¹⁵ Thus saith the Lord: “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were no more.”

¹⁶ Thus saith the Lord; “Restrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded,” saith the Lord; “and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.

¹⁷ And there is hope in thine end,” saith the Lord, “that thy children shall come back to their own border.

¹⁸ “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus: ‘Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke; turn Thou me, and I shall be turned, for Thou art the Lord my God.

¹⁹ Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’

²⁰ Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since I spoke against him, I do earnestly remember him still; therefore My heart is troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him,” saith the Lord.