1The Israeli people say, “Come, let's return to Yahweh! He has caused us to be injured, but he will heal us. He has caused us to be wounded, but it is as though he will put bandages on our wounds MET.
2After a very short time he will revive us; in less than three days he will restore us in order that we may live in his presence.
3We must try to know Yahweh; if we do that, he will come and help us, as surely as the sun rises every morning, as surely as rain falls every winter/cold season, and as surely as the rain falls again ◄in the springtime/at the end of the cold season►.”
4But Yahweh knows they are insincere; so he says to them, “You people of Israel, and you people of Judah, I do not know RHQ what I should do to you. Your being faithful to me will disappear as quickly as SIM the morning mist disappears, like SIM the dew on the ground that disappears quickly when the sun shines.
5I warned HYP you by the messages that I gave to the prophets, but you did not pay attention to my messages. Therefore I will completely destroy you; the punishment that I give you will strike you like lightning.
6I want my people to faithfully love me more than I want them to offer sacrifices to me; I want them to know me more than I want them to completely burn sacrifices on the altar.
7But they have refused to obey my agreement, just like Adam did; they have not been faithful to me.
8Gilead is a city full of people who do wicked things; in the streets are the bloody footprints of those who have murdered others.
9The priests are like SIM bandits who wait ◄in ambushes/along the road► to attack people; they murder people who are walking on the road to Shechem, and they commit other disgraceful crimes.
10I have seen horrible things being done in Israel MTY. The people have abandoned me like prostitutes who have abandoned their husbands MET; so the people of Israel have become unacceptable to me.
11And you people of Judah, I have appointed a time when I will punish MET you, too. Whenever I wanted to enable my people to prosper again,
