And Jehovah'said, Call his name Lo-ammi; for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God .

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that, in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

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

Yea, upon her children will I have no mercy; for they are children of whoredom;

And I will lay waste her vines and her fig-trees, whereof she hath said, These are my hire that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them that were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim:

Yet let no man strive, neither let any man reprove; for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.

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

My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff declareth unto them; for the spirit of whoredom hath caused them to err, and they have played the harlot, departing from under their God.

They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters play the harlot, and your brides commit adultery.

I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go apart with harlots, and they sacrifice with the prostitutes; and the people that doth not understand shall be overthrown.

Hear this, O ye priests, and hearken, O house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king; for unto you pertaineth the judgment; for ye have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

And the revolters are gone deep in making slaughter; but I am a rebuker of them all.

The princes of Judah are like them that remove the landmark: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.

When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah'saw his wound, then went Ephraim to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound.

O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth early away.

Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.

And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now have their own doings beset them about; they are before my face.

They are all adulterers; they are as an oven heated by the baker; he ceaseth to stir the fire , from the kneading of the dough, until it be leavened.

On the day of our king the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with scoffers.

They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.

Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, and he knoweth it not.

They return, but not to him that is on high; they are like a deceitful bow; their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

He hath cast off thy calf, O Samaria; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?

Israel is swallowed up: now are they among the nations as a vessel wherein none delighteth.

For they are gone up to Assyria, like a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

I wrote for him the ten thousand things of my law; but they are counted as a strange thing.

For, lo, they are gone away from destruction; yet Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them; their pleasant things of silver, nettles shall possess them; thorns shall be in their tents.

The days of visitation are come, the days of recompense are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the man that hath the spirit is mad, for the abundance of thine iniquity, and because the enmity 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 unto 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 doings I will drive them out of my house; I will love them no more; all their princes are revolters.

When it is my desire, I will chastise them; and the peoples shall 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 Jehovah, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

So shall Beth-el do unto you because of your great wickedness: at daybreak shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off.

And my people are bent on backsliding from me: though they call them to him that is on high, none at all will exalt him .

How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how'shall I cast thee off, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how'shall I set thee as Zeboiim? my heart is turned within me, my compassions are kindled together.

He is a trafficker, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.

And Ephraim said, Surely I am become rich, I have found me wealth: in all my labors they shall find in me no iniquity that were sin.

Is Gilead iniquity? they are altogether false; in Gilgal they sacrifice bullocks; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field.

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

Where now is thy king, that he may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges, of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?

I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from death: O death, where are thy plagues? O Sheol, where is thy destruction? repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

Take with you words, and return unto Jehovah: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good: so will we render as bullocks the offering of our lips.

Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods; for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

Who is wise, that he may understand these things? prudent, that he may know them? for the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but transgressors shall fall therein.