Israel Will Return to God

3 Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a ^(A)lover^[a] and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.”

² So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. ³ And I said to her, “You shall ^(B)stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.”

⁴ For the children of Israel shall abide many days ^(C)without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ^(D)ephod or ^(E)teraphim. ⁵ Afterward the children of Israel shall return and ^(F)seek the Lord their God and ^(G)David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the ^(H)latter days.

⁴ For ^(A)whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the ^[a]patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

¹⁵ But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with ^(A)patience.^[a]