הושע יא

I fell in love with Israel
When he was still a child;
And I have called [him] My son
Ever since Egypt.

Thus were they called,
But they went their own way;
They sacrifice to Baalim
And offer to carved images.

I have pampered Ephraim,
Taking them in My arms;
But they have ignored
My healing care.

I drew them with human ties,
With cords of love;
But I seemed to them as one
Who imposed a yoke on their jaws,
Though I was offering them food.

No!
They return to the land of Egypt,
And Assyria is their king.
Because they refuse to repent,

A sword shall descend upon their towns
And consume their limbs
And devour [them] because of their designs.

For My people persists
In its defection from Me;
When it is summoned upward,
It does not rise at all.

How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How surrender you, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah,
Render you like Zeboiim?
I have had a change of heart,
All My tenderness is stirred.

I will not act on My wrath,
Will not turn to destroy Ephraim.
For I am God—not human—
The Holy One in your midst:
I will not come in fury.

GOD will roar like a lion—
Whom they shall march behind;
With that roar, God’s children shall come
Fluttering out of the west.

They shall flutter from Egypt like sparrows,
From the land of Assyria like doves;
And I will settle them in their homes
—declares GOD.