“‘I remember the devotion of your youth,^(B)
    how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the wilderness,^(C)
    through a land not sown.
³ Israel was holy^(D) to the Lord,^(E)
    the firstfruits^(F) of his harvest;
all who devoured^(G) her were held guilty,^(H)
    and disaster overtook them,’”
declares the Lord.

⁴ Hear the word of the Lord, you descendants of Jacob,
    all you clans of Israel.

“What fault did your ancestors find in me,
    that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols^(I)
    and became worthless^(J) themselves.
⁶ They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord,
    who brought us up out of Egypt^(K)
and led us through the barren wilderness,
    through a land of deserts^(L) and ravines,^(M)
a land of drought and utter darkness,
    a land where no one travels^(N) and no one lives?’
⁷ I brought you into a fertile land
    to eat its fruit and rich produce.^(O)
But you came and defiled my land
    and made my inheritance detestable.^(P)
8 The priests did not ask,
    ‘Where is the Lord?’
Those who deal with the law did not know me;^(Q)
    the leaders^(R) rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,^(S)
    following worthless idols.^(T)

⁹ “Therefore I bring charges^(U) against you again,”
declares the Lord.
    “And I will bring charges against your children’s children.
¹⁰ Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus^(V) and look,
    send to Kedar^[a](W) and observe closely;
    see if there has ever been anything like this:
¹¹ Has a nation ever changed its gods?
    (Yet they are not gods^(X) at all.)
But my people have exchanged their glorious^(Y) God
    for worthless idols.
¹² Be appalled at this, you heavens,
    and shudder with great horror,”
declares the Lord.
¹³ “My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken^(Z) me,
    the spring of living water,^(AA)
and have dug their own cisterns,
    broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
¹⁴ Is Israel a servant, a slave^(AB) by birth?
    Why then has he become plunder?
¹⁵ Lions^(AC) have roared;
    they have growled at him.
They have laid waste^(AD) his land;
    his towns are burned^(AE) and deserted.^(AF)
16 Also, the men of Memphis^(AG) and Tahpanhes^(AH)
    have cracked your skull.
¹⁷ Have you not brought this on yourselves^(AI)
    by forsaking^(AJ) the Lord your God
    when he led you in the way?
¹⁸ Now why go to Egypt^(AK)
    to drink water from the Nile^[b]?^(AL)
And why go to Assyria^(AM)
    to drink water from the Euphrates?^(AN)
19 Your wickedness will punish you;
    your backsliding^(AO) will rebuke^(AP) you.
Consider then and realize
    how evil and bitter^(AQ) it is for you
when you forsake^(AR) the Lord your God
    and have no awe^(AS) of me,”
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

²⁰ “Long ago you broke off your yoke^(AT)
    and tore off your bonds;^(AU)
    you said, ‘I will not serve you!’^(AV)
Indeed, on every high hill^(AW)
    and under every spreading tree^(AX)
    you lay down as a prostitute.^(AY)
21 I had planted^(AZ) you like a choice vine^(BA)
    of sound and reliable stock.
How then did you turn against me
    into a corrupt,^(BB) wild vine?
²² Although you wash^(BC) yourself with soap^(BD)
    and use an abundance of cleansing powder,
    the stain of your guilt is still before me,”
declares the Sovereign Lord.^(BE)
23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled;^(BF)
    I have not run after the Baals’?^(BG)
See how you behaved in the valley;^(BH)
    consider what you have done.
You are a swift she-camel
    running^(BI) here and there,
²⁴ a wild donkey^(BJ) accustomed to the desert,^(BK)
    sniffing the wind in her craving—
    in her heat who can restrain her?
Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves;
    at mating time they will find her.
²⁵ Do not run until your feet are bare
    and your throat is dry.
But you said, ‘It’s no use!^(BL)
    I love foreign gods,^(BM)
    and I must go after them.’^(BN)

²⁶ “As a thief is disgraced^(BO) when he is caught,
    so the people of Israel are disgraced—
they, their kings and their officials,
    their priests^(BP) and their prophets.^(BQ)
27 They say to wood,^(BR) ‘You are my father,’
    and to stone,^(BS) ‘You gave me birth.’
They have turned their backs^(BT) to me
    and not their faces;^(BU)
yet when they are in trouble,^(BV) they say,
    ‘Come and save^(BW) us!’
²⁸ Where then are the gods^(BX) you made for yourselves?
    Let them come if they can save you
    when you are in trouble!^(BY)
For you, Judah, have as many gods
    as you have towns.^(BZ)

²⁹ “Why do you bring charges against me?
    You have all^(CA) rebelled against me,”
declares the Lord.
³⁰ “In vain I punished your people;
    they did not respond to correction.^(CB)
Your sword has devoured your prophets^(CC)
    like a ravenous lion.

“Have I been a desert to Israel
    or a land of great darkness?^(CD)
Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam;
    we will come to you no more’?^(CE)
32 Does a young woman forget her jewelry,
    a bride her wedding ornaments?
Yet my people have forgotten^(CF) me,
    days without number.
³³ How skilled you are at pursuing^(CG) love!
    Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.
³⁴ On your clothes is found
    the lifeblood^(CH) of the innocent poor,
    though you did not catch them breaking in.^(CI)
Yet in spite of all this
³⁵     you say, ‘I am innocent;^(CJ)
    he is not angry with me.’
But I will pass judgment^(CK) on you
    because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’^(CL)
36 Why do you go about so much,
    changing^(CM) your ways?
You will be disappointed by Egypt^(CN)
    as you were by Assyria.
³⁷ You will also leave that place
    with your hands on your head,^(CO)
for the Lord has rejected those you trust;
    you will not be helped^(CP) by them.

“Inquire among the nations:
    Who has ever heard anything like this?^(Q)
A most horrible^(R) thing has been done
    by Virgin^(S) Israel.
¹⁴ Does the snow of Lebanon
    ever vanish from its rocky slopes?
Do its cool waters from distant sources
    ever stop flowing?^[a]
15 Yet my people have forgotten^(T) me;
    they burn incense^(U) to worthless idols,^(V)
which made them stumble^(W) in their ways,
    in the ancient paths.^(X)
They made them walk in byways,
    on roads not built up.^(Y)
16 Their land will be an object of horror^(Z)
    and of lasting scorn;^(AA)
all who pass by will be appalled^(AB)
    and will shake their heads.^(AC)
17 Like a wind^(AD) from the east,
    I will scatter them before their enemies;
I will show them my back and not my face^(AE)
    in the day of their disaster.”

¹⁹ Listen to me, Lord;
    hear what my accusers^(AK) are saying!
²⁰ Should good be repaid with evil?^(AL)
    Yet they have dug a pit^(AM) for me.
Remember that I stood^(AN) before you
    and spoke in their behalf^(AO)
    to turn your wrath away from them.
²¹ So give their children over to famine;^(AP)
    hand them over to the power of the sword.^(AQ)
Let their wives be made childless and widows;^(AR)
    let their men be put to death,
    their young men^(AS) slain by the sword in battle.
²² Let a cry^(AT) be heard from their houses
    when you suddenly bring invaders against them,
for they have dug a pit^(AU) to capture me
    and have hidden snares^(AV) for my feet.
²³ But you, Lord, know
    all their plots to kill^(AW) me.
Do not forgive^(AX) their crimes
    or blot out their sins from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
    deal with them in the time of your anger.^(AY)

“The people who survive the sword
    will find favor^(B) in the wilderness;
    I will come to give rest^(C) to Israel.”

“I have loved^(D) you with an everlasting love;
    I have drawn^(E) you with unfailing kindness.
⁴ I will build you up again,
    and you, Virgin^(F) Israel, will be rebuilt.^(G)
Again you will take up your timbrels^(H)
    and go out to dance^(I) with the joyful.^(J)
5 Again you will plant^(K) vineyards
    on the hills of Samaria;^(L)
the farmers will plant them
    and enjoy their fruit.^(M)
6 There will be a day when watchmen^(N) cry out
    on the hills of Ephraim,
‘Come, let us go up to Zion,
    to the Lord our God.’”^(O)

“Sing^(P) with joy for Jacob;
    shout for the foremost^(Q) of the nations.
Make your praises heard, and say,
    ‘Lord, save^(R) your people,
    the remnant^(S) of Israel.’
⁸ See, I will bring them from the land of the north^(T)
    and gather^(U) them from the ends of the earth.
Among them will be the blind^(V) and the lame,^(W)
    expectant mothers and women in labor;
    a great throng will return.
⁹ They will come with weeping;^(X)
    they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead^(Y) them beside streams of water^(Z)
    on a level^(AA) path where they will not stumble,
because I am Israel’s father,^(AB)
    and Ephraim is my firstborn son.

¹⁰ “Hear the word of the Lord, you nations;
    proclaim it in distant coastlands:^(AC)
‘He who scattered^(AD) Israel will gather^(AE) them
    and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’^(AF)
11 For the Lord will deliver Jacob
    and redeem^(AG) them from the hand of those stronger^(AH) than they.
¹² They will come and shout for joy^(AI) on the heights^(AJ) of Zion;
    they will rejoice in the bounty^(AK) of the Lord—
the grain, the new wine and the olive oil,^(AL)
    the young of the flocks^(AM) and herds.
They will be like a well-watered garden,^(AN)
    and they will sorrow^(AO) no more.
¹³ Then young women will dance and be glad,
    young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning^(AP) into gladness;
    I will give them comfort^(AQ) and joy^(AR) instead of sorrow.
¹⁴ I will satisfy^(AS) the priests^(AT) with abundance,
    and my people will be filled with my bounty,^(AU)”
declares the Lord.

“A voice is heard in Ramah,^(AV)
    mourning and great weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,^(AW)
    because they are no more.”^(AX)

“Restrain your voice from weeping
    and your eyes from tears,^(AY)
for your work will be rewarded,^(AZ)”
declares the Lord.
    “They will return^(BA) from the land of the enemy.
¹⁷ So there is hope^(BB) for your descendants,”
declares the Lord.
    “Your children^(BC) will return to their own land.

¹⁸ “I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning:
    ‘You disciplined^(BD) me like an unruly calf,^(BE)
    and I have been disciplined.
Restore^(BF) me, and I will return,
    because you are the Lord my God.
¹⁹ After I strayed,^(BG)
    I repented;
after I came to understand,
    I beat^(BH) my breast.
I was ashamed^(BI) and humiliated
    because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’^(BJ)
20 Is not Ephraim my dear son,
    the child^(BK) in whom I delight?
Though I often speak against him,
    I still remember^(BL) him.
Therefore my heart yearns for him;
    I have great compassion^(BM) for him,”
declares the Lord.

²¹ “Set up road signs;
    put up guideposts.^(BN)
Take note of the highway,^(BO)
    the road that you take.
Return,^(BP) Virgin^(BQ) Israel,
    return to your towns.
²² How long will you wander,^(BR)
    unfaithful^(BS) Daughter Israel?
The Lord will create a new thing^(BT) on earth—
    the woman will return to^[b](BU) the man.”

‘The parents^(CK) have eaten sour grapes,
    and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’^(CL)

³¹ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will make a new covenant^(CN)
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
³² It will not be like the covenant^(CO)
    I made with their ancestors^(CP)
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,^(CQ)
because they broke my covenant,
    though I was a husband^(CR) to^[d] them,^[e]”
declares the Lord.
³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds^(CS)
    and write it on their hearts.^(CT)
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.^(CU)
34 No longer will they teach^(CV) their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know^(CW) me,
    from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive^(CX) their wickedness
    and will remember their sins^(CY) no more.”

he who appoints^(CZ) the sun
    to shine by day,
who decrees the moon and stars
    to shine by night,^(DA)
who stirs up the sea^(DB)
    so that its waves roar^(DC)—
    the Lord Almighty is his name:^(DD)
36 “Only if these decrees^(DE) vanish from my sight,”
    declares the Lord,
“will Israel^(DF) ever cease
    being a nation before me.”

“Only if the heavens above can be measured^(DG)
    and the foundations of the earth below be searched out
will I reject^(DH) all the descendants of Israel
    because of all they have done,”
declares the Lord.