Their mother has played the prostitute; she who conceived them has behaved shamefully. She said, “I will seek out my lovers; they give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen cloth, my oil and my drink.”

She will go after her lovers, but she won’t catch up with them; she will seek them, but she won’t find them. Then she will say, “I will return to my first husband, for I had it better then than now.”

Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king; they will come trembling to the Lord and to the Lord’s goodness in the latter days.

With their sheep and their cattle they will go to seek the Lord, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.

I will leave so that I can return to my place until they pay for their deeds, until they seek me. In their distress, they will beg for my favor:

Israel’s pride is a witness against him; yet they don’t return to the Lord their God, or seek him because of all this.

Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap faithful love; break up your unplanted ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.