And the people of Judah and the people of Israel will be united as one. They will appoint for themselves a single leader and will take dominion over the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.

Furthermore, I'll not show pity on her children, since they are children of prostitution.

She didn't recognize that it was I who provided her grain, wine, and oil, and it was I who gave her silver, while they crafted gold for Baal.

I will remove the names of the Baals from her vocabulary they will not be remembered by their names anymore.

"It will come about at that time that I will respond," declares the LORD, "I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth.

The earth will respond with grain, new wine, and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.

I will plant my people in the land for myself. I will show mercy on her who has received no mercy I will say to those who are not my people, "You are my people!' and they will say, "You are my God.'"

Then the LORD told me: "Go love your wife again, even though she is being loved by another and is committing adultery. Love her the same way the LORD loves the people of Israel, even though they look to other gods and love raisin cakes."

Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come in awe to the LORD and to his goodness in the last days.

My people are destroyed because they lack knowledge of me. Because you rejected that knowledge, I will reject you as a priest for me. Since you forget the Law of your God, I will also forget your children.

"The more they increased in number, the more they sinned against me, so I will change their glory into shame.

They feed on the sin of my people; they purpose in their heart to transgress.

They will eat, but will not be satisfied. They will engage in prostitution, but they won't increase, because they have stopped listening to the LORD.

My people seek counsel from their piece of wood, and their diviner's rod speaks to them. For a spirit of prostitution causes them to go astray; in their immorality they desert their God.

They offer sacrifices on the mountain tops, burning offerings on the hills, under oaks, poplars, and terebinth trees, since their shade is very good. Therefore your daughters are prostitutes and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

However, I'm not going to punish your daughters when they commit prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because their men are themselves immoral they offer sacrifices with prostitutes. These people who aren't discerning will stumble.

While drinking to excess, they prostitute themselves. They're in love with dishonor.

"Their actions hinder them from turning to their God, because a spirit of fornication is in their midst, and the LORD they do not know.

They will go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.

They have been unfaithful to the LORD, having raised unbelieving children. In the coming month they will be devoured, along with their fields.

"I will leave and go back to my place until they admit their offense and seek my face. When affliction comes to them, they will eagerly seek me."

"But like Adam, they broke the covenant; in this they have acted deceitfully against me.

"When I was healing Israel, Ephraim's sin was uncovered, along with Samaria's wickedness. While they craft lying schemes, the thief invades, and the gang of thieves plunders outside.

It never occurs to them that I remember all their sin. Now their actions have caught up with them, and they have my attention.

They please the king with their evil, and the princes with their dishonesty.

All of them are adulterers they burn like an oven prepared by the baker, who has ceased stoking it until the dough is leavened.

For they have stirred up themselves like an oven as they lie in ambush. Their baker sleeps through the night; in the morning, the oven will be blazing like a fire.

They all burn like an oven; they have consumed their judges; all their kings have fallen not even one of them calls on me.

Israel's arrogance testifies against him; but they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him in all of this.

"Ephraim is also like a silly dove, lacking sense: They call out to Egypt, and turn toward Assyria.

When they go, I'll cast my net over them. I'll bring them down, as one shoots birds in the sky. I'll chasten them, as the assembly has already heard.

Woe to them because they have run away from me. Ruin to them because they have sinned against me. Even though I redeemed them, they spread lies against me.

They will not cry to me from their heart instead, they wail on their beds. They gather together to eat and drink, turning away from me.

"Though I have taught them and strengthened their arms, nevertheless they plot evil against me.

They return but not to the Most High. They are like a defective weapon. Their princes will fall by the sword because of their raging tongue, and they will be a laughingstock in the land of Egypt."

They cry out to me, "God, we of Israel acknowledge you.'

They set kings in place, but not by me. They established princes, whom I did not recognize. They crafted idols for themselves from their silver and gold; as a result, they will be destroyed.

Your calf, Samaria, has been thrown away. My anger is burning against them. How long until they become pure again?

"Because they sow the wind, they will reap the wind storm. The plant has no stalk and its bud yields no grain. Even if there's a harvest, foreigners will gobble it up.

Israel has been devoured; now they will live among the nations like a worthless container.

"Because they went over to Assyria, they are like a wild donkey alone by itself. Ephraim has hired some lovers.

Even though they sold themselves to the nations, I will gather them. They will mourn for a while for the burden they were to the king and princes.

I prescribed great things from my Law for them, but they considered them profane.

They offer me meat from the sacrifices of my offerings, and they eat from it, but the LORD does not accept them. He will now remember their transgression and pay them back for their sins; to Egypt they will return.

They will not live in the LORD's land Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.

They won't present wine offerings to the LORD, nor will they please him. Their sacrifices will seem like food for mourners everyone who eats them will become unclean; none of them will enter the Temple of the LORD.

Look! They have gone away because of the destruction Egypt will gather them up, and Memphis will bury them. Weeds will overgrow their inheritance, and thorns will grow in their tents.

They have corrupted themselves deeply, as did Gibeah in its day. Therefore God will remember their lawlessness, and he will pay them back for their sins.

"I found Israel, as one finds grapes in the wilderness; Your ancestors seemed to me like the fruit gleaned from a fig tree's first harvest. When they went to Baal-peor, they devoted themselves to that filth, and they became loathsome, like what they loved.

Even if they rear their children, I will, in turn, make them childless in fact, woe to them when I turn away from them!

Ephraim, as I see it, is like Tyre, planted in a comfortable place; Ephraim will bear children but they will be executed."

Ephraim is blighted; its roots shriveled. It can bear no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will kill their cherished offspring.

"My God will reject them, because they did not obey him, and they will become wanderers among the nations."

"Israel, the overgrown vine, bears fruit like itself; the more fruitful they become, the more altars they build. The better the land, the more ornate the stone idols.

Their hearts are divided; from now on they are to be found guilty. God will tear down their altars, he will destroy their stone idols.

From now on they will say, "We have no king, because we did not fear the LORD and what would a king do for us?'

Their word is falsely given as they make their agreements; so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.

Destroyed will be the high places of Aven, that are the sin of Israel. Both thorn and thistle will grow up over their altars. They will call out to the mountains, "Cover us!' and to the hills, "Fall on us!'

"From the time of Gibeah, you have sinned, Israel; There they took their stand; the battle at Gibeah could not subdue the lawless.

The more I called out to them, the farther they fled from me; they sacrificed to Baals, burning incense to carved images.

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, supporting them by their arms, but they never knew that I was healing them.

"They will not return to the land of Egypt; instead, the Assyrian will be their king, because they kept refusing to repent.

My people are determined to turn away from me; though they call to the Most High, no one is worshiping.

They will go after the LORD, who will roar like a lion; and when he roars, the children will come trembling from the west.

Trembling like a bird, they will come out of Egypt, and as a dove from the land of Assyria; and I will settle them in their houses," declares the LORD.

"Ephraim feeds on the wind, chasing after the eastern winds, storing up lies and desolation day after day. They are making a contract with the Assyrians, and sending oil to Egypt.

"There's iniquity in Gilead, isn't there? They have become truly vain. They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal; their altars are like piles of stone in furrowed fields.

"When the tribe of Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; and it was exalted within Israel. But when they offended God by Baal, they died,

but now they are sinning more and more, crafting idols from melted silver. Their idols are made with the most exacting skill, all of it the work of craftsmen. People say about them, "They offer human sacrifice, and kiss calf-shaped idols.'

Therefore they will be like morning clouds, like early morning dew that evaporates, like chaff blown away from the threshing floor, or like smoke from a chimney."

As their pastures flourished, all their desires were met. As they were satiated, they became arrogant and therefore ignored me.

Samaria will be held guilty, because she has rebelled against her God. By the sword they will fall with their infants dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women torn open."

Those who live under its protection will surely return. Their grain will flourish; they will blossom like a vine, and Israel's scent will be like wine from Lebanon.