3. Let us strive to know the Lord. His appearance is as sure as the dawn. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the land.
4. What am I going to do with you, Ephraim? What am I going to do with you, Judah?Your loyalty is like the morning mist and like the early dew that vanishes.
5. This is why I have used the prophetsto cut them down; I have killed them with the words of My mouth.My judgment strikes like lightning.
6. For I desire loyalty and not sacrifice,the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
7. But they, like Adam, have violated the covenant; there they have betrayed Me.
8. Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with bloody footprints.
9. Like raiders who wait in ambush for someone, a band of priests murders on the road to Shechem. They commit atrocities.