1 Let us go, and return to the Lord our God; for he has torn, and will heal us; he will smite, and bind us up. 2 After two days he will heal us: in the third day we shall arise, and live before him, and shall know him: 3 let us follow on to know the Lord: we shall find him ready as the morning, and he will come to us as the early and latter rain to the earth.
4 What shall I do unto thee, Ephraim? What shall I do to thee, Juda? whereas your mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew that goes away. 5 Therefore have I mown down your prophets; I have slain them with the word of my mouth: and my judgment shall go forth as the light.
6 For I will have mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than whole-burnt-offerings. 7 But they are as a man transgressing a covenant: 8 there the city Galaad despised me, working vanity, troubling water. 9 And thy strength is that of a robber: the priests have hid the way, they have murdered the people of Sicima; for they have wrought iniquity in the house of Israel. 10 I have seen horrible things there, even the fornication of Ephraim: Israel and Juda are defiled; 11 begin to gather grapes for thyself, when I turn the captivity of my people.
About this text. This is Sir Lancelot Brenton’s 1851 translation of the Septuagint — the Greek Old Testament the Orthodox Church reads, rather than the Hebrew text behind most English Bibles. It is in the public domain. Words in italics are ones Brenton supplied that the Greek does not have; he marked them so that a reader could tell the difference, and they are kept that way here. The numbered notes are his own. Its English is Victorian, and does not match the modern English of the New Testament pages on this site.