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;

For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.'

She will follow after her lovers, but she won't overtake them; and she will seek them, but won't find them. Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.'

Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.

Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand.

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 visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me," says the LORD.

It will be in that day," says the LORD, "that you will call me 'my husband,' and no longer call me 'my master.'

I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.

I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD.

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.'"

The LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins."

I said to her, "You shall stay with me many days. You shall not play the prostitute, and you shall not be with any other man. I will also be so toward you."

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 feed on the sin of my people, and set their heart on their iniquity.

My people consult with their wooden idol, and answer to a stick of wood. Indeed the spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have been unfaithful to their God.

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute. Israel is defiled.

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

I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly."

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.

"For you also, Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, when I restore the fortunes of my people.

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

When they go, I will spread my net on them. I will bring them down like the birds of the sky. I will chastise them, as their congregation has heard.

Woe to them. For they have wandered from me. Destruction to them. For they have trespassed against me. Though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against me.

They haven't cried to me with their heart, but they howl on their beds. They assemble themselves for grain and new wine. They turn away from me.

Though I have taught and strengthened their arms, yet they plot evil against me.

"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.

They cry to me, 'My God, we Israel acknowledge you.'

They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made princes, and I did not approve. Of their silver and their gold they have made themselves idols, that they may be cut off.

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

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

As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it; But the LORD doesn't accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins. They will return to Egypt.

A prophet watches over Ephraim with my God. A fowler's snare is on all of his paths, and hostility in the house of his God.

"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.

My God will cast them away, because they did not listen to him; and they will be wanderers among the nations.

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.

"When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

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

"How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.

I will not execute the fierceness of my anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of you; and I will not come in wrath.

Ephraim surrounds me with falsehood, and the house of Israel with deceit. Judah still strays from God, and is unfaithful to the Holy One.

Ephraim said, "Surely I have become rich, I have found myself wealth. In all my wealth they won't find in me any iniquity that is sin."

"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 have given you a king in my anger, and have taken him away in my wrath.

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.

"I will heal their waywardness. I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him.

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.