All of them are blazing like an oven; they devour their rulers. All of their kings fall – and none of them call on me!

So ¹  I will pounce on them like a lion; ²  like a leopard I will lurk by the path.

His young shoots will grow; his splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.

Then I will plant her as my own ¹  in the land. I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah). I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’ And he ²  will say, ‘You are ³  my God!’”

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 

For the Israelites ¹  must live many days without a king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred fertility pillar, without ephod or idols.

They are all like bakers, ¹  they ²  are like a smoldering oven; they are like a baker who does not stoke the fire until the kneaded dough is ready for baking.

They will not remain in the Lord’s land. Ephraim will return to Egypt; they will eat ritually unclean food in Assyria.

When I please, ¹  I will discipline them; ²  I will gather nations together to attack them, ³  to bind them in chains ⁴  for their two sins. ⁵ 

But you have plowed wickedness; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your chariots; ¹  you have relied ²  on your many warriors.

He will roar like a lion, and they will follow the Lord; when he roars, his children will come trembling ¹  from the west.

“I am the Lord your God ¹  who brought you ²  out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again as in the days of old. ³ 

But Ephraim bitterly ¹  provoked him to anger; so he will hold him accountable for the blood he has shed, ²  his Lord ³  will repay him for the contempt he has shown. ⁴ 

The labor pains of a woman will overtake him, but the baby will lack wisdom; when the time arrives, he will not come out of the womb!

Then the people ¹  of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves one leader, ²  and will flourish in the land. ³  Certainly, ⁴  the day of Jezreel will be great!

“I will punish her for the festival days when she burned incense to the Baal idols; ¹  she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but ²  she forgot me!” ³  says the Lord.

Afterward, the Israelites will turn and seek the Lord their God and their Davidic king. ¹  Then they will submit to the Lord in fear and receive his blessings ²  in the future. ³ 

They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and burn offerings on the hills; they sacrifice ¹  under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is so pleasant. As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!

When Ephraim saw ¹  his sickness and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim turned ²  to Assyria, and begged ³  its great king ⁴  for help. But he will not be able to heal you! He cannot cure your wound! ⁵ 

The prophet ¹  is a watchman ²  over Ephraim ³  on behalf of God, ⁴  yet traps ⁵  are laid for him along all of his paths; ⁶  animosity rages against him in the land ⁷  of his God.