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.

She will pursue her lovers, but she won't catch up with them. She will seek them, but she won't find them. Then she will say, "I'll go back and return to my first husband, because it was better for me then than now.'

So now I'll reveal her lewdness to the eyes of her lovers, and no man will rescue her from my control.

I'll destroy her vines and her fig trees, about which she said, "These are the earnings that my lovers paid me. I'll make them grow into a forest, and the wild animals will eat from them.'

"Therefore, look! I will now allure her. I will make her go out to the wilderness, and will speak to her heart.

There I will restore her vineyards to her, and the Valley of Achor will become a doorway to hope. There she will respond as she did in her youth, when she came up from Egypt."

"It will come about at that time," declares the LORD, "that you will address me as "My husband,' and you will no longer call me "My master'.

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

I will make a covenant with them at that time, a covenant with the wild animals of the field, with the birds of the air, and with the creatures of the ground. I will banish the battle bow, the sword, and war from the earth. I will cause my people to lie down where it is safe.

I will make you my wife forever I will make you my wife in a way that is righteous, in a manner that is just, by a love that is gracious, and by a motive that is mercy.

I will make you my wife because of my faithfulness, and you will know the LORD.

"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.'"

I told her, "You will remain with me a long time, you won't be promiscuous, you won't be involved with any man, and I'll do the same."

Likewise, the people of Israel will dwell a long time without a king, without a prince, without sacrifice, without sacred pillars, and with neither ephod nor teraphim.

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.

Therefore the land will mourn, and all who live there will languish, along with the wild animals of the field and the birds of the air. Even the fish in the sea will disappear.

So you will stumble during the day, the prophet also will stumble with you at night, and I will destroy your mother.

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.

So it will be: like people, like priest. I will punish them for their lifestyles, rewarding them according to their behavior.

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.

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.

For Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn mule! Nevertheless, will not the LORD feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?

A wind storm will carry them away in its embrace, and their sacrifices will bring them shame."

The arrogance of Israel testifies against him; therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity, and Judah with them.

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.

Ephraim will be desolate when it is rebuked. I have made known among the tribes of Israel what will surely come about.

The princes of Judah have become like those who move boundary markers: I will pour out my anger on them like water.

Therefore I will consume Ephraim like a moth, and the house of Judah as rottenness consumes.

Therefore I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I even I will tear them to pieces, and then I will leave. I will take them away, and there will be no rescue.

"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."

"Come, let us return to the LORD; even though he has torn us, he will heal us. Even though he has wounded us, he will bind our wounds.

After two days, he will restore us to life, on the third day he will raise us up, and we will live in his presence.

Let us know, let us pursue knowledge of the LORD; his coming is as certain as the dawn. He will come to us like the rain, like the autumn and spring rains come on the earth.

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 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.

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."

"Sound the ram's horn! Like a vulture the enemy will come against the Temple of the LORD, because Israel violated my covenant, transgressing my Law.

"Israel has discarded what is good. The enemy will pursue them.

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.

Because from Israel it was fashioned by craftsmen, it is not God; therefore Samaria's calf will be broken in pieces.

"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.

"The more altars Ephraim builds for sin, the more altars there will be for sin.

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.

"Israel has neglected its maker in building palaces. Judah has multiplied its fortified cities, but I will send fire to their cities, and it will consume their fortresses."

Neither threshing floor nor winepress will sustain them, and the new wine will disappoint her.

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.

"What will you do on the designated holiday, when the LORD's festival comes?

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.

While Ephraim stands watch with my God, the prophet has snares set that will trap his ways, and hostility lodges in the Temple of his God.

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.

The glory of Ephraim will fly away like a bird no birth, no pregnancy, not even a conception.

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."

Give them, LORD What will you give? You will give them a womb that miscarries and dry breasts.

"All of their wickedness started in Gilgal, because I began to hate them there. Because of the wickedness of their behavior, I will drive them from my Temple. I will not love them anymore; all their leaders are rebels.

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."

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?'

"The residents of Samaria will be terrified because of the cows of Beth-aven. Its people will mourn over Beth-aven, along with the priests who will mourn its glory, because that glory has departed.

Indeed, that glory will be carried to Assyria it will become a present for an avenging king. Ephraim will be disgraced, and Israel will become ashamed of its decision.

Samaria's king will float away like driftwood on the surface of water.

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!'

When I'm ready, I will chasten them; and the people will gather against them, to imprison them for their two unrighteous acts."

"Ephraim, the well-trained heifer, loves to thresh grain, so I will spare her neck. I will turn Ephraim into a pack animal. Judah will pull the plow, and Jacob will turn up the fallow ground.

Therefore a disaster will come upon your people, and all of your fortresses will be ruined. As Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel in wartime, mothers were dashed to pieces along with their children.

The same will happen to you, Bethel, because of your great evil early one morning the king of Israel will be totally silenced."

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

The sword will fall on their cities, consuming and devouring their fortified gates, despite their planning.

"How can I give up on you, Ephraim? I will deliver you, will I not, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? I can't make you like Zeboim, can I? My heart stirs within me; my compassion also fans into flame!

I will not act in my anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim, For I am God, and not a human the Holy One among you so I will not enter the city in anger.

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.

The LORD accuses Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him for what he does.

Ephraim claims, "I have become rich, I have made a fortune! Because of all my wealth, no one will find any iniquity or sin in me.'

"Yet I remain the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. I will make you live in tents again, as in the festival of that name.

Ephraim has stirred up violent anger; therefore the guilt of his blood will remain on him, and his Lord will repay him for his contempt."

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."

"So I will be like a lion to them. Like a leopard I will stalk them along the road.

I will confront them like a bear deprived of her cubs; I will tear open their ribs. I will devour them like a lion the wild beasts will rip them apart.

Now where is your king? Will he save you in all your cities? And where are your judges, about whom you demanded, "Give me a king and officials!'?

When the time of childbirth comes, he will be so foolish that he will refuse to be born."

"From the power of Sheol I will rescue them, from death I will redeem them. Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction? My eyes will remain closed to your pleas for compassion.

Even though he is fruitful compared to his relatives, an east wind will come, the LORD's wind storm from the wilderness, and his spring will evaporate. His fountain will dry up, and the LORD's wind storm will plunder all the expensive vessels of the treasury.

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."

Bring a prepared speech with you as you return to the LORD. Say to him: "Take away all our iniquity, and accept what is good. Then we will present the fruit of our lips.

Assyria won't save us; we won't be riding on horses, Nor will we be saying anymore to the work of our hands, "You are our God." Indeed, in you the orphan finds mercy.'

"I will correct their apostasy, loving them freely, since my anger will have turned away from them.

I will be like the dew to Israel; Israel will blossom like a lily, growing roots like the cedars of Lebanon.

Israel's branches will spread out, and its beauty will be like an olive tree, with its scent like that of Lebanon.

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.

"Ephraim, what have I in common with idols? I have listened and will pay attention to him. I am like a flourishing cypress; in me will your fruit be found."