4 What can I do with you, Ephraim?What can I do with you, Judah?Your loyalty is like morning mist,like the dew that disappears early.
5 For this reason I struck them down through the prophets,I killed them by the words of my mouth; my judgment shines forth like the light.
6 For it is loyalty that I desire, not sacrifice,and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
7 But they, at Adam, violated the covenant;there they betrayed me.
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,tracked with blood.
9 Like brigands lying in waitis the band of priests.They murder on the road to Shechem,indeed they commit a monstrous crime.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing:there is found Ephraim’s prostitution,Israel is defiled.