⁵ For their mother has prostituted herself;
    she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, “I will go after my lovers;
    they give me my bread and my water,
    my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.”^(A)
6 Therefore I will hedge up her^[a] way with thorns,
    and I will build a wall against her
    so that she cannot find her paths.^(B)
7 She shall pursue her lovers
    but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
    but shall not find them.
Then she shall say, “I will go
    and return to my first husband,
    for it was better with me then than now.”^(C)
8 She did not know
    that it was I who gave her
    the grain, the wine, and the oil
and who lavished upon her silver
    and gold that they used for Baal.^(D)
9 Therefore I will take back
    my grain in its time
    and my wine in its season,
and I will take away my wool and my flax,
    which were to cover her nakedness.