And the Lord said, Give him the name Lo-ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be your God.

But still the number of the children of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which may not be measured or numbered; and in place of its being said to them, You are not my people, it will be said to them, You are the sons of the living God

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 fear that I may take away her robe from her, making her uncovered as in the day of her birth; making her like a waste place and a dry land, causing her death through need of water.

For their mother has been untrue; she who gave them birth has done things of shame, for she said, I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my wine.

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.

And if she goes after her lovers she will not overtake them; if she makes search for them she will not see them; then will she say, I will go back to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now.

So I will take away again my grain in its time and my wine, and I will take away my wool and my linen with which her body might have been covered.

And now I will make her shame clear before the eyes of her lovers, and no one will take her out of my hand.

And I will make waste her vines and her fig-trees, of which she has said, These are the payments which my lovers have made to me; and I will make them a waste of trees, and the beasts of the field will take them for food.

And I will give her punishment for the days of the Baals, to whom she has been burning perfumes, when she made herself fair with her nose-rings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, giving no thought to me, says the Lord.

And in that day, says the Lord, you will say to me, Ishi; and you will never again give me the name of Baali;

And I will take you as my bride for ever; truly, I will take you as my bride in righteousness and in right judging, in love and in mercies.

I will take you as my bride in good faith, and you will have knowledge of the Lord.

And I will put her as seed in the earth, and I will have mercy on her to whom no mercy was given; and I will say to those who were not my people, You are my people, and they will say, My God.

And the Lord said to me, Give your love again to a woman who has a lover and is false to her husband, even as the Lord has love for the children of Israel, though they are turned to other gods and are lovers of grape-cakes.

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.

Destruction has overtaken my people because they have no knowledge; because you have given up knowledge, I will give you up, so that you will be no priest to me, because you have not kept in mind the law of your God, I will not keep your children in my memory.

Even while they were increasing in number they were sinning against me; I will let their glory be changed into shame.

The sin of my people is like food to them; and their desire is for their wrongdoing.

They will have food, but they will not be full; they will be false to me, but they will not be increased, because they no longer give thought to the Lord.

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.

For Israel is uncontrolled, like a cow which may not be controlled; now will the Lord give them food like a lamb in a wide place.

I have knowledge of Ephraim, and Israel is not secret from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have been false to me, Israel has become unclean.

The rulers of Judah are like those who take away a landmark; I will let loose my wrath on them like flowing water.

I will go back to my place till they are made waste; in their trouble they will go after me early and will make search for me.

So I have had it cut in stones; I gave them teaching by the words of my mouth;

Because my desire is for mercy and not offerings; for the knowledge of God more than for burned offerings.

But like a man, they have gone against the agreement; there they were false to me.

When my desire was for the fate of my people to be changed and to make Israel well, then the sin of Ephraim was made clear, and the evil-doing of Samaria; for their ways are false, and the thief comes into the house, while the band of outlaws takes property by force in the streets.

And they do not say to themselves that I keep in mind all their sin; now their evil acts come round them on every side; they are before my face.

They are all heated like an oven, and they put an end to their judges; all their kings have been made low; not one among them makes prayer to me.

When they go, my net will be stretched out over them; I will take them like the birds of heaven, I will give them punishment, I will take them away in the net for their sin.

May trouble be theirs! for they have gone far away from me; and destruction, for they have been sinning against me; I was ready to be their saviour, but they said false words against me.

And they have not made prayer to me in their hearts, but they make loud cries on their beds; they are cutting themselves for food and wine, they are turned against me.

Though I have given training and strength to their arms, they have evil designs against me.

They have gone to what is of no value; they are like a false bow; their captains will come to destruction by the sword, and their ruler by my wrath; for this, the land of Egypt will make sport of them.

Put the horn to your mouth. He comes like an eagle against the house of the Lord; because they have gone against my agreement, they have not kept my law.

They will send up to me a cry for help: We, Israel, have knowledge of you, O God of Israel.

They have put up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, but I had no knowledge of it; they have made images of silver and gold, so that they may be cut off.

I will have nothing to do with your young ox, O Samaria; my wrath is burning against them; how long will it be before the children of Israel make themselves clean?

Though I put my law in writing for him in ten thousand rules, they are to him as a strange thing.

There is great hate against the watchman of Ephraim, the people of my God; as for the prophet, there is a net in all his ways, and hate in the house of his God.

O Lord, what will you give them? Give them bodies which may not give birth and breasts without milk.

All their evil-doing is in Gilgal; there I had hate for them; because of their evil-doing I will send them out of my house; they will no longer be dear to me; all their rulers are uncontrolled.

My God will give them up because they did not give ear to him; they will be wandering among the nations.

When Israel was a child he was dear to me; and I took my son out of Egypt.

When I sent for them, then they went away from me; they made offerings to the Baals, burning perfumes to images.

But I was guiding Ephraim's footsteps; I took them up in my arms, but they were not conscious that I was ready to make them well.

I made them come after me with the cords of a man, with the bands of love; I was to them as one who took the yoke from off their mouths, putting meat before them.

He will go back to the land of Egypt and the Assyrian will be his king, because they would not come back to me.

My people are given up to sinning against me; though their voice goes up on high, no one will be lifting them up.

How may I give you up, O Ephraim? how may I be your saviour, O Israel? how may I make you like Admah? how may I do to you as I did to Zeboim? My heart is turned in me, it is soft with pity.

I will not put into effect the heat of my wrath; I will not again send destruction on Ephraim; for I am God and not man, the Holy One among you; I will not put an end to you.

The deceit of Ephraim and the false words of Israel are about me on every side. ...

And Ephraim said, Now I have got wealth and much property; in all my works no sin may be seen in me.

My word came to the ears of the prophets and I gave them visions in great number, and by the mouths of the prophets I made use of comparisons.

When the words of my law came from Ephraim, he was lifted up in Israel; but when he did evil through the Baal, death overtook him.

But I am the Lord your God, from the land of Egypt; you have knowledge of no other God and there is no saviour but me.

When I gave them food they were full, and their hearts were full of pride, and they did not keep me in mind.

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.

I have given you a king, because I was angry, and have taken him away in my wrath.

I will give the price to make them free from the power of the underworld, I will be their saviour from death: O death! where are your pains? O underworld! where is your destruction? my eyes will have no pity.

Take with you words, and come back to the Lord; say to him, Let there be forgiveness for all wrongdoing, so that we may take what is good, and give in payment the fruit of our lips.

I will put right their errors; freely will my love be given to them, for my wrath is turned away from him.

As for Ephraim, what has he to do with false gods any longer? I have given an answer and I will keep watch over him; I am like a branching fir-tree, from me comes your fruit.