There I will restore her vineyards to her, and the Valley of Achor will become a doorway to hope. There she will respond as she did in her youth, when she came up from Egypt."

Therefore I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I even I will tear them to pieces, and then I will leave. I will take them away, and there will be no rescue.

"I found Israel, as one finds grapes in the wilderness; Your ancestors seemed to me like the fruit gleaned from a fig tree's first harvest. When they went to Baal-peor, they devoted themselves to that filth, and they became loathsome, like what they loved.

Ephraim, as I see it, is like Tyre, planted in a comfortable place; Ephraim will bear children but they will be executed."

Their hearts are divided; from now on they are to be found guilty. God will tear down their altars, he will destroy their stone idols.

I will confront them like a bear deprived of her cubs; I will tear open their ribs. I will devour them like a lion the wild beasts will rip them apart.

Israel's branches will spread out, and its beauty will be like an olive tree, with its scent like that of Lebanon.