4 “Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears early.
5 Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets; I killed them with the words of my mouth. Your judgments are like a flash of lightning.
6 For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant. They were unfaithful to me, there.
8 Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; it is stained with blood.
9 As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man, so the company of priests murder on the path toward Shechem, committing shameful crimes.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing. There is prostitution in Ephraim. Israel is defiled.