Add parallel Print Page Options

Have you not just now called to me,
    “My Father, you are the friend of my youth—(A)

Read full chapter

Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord:

I remember the devotion of your youth,
    your love as a bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
    in a land not sown.(A)

Read full chapter

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.(A)

Read full chapter

15 From there I will give her her vineyards
    and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she shall respond as in the days of her youth,
    as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.(A)

Read full chapter

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.(A)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 31.9 Gk: Heb supplications

17 who forsakes the partner of her youth
    and forgets her sacred covenant,

Read full chapter

17 O God, from my youth you have taught me,
    and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.(A)

Read full chapter

14 You ask, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was a witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.(A)

Read full chapter

A Plea for Repentance

14 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
    for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.(A)
Take words with you
    and return to the Lord;
say to him,
    “Take away all guilt;
accept that which is good,
    and we will offer
    the fruit[a] of our lips.(B)
Assyria shall not save us;
    we will not ride upon horses;
we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
    to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.”(C)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 14.2 Gk Syr: Heb bulls

18 Indeed, I heard Ephraim pleading:
“You disciplined me, and I took the discipline;
    I was like an untrained calf.
Bring me back; let me come back,
    for you are the Lord my God.(A)
19 For after I had turned away I repented,
    and after I was discovered, I struck my thigh;
I was ashamed, and I was dismayed
    because I bore the disgrace of my youth.”(B)
20 Is Ephraim my dear son?
    Is he the child in whom I delight?
As often as I speak against him,
    I still remember him.
Therefore I am deeply moved for him;
    I will surely have mercy on him,
            says the Lord.(C)

Read full chapter

27 who say to a tree, “You are my father,”
    and to a stone, “You gave me birth.”
For they have turned their backs to me
    and not their faces.
But in the time of their trouble they say,
    “Come and save us!”(A)

Read full chapter

to teach shrewdness to the simple,
    knowledge and prudence to the young—(A)

Read full chapter

How can young people keep their way pure?
    By guarding it according to your word.(A)

Read full chapter

For you, O Lord, are my hope,
    my trust, O Lord, from my youth.(A)

Read full chapter

14     that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
    He will be our guide forever.(A)

Read full chapter