Give them, O Lord – what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry, and breasts that cannot nurse! ¹ 

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.

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

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.

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.

(2:1) ¹  However, ²  in the future the number of the people ³  of Israel will be like the sand of the sea which can be neither measured nor numbered. Although ⁴  it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it will be said to them, “You are ⁵  children ⁶  of the living God!”

Even now they persist in sin! ¹  They make metal images for themselves, idols that they skillfully fashion ²  from their own silver; all of them are nothing but the work of craftsmen! There is a saying about them: ³  “Those who sacrifice ⁴  to the calf idol are calf kissers!” ⁵ 

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!

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 

Even if they raise their children, I will take away every last one of them. ¹  Woe to them! For I will turn away from them.

I led them with leather ¹  cords, with leather ²  ropes; I lifted the yoke ³  from their neck, ⁴  and gently fed them. ⁵ 

She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord ¹  said to him, “Name her ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah) because I will no longer have pity ²  on the nation ³  of Israel. For ⁴  I will certainly not forgive ⁵  their guilt. ⁶ 

“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.

“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 

They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord; they will not please him with their sacrifices. Their sacrifices will be like bread eaten while in mourning; all those who eat them will make themselves ritually unclean. For their bread will be only to satisfy their appetite; it will not come into the temple of the Lord.