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¹ and to heal its wounds.
But then I see the crimes
    in Israel^[a] and Samaria.
Everyone is deceitful;
    robbers roam the streets.
² No one realizes
that I have seen their sins
    surround them
like a flood.

³ The king and his officials
take great pleasure
    in their sin and deceit.
⁴ Everyone burns with desire—
they are like coals in an oven,
    ready to burst into flames.
⁵ On the day their king
    was crowned,
his officials got him drunk,
and he joined
    in their foolishness.^[b]

⁶ Their anger is a fire
that smolders all night,
    then flares up at dawn.
⁷ They are flames
    destroying their leaders.
And their kings are powerless;
    none of them trust me.

⁸ The people of Israel^[c]
    have mixed with foreigners;
they are a thin piece of bread
    scorched on one side.
⁹ They don't seem to realize
    how weak and feeble they are;
their hair has turned gray,
    while foreigners rule.
¹⁰ I am the Lord, their God,
    but in all of their troubles
their pride keeps them
    from returning to me.

¹¹ Israel^[d] is a senseless bird,
fluttering back and forth
    between Egypt and Assyria.
¹² But I will catch them in a net
    as hunters trap birds;
I threatened to punish them,
    and indeed I will.^[e]
13 Trouble and destruction
will be their reward
    for rejecting me.
I would have rescued them,
    but they told me lies.

¹⁴ They don't really pray to me;
    they just howl in their beds.
They have rejected me for Baal
    and slashed themselves,^[f]
in the hope that Baal
    will bless their crops.
¹⁵ I taught them what they know,
    and I made them strong.
Now they plot against me
¹⁶     and refuse to obey.^[g]
They are more useless
    than a crooked arrow.
Their leaders will die in war
    for saying foolish things.
Egyptians will laugh at them.