They have turned away from me instead of turning to me. ¹  I tried over and over again ²  to instruct them, but they did not listen and respond to correction. ³ 

But they must make sure you learn to follow the religious practices of my people. ¹  Once they taught my people to swear their oaths using the name of the god Baal. ²  But then, they must swear oaths using my name, saying, “As surely as the Lord lives, I swear.” ³  If they do these things, ⁴  then they will be included among the people I call my own. ⁵ 

“My, how good you have become at chasing after your lovers! ¹  Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two! ² 

Instead they have followed the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts. They have paid allegiance to ¹  the gods called Baal, ²  as their fathers ³  taught them to do.

One friend deceives another and no one tells the truth. These people have trained themselves ¹  to tell lies. They do wrong and are unable to repent.

I said, ¹  “So now, ²  you wailing women, hear what the Lord says. ³  Open your ears to the words from his mouth. Teach your daughters this mournful song, and each of you teach your neighbor ⁴  this lament.

The Lord says, “Do not start following pagan religious practices. ¹  Do not be in awe of signs that occur ²  in the sky even though the nations hold them in awe.

What will you say ¹  when the Lord ²  appoints as rulers over you those allies that you, yourself, had actually prepared as such? ³  Then anguish and agony will grip you like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. ⁴ 

I have indeed ¹  heard the people of Israel ²  say mournfully, ‘We were like a calf untrained to the yoke. ³  You disciplined us and we learned from it. ⁴  Let us come back to you and we will do so, ⁵  for you are the Lord our God.

“People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. ¹  For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” ²  says the Lord. “For ³  I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”