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.

For I delight in faithfulness, not simply in sacrifice; I delight ¹  in acknowledging God, not simply in whole burnt offerings. ² 

Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites! ¹  For the Lord has a covenant lawsuit ²  against the people of Israel. ³  For there is neither faithfulness nor loyalty in the land, nor do they acknowledge God. ⁴ 

So let us acknowledge him! ¹  Let us seek ²  to acknowledge ³  the Lord! He will come to our rescue as certainly as the appearance of the dawn, as certainly as the winter rain comes, as certainly as the spring rain that waters the land.”

Israel cries out to me, “My God, we acknowledge you!”

I cared ¹  for you in the wilderness, in the dry desert where no water was. ² 

They enthroned kings without my consent! ¹  They appointed princes without my approval! ²  They made idols out of their silver and gold, but they will be destroyed! ³ 

I will commit myself to you in faithfulness; then ¹  you will acknowledge ²  the Lord.” ³ 

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 

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 

Their wicked deeds do not allow them to return to their God; because a spirit of idolatry ¹  controls their heart, ²  and they do not acknowledge the Lord.

Foreigners are consuming what his strenuous labor produced, ¹  but he does not recognize it! His head is filled with gray hair, but he does not realize it!

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.

Yet ¹  until now ²  she has refused to acknowledge ³  that I ⁴  was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil; and that it was I who ⁵  lavished on her the silver and gold – which they ⁶  used in worshiping Baal! ⁷ 

They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery ¹  against their God.

Who is wise? Let him discern ¹  these things! Who is discerning? Let him understand them! For the ways of the Lord are right; the godly walk in them, but in them the rebellious stumble.