The Lord ’s Love for Israel

¹When Israel was a child, I loved him,[#2:15; #Deut. 7:8; 14:4]

and out of Egypt I called my son.

²The more they were called,[#7]

the more they went away;

they kept sacrificing to the Baals

and burning offerings to idols.

³Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;[#7:15; Deut. 1:31]

I took them up by their arms,

but they did not know that I healed them.

⁴I led them with cords of kindness,[#Jer. 31:3; John 6:44; 12:32; #11:4 Or humaneness ; Hebrew]

with the bands of love,

and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,

and I bent down to them and fed them.

⁵They shall not return to the land of Egypt,[#8:13; #11:5 Or surely]

but Assyria shall be their king,

because they have refused to return to me.

⁶The sword shall rage against their cities,[#10:14]

consume the bars of their gates,

and devour them because of their own counsels.

⁷My people are bent on turning away from me,[#14:4]

and though they call out to the Most High,

he shall not raise them up at all.

⁸How can I give you up, O Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, O Israel?

How can I make you like Admah?

How can I treat you like Zeboiim?

My heart recoils within me;

my compassion grows warm and tender.

⁹I will not execute my burning anger;

I will not again destroy Ephraim;

for I am God and not a man,

the Holy One in your midst,

and I will not come in wrath.

¹⁰They shall go after the Lord ;[#3:5]

he will roar like a lion;

when he roars,

his children shall come trembling from the west;

¹¹they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt,[#8:13]

and like doves from the land of Assyria,

and I will return them to their homes, declares the Lord .

¹²Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,[#11:12 Ch 12:1 in Hebrew; #7:13]

and the house of Israel with deceit,

but Judah still walks with God

and is faithful to the Holy One.