And He said, Call his name Not-my-people. For you are not My people, and I will not be for you.

Yet the number of the sons of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, You are not My people, there it shall be said to them, You are the sons of the living God.

Say to your brothers, A People; and to your sisters, Mercy.

Contend! Contend with your mother, for she is not my wife, nor am I her husband. Let her therefore put away her fornications out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts,

And I will not have mercy on her sons, for they are the sons of adulteries.

Therefore behold, I will hedge your way with thorns, and wall up her wall, that she shall not find her paths.

And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, They are my rewards 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 to Me in the earth. And I will have mercy on No-mercy. And I will say to Not-my-people, You are My people. And they shall say, My God.

For the sons of Israel shall live many days with no king, and no ruler, and with no sacrifice, and no pillars, and no ephod, or teraphim.

Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another. For your people are as those who strive with the priest.

And you shall stumble in the day, and the prophet also shall stumble with you in the night, and I will cut off your mother.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being priest to Me. Since you have forgotten the Law of your God, I will also forget your sons, even I.

As they were increased, so they sinned against Me. I will change their glory into shame.

They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because its shade is good. So your daughters shall be harlots, and your brides shall commit adultery.

I will not punish your daughters when they fornicate, nor your wives when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go aside with harlots, and they sacrifice with temple prostitutes. The people who do not understand are thrown down.

Their drink is sour; they are continually fornicating; her rulers dearly love shame.

Hear this, O priests, and listen, house of Israel. And give ear, house of the king. For judgment is toward you, because you have been a snare on Mizpah and a net spread on Tabor.

The rulers of Judah were like movers of a border; I will pour out My wrath on them like water.

When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim went to the Assyrian and sent to King Jareb. Yet he could not heal you nor cure you of your wound.

O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your goodness is like a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goes away.

So I have cut them down by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth. And your judgments were as the light that goes forth.

And they do not say within their hearts that I remember all their evil. Now their own doings have hemmed them in; they are before My face.

They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by the baker; he stops stirring, from kneading the dough, while it is leavened.

In the day of our king, the rulers have sickened themselves with the heat of wine. He stretches out his hand with scorners.

They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges. All their kings have fallen; there is none among them who calls to Me.

Strangers have eaten up his strength, and he does not know. Yea, gray hairs are here and there on him, yet he knows it not.

They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a deceitful bow; their rulers shall fall by the sword from the rage of their tongue. This shall be their scorn in the land of Egypt.

Put a trumpet to your mouth. He comes like an eagle against the house of Jehovah, because they have broken My covenant and have sinned against My Law.

Your calf, O Samaria, has cast you off. My anger is kindled against them. Until when will they not attain purity?

I have written to him the great things of My Law, but they were counted as a strange thing.

O Israel, rejoice not for joy, like the peoples. For you have gone lusting away from your God; you have loved a reward on every grain floor.

The days of her judgment have come; the days of vengeance have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and the great hatred.

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first-fruit in the fig tree at her first time. But they went to Baal-peor and set themselves apart to a shameful thing; and they became abominable like that which they loved.

All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them. I will drive them out of My house for the wickedness of their doings. I will love them no more; all their rulers are revolters.

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground. For it is time to seek Jehovah, until He comes and rains righteousness on you.

You have plowed wickedness; you have reaped iniquity; you have eaten the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men.

And an uproar shall arise among your peoples, and all your fortresses shall be spoiled, as the ruin of Beth-arbel by Shalman in the day of battle. The mother was dashed in pieces on her sons.

So He does to you, Bethel, because of your great evil. In a morning the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off.

And My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they called them to the Most High, none at all would exalt Him.

How shall I give you up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver you, Israel? How shall I make you like Admah? How shall I set you as Zeboim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassions are kindled together.

I will not carry out the heat of My anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst; and I will not enter into the city.

Therefore turn to your God; keep mercy and judgment, and wait on your God forever.

He is a merchant; the scales of deceit are in his hand; he loves to oppress.

And I Jehovah, who have been your God from the land of Egypt, will yet make you to dwell in tents as in the days of the appointed feast.

Is there iniquity in Gilead? Surely they are vanity; they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal. Yes, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.

Yet I am Jehovah your God from the land of Egypt, and you shall know no God but Me. For there is no Savior besides Me.

According to their pasture, so were they filled. They were filled and their heart was lifted up. Therefore they have forgotten Me.

O Israel, you have destroyed yourself; but in Me is your help.

Where is your king now, that he may save you in all your cities; and your judges of whom you said, Give me a king and rulers?

I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, where are your plagues; O Grave, where is your ruin! Repentance shall be hidden from My eyes.

O Israel, return to Jehovah your God, for you have fallen by your iniquity.

Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah. Say to Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, that we may repay with the calves of our lips.

Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses. Nor shall we say any more to the work of our hands, Our gods, for in You the fatherless finds mercy.

Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him and watched him; I am like a green fir tree. Your fruit is found from Me.

Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? Understanding, and he shall know them? For the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but sinners shall fall in them.