<p class="poetry">I will commit myself to you<n id="1" /> forever;p> <p class="poetry">I will commit myself to you in<n id="2" /> righteousness and justice,p> <p class="poetry">in steadfast love and tender compassion.p>

<p class="poetry">Israel cries out to me,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;My God, we acknowledge you!&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">I will destroy her vines and fig trees,p> <p class="poetry">about which she said, &#8220;These are my wages for prostitution<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">that my lovers gave to me!&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees<n id="2" /> into an uncultivated thicket,p> <p class="poetry">so that wild animals<n id="3" /> will devour them.p>

<p class="poetry">Ephraim boasts,<n id="1" /> &#8220;I am very rich!p> <p class="poetry">I have become wealthy!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">In all that I have done to gain my wealth,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">no one can accuse me of any offense<n id="4" /> that is actually sinful.&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will commit myself to you in faithfulness;p> <p class="poetry">then<n id="1" /> you will acknowledge<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">The more the priests increased in numbers,p> <p class="poetry">the more they rebelled against me.p> <p class="poetry">They have turned<n id="1" /> their glorious callingp> <p class="poetry">into a shameful disgrace!p>

So I paid fifteen shekels of silver and about seven bushels of barley<n id="1" /> to purchase her.

<p class="poetry">&#8220;At that time,&#8221;<n id="1" /> declares the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;you will call,<n id="2" /> &#8216;My husband&#8217;;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">you will never again call me,<n id="4" /> &#8216;My master.&#8217;<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Then I will plant her as my own<n id="1" /> in the land.p> <p class="poetry">I will have pity on &#8216;No Pity&#8217; (Lo-Ruhamah).p> <p class="poetry">I will say to &#8216;Not My People&#8217; (Lo-Ammi), &#8216;You are my people!&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">And he<n id="2" /> will say, &#8216;You are<n id="3" /> my God!&#8217;&#8221;p>

Then I told her, &#8220;You must live with me many days; you must not commit adultery or have sexual intercourse with<n id="1" /> another man, and I also will wait for you.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">You have destroyed<n id="1" /> my peoplep> <p class="poetry">by failing to acknowledge me!p> <p class="poetry">Because you refuse to acknowledge me,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will reject you as my priests.p> <p class="poetry">Because you reject<n id="3" /> the law of your God,p> <p class="poetry">I will reject<n id="4" /> your descendants.p>

<p class="poetry">Where<n id="1" /> then is your king,p> <p class="poetry">that he may save you in all your cities?p> <p class="poetry">Where are<n id="2" /> your rulers for whom you asked, saying,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Give me a king and princes&#8221;?p>

<p class="poetry">O Ephraim, I do not want to have anything to do<n id="1" /> with idols anymore!p> <p class="poetry">I will answer him and care for him.p> <p class="poetry">I am like<n id="2" /> a luxuriant cypress tree; <n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">your fruitfulness comes from me!<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch<n id="1" /> them;p> <p class="poetry">she will seek them, but she will not find them.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Then she will say,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will go back<n id="3" /> to my husband,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">because I was better off then than I am now.&#8221;<n id="5" />p>