⁶ The Lord will call you back^(A)
    as if you were a wife deserted^(B) and distressed in spirit—
a wife who married young,^(C)
    only to be rejected,” says your God.

¹⁴ “Therefore I am now going to allure her;
    I will lead her into the wilderness^(A)
    and speak tenderly to her.
¹⁵ There I will give her back her vineyards,
    and will make the Valley of Achor^[a](B) a door of hope.
There she will respond^[b](C) as in the days of her youth,^(D)
    as in the day she came up out of Egypt.^(E)

¹⁸ May your fountain^(A) be blessed,
    and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.^(B)

“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce^(A)
    with which I sent her away?
Or to which of my creditors
    did I sell^(B) you?
Because of your sins^(C) you were sold;^(D)
    because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.
² When I came, why was there no one?
    When I called, why was there no one to answer?^(E)
Was my arm too short^(F) to deliver you?
    Do I lack the strength^(G) to rescue you?
By a mere rebuke^(H) I dry up the sea,^(I)
    I turn rivers into a desert;^(J)
their fish rot for lack of water
    and die of thirst.

¹⁴ But Zion^(A) said, “The Lord has forsaken^(B) me,
    the Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵ “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
    and have no compassion on the child^(C) she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you!^(D)
16 See, I have engraved^(E) you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls^(F) are ever before me.
¹⁷ Your children hasten back,
    and those who laid you waste^(G) depart from you.
¹⁸ Lift up your eyes and look around;
    all your children gather^(H) and come to you.
As surely as I live,^(I)” declares the Lord,
    “you will wear^(J) them all as ornaments;
    you will put them on, like a bride.

¹⁹ “Though you were ruined and made desolate^(K)
    and your land laid waste,^(L)
now you will be too small for your people,^(M)
    and those who devoured^(N) you will be far away.
²⁰ The children born during your bereavement
    will yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too small for us;
    give us more space to live in.’^(O)
21 Then you will say in your heart,
    ‘Who bore me these?^(P)
I was bereaved^(Q) and barren;
    I was exiled and rejected.^(R)
    Who brought these^(S) up?
I was left^(T) all alone,^(U)
    but these—where have they come from?’”