And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him: “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, But I will utterly take them away.

Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, Will save them by the Lord their God, And will not save them by bow, Nor by sword or battle, By horses or horsemen.”

Then God said: “Call his name Lo-Ammi, For you are not My people, And I will not be your God.

The Restoration of Israel

“Yet the number of the children of Israel Shall be as the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There it shall be said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God.’

God’s Unfaithful People

“Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, And her adulteries from between her breasts;

God’s Mercy on His People

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her.

Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’ ”

Israel Will Return to God

Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.”

Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.

God’s Charge Against Israel

Hear the word of the Lord, You children of Israel, For the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

My people ask counsel from their wooden idols, And their staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, And they have played the harlot against their God.

“They do not direct their deeds Toward turning to their God, For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, And they do not know the Lord.

For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Israel Has Rebelled Against God

“When I would have healed Israel, Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, And the wickedness of Samaria. For they have committed fraud; A thief comes in; A band of robbers takes spoil outside.

And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, But they do not return to the Lord their God, Nor seek Him for all this.

Israel will cry to Me, ‘My God, we know You!’

For from Israel is even this: A workman made it, and it is not God; But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

Judgment of Israel’s Sin

Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples, For you have played the harlot against your God. You have made love for hire on every threshing floor.

The watchman of Ephraim is with my God; But the prophet is a fowler’s snare in all his ways— Enmity in the house of his God.

My God will cast them away, Because they did not obey Him; And they shall be wanderers among the nations.

God’s Continuing Love for Israel

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.

I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, The Holy One in your midst; And I will not come with terror.

God’s Charge Against Ephraim

“Ephraim has encircled Me with lies, And the house of Israel with deceit; But Judah still walks with God, Even with the Holy One who is faithful.

Ephraim’s Sins Rebuked by God

“Ephraim feeds on the wind, And pursues the east wind; He daily increases lies and desolation. Also they make a covenant with the Assyrians, And oil is carried to Egypt.