7"Every time I gave Israel a fresh start, wiped the slate clean and got them going again, Ephraim soon filled the slate with new sins, the treachery of Samaria written out in bold print. Two-faced and double-tongued, they steal you blind, pick you clean.H7495H3478H5771H669H1540H7451H8111H6466H8267H1590H935H1416H6584H23512It never crosses their mind that I keep account of their every crime. They're mud-spattered head to toe with the residue of sin. I see who they are and what they've done.H559H3824H2142H7451H4611H5437H64403"They entertain the king with their evil circus, delight the princes with their acrobatic lies.H4428H8055H7451H8269H35854They're a bunch of overheated adulterers, like an oven that holds its heat From the kneading of the dough to the rising of the bread.H5003H8574H1197H644H7673H5782H3888H1217H25565On the royal holiday the princes get drunk on wine and the frenzy of the mocking mob.H3117H4428H8269H2470H2534H3196H4900H3027H39456They're like wood stoves, red-hot with lust. Through the night their passion is banked; in the morning it blazes up, flames hungrily licking.H7126H3820H8574H693H644H3463H3915H1242H1197H3852H7847Murderous and volcanic, they incinerate their rulers. Their kings fall one by one, and no one pays any attention to me.H2552H8574H398H8199H4428H5307H71218"Ephraim mingles with the pagans, dissipating himself. Ephraim is half-baked.H669H1101H5971H669H5692H20159Strangers suck him dry but he doesn't even notice. His hair has turned gray— he doesn't notice.H2114H398H3581H3045H7872H2236H304510Bloated by arrogance, big as a house, Israel's a public disgrace. Israel lumbers along oblivious to GOD, despite all the signs, ignoring GOD.H1347H3478H6030H6440H7725H3068H430H124511"Ephraim is bird-brained, mindless, clueless, First chirping after Egypt, then fluttering after Assyria.H669H6601H3123H3820H7121H4714H1980H80412I'll throw my net over them. I'll clip their wings. I'll teach them to mind me!H3212H6566H7568H3381H5775H8064H3256H5712H808813Doom! They've run away from home. Now they're really in trouble! They've defied me. And I'm supposed to help them while they feed me a line of lies?H188H5074H7701H6586H6299H1696H357714Instead of crying out to me in heartfelt prayer, they whoop it up in bed with their whores, Gash themselves bloody in their sex-and-religion orgies, but turn their backs on me.H2199H3820H3213H4904H1481H1715H8492H549315I'm the one who gave them good minds and healthy bodies, and how am I repaid? With evil scheming!H3256H2388H2220H2803H745116They turn, but not to me— turn here, then there, like a weather vane. Their rulers will be cut down, murdered— just deserts for their mocking blasphemies. And the final sentence? Ridicule in the court of world opinion.H7725H5920H7423H7198H8269H5307H2719H2195H3956H2097H3933H776H4714
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