5. Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth— then my judgments go forth like the sun.
6. For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
7. As at Adam, they have broken the covenant; they were unfaithful to me there.
8. Gilead is a city of evildoers, stained with footprints of blood.
9. As marauders lie in ambush for a victim, so do bands of priests; they murder on the road to Shechem, carrying out their wicked schemes.
10. I have seen a horrible thing in Israel: There Ephraim is given to prostitution, Israel is defiled.