They will eat, but not be satisfied; they will engage in prostitution, but not increase in numbers; because they have abandoned the Lord by pursuing other gods. ¹ 

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.

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!

They do not pray to me, ¹  but howl in distress on their beds; They slash themselves ²  for grain and new wine, but turn away from me.

Those who revolt are knee-deep in slaughter, ¹  but I will discipline them all. ² 

When Ephraim ¹  spoke, ²  there was terror; ³  he was exalted ⁴  in Israel, but he became guilty by worshiping Baal and died.

But Israel has rejected what is morally good; so an enemy will pursue him.

“Come on! Let’s return to the Lord! He himself has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us! He has injured ¹  us, but he will bandage our wounds!

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

Yet it was I who led ¹  Ephraim, I took them by the arm; but they did not acknowledge that I had healed them. 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 

My people are obsessed ¹  with turning away from me; ²  they call to Baal, ³  but he will never exalt them!

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 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 the more I summoned ¹  them, the farther they departed from me. ²  They sacrificed to the Baal idols and burned incense to images.

But you must return ¹  to your God, by maintaining love and justice, and by waiting ²  for your God to return to you. ³ 

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.

Very soon they will say, “We have no king since we did not fear the Lord. But what can a king do for us anyway?”

Woe to them! For they have fled from me! Destruction to them! For they have rebelled against me! I want to deliver ¹  them, but they have lied to me.

They offer up sacrificial gifts to me, and eat the meat, but the Lord does not accept their sacrifices. ¹  Soon he will remember their wrongdoing, he will punish their sins, and they will return to Egypt.