⁷ For thus says the Lord:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
    and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
    “Save, O Lord, your people,
    the remnant of Israel.”^(D)
8 See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north
    and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
    those with child and those in labor together;
    a great company, they shall return here.^(E)
9 With weeping they shall come,
    and with consolations^[a] I will lead them back;
I will let them walk by brooks of water,
    in a straight path where they shall not stumble,
for I have become a father to Israel,
    and Ephraim is my firstborn.^(F)

¹⁰ Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
    and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him
    and will keep him as a shepherd does a flock.”^(G)

¹⁹ I thought
    how I would set you among my children
and give you a pleasant land,
    the most beautiful heritage of all the nations.
And I thought you would call to me, “My Father,”
    and would not turn from following me.^(B)
20 Instead, as a faithless wife leaves her husband,
    so you have been faithless to me, O house of Israel,
            says the Lord.^(C)

²¹ A voice on the bare heights^[a] is heard,
    the plaintive weeping of Israel’s children,
because they have perverted their way;
    they have forgotten the Lord their God:^(D)
22 Return, O faithless children,
    I will heal your faithlessness.

“Here we come to you,
    for you are the Lord our God.^(E)
23 Truly the hills are^[b] a delusion,
    a tumult on the mountains.
Truly in the Lord our God
    is the salvation of Israel.^(F)

Return, faithless Israel,
            says the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
    for I am merciful,
            says the Lord;
I will not be angry forever.^(A)
13 Only acknowledge your guilt,
    that you have rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree
    and have not obeyed my voice,
            says the Lord.^(B)
14 Return, O faithless children,
            says the Lord,
    for I am your husband;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
    and I will bring you to Zion.^(C)