1 Come, and let us return unto the Lord:

For he hath torn, and he will heal us;

He hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

2 After two days will he revive us:

In the third day he will raise us up,

And we shall live in his sight.

3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord:

His going forth is prepared as the morning;

And he shall come unto us as the rain,

As the latter and former rain unto the earth.

4 O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee?

O Judah, what shall I do unto thee?

For your goodness is as a morning cloud,

And as the early dew it goeth away.

5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets;

I have slain them by the words of my mouth:

And thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.

6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice;

And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant:

There have they dealt treacherously against me.

8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity,

And is polluted with blood.

9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man,

So the company of priests murder in the way by consent:

For they commit lewdness.

10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:

There is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

11 Also, O Judah, he hath set a harvest for thee,

When I returned the captivity of my people.