3Surely now shall they say, We have no king; for we fear not Jehovah; and the king, what can he do for us?
4They speak [vain] words, swearing falsely in making covenants: therefore judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
5The inhabitants of Samaria shall be in terror for the calves of Beth-aven; for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced over it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
6It also shall be carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
7[As for] Samaria, her king is cut off, as foam upon the water.
8The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
9O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood; the battle against the children of iniquity doth not overtake them in Gibeah.
