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."

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;

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.'

So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley.

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

They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they won't find him. He has withdrawn himself from them.

"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.

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

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.

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.

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.

But although they sold themselves among the nations, I will now gather them; and they begin to waste away because of the oppression of the king of mighty ones.

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.

For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire on his cities, and it will devour its fortresses."

They won't dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.

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.

I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place; but Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer.

Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh; so I will put a yoke on her beautiful neck. I will set a rider on Ephraim. Judah will plow. Jacob will break his clods.

Yet I taught Ephraim to walk. I took them by his arms; but they did not know that I healed them.

"They won't return into the land of Egypt; but the Assyrian will be their king, because they refused to repent.

The sword will fall on their cities, and will destroy the bars of their gates, and will put an end to their plans.

"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.

When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He exalted himself in Israel, but when he became guilty in Baal, he died.

"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.

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.