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.

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.

They will go, with their flocks and their herds, in search of the Lord, but they will not see him; he has taken himself out of their view.

In Israel I have seen a very evil thing; there false ways are seen in Ephraim, Israel is unclean;

For see, they are going away into Assyria; Egypt will get them together, Memphis will be their last resting-place; their fair silver vessels will be covered over with field plants, and thorns will come up in their tents.

As I have seen a beast whose young have been taken from her, so Ephraim will give birth to children only for them to be put to death.

Put in the seed of righteousness, get in your grain in mercy, let your unploughed earth be turned up: for it is time to make search for the Lord, till he comes and sends righteousness on you like rain.

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

He who is wise will see these things; he who has good sense will have knowledge of them. For the ways of the Lord are straight, and the upright will go in them, but sinners will be falling in them.