The Lord's Love for Israel
1 1When Israel was a child,
2I loved him, and out of Egypt I
3called
4my son.
2
5The more they were called, the more they went away;
6they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.
3
Yet it was
7I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that
8I healed them.
4
9I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and
10I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and
11I bent down to them and fed them.
5
12They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but
13Assyria shall be their king,
14because
15they have refused to return to me.
6
16The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them
17because of their own counsels.
7
My people are bent
18on turning away from me, and though
19they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all.
8
How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel?
20How can I make you
21like Admah? How can I treat you
22like Zeboiim?
23My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.
9
I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim;
24for I am God and not a man,
25the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.
10
26They shall go after the LORD;
27he will roar like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling
28from the west;
11
they shall come trembling like birds
29from Egypt, and
30like doves
31from the land of Assyria, and I will return them to their homes, declares the LORD.
12
Ephraim
32has surrounded me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit, but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One.