¹⁵ Thus says the Lord:
^(A)“A voice is heard in ^(B)Ramah,
    lamentation and bitter weeping.
^(C)Rachel is weeping for her children;
    she refuses to be comforted for her children,
    ^(D)because they are no more.”

¹⁶ Thus says the Lord:
“Keep your voice from weeping,
    and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work,
declares the Lord,
    and ^(E)they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
^17 (F)There is hope for your future,
declares the Lord,
    and your children shall come back to their own country.
¹⁸ I have heard ^(G)Ephraim grieving,
‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
    like an untrained calf;
^(H)bring me back that I may be restored,
    for you are the Lord my God.
¹⁹ For after ^(I)I had turned away, I relented,
    and after I was instructed, ^(J)I struck my thigh;
^(K)I was ashamed, and I was confounded,
    because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
^20 (L)Is Ephraim my dear son?
    ^(M)Is he my darling child?
For as often as I speak against him,
    I do remember him still.
^(N)Therefore my heart^[a] yearns for him;
    I will surely have mercy on him,
declares the Lord.

^21 (O)“Set up road markers for yourself;
    make yourself guideposts;
^(P)consider well the highway,
    ^(Q)the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
    return to these your cities.
^22 (R)How long will you waver,
    ^(S)O faithless daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:
    a woman encircles a man.”