But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen."

He said, "Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.

Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can't be measured nor numbered; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'

"Say to your brothers, 'My people.' and to your sisters, 'My loved one.'

Contend with your mother. Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy; for they are children of unfaithfulness;

Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can't find her way.

I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, 'These are my wages that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest,' and the animals of the field shall eat them.

I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, 'You are my people;' and they will say, 'My God.'"

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols.

"Yet let no man bring a charge, neither let any man accuse; For your people are like those who bring charges against a priest.

You will stumble in the day, and the prophet will also stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten your God's law, I will also forget your children.

As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me. I will change their glory into shame.

They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery.

I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, nor your brides when they commit adultery; because the men consort with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes; so the people without understanding will come to ruin.

"Listen to this, you priests. Listen, house of Israel, and give ear, house of the king. For the judgment is against you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor.

The rebels are deep in slaughter; but I discipline all of them.

They are unfaithful to the LORD; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.

The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark. I will pour out my wrath on them like water.

"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.

"Come, and let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.

"Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears early.

Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets; I killed them with the words of my mouth. Your judgments are like a flash of lightning.

But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant. They were unfaithful to me, there.

They do not consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own deeds have engulfed them. They are before my face.

They are all adulterers. They are burning like an oven that the baker stops stirring, from the kneading of the dough, until it is leavened.

On the day of our king, the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine. He joined his hand with mockers.

They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges. All their kings have fallen. There is no one among them who calls to me.

Strangers have devoured his strength, and he doesn't realize it. Indeed, gray hairs are here and there on him, and he doesn't realize it.

They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.

"Put the trumpet to your lips. Something like an eagle is over the LORD's house, because they have broken my covenant, and rebelled against my law.

Let Samaria throw out his calf idol. My anger burns against them. How long will it be until they are capable of purity?

Israel is swallowed up. Now they are among the nations like a worthless thing.

I wrote for him the many things of my law; but they were regarded as a strange thing.

Do not rejoice, Israel, to jubilation like the nations; for you were unfaithful to your God. You love the wages of a prostitute at every grain threshing floor.

The days of visitation have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, and the man who is inspired to be insane, because of the abundance of your sins, and because your hostility is great.

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season; but they came to Baal Peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.

"All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more. All their rulers are rebels.

When it is my desire, I will chastise them; and the nations will be gathered against them, when they are bound to their two transgressions.

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness. Break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and rains righteousness on you.

You have plowed wickedness. You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, for you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men.

Therefore a battle roar will arise among your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth Arbel in the day of battle. The mother was dashed in pieces with her children.

So Bethel will do to you because of your great wickedness. At daybreak the king of Israel will be destroyed.

My people are determined to turn from me. Though they call to the Most High, he certainly won't exalt them.

Therefore turn to your God. Keep kindness and justice, and wait continually for your God.

"But I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt. I will yet again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast.

If Gilead is wicked, surely they are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the field.

"Yet I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; and you shall acknowledge no god but me, and besides me there is no savior.

According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me.

You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, against your help.

Where is your king now, that he may save you in all your cities? And your judges, of whom you said, 'Give me a king and princes?'

I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death. Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your sting? "Compassion will be hidden from my eyes.

Israel, return to the LORD your God; for you have fallen because of your sin.

Take words with you, and return to the LORD. Tell him, "Forgive all our sins, and accept that which is good, and we will offer the fruit of our lips

Assyria can't save us. We won't ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, 'Our gods.' for in you the fatherless finds mercy."

Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? I answer, and will take care of him. I am like a green fir tree; from me your fruit is found."

Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them; But the rebellious stumble in them.