But I will have pity [on] the house of Judah and I will save them by Yahweh their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, war, horses, or horsemen.

And he said, "{Name him} Lo-ammi, for you [are] not my people and I am not your [God].

The number of the children of Israel will be like the sand of the sea that cannot be measured or counted; and in the place where it is said to them, "You are not my people," it will be said to them, "Children of [the] living God."

Plead with your mother, plead-- because she [is] not my wife, and I [am] not her husband. Let her put away her whoring {from before her}, and her adultery from between her breasts.

And I will not have pity on her children, because [they are] children of whoredom.

Therefore, Look! I [am] going to hedge her path {with thorns}, and I will build a stone wall, a stone wall [against] her, and she will not find her paths.

Then she will pursue {her lovers}, but she will not overtake them; she will seek them and not find [them]; and she will say, "I will go and return to my first husband because [it was] better for me then than now."

But she did not know that [it was] I who gave her grain, new wine, and oil, and who gave her silver in abundance, and gold which they made into a Baal.

And I said to her, "{You must remain as mine} for many days, and you will not play the whore; {you will not belong} to a man, and I [will] belong to you."

You will stumble [by] day, and the priest also will stumble with you at night. And I will destroy your mother;

They will eat and not be satisfied; they will play the whore and not multiply, because they have forsaken Yahweh {to devote themselves to

{I will not punish your daughters} when they play the whore, or your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery; because they go aside with whores, and they sacrifice with temple prostitutes, a people that does not understand comes to ruin.

Even though you, Israel, [are] playing the whore, do not let Judah become guilty; do not enter Gilgal, or go up [to] Beth-aven; and do not swear, "{As Yahweh lives}!"

Hear this, priests! Give heed, house of Israel! Listen, house of the king! Because the judgment [applies] to you; because you have been a snare for Mizpah, and a net spread out on Tabor;

I myself know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; because now you have played the whore, Ephraim-- Israel is defiled.

Their deeds do not permit them to return them to God. Because a spirit of whoredom [is] in their midst, they do not know Yahweh.

With their flocks and herds they will go to seek Yahweh, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.

Because I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

{But they did not consider} that I remember all their wickedness. Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face.

Because they are kindled like an oven, their heart burns within them; all night their anger {smolders}, [in the] morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

Ephraim mixes himself with the nations; Ephraim is a bread cake not turned over.

Foreigners devour his strength, and he does not know [it]; {mold} is also sprinkled upon him, and he does not know [it].

The pride of Israel {testifies against him}-- they do not return to Yahweh their God; they do not seek him for all of this.

Just as they go, I will cast my net over them; I will bring them down like the birds of the heavens; I will discipline them according to a report to their assembly.

They do not cry out to me from their heart, but they wail on their beds; because of grain and new wine they lacerate themselves; they depart from me.

They turn, not to the Most High, like a slack bow; their officials will fall by the sword because of the anger of their tongue. This [is] their scorn in the land of Egypt.

They appointed kings, but not through me; they made officials, but without my knowledge. [With] their silver and gold they made idols for themselves for their own {destruction}.

Because [it is] from Israel, an artisan made it, it [is] not a god; for the calf of Samaria will be broken [to] pieces.

Because they sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind. [The] standing grain does not have heads; it will not yield flour. [And] if it would yield, strangers would devour it.

They offer sacrifices of my choice and they eat flesh; Yahweh does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they will return [to] Egypt.

Do not rejoice, Israel, do not exult like the nations! For you played the whore, departing from your God; you loved a harlot's wage on all the threshing floors of grain.

Threshing floor and wine vat will not feed them, and new wine will fail her.

They will not remain in the land of Yahweh. But Ephraim will return [to] Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.

They will not pour [drink offerings of] wine to Yahweh, and their sacrifices will not please him. [They are] like mourners' bread for them; all those who eat it will be defiled. For their bread will be {for their hunger}; it will not come [to] the house of Yahweh.

Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up, they shall not bear fruit. Even if they give birth, I will kill the cherished offspring of their womb.

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

For now they will say, "We have no king; indeed, we did not fear Yahweh, and what can a king do for us?"

From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, Israel; there {they have remained}. Will not war in Gibeah overtake them against the children of evil?

And I myself taught Ephraim to walk; I took them in my arms, but they did not know that I healed them.

My people are bent on backsliding from me. To the Most High they call, he does not raise them at all.

{I will not execute} {my fierce anger}, I will not again destroy Ephraim; because I [am] God and not a mortal, [the] Holy [One] in your midst; and I will not come in wrath.

And Ephraim said, "Surely, I am rich, I gained wealth for myself; in all my toil they have not found guilt in me that is [sin].

The labor pains of childbirth come for him; he [is] an unwise son because [at the] proper time, he does not present himself {at the mouth of the womb}.

Assyria will not save us; we will not ride on horses, and we will say no more, "Our God," to the work of our hands because in you [the] fatherless child finds mercy.