What do you think you will gain by going to Egypt to drink water from the Nile? What do you think you will gain by going to Assyria to drink water from the Euphrates?

How can you say you have not defiled yourself, that you have never worshiped Baal? Look how you sinned in the valley; see what you have done. You are like a wild camel in heat, running around loose,

You have cheapened yourself by turning to the gods of other nations. You will be disappointed by Egypt, just as you were by Assyria.

Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart, so that you may be saved. How long will you go on thinking sinful thoughts?

He has seen you do the things he hates. He has seen you go after pagan gods on the hills and in the fields, like a man lusting after his neighbor's wife or like a stallion after a mare. People of Jerusalem, you are doomed! When will you ever be pure?

I hate the gold bull worshiped by the people of the city of Samaria. I am furious with them. How long will it be before they give up their idolatry?

When Josiah was king, the LORD said to me, "Have you seen what Israel, that unfaithful woman, has done? She has turned away from me, and on every high hill and under every green tree she has acted like a prostitute.

Judah also saw that I divorced Israel and sent her away because she had turned from me and had become a prostitute. But Judah, Israel's unfaithful sister, was not afraid. She too became a prostitute

Then the LORD told me that, even though Israel had turned away from him, she had proved to be better than unfaithful Judah.

He told me to go and say to Israel, "Unfaithful Israel, come back to me. I am merciful and will not be angry; I will not be angry with you forever.

"Unfaithful people, come back; you belong to me. I will take one of you from each town and two from each clan, and I will bring you back to Mount Zion.

Return, all of you who have turned away from the LORD; he will heal you and make you faithful. You say, "Yes, we are coming to the LORD because he is our God.

But they did not obey or pay any attention. Instead, they did whatever their stubborn and evil hearts told them to do, and they became worse instead of better.

The LORD told me to say to his people, "When someone falls down, doesn't he get back up? If someone misses the road, doesn't he turn back?

I listened carefully, but you did not speak the truth. Not one of you has been sorry for your wickedness; not one of you has asked, 'What have I done wrong?' Each of you keep on going your own way, like a horse rushing into battle.

My people cry out to me, 'Even though our sins accuse us, help us, LORD, as you have promised. We have turned away from you many times; we have sinned against you.

Why do you unfaithful people boast? Your strength is failing. Why do you trust in your power and say that no one would dare attack you?

The people of Israel are as stubborn as mules. How can I feed them like lambs in a meadow?

They insist on turning away from me. They will cry out because of the yoke that is on them, but no one will lift it from them.

The LORD says, "I will bring my people back to me. I will love them with all my heart; no longer am I angry with them.

"But my people stubbornly refused to listen. They closed their minds

But if the LORD does something unheard of, and the earth opens up and swallows them with all they own, so that they go down alive to the world of the dead, you will know that these men have rejected the LORD."

I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel."

Well then, the Lord himself will give you a sign: a young woman who is pregnant will have a son and will name him 'Immanuel.'

She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus---because he will save his people from their sins."

Mary said to the angel, "I am a virgin. How, then, can this be?"

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and God's power will rest upon you. For this reason the holy child will be called the Son of God.

But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law,