and though she run after her lovers, yet shall she not get them: she shall seek them, but not find them. Then shall she say, 'Well, I will go turn again to my first husband, for at that time was I better at ease, than now.'

And made desolate her vine and her fig-tree, Of which she said, A gift they are to me, That my lovers have given to me, And I have made them for a forest, And consumed them hath a beast of the field.

And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

And the earth shall respond to the grain and the new wine and the oil [which beg it to bring them forth],
And they will respond to Jezreel [My Israel, who will now be restored].

I will sow them upon earth, for a seed to mine own self, and will have mercy upon her, that was without mercy. And to them which were not my people, I will say, 'Thou art my people.' And he shall say, 'Thou art my God.'"

So I bought her to me for fifteen silver pieces, and for a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley.

And I said to her, You are to be mine for a long space of time; you are not to be false to me, and no other man is to have you for his wife; and so will I be to you.

For the children of Israel will for a long time be without king and without ruler, without offerings and without pillars, and without ephod or images.

Hear a word of Jehovah, sons of Israel, For a strife is to Jehovah with inhabitants of the land, For there is no truth, nor kindness, Nor knowledge of God, in the land,

My people at its staff asketh and its rod declareth to it, For a spirit of whoredoms hath caused to err, And they go a-whoring from under their God.

For as a refractory heifer hath Israel turned aside, Now doth Jehovah feed them as a lamb in a large place.

Hear this, O priests, and attend, O house of Israel, And, O house of the king, give ear, For the judgment is for you, For, a snare ye have been on Mizpah, And a net spread out on Tabor.

They give not up their habitual doings, To turn back unto their God, For a spirit of whoredoms is in their midst, And Jehovah they have not known.

Ephraim is for a desolation in a day of reproof, Among the tribes of Israel I have made known a sure thing.

And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

Even though they sold themselves to the nations, I will gather them. They will mourn for a while for the burden they were to the king and princes.

They pour out no wine for a drink offering unto the LORD, neither give they him their slain offerings: but they be unto them as mourner's meats, wherein all they that eat them are defiled. For the bread that they have such lust unto, shall not come into the house of the LORD.

Be ye sure, O Israel: the time of visitation is come, the days of recompensing are at hand. As for the prophet, ye hold him for a fool; and him that is rich in the spirit, for a mad man: so great is your wickedness and malice.

Ephraim! just as I provided for Tyre, was planted in a meadow, - yet, Ephraim, must needs bring forth for a murderer his children.

It 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.

And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.

The pangs of a woman in travail shall come upon him: he is a son not wise; for at the time of the breaking forth of children, he was not there.