She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’

Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.

Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the Lord now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore; Israel is defiled.

They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

But they do not consider that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face.

As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the Lord does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt.

Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will break down their altars and destroy their pillars.

For now they will say: “We have no king, for we do not fear the Lord; and a king—what could he do for us?”

And now they sin more and more, and make for themselves metal images, idols skillfully made of their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. It is said of them, “Those who offer human sacrifice kiss calves!”

Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities? Where are all your rulers— those of whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”?