" But I said: 'How can I put you among the children And give you a pleasant land, A beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations?' " And I said: 'You shall call Me, "My Father," And not turn away from Me.'

They shall come with weeping, And with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, In a straight way in which they shall not stumble; For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim [is] My firstborn.

" I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: 'You have chastised me, and I was chastised, Like an untrained bull; Restore me, and I will return, For You [are] the LORD my God.

[Is] Ephraim My dear son? [Is he] a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still; Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the LORD.

O Israel, return to the LORD your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;

Assyria shall not save us, We will not ride on horses, Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, '[You are] our gods.' For in You the fatherless finds mercy."

Saying to a tree, 'You [are] my father,' And to a stone, 'You gave birth to me.' For they have turned [their] back to Me, and not [their] face. But in the time of their trouble They will say, 'Arise and save us.'

"Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the LORD: "I remember you, The kindness of your youth, The love of your betrothal, When you went after Me in the wilderness, In a land not sown.

For this [is] God, Our God forever and ever; He will be our guide [Even] to death.

For You are my hope, O Lord GOD; [You are] my trust from my youth.

O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this [day] I declare Your wondrous works.

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.

To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion --

Who forsakes the companion of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God.

I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

Yet you say, "For what reason?" Because the LORD has been witness Between you and the wife of your youth, With whom you have dealt treacherously; Yet she is your companion And your wife by covenant.