; Jacob shall break clods for him.¹² Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap as kindness. Break up your fallow ground. For it is time to seek Jehovah, until He comes and rains righteousness on you.¹³ You have plowed wickedness; you have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies because you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men.¹⁴ And an uproar shall rise up among your peoples. And all your strongholds shall be spoiled, as the ruin of Beth-arbel in the day of battle. The mother was dashed in pieces on her sons.¹⁵ So He does to you, Bethel, because of your great evil. In the dawn, the king of Israel shall be completely cut off.