¹ Ephraim feeds on wind, And chases the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and desolation. They make a covenant with Assyria, And oil is carried into Egypt.

²² The wind shall feed all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shall you be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness.

¹³ When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria, And sent to king Jareb: But he is not able to heal you, Neither will he cure you of your wound.

¹² Ephraim surrounds me with falsehood, And the house of Israel with deceit; And Judah still us unruly with God, And is unfaithful to the Holy One.

¹⁹ There came against the land Pul the king of Assyria; and Menahem gave Pul one thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.

⁴ The king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.

⁵ Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

² "Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind?

⁶ The burden of the animals of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that shall not profit [them].

⁷ For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I called her Rahab who sits still.

¹⁰ Yes, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind touches it? it shall wither in the beds where it grew.

⁷ For they sow the wind, And they will reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The stalk will yield no head. If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up.