A reading from the book of Hosea.

Come, let us return to the Lord, for he has torn us, that he may heal us. He has struck us down,

and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up,

that we may live before him. Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going out as sure as the

dawn. He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth. What shall I do

with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the

dew that goes early away. Therefore I have hewned them by the prophets.

I have slain them by the words of my mouth and my judgment goes forth as delight.

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

But like Adam, they transgress the covenant. There they dealt faithlessly with me.

Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood, as robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests band together.

They murder on the way to Shechem. They commit villainy. In the house of Israel, I have seen a horrible

thing. Ephraim's hordom is there. Israel is defiled, for you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed,

when I restore the fortunes of my people. When I would heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,

and the evil deeds of Samaria, for they deal falsely, the thief breaks in and the bandits raid outside.

But they do not consider that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds surround them. They are before my face. By their evil they make the king glad, and the princes by their treachery. They are all adulterous. They are like a heated oven, whose baker ceases to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened. On the day of our king,

the princes became sick with the heat of wine. He stretched out his hand with mockers,

for with hearts like an oven they approached their intrigue. All night their anger smolders.

In the morning it blazes like a flaming fire. All of them are hot as an oven, and they devour

their rulers. All their kings have fallen,

and none of them calls upon me. Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples. Ephraim is a cake not

turned. Strangers devour his strength, and he knows it not. Gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,

...