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11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed by judgment,
    for he has willingly gone after filth![a]
12 I am like a moth for Ephraim,(A)
    like rot for the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his infirmity,
    and Judah his sore,
Ephraim went to Assyria,
    and sent to the great king.[b](B)
But he cannot heal you,
    nor take away your sore.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:11 Filth: Ephraim’s reliance on foreign nations and their gods.
  2. 5:13 Ephraim went…king: in 738 the Israelite king Menahem had to pay tribute to the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III, whose vassal he became (2 Kgs 15:19–20). Under the threat of the Syro-Ephraimite invasion King Ahaz of Judah also submitted to Tiglath-pileser (2 Kgs 16:7–9). Great king: Heb. melek-yarev; may be a proper name: King Yarev, but unknown; or “the defender king”: irony about the great king of Assyria (see note on 10:6).