“At that time, ¹  I will willingly respond,” ²  declares the Lord. “I will respond to the sky, and the sky ³  will respond to the ground;

Ephraim will be like a bird; what they value ¹  will fly away. They will not bear children – they will not enjoy pregnancy – they will not even conceive! ² 

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

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.

“I will heal their waywardness ¹  and love them freely, ²  for my anger will turn ³  away from them.

I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a young lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear them to pieces, then I will carry them off, and no one will be able to rescue them!

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 will deal with the people and priests together: ¹  I will punish them both for their ways, and I will repay them for their deeds.

They will return to Egypt! ¹  Assyria will rule over them ²  because they refuse to repent! ³ 

I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily, he will send down his roots like a cedar of ¹  Lebanon.

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

My God will reject them, for they have not obeyed him; so they will be fugitives among the nations.

People will reside again ¹  in his shade; they will plant and harvest grain in abundance. ²  They will blossom like a vine, and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon.

Their heart is slipping; soon they will be punished for their guilt. The Lord ¹  will break their altars; he will completely destroy their fertility pillars.

A sword will flash in their cities, it will destroy the bars of their city gates, and will devour them in their fortresses.

Look! ¹  Even if ²  they flee from the destruction, Egypt will take hold ³  of them, and Memphis will bury them. The weeds will inherit the silver they treasure ⁴  – thorn bushes will occupy their homes. ⁵ 

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

“At that time,” ¹  declares the Lord, “you will call, ²  ‘My husband’; ³  you will never again call me, ⁴  ‘My master.’ ⁵ 

He will restore ¹  us in a very short time; ²  he will heal us in a little while, ³  so that we may live in his presence.

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!