Take up the cause against your mother, take it up, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; let her put away her loose ways from her face, and her false ways from between her breasts;

For this cause I will put thorns in her road, building up a wall round her so that she may not go on her way.

For this cause I will make her come into the waste land and will say words of comfort to her.

Give ear to the word of the Lord, O children of Israel; for the Lord has a cause against the people of this land, because there is no good faith in it, and no mercy and no knowledge of God in the land.

My people get knowledge from their tree, and their rod gives them news; for a false spirit is the cause of their wandering, and they have been false to their God.

Because Ephraim has been increasing altars for sin, altars have become a cause of sin to him.

The Lord has a cause against Judah, and will give punishment to Jacob for his ways; he will give him the reward of his acts.

Where is your king, that he may be your saviour? and all your rulers, that they may take up your cause? of whom you said, Give me a king and rulers.

O Israel, come back to the Lord your God; for your evil-doing has been the cause of your fall.