Hosea 11:1-7

Common English Bible

11 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
        and out of Egypt I called my son.
² The more I called them,
        the further they went from me;
    they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
        and they burned incense to idols.
³ Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
        I took them up in my arms,
        but they did not know that I healed them.
⁴ I led them
        with bands of human kindness,
        with cords of love.
    I treated them like those
        who lift infants to their cheeks;
        I bent down to them and fed them.

⁵ They will return to the land of Egypt,
        and Assyria will be their king,
        because they have refused to return to me.
⁶ The sword will strike wildly in their cities;
        it will consume the bars of their gates
        and will take everything because of their schemes.
⁷ My people are bent on turning away from me;
        and though they cry out to the Most High,^[a]
        he will not raise them up.