I spelled out my law for him in great detail, but they regard it as something totally unknown ¹  to them!

Then I told her, “You must live with me many days; you must not commit adultery or have sexual intercourse with ¹  another man, and I also will wait for you.”

You have destroyed ¹  my people by failing to acknowledge me! Because you refuse to acknowledge me, ²  I will reject you as my priests. Because you reject ³  the law of your God, I will reject ⁴  your descendants.

I have seen a disgusting thing in the temple of Israel: there Ephraim practices temple prostitution and Judah defiles itself.

What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim? What am I going to do with you, O Judah? For ¹  your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist; ²  it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew! ³ 

But I will have pity on the nation ¹  of Judah. ²  I will deliver them by the Lord their God; I will not deliver them by the warrior’s bow, by sword, by military victory, ³  by chariot horses, or by chariots.” ⁴ 

“At that time ¹  I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will abolish ²  the warrior’s bow and sword – that is, every weapon of warfare ³  – from the land, and I will allow them to live securely.” ⁴ 

Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch ¹  them; she will seek them, but she will not find them. ²  Then she will say, “I will go back ³  to my husband, ⁴  because I was better off then than I am now.” ⁵ 

But I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. Therefore, you must not acknowledge any God but me; except me there is no Savior.

Then the Lord ¹  said: “Name him ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), because you ²  are not my people and I am not your ³  God.” ⁴ 

Soon ¹  I will expose her lewd nakedness ²  in front of her lovers, and no one will be able to rescue her from me! ³ 

I will put an end to all her celebration: her annual religious festivals, monthly new moon celebrations, and weekly Sabbath festivities – all her appointed festivals.

For ¹  I will remove the names of the Baal idols ²  from your lips, ³  so that you will never again utter their names!” ⁴ 

I know Ephraim all too well; ¹  the evil of ²  Israel is not hidden from me. For you have engaged in prostitution, O Ephraim; Israel has defiled itself. ³ 

The princes of Judah are like those who move boundary markers. I will pour out my rage on them like a torrential flood! ¹ 

They do not realize ¹  that I remember all of their wicked deeds. Their evil deeds have now surrounded them; their sinful deeds are always before me. ² 

Then I will return again to my lair until they have suffered their punishment. ¹  Then they will seek me; ²  in their distress they will earnestly seek me.

I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily, he will send down his roots like a cedar of ¹  Lebanon.

Ephraim will be ruined in the day of judgment! ¹  What I am declaring ²  to the tribes of Israel will certainly take place! ³ 

I will destroy her vines and fig trees, about which she said, “These are my wages for prostitution ¹  that my lovers gave to me!” I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees ²  into an uncultivated thicket, so that wild animals ³  will devour them.