The Response to God’s Rebuke

1 “Come, let us return to the LORD.
          For He has torn us, but He will heal us;
          He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

2 “He will revive us after two days;
          He will raise us up on the third day,
          That we may live before Him.

3 “So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD.
          His going forth is as certain as the dawn;
          And He will come to us like the rain,
          Like the spring rain watering the earth.”

4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
          What shall I do with you, O Judah?
          For your loyalty is like a morning cloud
          And like the dew which goes away early.

5 Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets;
          I have slain them by the words of My mouth;
          And the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth.

6 For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice,
          And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

7 But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant;
          There they have dealt treacherously against Me.

8 Gilead is a city of wrongdoers,
          Tracked with bloody footprints.

9 And as raiders wait for a man,
          So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem;
          Surely they have committed crime.

10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
          Ephraim’s harlotry is there, Israel has defiled itself.

11 Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you,
          When I restore the fortunes of My people.